Michigan had 45 at halftime, and an 11-point lead, and had made seven of its 13 shots from three-point range.
You don’t replicate that against Virginia for 40 minutes.
The third-ranked Cavaliers held Michigan to 23 points in the second half, put five guys in double figures, and in the process did just enough to win an instant classic in Ann Arbor, 70-68, on Tuesday in the final ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Michigan (5-2) led 45-34 at the break after hitting almost everything in a scintillating first half. The Wolverines shot 61.3 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes. Hunter Dickinson, a 7’1” dude from Northern Virginia, was 7-of-10 from the field for 14 points, while putting Virginia bigs Kadin Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro in foul trouble.
Tony Bennett had the answer.
Michigan shot just 38.9 percent (7-of-18) in the second half, and was 1-of-6 from three.
Virginia (6-0) cut the lead to two by the first TV timeout of the second half, though the ‘Hoos would not take the lead until a Ben Vander Plas spinning layup with 7:25 to go that put them up, 60-58.
It was a wrestling match from there.
Another Vander Plas layup and then a three from the Ohio U. grad transfer put the Cavaliers up five, but a Dickinson free throw put the Wolverines up one, at 66-65, with 1:42 to go.
Jayden Gardner connected on a 12-footer with 40 seconds left put Virginia on top to stay, as it turned out.
The UVA D got a stop, then Reece Beekman was good on a free throw, Kihei Clark hit two after another stop, and it was a four-point game.
Dickinson converted a driving layup with 5.9 seconds left to get it back to two, and then Armaan Franklin, who had two points on 1-of-6 shooting on the night, bombed on a pair of free throws that could have cinched it, giving Michigan a final chance, down two.
Jett Howard had the ball with a chance to do something, but didn’t, losing possession against tough D from Beekman as time expired.
Inside the Numbers
Dickinson led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, but was just 2-of-7 from the floor in the second half.
Beekman had 18 points and five assists to lead Virginia, on 7-of-10 shooting, but was limited late after spraining his ankle at the 15:05 mark, after which he had one point, one assist, three rebounds and one steal.
Kihei Clark had 16 points and four assists for UVA.
Gardner had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Shedrick, despite the foul trouble, also had 12 points, and was 5-of-6 from the floor.
Vander Plas, who was 4-of-5 from the floor, added 10 points for UVA.
UVA Notes
- UVA is 6-0 for the first time since starting 7-0 in 2019-20
- UVA ends the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a 14-8 record, including a 7-5 mark on the road
- UVA is 150-11 when scoring 70 or more points under Bennett
- UVA has scored 70 or more points in its first six games for the first time since starting the 2003-04 season with eight games of 70 or more points
- UVA shot 50.9 percent, marking its third game shooting 50 percent or better
- Kihei Clark (4,438 minutes) passed London Perrantes (4,425 minutes from 2014-17) for first on UVA’s career minutes list and 16th on the ACC’s Career Minutes Played list
- Clark (1,139) passed Devin Smith (1,131 points from 2003-05) for 43rd on UVA’s all-time scoring list
- Clark is tied for fifth on UVA’s career games list with 134
- Clark (4 assists) tied Perrantes for fourth on UVA’s career assists list with 569
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Chris Graham
