Credit to Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who on Monday, talking with reporters on the eve of his team’s First Four NCAA Tournament game, copped to the strategic mistake in the OT loss to NC State last week that put his team’s season on the brink.
A reporter had asked Bennett a question about the run of missed free throws from Reece Beekman and, in particular, the miss on the front end of a one-and-one by Isaac McKneely, that left the door open for State, which got a game-tying, buzzer-beating three from Michael O’Connell to send the game to overtime.
The question in Monday’s presser was a softball about how the NCAA Tournament bid gives McKneely a chance to overcome “feeling like I’m the guy that maybe let us down.”
Bennett was having none of that.
“No, he didn’t. He played terrific. And Reece played terrific. And so for those guys, look, I believe I made a mistake at the end of the game, that we had two fouls,” Bennett said.
Virginia actually had three fouls to give, which is what Bennett was getting at – with McKneely on the line, UVA up three, the ‘Hoos had just three team fouls in the second half, meaning Bennett could have instructed his guys to commit touch fouls on a free-throw-miss rebound, if one were to come, or stopping a ballhandler in the backcourt or the frontcourt, as the opportunity would present itself.
“We had decided to not foul. We fouled a three-point shooter before, and then we talked as a team and said, let’s win it with our defense,” Bennett said. “We got a stop with five seconds left. Didn’t foul. We were up three. Got the rebound. And Isaac went to the line. And I was going to call timeout, but I didn’t want to ice him, but should have. If I could do that over, should have had the guys at the line, and thinking about it now, maybe fouled on that spot, because we had some to give.”
So, in case you were wondering, lesson learned.
“Look, all that stuff happens,” Bennett said. “There’s things in games, basketball is a game of mistakes. It’s the team that can knock down those mistakes. When I was talking about knocking down bad habits defensively or offensively, not being perfect, there’s going to be mistakes made, but you knock them down.
“But the way (McKneely) played in that game, the way Reece, we wouldn’t have even been in that game, in that spot, if those guys hadn’t produced the way they did,” Bennett said. “Those are the guys we wanted at the line, for sure. And I think we missed, I don’t know, made one out of five in the last 60 or 70 seconds, which could have salted it way, but they played well to get to that spot.”
All of that is water under the bridge now.
It sure felt after the OT loss that Virginia was going to be left out of the NCAA Tournament field, and the way that game ended would have been a tough way to go out in that respect.
“I’m very grateful that they got this opportunity,” Bennett said. “That’s why I think it was so emotional in the Selection Show when we were there, because it’s just, you could feel that, and there was a lot there.”
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Chris Graham
