On one level, Virginia looked bad for long stretches on both ends of the floor, probably should have lost Tuesday at #22 Miami by double-digits.
Another level, you want to give the kids credit for getting back into it late, then after Miami pushed the lead back to 10 in the final two minutes, scratching and clawing back to one with 5.6 seconds left, then having a chance to tie it or win it at the buzzer.
However you stack it up, #6 Virginia lost, 66-64, in a game that was, oddly, both very winnable, and very much the opposite.
A 12-0 Miami run put the ‘Canes (12-1, 2-0 ACC) up 10 four and a half minutes in, and they led by as many as 12 before going into the break up 36-26.
The problem for Virginia was no offensive flow. The Cavaliers (8-2, 1-1 ACC) were just 10-of-29 from the field in the first half, and 2-of-9 from three – against a Miami defense that came into the game ranked 123rd nationally in defensive efficiency, and had given up 105 points to Cornell in a two-point win at home on Dec. 7.
The second half wasn’t much better for UVA, which into the final minutes got most of its offense in the final 20 minutes in a brief flurry from Ben Vander Plas, who connected on three threes in a two-plus minute span, and added a free throw after being fouled on one of them.
Those threes came on sets in which Vander Plas and Isaac McKneely ran a nice two-man game with side pick-and-pops that caught Miami each time running under the screen, leaving Vander Plas with open looks.
Once Miami coach Jim Larranaga adjusted by switching on all screens, that dried up, and after the third of the Vander Plas threes, which cut the Miami lead to one, at 43-42, with 8:54 to go, Virginia would miss eight of its next 10 shots over the next 7:47 of game action.
A driving layup by Reece Beekman on which Beekman was fouled cut a 10-point deficit to 61-53 with 1:02 to go. Beekman missed the free throw, but Vander Plas got the stickback and converted an easy deuce, and it was a ballgame again.
Bensley Joseph missed the front end of a one-and-one with 54 seconds left, and Virginia edged closer 11 seconds later on a Vander Plas dunk off a nice Beekman assist.
Kihei Clark stole an Isaiah Wong pass in the backcourt, and then after a timeout, ran off a double-screen for an open layup that got the game to 61-59 with 26 seconds on the clock.
Miami went 5-of-6 at the line in the final 23 seconds, but Virginia got a Beekman layup, and then Clark was fouled on a three-point shot with 5.6 seconds left, and drained all three charity tosses, to get the margin to one, at 65-64.
Nijel Pack missed the front end of a two-shot foul, made the second, and Virginia, without a timeout, got the ball to Beekman, who attempted to drive into the paint for a possible game-tying layup.
But Beekman would cross himself up on his dribble as he attacked Wong in the paint, and the ball wobbled harmlessly away as time expired.
Quick stats, analysis
Vander Plas had 20 points, 15 in the second half, to lead Virginia.
Clark had 13 points, despite shooting just 2-of-10 from the floor – going 8-of-9 at the line.
Beekman flirted with a triple-double, with 10 points, on 5-of-9 shooting, nine rebounds and nine assists.
His four turnovers, however, were a season-high.
Wong had 24 points to lead Miami, which played about as well as you could have expected, and still had to escape.
Bennett used 10 players as he tried to jumpstart something, anything, with his team struggling most of the night, with Francisco Caffaro and Taine Murray getting floor time for the first time in a while for both (for Caffaro, since the Florida State game on Dec. 3; for Murray, well, he had three minutes in the win over JMU on Dec. 6, but before that, it was 12 minutes in the blowout of Maryland-Eastern Shore on Nov. 25).
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Chris Graham
