Virginia shoots its way past Boeheim, Syracuse, to 74-69 road win

Virginia shot 52.6 percent, had four guys in double figures, withstood 27 points from Buddy Boeheim. Not a bad road trip to Syracuse, with the ‘Hoos getting the 74-69 win.

UVA (8-5, 2-1 ACC) led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Syracuse (7-6, 1-1 ACC) was able to tie it at 33 at the break.

Key there: foul trouble for Virginia big man Jayden Gardner, who only got seven minutes of floor time in the opening 20 minutes.

Cheap whistles would be part of the reason the Orange would be able to hang close despite shooting just 36.7 percent from the floor and only 10 of the 30 threes that they jacked up.

Usually it’s the case that the team that dominates the paint gets rewarded with trips to the line, but ‘twasn’t the case in this one.

Virginia had a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint on the night, put up 21 shots at the rim to Syracuse’s 12, but the ‘Cuse – half its shots were threes, mind you – had a 23-10 edge in free throw attempts.

Frustrating, whatever.

Syracuse would lead for just 39 seconds, after an early second-half Jimmy Boeheim layup, and Jimmy Boeheim and-one with 13:28 to go.

UVA responded with a 7-0 run, and then, after Syracuse tied it back up at 52 on another Jimmy Boeheim layup with 9:24 left, a 9-0 Virginia run over the next two and a half minutes would prove decisive.

The Orange would get it to three twice, on threes by Buddy Boeheim, the second with 1:19 to go, but Cole Swider missed a three with 32 seconds left that would have tied it.

Kihei Clark hit both ends of a one-and-one with 22 seconds left, and Joe Girard missed a contested three with 13 ticks on the clock, with Clark rebounding.

Clark missed the front end of the next one-and-one, but Jimmy Boeheim missed from three with six seconds to go, and that was it.

Breakdown

Clark and Armaan Franklin each had 17 points to lead UVA. Gardner had 15 points in 22 minutes, and Kadin Shedrick had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Clark had 14 of his 17 in the second half. The 5’9” senior was 6-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-5 from three, and had a season-high eight assists.

The ‘Hoos had 22 assists all told on their 30 made baskets. Reece Beekman had five assists, and after his career-high 20 points in the loss to Clemson last week, had just two points tonight, but he only shot the ball twice.

Franklin was 7-of-15 from the field and 3-of-9 from three, raising his season shooting from three to 21.9 percent.

For the millionth time, he was 42.4 percent from three at Indiana last season.

Gardner was 7-of-13 from the floor, used for the most part on offense at the elbow on either side, to hit the short jumper – he was 5-of-11 on jumpers – or move the ball inside-out to the perimeter – Gardner had four assists on the night in that role.

Shedrick was 5-of-8 from the floor, all shots at the rim, which is what you want out of a seven-footer.

Taine Murray had seven points on 3-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes off the bench, and Kody Stattman had four points on 1-of-4 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench.

Francisco Caffaro got nine minutes off the bench. He missed his only shot, didn’t have a rebound.

Inside the Numbers

• Beekman, Mr. Two Points on the Night, had the best plus/minus – +15. Gardner was +14 in his 22 minutes.
• Murray had the nice counting numbers off the bench, but he was -13 in his 14 minutes, largely because he was on the floor as Syracuse rallied back from the 12-point first-half deficit to tie it at half. That wasn’t his fault; it was Gardner being on the bench with two fouls.
• ‘Cuse had 18 offensive rebounds and a 16-7 edge in second-chance points. That, plus the free throw discrepancy – Syracuse outscored Virginia 15-7 at the line – was why the Orange was able to stay in this one.
• Buddy Boeheim had 27 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field, 5-of-11 from three, and 8-of-9 from the line. Jimmy Boeheim had 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from three, and 2-of-8 from the line.
• Clark utterly dominated Girard. In addition to his 17 and 8 on the offensive end, Clark held Girard, who was averaging 13.9 points and was shooting 48.6 percent from three coming in, to three points on 1-of-5 shooting, 1-of-4 from three.

Story by Chris Graham