Strategy on threes in the final minute: Down three in the final minute, UVA shot threes on consecutive possessions, a miss on a good look by Justin Anderson with 33 seconds left, and then a miss from the top of the key by Malcolm Brogdon with 19 seconds left.
Bennett said the call in the huddle wasn’t to take the three as a first option.
“What we said is if you can get a clean look, take it because we tried to run that little action that we’ve run before,” Bennett said. “Both of them, the other one both had, if we didn’t get it, attacks. So it kind of had a three look, clean look, and then it had an attack look behind it for a two, so it kind of had both on that one.”
Bennett also said the first three by Anderson had not been designed for Anderson, who is leading the ACC in three-point shooting, at 48.4 percent, but is still showing signs of rust after missing five weeks due to a broken finger and an emergency appendectomy.
“The one with Justin, it was actually designed for Malcolm, but they kind of channeled it the other way, and London just attacked it,” Bennett said.
Justin Jackson? UNC guard Justin Jackson was a 26.0 percent three-point shooter on the season coming into Friday’s ACC Tournament semifinal game with UVA.
Jackson made four of his five three-point attempts and was 8-of-10 from the field overall, scoring a team-high 22 points in the Heel’s 71-67 upset.
“He’s a McDonald’s All‑American. He’s a talented kid, and you could see that,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “He’s been playing well and did a good job yesterday. He got some easy wraps where we had some miscommunication breakdowns and got him going. And some of his shots we had a little too much cushion on him. He can put on the floor, but a little late on our closeouts, little soft on our ball pressure. A player of that ability, those guys get one or two going, and they feel it, and I thought he obviously showed his talent, and I know he’s a great young man too. I know that. So he took it to us.”
Nice contribution from Shayok: Freshman Marial Shayok had seven points, all in the first half, a key contribution in a sluggish offensive performance.
Shayok was 2-of-3 from the field, 1-of-2 from three, and 2-of-4 from the line, with three rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.
No TV interview at the break: Bennett declined a request to do a TV interview at the half, and defended the decision as the “privilege” of the coach whose team is trailing.
“Usually the winning coach, whoever is leading does that interview. So if you’re losing you shouldn’t have to do the interview, at least that’s what I understand,” Bennett said. “If we were winning, I’d do it, if we were losing, I thought that’s how it was. That’s one benefit of losing at halftime maybe.”
– Column by Chris Graham
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