Virginia cut a 15-point second-half deficit to two late, but Notre Dame was able to finish off the game at the free throw throw line, winning 69-65 on Saturday in South Bend.
The ‘Hoos (12-9, 6-5 ACC) got back into it with defense – holding Notre Dame to 4-of-15 shooting in the final 11:50 – and hot shooting on the other end.
Virginia shot 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) from the field in the second half, connecting on 7-of-9 in the final 3:31.
Problem was: the game had gotten away too much for the late fireworks to matter.
A pair of Dane Goodwin wide-open threes a minute apart pushed the Irish lead to 15, at 52-37, with 11:50 left.
At that point, Notre Dame (14-6, 7-2 ACC) was shooting a cool 50 percent (8-of-16) from three, and Virginia was struggling on both ends of the floor to keep up.
Virginia got back into it with a 12-3 run over the next six minutes, cutting the deficit to six, at 55-49, on a short jumper by Jayden Gardner with 5:43 on the clock.
A steal and dunk by Francisco Caffaro would cut the lead to four (57-53) with 3:07 to go, and a Reece Beekman dunk with 14 seconds to go would get the margin down to three (65-62).
Kihei Clark connected from 30 feet with eight seconds left to get the score to 67-65.
A pair of Prentis Hubb free throws with four seconds left would provide the final margin.
Virginia rotation
The reason the Cavaliers were able to hang around ahead of the late near-comeback was Gardner, who finished with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-17 shooting in 37 minutes.
Gardner and Caffaro (11 points, 12 rebounds) each put up nice counting numbers, but had problems at times keeping up with Irish bigs Nate Laszewski (16 points, 5-of-8 from the field, 3-of-5 from three, six rebounds) and Paul Atkinson (14 points, 7-of-12 shooting, nine rebounds).
Clark also had, from a box-score perspective, a nice night – 12 points, 4-of-8 shooting, six assists in 37 minutes.
Eight of the points came in the final 40 seconds, and though the box score only debited him for three turnovers, two were on inbounds passes, inexplicable errors from a veteran point guard.
Clark also had issues keeping up with Hubb, whose counting numbers weren’t all that impressive – seven points, three assists – but Hubb was able to initiate more offense than the box score would indicate, with at least a couple of hockey assists that don’t end up on your ledger in hoops.
Beekman continued his solid play of late, scoring 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor, 1-of-3 from three, though he noticeable had just one assist on the night, after his career-high 11 in the win at home over Louisville on Monday.
Armaan Franklin had his third straight subpar night, with just five points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor, 1-of-5 from three.
Kadin Shedrick, playing his backside more firmly onto the bench, had two points and four rebounds in 11 minutes.
Kody Stattmann did almost literally nothing in 15 minutes of bench time: 0-of-3 from the floor, one rebound, three fouls.
Inside the numbers
Virginia was 15-of-22 on shots at the rim; Notre Dame, 9-of-14.
The Irish finished 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from three; Virginia, 3-of-14 (21.4 percent).
UVA shot 45.8 percent for the game (27-of-59); Notre Dame, 46.8 percent (22-of-47).
The Cavaliers owned the boards – with a 39-27 advantage, including a 12-4 edge on the offensive glass, and a 14-0 margin in second-chance points.
Virginia outscored Notre Dame 38-24 in the paint.
The team that attacks – scores in the paint, has the big edge in shots at the rim – usually is rewarded at the line. Not here: Notre Dame was 15-of-22 at the line; Virginia, 8-of-12.
Virginia, ranked ninth nationally in fewest fouls per game coming in (13.6), was assessed for 19 fouls; Notre Dame, 8.
Virginia had 10 turnovers to Notre Dame’s 8. Notre Dame had a 15-13 edge in points off turnovers.
Notre Dame had 59 possessions; Virginia, 62.
Story by Chris Graham
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