Virginia's close call at Virginia Tech

No. 14 Virginia 57, Virginia Tech 53

How are we to assess the Cavaliers' near-loss to the rival Hokies in Blacksburg on Tuesday? Panic? Relief? Something else? I have a few thoughts on the four-point victory.

This team knows how to win.

Whether it is ugly like Tuesday, beautiful like Jan. 11 at N.C. State (76-45), buzzer-beating like Feb. 2 at Pittsburgh (48-45) or somewhere in between like Feb. 5 vs. Boston College (77-67), this team knows how to win. And that is something that has been missing the past couple years it seems like with coach Tony Bennett's teams. The ability to win in all situations and types of games and in close contests has been a problem for the 'Hoos to hurdle. They've done that this year. Now, they have a ways to go. Possible bumps in the road loom. We saw Wednesday night that anybody can get beaten in the ACC. With so many pundits thinking Syracuse would suffer its first loss of the season Saturday at Duke, everyone was shocked when six-win Boston College beat the Orange in overtime in Syracuse. Wahoo fans should be thankful for a victory. A win is a win as they say.

The close call could serve as a wake-up call. 

Virginia already got one of these this year at Tennessee in a 35-point loss. Since then, as we all know, the Cavaliers have run off victories in 13 of 14 games. After several close calls, Syracuse got one Wednesday night. UVa might have gotten the best kind of wake-up call Tuesday night at Cassell Coliseum. That is because while a lesson still should have been learned, the 'Hoos won while learning the lesson and did not suffer in the ACC standings. Everyone knows that Virginia should have beaten Virginia Tech by more points. UVa led for the first few minutes and the last few minutes but overall, the 'Hoos were on the ropes for most of the game. I don't think the players were high-fiving later. They know it wasn't their best effort or sharpest game. They realize that they have a bull's-eye on their back and are going to get everyone's best shot each night. This was one of the biggest games of the year for the Hokies -- arch rival, ranked, at home -- and now UVa knows that. They've got to be ready every game for each team's best effort of the year.

Virginia Tech was taken lightly but has improved.

This Tech team looked different than the one the Cavaliers soundly beat by 20 at JPJ Jan. 25. And I don't think the Wahoos played particularly well that game, either. Virginia did not play well Tuesday but this Tech squad has improved. The defense was better, the zone confused the 'Hoos and forced Virginia to shoot an inordinate amount of 3-pointers, and the offense looked more confident. While it hasn't translated into many wins yet, the Hokies have played pretty solidly their past three games, nearly knocking off Pitt at Pitt in double overtime, beating Miami, and being ahead of UVa for more than 50 percent of the game. Tech has showed other flashes this season, too, beating West Virginia and hanging with Michigan State and Syracuse for a half each. The Hokies also suffered single-digit losses vs. Boston College, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Wake Forest. Coach James Johnson has had a rough go of it his first two years with transfers and injuries. The Hokies are only losing Jarell Eddie, who has struggled in ACC play, and Cadarian Raines (around five ppg) next season (barring transfers) so the Hokies have a nice core to build around. Also this year, their second-leading scorer, Adam Smith (11 ppg), has been hurt and hasn't played since Jan. 19 against Notre Dame.

The anybody-in-any-given-game attitude of the team came through again.

Joe Harris could not throw the ball in the water if he was sitting on the lake in a boat early in Tuesday's game. He ended up making two 3s -- the second of which was to take the lead late in the game -- but Harris was off early and frustrated. You could see it on his face. Malcolm Brogdon finished with 12 points but four of those come on free throws and he was off for most of the game. He only made 3 of his 11 field goals and even missed two free throws. How did the Cavaliers compensate for their main scorers being off for most of the game? London Perrantes stepped up his offense early on, for sure. He made two 3s that helped Virginia get an early lead, which ultimately made the comeback from 11 points in the second half less massive than it could have been. Had it not been for Perrantes' early scoring, UVa might have been down closer to 20 points. Justin Anderson made two huge 3s late in the game, one to cut the Hokies' lead to one and another after Harris' late 3 to make it 51-46 'Hoos. Anderson finished with nine points, his most since 13 against BC on Feb. 5.

Overall, Virginia did not play its best game, but hopefully the Cavaliers learned some things and the bottom line is, UVa still won and is still in first place in the league. The guys got some valuable time against zone defense, too, as the Hokies played it basically all game. UVa looked a little lost in the first half but scored 36 points in the second half. As the Wahoos come down the stretch run of the season, Miami, Notre Dame, and Syracuse have all been playing zone defense or some zone defense. The Orange's 2-3 setup is notorious for being tough to crack. So that was certainly good for the Wahoos to get a look at a zone defense for an entire 40 minutes.

Additionally, UVa knows now to be ready for anything. Everyone it plays the rest of the season is going to go hard to try knock UVa off its pedestal and team needs to be ready, even at home, as Syracuse found out vs. BC.