Spunky Dons upset Wahoos

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San Francisco 61, No. 4 Virginia 60:

The University of San Francisco men’s basketball program is not known for recent success but does boast a few historic and impressive points of pride. It captured national championships in 1955 and 1956 and won the third-place game in 1957. The title teams were anchored by basketball legend Bill Russell and another Hall of Famer, K.C. Jones.

Now, the Dons can put another feather in their cap.

USF (2-1), playing in its third game in three days, knocked off No. 4 Virginia, 61-60, on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. It was the Dons’ first victory over a top-five team since defeating No. 2 Wichita State on Dec. 29, 1981.

USF, which opened its season Wednesday with a loss to UMass-Lowell, looked anything but tired as it fell behind on a few occasions but kept clawing back, determined to make the most of playing Virginia (1-1), which was supposed to have matched up with Florida before the Gators dropped out of “Bubbleville” with COVID issues.

Jay Huff (30) and Sam Hauser (10)
show their disappointment after the final buzzer
as USF's Josh Kunen (10) and Jamaree Bouyea
begin to celebrate. (Jessica Hill/Associated Press)

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, looked a bit listless two days after crushing Towson by 35 in the season opener. As the game wore on, you could see it in the players’ expressions: USF looked happy to be there and relished the chance to upset a top-five team, while Virginia, knowing it was no longer playing Florida, maybe thought this game was going to be a cakewalk, just like the victory over the Tigers.

The start of the contest did have the look of another easy Virginia win, with the Wahoos bolting out to a 7-0 lead. But the Dons caught them and went ahead 14-11 midway through the first half. UVa recovered a bit and led 24-21 at the break.

To start the second half, Virginia made two quick buckets to go up 28-21. But USF went on an 11-0 run to take a 32-28 advantage. It again looked like the Cavaliers were going to take control when Tomas Woldetensae made two straight shots, a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer, to put them up 44-39 with 8:24 left. But then Khalil Shabazz drew a foul on Kihei Clark while making a 3 and drained the free throw to make it 44-43.

After that, Sam Hauser scored 6 points, and Clark made a pair of free throws, but USF stayed right with the ‘Hoos with a series of clutch shots, including four 3s from the 6:04 to 2:13 marks. During the contest’s decisive stretch, Jamaree Bouyea blew past Clark for a layup off a nice pass from Taavi Jurkatamm, then Bouyea stole the ball from Clark on his layup attempt, dribbled down the court and found Shabazz for a corner 3. On the other end, Jay Huff missed a trey, then Jurkatamm hit a wide-open triple to make it 61-54 with 2:13 left.

There were a number of times throughout the game that it seemed like Virginia was going to assert its will and pull away, and it never happened. At 61-54, as a fan, it was time to come to terms with the very real possibility of the upset.

UVa rallied late and made it 61-60 on a McKoy layup, and though it wasn’t an egregious hack, he was bumped and probably could’ve been sent to the line with a chance to tie it.

Instead, Josh Kunen missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting up Virginia’s final attempt. But Hauser’s 3 at the buzzer went bouncing off the rim, and the Dons had pulled off the first shocker of the season.

Not gonna lie, I thought Hauser’s shot was going down, and it was going to be his first big highlight as a Cavalier. I didn’t hate the shot. The guy is a great shooter. But maybe down just 1 point, you’d rather see someone try to drive in and draw a foul.

Bennett and the players can be criticized for their end-game strategy.

McKoy scored UVa’s last points with 32 seconds left, meaning USF could just about run the clock out or at least leave Virginia with no chance at a good shot. I understand not fouling right away, until after the Dons had crossed midcourt. But that happened with 27 seconds left. Virginia didn’t foul Kunen until 10 seconds remained. That was 17 valuable seconds that drained off the clock. If you are the team trailing late, you have to extend the game and add as many possessions as possible. UVa should’ve made USF earn the upset at the line. As it was, the Dons got away with one miss and still won the game.

Yes, Murphy almost came up with a steal on a loose ball, but instead, it was just out of bounds off of him. This was not a Davide-Moretti-in-the-national-championship-game-fingertip situation. The Cavaliers didn’t get that lucky this time.

Dad joke warning: Bouyea said “Boo-yah!” like the late Stuart Scott in pacing the Dons with 19 points, six assists, three rebounds, two steals, and no turnovers. Shabazz channeled former UConn star Shabazz Napier’s 2014 NCAA tournament title run and recorded 14 points, five rebounds, and an assist. Dzmitry Ryuny tallied 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Kunen put up 8 points, seven boards, a steal, and a block. Jurkatamm recorded 8 points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

USF went 13 for 28 on 3-pointers, including a sizzling 9 of 15 in the second half. Bouyea, Shabazz, and Ryuny hit three each, and Jurkatamm and Kunen knocked down two each. The ‘Hoos left too many guys open as the Dons did a good job of spreading the floor and playing aggressively.

Obviously, after Wednesday’s 89-point explosion, Virginia struggled offensively, looking more like last season’s team rather than this new, shiny version that was supposed to have cured its offensive woes.

UVa is trying out a new offense, the five-out. Smarter X’s and O’s analysts can break it down better than me and point out the Cavaliers’ flaws in the loss. Here’s what I can point to, though: Virginia shot 55.6% from the field against Towson and went 15 of 29 from deep. On Friday, the ‘Hoos — more deserving of the Woo-has nickname Flo Sports bestowed upon them — shot 41.2% from the field and went 3 for 12 from beyond the arc. That is a losing recipe.

Hauser, after a 3-for-3 day on 3s in the opener, went 0 for 3 versus USF and had 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting, six boards, and a block.

Bright spots for the Cavaliers included Justin McKoy and Reece Beekman.

McKoy, who started again, scored Virginia’s first 5 points, including a triple, and finished with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting, five rebounds, and three assists in just 18 minutes. I love what he is bringing to the table. It is obvious how much he has improved. He was already bouncy and energetic last season, and now he has added offensive ability and defensive seasoning. He is like Isaiah Wilkins with a better offensive skill set.

In just his second game, Beekman looked almost ready for prime time. He tied McKoy for the team lead with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting while adding four rebounds and a block in 27 minutes. He did not have any assists, but he also had zero turnovers. He hit a few big shots late and went 1 for 1 from deep. This kid is definitely a competitor and the real deal.

Clark scored 9 points, but went just 1 of 5 from the floor and missed both of his 3s. He also turned it over three times while adding two rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Woldetensae had that 5-point burst, but that was it as he only played 10 minutes. Huff took a mere two shots and scored 4 points while adding seven boards, two blocks, and an assist. Casey Morsell had 4 points and only played 13 minutes, rarely in the second half after a bad turnover. Trey Murphy III played 25 minutes but only put up 4 points after his 21-point performance versus Towson.

It was a humbling outing for everyone associated with the program. I think we were all feeling ourselves a bit after blowing out Towson, feeling a little giddy after watching the offense, especially after scoring last season was about as difficult as getting up early and having to go to the dentist.

Would it have been better to have won 63-61 and learned a lesson, and not have to have taken the ribbing from the college basketball world? Absolutely. But that’s not what happened this time. Sometimes the lessons come in losses. We all know Bennett should get the benefit of the doubt at this point. He’s earned it. We know he will get it right. This team has too many offensive weapons to not be potent on that end of the floor. There are lots of new faces, and it will just take time to find the correct chemistry. You could tell Bennett was tinkering and searching for the right lineups. Virginia will improve — of this I have basically zero doubt.

It was great to get an early gut-check game and see who would step up. It was great to be targeted and have a team really come after Virginia with all it had. It was a valuable experience to be in that situation now, something that will serve the Cavaliers well as the season progresses.

I give credit to USF for being the hungrier team. In an empty gym, the format was perfect for the Dons to create their own energy, go all out, and leave their guts on the floor. These losses happen a lot early in the season, just not usually to UVa. I think if this game had been played at John Paul Jones Arena with the crowd lifting up the ‘Hoos out of their doldrums, they would have survived.

USF is not a bad team. In 2019-20, coach Todd Golden’s first year, the Dons went 22-12, beating BYU once and only falling by 4 to Gonzaga in their first meeting. Now, Virginia has to hope USF builds on the success of this upset so that this doesn’t look like a bad loss come March.

I’m not positive if that will happen. But what I am sure of is the Cavaliers will use this disappointment and get better. For a program that has had much, much worse losses at much, much worse times, this is nothing. Bennett will shape and mold this team into its ideal self, and we are going to eventually see much better play out of this group. It is just a matter of time.

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