Clark, Wahoos whip Fighting Irish for 10th time in 11 ACC games

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No. 23 Virginia 66, Notre Dame 57

The Wahoos rebounded from the Gonzaga demolition derby by defeating an ACC opponent they have grown accustomed to defeating: Notre Dame.

Kihei Clark led Virginia with his second straight 19-point game, Sam Hauser recorded his first double-double as a Cavalier, and Jay Huff scored 15 points despite foul trouble as UVa (5-2, 1-0 ACC) took care of Notre Dame (3-5, 0-2) on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive game in the series and the 10th straight time in an ACC regular-season matchup.

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey has only defeated a Virginia-led Tony Bennett team once, in the 2017 conference tournament.

The Fighting Irish came into the contest as the nation’s 13th-best 3-point shooting team at 41%, but Virginia held them to a 5-of-20 effort (25%), with Dane Goodwin being the only player to make a trey other than Nate Laszeweski, who went off for a career-high 28 points and was 4 for 7 on 3s. Juwan Durham was the only other player to give the Cavaliers trouble as he put up 19 points. No one else scored more than 5. But still, Virginia did allow 33 points in the second half, not great after a better first 20 minutes in which it held the Irish to 24.

Notre Dame shot 40% overall and went 16 of 21 at the line. Virginia didn’t get to the line much, and uncharacteristically struggled when it did, going 4 for 8. The ‘Hoos shot 46.6% from the field but just 8 of 26 beyond the arc (30.8%). UVa held the rebounding edge at 35-31.

The Cavaliers were out in front almost the entire way; the game was tied once after tip-off: 2-2. That’s not to say this wasn’t a close game, though — it was — but UVa made the big timely plays to win its 13th consecutive conference opener, an incredible stat.

Virginia led 21-12 in the opening minutes before Notre Dame whittled the margin to 3 twice before UVa was able to build it back to 30-24 at halftime.

Within the first minute of the second half, Clark made a 3-pointer right after missing one, and Hauser sunk a turnaround in the lane to make it 35-24. But the more comfortable advantage didn’t last. Within two minutes, it was back down to 6. In the final 10 minutes, Virginia’s cushion remained between 1 and 6 points until Clark’s incredible 3-point play with 2:50 left, when he put Cormac Ryan into a blender and made it 60-53 after a free throw.

At 60-55, Hauser had a terrific sequence when he grabbed a tough offensive rebound off Reece Beekman’s missed layup, got the ball back after several seconds, and confidently hit a 3 with 1:40 left to make it 63-55. Beekman stripped Prestiss Hubb on the other end, and then Clark found Huff with a nice pass for a dunk to put the game on ice in snowy South Bend, Ind.

Clark was on target with some nifty passes all game, finishing with five assists, and perhaps mostly importantly, zero turnovers. Virginia committed a season-low five after tallying 15 versus Gonzaga. Clark had multiple 3-pointers for the first time this year, going 2 for 4. He went 7 of 12 overall, including an awesome up-and-under at the 15:22 mark of the second half. He also faced up on Ryan and hit a midrange jumper with 9:12 left to give UVa a 3-point lead after Notre Dame had cut it to 1. Simply put, Clark came to play.

“He made some really nice plays,” Bennett said of his junior point guard. “Last year, a lot was asked of him. … I remember we put a lot on his plate, and he battled and struggled through some hard games with some turnovers. I think that prepared him for more situations like this, and he showed up, and he was tough. I told him a couple of times he let Hubb get by him at crucial times … but you look at Hubb’s stat line, and [Clark] did a pretty good job for the most part, guarding the ball. He scored, banged a couple of 3s, some nice drives. … He was aggressive, and at times we threw it to him in the post, and he can make some plays, whether it’s for himself or create for others, so I like that.”

Hauser struggled on defense as the primary defender on Laszeweski. But the senior transfer from Marquette showed some toughness on the glass and made big plays down the stretch, finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists while making 3 of 8 from deep. His biggest trey may have come with 8 minutes left when it boosted the lead to 4 points after the Irish had again sliced it to 1.

Huff was superb when he was able to play, collecting five rebounds, an assist, and a block. He went 7 for 9 overall and 1 for 3 beyond the arc. But he got himself into foul trouble and had to miss long stretches of the second half.

“I think you got to be defensive, you got to be ready early. You got to be alert, you can’t pick up any silly fouls,” Bennett said. “You might disagree with one or two, but you can’t pick up, like an unforced error so to speak, and just you got to be really in position. That’s where Sam and Jay got to keep coming defensively, they got to sure up our defense better and be more alert. They did some wonderful things offensively. That was showing tonight and yeah, Jay got in foul trouble against Gonzaga, and he did tonight, and other guys stepped up.”

It’s getting hard to keep track of all the starting lineups Bennett is employing.

Casey Morsell found himself back in the starting five for the first time since the second game of the season and made some nice plays. He scored 6 points and made a 3 (!) but went only 2 for 9 from the field. Morsell did have a stellar sequence with under 16 minutes left, when he hit his one 3 from the corner, and then played fantastic help defense, swatting away Hubb’s layup attempt. He also had two rebounds and an assist, passing to Hauser for the triple with 8 minutes remaining.

Trey Murphy III re-entered the starting lineup after coming off the bench against Gonzaga. He contributed 5 points, four boards, an assist, and a block. He went just 1 for 4 on 3-pointers, but his make was a big one, a moon shot from Ty-land with 4:24 left that made it 57-51.

Justin McKoy played 10 solid minutes off the bench filling in for Huff. He had 6 points and six boards. Two of his baskets came off offensive rebounds.

Kadin Shedrick played four minutes, making one basket with 13 minutes left when he showed really nice patience on the low block, getting Durham in the air on a pump-fake and then converting an easy layup.

Tomas Woldetensae saw his consecutive games started streak snapped at four. He logged 15 minutes off the bench, but missed his only two 3-point attempts.

It was not a dominant performance, but Virginia did what was necessary in a nice bounce-back effort in which the players showed better energy, even launching into some “DE-FENSE!” chants on the sideline.

“We were better effort-wise, we were sounder with the ball, and we’ll take it and improve a little at a time,” Bennett said.

The Wahoos are a work in progress, but this was a definite step forward after the disaster over the weekend. I think the Irish are better than their record given the schedule they have played thus far, so this was a solid victory, and a big one to get going in the right direction as the team dives into conference play.

“In the postgame, I talked about [how] weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down. Our young guys, they don’t know what a weeble wobble [toy] is, but all of us do. I think we got wobbling a few times, you got to right the ship and get back up. … McKoy gave us some plays, we kept some offensive rebounds alive. Actually, Reece got his hands on a couple of balls that were huge to save some easy buckets. And then, just key baskets from Kihei and Sam. … I thought we made enough good offensive plays, took advantage, and then enough key stops. It was hard at times. Laszewski was really good. … But enough good plays defensively and offensively. Still some breakdowns, but hopefully we’ll … keep getting better. It was kind of everyone chipping in, and that’s how it’ll have to be with this team.”

Up next is rival Virginia Tech in Charlottesville on Saturday, and it looks like the Hokies will be a step up in competition. They are ranked No. 24, own a win over then-No. 3 Villanova, and are already 2-0 in the ACC, with a 2-point triumph over Miami on Tuesday and a 6-point victory against Clemson on Dec. 15.

Photo credit: The ACC

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