Crown 'em again: 'Hoos defeat Cardinals to capture ACC regular-season title

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No. 21 Virginia 68, Louisville 58

When No. 21 Virginia made the defining run of its regular season Saturday at Louisville, neither Sam Hauser nor Jay Huff were on the floor.

With the team’s biggest stars not on the court, the Cavaliers (17-6, 13-4 ACC) turned a 4-point lead with about 10 minutes left into a 13-point advantage by the 5:28 mark on their way to a victory over the Cardinals (13-6, 8-5) to capture another ACC regular-season championship. UVa has won three in the past four seasons and five in eight years, four outright (2013-14, 2014-15, 2017-18, 2020-21).

Photo: The 'Hoos start celebrating in the locker room.

Hauser was the MVP of the game, but when he picked up his third foul with 9:39 remaining, it was Tomas Woldetensae who came in for him and made a couple huge plays.

Following a 6-2 Louisville spurt, Virginia led 51-47 when he was fouled on a corner 3-point attempt. He calmly sank all three free throws.

“A pivotal moment,” coach Tony Bennett said. “[Louisville was] coming back, so I thought that was significant.”

On the ensuing Louisville possession, Woldetensae blocked Carlik Jones’ layup attempt. Also, a few minutes later, the senior from Italy made a nice pass to Justin McKoy off a pick-and-roll. McKoy displayed quick hands to snag the pass and make a layup for a 58-49 lead.
It was the kind of trademark win that fans have come to expect under Bennett but had not witnessed in several weeks. Hauser, Huff, and Trey Murphy III were the standouts, but other players filled their roles perfectly, resulting in a superb team victory. The defense was rock-solid, and the offense was pretty dang good considering the poor 3-point shooting (3 of 15, matching a season low for made 3s).

The win set off a raucous celebration in the locker room. It also vaulted UVa’s 12th-year coach into some select company.
“It feels great,” Bennett said. “I told [the players] before the game, I took this job at Virginia to hopefully have chances at title fights. I can go back to the regular-season game against Syracuse [in 2014] at John Paul Jones Arena where it was one of the most special atmospheres and games. Conference [play] this year … we played the majority of our games on the road, all those things. To get it how we did it, I’m so grateful. It’s not lost on me.”
UVa, which moved up to No. 16 in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, played 9 of its 17 ACC games on the road, going 6-3 away from Charlottesville.

It came as a shock that Virginia was even going to have a chance to win the regular-season title.

All Florida State needed to do was defeat a subpar Notre Dame team in South Bend earlier in the day to take the crown and the No. 1 seed in this week’s ACC tournament. But the Fighting Irish played one of their best games of the season and won 83-73. The Seminoles, who defeated Virginia 81-60 in Tallahassee on Feb. 15, lost two of their final three games to finish 11-4 in the conference.
The players were aware of the opportunity the Irish gave them.

“When [FSU] ended up actually losing, we couldn’t have a blind eye to it,” Hauser said. “We knew what was at stake, and I think that gave us even more motivation for this game.”

It’s no secret Virginia had been struggling recently. The Wahoos lost three straight before beating a bad Miami team by 11 last Monday at home. It’s been tough for fans to notice any sort of championship quality in the ‘Hoos lately, though they showed potential at different points of the season.

But at UVa’s home away from John Paul Jones Arena, the KFC Yum! Center, the Cavaliers played their most complete game in a while, continuing to frustrate the Cardinals and coach Chris Mack, whose gyrations and gestures are annoying, yet mostly comical (in a Buzz Williams type of way), since the ‘Hoos beat his team so often. Virginia is 12-2 against the Cards since they joined the ACC.

Photo: Hauser gets ready to work over Dre Davis.

Hauser was spectacular throughout the contest, especially in the second half, when he scored 14 of his season-high 24 points. There was a stretch where it seemed like he couldn’t miss. The senior made 9 of his 14 shot attempts, including 2 of 5 from 3-point land. He added eight rebounds, two blocks, and an assist.

“[Hauser] put us for stretches on his back and was terrific,” Bennett said.

Added Mack: “I thought four or five of his makes were the kind that you can do nothing about.”
Hauser was happy to be a champion for the first time in his collegiate career.

“I’ve never been a part of a championship team [in college] until now, so for me, this is a first,” the Wisconsin native said. “I’m just excited that we got it.”

Murphy had a very good outing, recording 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He struggled from deep, making just 1 of 5, but that shows that Virginia did a good job of utilizing Murphy in other ways. The Cavaliers were able to get the ball to Murphy inside the arc several times, and he made a variety of back-door cuts and aggressive moves to drive toward the hoop or hit Hauser-like jumpers.

Murphy also tallied six boards, one assist, and one block. He had a somewhat surprising source of motivation for his best game in quite a while: his mom, who told him he “sucked” during portions of recent games.
Huff posted 10 points, six rebounds, and four blocks, moving past Mamadi Diakite for No. 2 at Virginia with 158 blocks. UVa made a concentrated effort to get Huff the ball early, which was great to see, and the big man responded by recording 6 of the team’s first 10 points, including an alley-oop jam off a Murphy assist to open the contest.
In the second half, every time the Cardinals made a play, the Cavaliers responded.

Hauser finally made UVa’s first triple with 15:45 remaining to give Virginia a 39-29 lead. Louisville’s David Johnson answered with his own 3. After a Hauser 2-pointer, the Cards went on a 6-0 run to cut the edge to 41-38. Hauser made two free throws, his second triple, and Murphy made his lone 3 to stretch the margin back to 49-41. But once again, Louisville came roaring back to make it 51-47.

That was when Bennett went with a lineup consisting of Murphy, Woldetensae, McKoy, Reece Beekman, and Kihei Clark. No Hauser. No Huff. Under normal circumstances, Virginia fans would hope that such a grouping could simply maintain a lead and not lose ground. This unconventional bunch actually padded the margin and put Louisville away.

“Those guys played their butts off,” Hauser said. “On the defensive end, they were phenomenal, and they were making really good plays on offense. I think that’s what really sealed us the game, that stretch when those guys were in.”

Woldetensae wasn’t the only one impacting the game during that stretch.

McKoy had 4 points and matched a career high with six rebounds. His second bucket came only a minute after the first, when Casey Morsell, who replaced Clark for a couple minutes, made an aggressive drive to the hoop, probably got fouled, and missed the layup, but McKoy was there for the tip in to make it 60-49.

“Justin gave us really good minutes,” Murphy said. “He came in and rebounded the ball really well offensively and defensively. We were just very connected the entire time, and it was the next-man-up mentality when people were in foul trouble. I’m super proud of everybody.”

Following a Louisville alley-oop, Virginia was able to keep it from seizing further momentum when McKoy and Murphy battled for an offensive rebound, and a foul was called on the Cardinals. Murphy made both free throws to make it 64-51.

Virginia went 11 for 11 at the line, and did receive some help from Louisville in that regard. The Cardinals made 11 for 17, with Johnson and Jae’lyn Withers combining to go 2 for 6 around the 10-minute mark of the second half. Had they made all of those, they would have tied the game at 51 instead of being down 51-47.

Beekman made two free throws to make it 62-49 and a very difficult shot in the lane with two minutes left to make it 66-55. He finished with 6 points, four assists, no turnovers, and three rebounds.

Clark had only 2 points on 1-for-7 shooting, but he added three assists, just two turnovers, and one board. UVa committed only five turnovers. Louisville took care of its possessions as well, with three.

Clark and Beekman played excellent defense on Jones, the Radford transfer who came into the game averaging 17.6 points. He managed just 6 points on 2-for-15 shooting.

“I think Kihei, and then when Reece was on [Jones], I thought they were really good,” Bennett said. “The [other] guys helped, but I thought [Kihei and Reece] took that challenge.”

UVa played well at the end of both halves, which was an encouraging element of this win. In addition to the elongated 17-11 stretch to conclude the contest, UVa ended the first half on a miniature 6-2 run. Huff blocked the Cardinals’ final shot attempt, causing Mack to slam his hand on the scorer’s table in frustration. We know very well from the Wahoos’ last tournament run how important it is to play well at the end of halves.

Johnson paced Louisville with 14 points. Withers scored 12 points, all in the second half. He entered having made six 3-pointers all season, but connected on 2 of 4. Samuell Williamson recorded 9 points and 10 boards. Louisville shot 36.8% from the field, including 5 of 13 on 3s. Virginia shot 51.9%. The Cavaliers won the rebounding battle, 31-26.

Virginia won by a comfortable 10-point margin despite not only bad 3-point shooting, but also some questionable calls. Clark got trucked in the first half but was whistled for a block. Huff was called for a very shaky three-second violation near the end of the first half. Louisville should’ve been called for a shot-clock violation in the opening moments of the second half. Instead, Quinn Slazinski ended up getting an offensive board, a foul was called on Hauser, and Slazinski made one free throw. With four minutes left, Hauser was getting hacked and grabbed, and somehow he was called for his fourth foul. That sequence led to the Cardinals cutting the lead from 13 to 9.

In other words, with average 3-point shooting and better officiating, this would’ve been a blowout.

UVa is 5-2 against Louisville inside the friendly confines of the KFC Yum! Center. Overall, it is 7-2 in that arena, with the other two victories coming against Oregon and Purdue during the magical NCAA championship run.

“We talked about what a title fight meant and being able to live with the results win or lose, but lay it on the line and don’t yield,” said Bennett, who noted the program’s special tournament moments in Louisville’s arena. “Sam, what he did was special. Trey, and just a bunch of guys [contributing], I think made it taste sweeter. I’m so grateful, I really am, because it’s been a unique year, to say the least, and we will remember it always. We’ll put a mask on the ACC trophy for sure.”

ACC tournament No. 1 seed Virginia faces No. 8 seed Syracuse or No. 9 seed N.C. State on Thursday at noon in Greensboro. The Orange and Wolfpack play each other at noon Wednesday. Syracuse defeated N.C. State twice this season, both times by single digits. UVa crushed the Orange in their lone meeting and split with the Pack.

Photo credits: Screenshot by me (top); ACC (bottom)

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