‘Classic Virginia’: Cavaliers put on vintage performance to win eighth straight nonconference tourney

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Virginia 58, Providence 40

Virginia followed up its best half of the season against Georgia by playing its most complete game of the season Tuesday in defeating previously perfect Providence in Newark, N.J., to win the Roman Legends Classic. UVa has now won eight straight November nonconference tournaments, a fairly bizarre stat.
I’d rather dominate another tourney, but we embrace all wins around here.

Speaking of perfect, Jayden Gardner was nearly perfect shooting the ball, going 8 for 9 from the field and 5 for 5 at the line on his way to a game-high 21 points, and he polished off a sweet double-double with 13 boards. His one flaw in this game was turnovers: He had four, contributing to 15 for UVa, which had a tough time taking care of the ball a day after only committing four turnovers versus Georgia.

Armaan Franklin got hot early from beyond the arc and also got a little lucky with a banked-in 3 on his second attempt that gave Virginia the lead with 15:10 remaining in the first half, an edge it never gave up. Franklin then got in foul trouble but still came up with 14 points on 4-for-6 3-point shooting and an assist and a steal. He did have four turnovers.

How good were the two transfers, Gardner and Franklin, especially early? They combined for Virginia’s first 19 points.
Kihei Clark had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, making 2 of his 5 3-pointers for the second night in a row, plus five assists and three rebounds and just one turnover. He also was part of a strong perimeter defensive group that absolutely strangled the Friars.

Providence (5-1) shot a measly 23.5% from the field, including a 3-for-22 outing from deep. Just a day earlier against Northwestern, the Friars made 14 of 29 3-point attempts. The Friars did go 13 of 18 from the free throw line versus Virginia, as the referees really seemed to favor them early in the second half.

Virginia (4-2), meanwhile, shot 48.9% from the field, including 6 for 12 from deep, and 8 for 10 at the line.

Another defensive storyline is Shedrick’s Block Party. Some players hunt shots. Shedrick hunts blocks. The sophomore was again a menace on the inside, collecting five blocks to go along with 4 points and seven boards. His timing on help-defense blocks is very good. The North Carolina native is now averaging 3.3 blocks.

Reece Beekman swore off 3-pointers in this game, not taking any attempts, which was probably for the best — especially when Franklin and, to a lesser degree, Clark are on. Beekman did go 2 for 8 from the field on his way to 5 points, seven assists, four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. Most important, Beekman did not commit a turnover.

Jayden Gardner battles with Providence's Ed Croswell ... for some reason. But it may have turned out well for Gardner because he finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. (Frank Franklin II/Associated Press)

Francisco Caffaro played 16 pretty strong minutes, recording 4 points, seven rebounds, and a block.

Kody Stattmann (13 minutes), Malachi Poindexter (six), Igor Milicic Jr. (three), and Carson McCorkle (one) each got a little bit of time but didn’t score any points.

UVa took the lead for good at 10-7 and led 30-15 at the half, by far the fewest points it has allowed in a half this season. The defense has seemingly come a long way from allowing Navy to put up 42 points in the first half of the season-opener. This was a vintage Virginia win.

Through the first few minutes of the second half, the Cavaliers maintained a comfortable margin. But the Friars made a run, beginning around the 15-minute mark, when it was 40-23. They were helped along by what seemed like some one-sided refereeing and/or some dumb Virginia fouls.

UVa had a bit of a hard time with Providence’s press, too. At one point, the Friars followed up a 3-pointer that made it 42-31 by knocking the ball away from Clark in the backcourt. A Providence player made a leaping dive to save the ball. One of his feet was on the out-of-bounds line, but the the play wasn’t reviewed. Two free throws made it 42-33.

A possession later, Poindexter fouled a 3-point shooter, who made the deep shot but missed his free throw.

At that point, Virginia led 42-36 with 10:50 left. That’s what the score remained for a little over two minutes. During the time, Beekman had one of his two blocks as he was getting backed down in the lane.

The scoreless streak was emphatically snapped when Shedrick slammed a Beekman miss to make it 44-36 with 8:33 remaining. A minute later, Gardner made a shot plus the foul and made his free throw, giving the ‘Hoos a comfortable 47-36 advantage.

Shedrick also made a really good patient play with 3:17 left and the ‘Hoos up 49-39. After receiving an entry pass, he kept the ball high, kept it away from defenders, and instead of going up right away, took a dribble, gathered himself, and then went up with a sweet baby hook.

One might even classify the ending run as a Cavalanche: After Providence made it 42-36, UVa closed the game on a 16-4 run.
This was definitely the most “classic Virginia” victory of the young season. The win over Georgia was nice, but the Bulldogs aren’t expected to be that good. Providence was 5-0 heading into this contest and is usually at least worthy of NCAA tournament bubble consideration late in the season.

Yet the Cavaliers controlled the action almost from start to finish for their third straight win.

The team is slowly building confidence and learning how to play the right way. On Friday, Virginia returns home to face Lehigh (1-4), which has been in almost every game it has lost. Hopefully the Wahoos won’t have many problems with the Mountain Hawks. If the team is really improving, it should win fairly easily.

Then on Monday comes another bigger test: high-scoring and undefeated-as-of-now Iowa visits John Paul Jones Arena for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

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