Gardner’s baseline jumper falls and ‘Hoos do just enough to survive versus Pittsburgh

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Virginia 57, Pittsburgh 56


Jayden Gardner grabbed an offensive rebound and lofted a 15-foot fadeaway from the baseline, and the ball kissed off every part of the rim and the backboard before finally falling through with 0.9 seconds left as Virginia survived at John Paul Jones Arena on Friday and defeated Pittsburgh.

Gardner’s Kawhi Leonard impersonation lifted Tony Bennett to a 13-0 record in ACC openers.
It wasn’t pretty, but after some of the gut-check and just bad losses the basketball team and football team have suffered over the past month or so, I’m not apologizing for a good ol’ lucky bounce and victory.

Gardner led all scorers with 15 points and notched the last 5 points of the game. UVa (6-3, 1-0 ACC) coughed up a 7-point lead with 5:50 remaining and saw the Panthers (2-6, 0-1) go on an 11-0 run to make it 56-52 with 25 seconds left.

On an inbounds play with 11.3 seconds left, Gardner took a pass from Kihei Clark, rose up, got hit, and made the shot plus the foul. He sank the free throw, setting up the final theatrics.

The Cavaliers did a nice job of defending Pitt, and William Jeffress failed to inbound the ball within five seconds, giving Virginia the ball right back. Bennett called timeout. Clark inbounded the ball to Gardner, who passed to Taine Murray, who launched a 3-pointer with about eight seconds to go.

Gardner and Kadin Shedrick hit the glass hard along with three Pitt players, and Gardner came away with the ball after Jeffress stumbled. The ball left Gardner’s hand with 4.1 seconds remaining and arched over Jamarius Burton’s outstretched arm.

Photo: Jayden Gardner shoots the winning basket. The East Carolina transfer recorded the last 5 points of the game. (Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress)

Gardner also had five rebounds, four assists, and a block. He frustrated Bennett at times with his defense and rebounding but still played 34 minutes.

Armaan Franklin was the only other Cavalier in double figures with 10 points, but he struggled mightily shooting the ball, going 0 for 6 on 3-pointers, a common refrain up and down the roster as UVa shot only 4 for 21 from beyond the arc. Franklin also had three rebounds and an assist.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, which entered the contest shooting 26.7% on 3s (338th nationally), somehow connected on 8 of 16.

Clark had 9 points, six assists, and five rebounds and was the only starter to hit a trey (1 for 2). He had three turnovers, and no one else had more than one as Virginia was again clean in that category with six. The ‘Hoos must be good this year in taking care of the ball to have a chance in most of these games. Pitt had 10 turnovers.

Shedrick had 6 points and two blocks but somehow no rebounds. He also continued to be a foul magnet and only played 20 minutes.

Francisco Caffaro tallied 6 points on 3-for-4 shooting and had two rebounds and a nice steal. He played 17 minutes and fouled out with 1:09 left, taking out his frustration on his water bottle when he got to the bench.

Taine Murray had 5 points and went 1 for 3 from deep. He hit his one trey in the corner near the Virginia bench, the same place he killed Iowa. He also had a nice Joe Harris-esque drive to the hoop for a layup. Murray added two rebounds and a block as well.

Kody Stattmann and Igor Milicic Jr. both saw a handful of minutes and had their struggles, but each hit a 3-pointer. Stattmann also posted an assist, and Milicic had two boards.
Considering its 3-point percentage, Virginia actually shot decently from the field overall at 46.2%. Pittsburgh shot 39.1%. The Cavaliers went 5 for 7 at the line, with both misses coming by Shedrick, part of his rough night. Making them would’ve given UVa an 8-point cushion with eight minutes left. The Panthers went 12 for 16. The Panthers won the rebounding battle 30-27.

The first half was pretty much even until the six-minute mark, when Virginia began to create some distance on the scoreboard. The ‘Hoos made it 30-20 with 4:26 remaining on a Franklin layup, but they let the Panthers creep back into it over the final few minutes and went into the locker room up 30-26.

That momentum carried into the second half for Pitt, which went up 38-34 on a Onyebuchi Ezeakudo triple with 14:40 left. Murray made his corner 3, and then Gardner scored in the lane to put UVa back up. Virginia led until Ezeakudo hit his second 3 with 52.9 seconds left.

Certainly, this was not the performance we were hoping for after a really nice second half against Iowa on Monday. The team looked lethargic throughout the game against what might end up being the last-place team in the conference. Talking “must win” is always hyperbolic this early, but this felt really close to that. The margin of error for this team is really small right now, in terms of winning and losing and in terms of trying to cobble together a decent NCAA tournament resume. An ACC win against a bad team at home is a must.

But as Val says, a win is a win is a win. Lord knows this team has won some ugly games over the years.

No UVa fans should be complaining about a victory, not after what we’ve endured since Halloween Eve when Brennan Armstrong broke some ribs against BYU, beginning a stretch in which we witnessed four losses for the football team and the eventual resignation of Bronco Mendenhall, a season-opening home loss on the hardwood to Patriot League power Navy, and an oh-so-close comeback snagged away versus Iowa.

Sometimes they say burn the tape and move on, but I imagine Bennett will be breaking down this tape with a sharp eye and have plenty to talk to his players about come practice. I still think this team has decent potential, but it needs to show more consistency. In a down ACC, there’s no reason this team can’t still have a top-five conference finish. Yeah, I said it. I don’t think anyone saw a second-place finish coming from the 2019-20 team, but it happened. This edition of the ‘Hoos just needs to keep grinding and see where it ends up.

Next up is James Madison on the road Tuesday, a game that’s been a year in the making. The Wahoos were going to help the Dukes open their new arena, Atlantic Union Bank Center, in 2020, but the game was pushed back to this season for obvious reasons. The game is sold out, and there will be plenty of UVa fans, but it’s going to also be a hostile environment as JMU tries to come up with a big win. Virginia better come out ready.

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