Virginia 74, Syracuse 69
There’s been plenty of bad mojo around Virginia athletics recently with football’s four-game losing streak and its Fenway Bowl appearance getting canceled because of COVID. Football being a letdown in November is nothing new. But often by December and the beginning of the new year, fans have turned their attention to the men’s basketball team, which is usually beginning to hit its stride early in ACC play. But we haven’t even been able to count on that this season, with reality smacking everyone in the face recently. Virginia’s first loss to James Madison and then a 17-point blowout by Clemson at John Paul Jones Arena have left us realizing this team just might not have that much success this year, and the NCAA tournament streak of seven years may well be coming to an end.
But Tony Bennett’s boys pulled us out of our doldrums with a classic and somewhat unexpected road win over Syracuse on Saturday.
UVa (8-5, 2-1 ACC) had four players in double figures — with three scoring at least 15 points — as it sliced and diced the vaunted 2-3 zone of Syracuse (7-6, 1-1), which isn’t looking too vaunted this year. The Cavaliers made 7 of their 20 3-pointers, shot 52.3% from the field overall, and got 11 points off the bench.
Kadin Shedrick and Reece Beekman get after Buddy Boeheim as Kihei Clark looks on. Virginia has won in its past four consecutive games at the Carrier Dome. (Dennis Nett/dnett@syracuse.com)
Armaan Franklin and Kihei Clark had 17 points each. Franklin made 3 of 9 3-pointers, the first time he’s made multiple treys since the win over Providence on Nov. 23. He went 7 of 15 from the field, hitting some midrange shots and attacking the rim as well.
“It always helps when your first couple shots go down,” Franklin said. “I’ve not been shooting it well lately, but I’m not going to come out of a shooting slump by not shooting, so I gotta keep going, keep putting in the work and hope it pays off, and today, it kind of did.”
Clark came alive with one of the best games of his career. After shooting a combined four shots the past two games, Clark posted a season-high 17 points on an efficient 6-for-9 performance from the field, dished out eight assists, and collected four rebounds, a steal, and even a block. He was extra pestlike on defense, holding Joe Girard III to 3 points.
Clark went 3 for 5 from deep and knocked down two huge ones late in the game: The first came with nine minutes left and gave UVa a 55-52 lead — an edge it kept the rest of the way — after the Boeheim brothers had tied the score with 5 straight points. Clark’s second huge triple reminded me of Ty Jerome’s dagger at Duke in 2018. Up just 3 with 3:30 left, Clark launched from deep and the ball calmly went through the hoop — a shot with a side of onions that came in a similar situation to Jerome’s, just not quite the same stage.
Jayden Gardner had 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting and collected four rebounds and four assists. He did this in only 21 minutes, as he got into foul trouble in both halves. He hit some nice jumpers in the middle of the zone and also cleaned up around the rim. Syracuse has not done a good job this year on the defensive glass, and Virginia capitalized on that with nine offensive boards.
Clark (right) was excellent, going 3 for 5 on 3-pointers and scoring 17 points while recording eight assists. (Dennis Nett/dnett@syracuse.com)
Virginia got out to a 10-3 lead thanks to the transfers, Gardner and Franklin, who scored all of those early points.
Kadin Shedrick recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and added two steals and a block. It was the most points Shedrick has scored since Nov. 19 against Coppin State when he had 10. It was also his best game against an ACC team. Shedrick seemed to be more aggressive in the second half, when he posted 7 of his points.
Reece Beekman rounded out the starters with just 2 points, but he played a great all-around game with five assists, four rebounds, two steals, and just one turnover. Virginia mostly limited its turnovers with nine. Clark had four of those, his one weakness in the contest.
Taine Murray played a crucial role off the bench, knocking down a baseline 3 in the first half and snaking his way into the lane for a Joe Harris-esque runner with the shot clock winding down. In the second half, in a tight spot with UVa up 61-57, Murray hit an insanely difficult baseline floater jumping off his right leg — which is tough to do when you are a righty. It was a crafty shot that reminded me of something Jerome or Kyle Guy would’ve done as seasoned juniors — a really great shot that came at important time. Murray needs to continue to get minutes because of his offensive potential. He may have mostly gotten these minutes Saturday because of Malachi Fields being on the COVID list.
Kody Stattmann tallied 4 points, his most since scoring 8 versus Coppin State. He also had two blocks — both coming while defending Boeheim — two rebounds, and an assist. He should’ve had two assists, but Francisco Caffaro fumbled away a zippy Stattmann pass in the first half. Stattmann also almost posterized Boeheim, having to settle for converting two free throws instead. It was a feel-good game for the beleaguered fourth-year.
Virginia has a ways to go before we’d call it an ACC contender or before we’d feel comfortable saying it is steering back toward NCAA tournament contention, but this was a definite step in the right direction. Syracuse may struggle to make the tournament as well, but the Orange are often floating around the bubble come March. Winning at the Carrier Dome is always a nice accomplishment, something Virginia has now done four consecutive times. Also, UVa has defeated Syracuse in seven of their past eight meetings.
This had to be one of my least anticipated ACC matchups in a while. I wasn’t expecting much and didn’t have my hopes up after what Clemson did to this team, but man did it respond. This is exactly what happens when you begin to doubt what Bennett can do with a squad.
The team looked really prepared, perhaps even more on offense than defense, though Syracuse’s defense probably played a part in that, and — news flash — making shots, especially 3-pointers, makes many offensive woes disappear. On Monday, Orange coach Jim Boeheim called his team’s defense “a disgrace.” Franklin and Clark mentioned after the game how much the extra days of practice between the Clemson and Syracuse games helped the team prepare for the zone.
“I think we had a good solid couple days of practice leading up to the game,” Franklin said. “Our scout team did a great job of reenacting what their zone was gonna be like, and I think we executed well in practice, and it translated over to the game.”
Defensively, Virginia was really only hurt by the Boeheim brothers. Buddy, who has struggled shooting 3-pointers, got going and went 5 for 11 from beyond the arc and put up 27 points. Syracuse went 10 for 30 on 3s. It was the second straight game against Virginia that Boeheim almost single-handedly lifted the Orange to a win. He had 31 when UVa edged Syracuse on Beekman’s buzzer-beating 3 in the ACC tournament last March.
Armaan Franklin (left) tied Clark for the team lead with 17 points. He made three 3-pointers but is still shooting just 21.9% from beyond the arc. (Dennis Nett/dnett@syracuse.com)
“Buddy made impossible shots,” his father said. “He’s playing one against two most of the time.”
Buddy’s older brother Jimmy scored 18 points, and no other Syracuse player scored in double figures. But Jimmy made only 2 of his 8 free throws, contributing to a lackluster performance from the stripe for the Orange: 15 of 23. Virginia was not the beneficiary of as many calls but made its shots at a bit better rate at 7 for 10.
“You can’t win these games if you go 2 for 8 from the foul line,” coach Boeheim said. “You’re not going to. I don’t normally put that on a player, but he’s my son, and he needs to make those.”
Virginia gave up 36 points in the second half, but it scored 41 itself. One weakness for Virginia continued to be defensive rebounding as it gave up it gave up 18 (!) offensive boards and a number of second-chance opportunities.
So it wasn’t a perfect performance by Virginia, and beating this Syracuse team is nothing to brag about. But it still was surprising coming off arguably its worst outing of the season. We should know by now to never underestimate Bennett’s teams. Just about every single year at UVa, Bennett’s teams have stunned us (at least mildly) for victories or made a mini-run. Even in year 1, when the Cavaliers finished 15-16, they began 3-0 in the ACC, including two ranked wins over N.C. State and Miami. In year 2, when they finished 16-15 and had ugly home losses to Seattle and Iowa State, the ‘Hoos finished the regular season by winning four of five games. In 2012-13, the same team that lost to five-win Old Dominion beat No. 3 Duke later in the season.
Even last season, the same team that won the ACC regular season lost to San Francisco and barely beat Kent State earlier in the year. Bennett has proven time and time again his teams are likely to improve over the course of the season and pick up unexpected victories. It’s just that so far, the cumulative results look more like a Bennett team from the first part of his tenure rather than the second half of his tenure. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t in for some treats. My advice is to try to lower your expectations as much as possible, sit back, and enjoy the ride to see what other presents this year brings. Next up, Tuesday night on the road, the ‘Hoos get a chance to right some wrongs they made against Clemson on Dec. 22.
“Watch film, get back to the drawing board, try to fix our mistakes,” Clark said of the rematch. “It’s always nice to go out there and compete, and coming off of a loss obviously we want to get one back at their house. So we’ll be prepared.”
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