Beekman’s 3-pointer and a gritty team effort lift ‘Hoos over No. 7 Duke

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Virginia 69, No. 7 Duke 68

Through 39 minutes and 52.8 seconds of Monday’s game at Duke, Virginia had hit exactly one 3-pointer. And yet, the Wahoos still had a chance to knock off the No. 7-ranked team in the country.

With 7.2 seconds remaining, Reece Beekman threw the ball inbounds to Kihei Clark, snuck out to the 3-point line, received a pass from Clark, and then let it fly.

Bang! Virginia 69, Duke 68. Final.

Tony Bennett said after the game that associate head coach Jason Williford – who made it known how much he hates Duke during a dust-up between the benches early in the second half – drew up the play.

“Had we lost, it would have been his fault, not mine,” Bennett said. “Just kidding.”
Virginia (15-9, 9-5 ACC) originally had Clark inbounding, but when he couldn’t get the ball in over Duke 7-foot center Mark Williams, Clark called timeout. When the teams went back out on the court, Beekman was the passer.

“We ran a zone play,” Williford said in a quote appearing on VirginiaSports.com. “But we couldn’t get it in, and we called timeout. We didn’t get a look [inside], but we said, ‘Look, if we don’t have anything, get it out.’”
The Cavaliers picked up the potentially season-changing victory on Beekman’s 3, but he was far from the only hero on a night that Virginia fans witnessed a total team effort to take down the Blue Devils (19-4, 9-3) on the road, only the program’s second win at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995, with the first of course coming four years ago when Ty Jerome’s memorable triple sealed it with under a minute remaining.

Let’s look at the contributions of each player as we take in some of the most significant moments of the game.

Beekman: The sophomore point guard is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. He finished with 7 points on 3-for-7 shooting, three assists, two steals, and a rebound. He also had no turnovers, on a night when UVa was brilliant with its ball security with only five.

As Bennett has pointed out on multiple occasions, Beekman’s feel for the game is outstanding. No steal was bigger than the one with 1:49 left in the game. Beekman had just driven into the lane and gotten his shot blocked by Theo John. Jeremy Roach ended up with the ball, and Beekman stealthily came from under the basket, stole the ball, and made a shot while getting fouled. He missed the free throw but had tied the game at 66. That type of play is more typical of a senior, and you still rarely see it. It is probably more common to see a game-winning 3 with under 10 seconds left than to see that type of sneaky play. Beekman showed incredible intelligence and toughness, not giving up right after getting his shot was blocked.

“That [play] fired me up,” Bennett said.

Reece Beekman shoots the game-winning 3-pointer, with Paolo Banchero flying in for the block attempt. (UVa Athletics Media Relations)

And then on the huge 3-pointer, Beekman waited out of bounds for just a second after passing the ball, letting some of the craziness ensue before he quietly picked his spot, unnoticed. The trey was reminiscent of the game-winning 3 he hit against Syracuse in last season’s ACC tournament.

“Just another big shot, and I hit it,” the soft-spoken Milwaukee native said.

Beekman – despite picking up no more than three fouls in any game this season — got the full Cameron treatment, picking up his third foul in the first minute of the second half, though I will say that particular foul was Beekman’s mistake. He should’ve just let Williams dunk the ball. Beekman left the game and reentered with just more than 12 minutes remaining and then was whistled for his fourth foul with 7:27 left. He exited again and then came back on with a few minutes left. Despite playing just 25 minutes and shuffling on and off the court, Beekman remained locked in when he was in the game and delivered when it mattered most.

Clark: From the jump, Clark seemed determined to mess up coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game versus Virginia. Perhaps the Duke students who spelled out “KIHEI IS SHORT” in body paint got him fired up — yeah right. I’m sure the kid who made one of the biggest passes in NCAA tournament history DID NOT get rattled by a bunch of nerds saying something he already knew. Clark entered as the only player with major playing experience at Cameron Indoor when it is full of fans. He’s heard all the insults over his four years there and at other venues. He was just there to ball out.

Clark didn’t have a great day from the field, going 4 for 11, but he did enough penetrating and probing to set the tone for Virginia’s offense. Early on, he put one-time Virginia recruit Trevor Keels in the spin cycle on a nifty layup. He finished with 8 points, nine assists, two rebounds, two steals, and two turnovers. His biggest play barely showed up on the stat sheet, when he tied up John after the late rebound of Armaan Franklin’s miss. That quick reaction gave Virginia another crack at tying or winning. Clark also caused the other tie-up with Roach with three minutes left — which went Duke’s way — that ultimately then put the possession arrow in Virginia’s favor when it came down to crunch time.

Perhaps the coolest play Clark made all game, though, was his half-court alley-oop to Kadin Shedrick. The way he slowed down at half court and sort of hunched down to throw the scent off what he was getting ready to do was crafty, definitely in the same vein as Beekman pretending to lollygag and then stealing the ball from Roach. That monstrous dunk made it 57-52 with 7:50 remaining.

Jayden Gardner: Gardner led the team with some of the quietest 17 points you’re going to see, and that’s because he doesn’t fly through the air for alley-oops or hit 3-pointers, but his contributions are huge all the same. His biggest contribution was on the defensive end, as he held Paolo Banchero scoreless in the second half. In fact, Banchero didn’t even take a shot until his final desperation heave as time expired. Duke’s freshman star was held to 9 points, the fewest of his career.

“We had to double [Banchero] sometimes in the post, and then sometimes I was just left one-on-one,” Gardner said. “I just had to hold my own out there, and I think that’s what we did.”

“Jayden’s been coming [defensively],” Bennett said. “He’s sliding well, and obviously he’s strong himself. And so we just tried to give as much help as we could and challenge him to not give [Banchero] open looks. … Jayden, he spread out and made [Banchero] work for his looks. [Banchero’s] so talented, you can see that, but again, the game doesn’t change. You make them shoot contested shots, and you work to get good shots. Win the majority of those battles, and you can be successful.”

Gardner did a good job of making his usual variety of shots in the lane and around the basket, going 8 for 19. He missed a couple he usually makes but also got bumped a couple times with no call.

Gardner drew a foul on Banchero in the first half and did a nice job battling down low despite his height. Gardner finished with eight rebounds, two assists, and a block. He also gets credit for being part of the tip-out crew on Franklin’s late miss that helped put Clark in position for the held ball.

“I just can’t believe we got the win at Cameron,” said Gardner, who is from Wake Forest, N.C., and transferred from East Carolina. “I get to come home and get a big win at Duke. It’s just something you dream about as a kid. … It’s really surreal.”

Shedrick: The sophomore big man is another North Carolina native who got to have a huge game in his home state, totaling a career-high 16 points on perfect 8 for 8 shooting. Shedrick made a bunch of dunks and short shots. His early tip-in on a free throw miss by Franklin contributed to what was a 3-point possession for UVa, especially critical in what ended up being a 1-point game that saw UVa make only two traditional 3-pointers. Another play that stood out was his hustle to run the floor and catch the alley-oop from Clark. Perhaps my favorite Shedrick play was when he stormed in and jumped over Banchero to slam back a Gardner miss. It typified the sort of blue-collar, no-holds-barred effort Virginia brought into Cameron.

Shedrick finished with eight rebounds and, like Gardner, drew an offensive foul, getting knocked in the head by a Williams elbow, for Williams’ fourth foul. He played 24 minutes and was only called for two fouls, an impressive feat to achieve at Cameron considering how much of a foul magnet he was earlier this year. Shedrick was also the second half of the tip-out crew on Franklin’s late miss that helped put Clark in a position to get the held ball.

“Everybody dreams about playing in here,” Shedrick said. “This is the first time I’ve ever been here with fans, so the atmosphere lived up to the hype, for sure. So that was crazy. That meant a lot to me. That was a big game.”

Added Beekman, on Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro: “I’m so proud of them. I told Kadin after the game, ‘You played a great game.’ Seeing them improve over time, I think everybody is seeing the work they’re putting in, on offense and defense.”
Franklin: The junior transfer from Indiana got things started for Virginia by scoring the first 4 points of the game. He finished the first half with 8 and the game with 11, cooling off after his performance versus Miami by going 1 for 6 from long range and 4 for 13 overall. He had a good look to tie the game late, with the ball just rolling off the rim. Franklin also recorded four steals, three rebounds, and three assists.

Caffaro: The big bruiser was not as fortunate as Shedrick, getting in foul trouble early and often, playing only 16 minutes. Still, Caffaro was solid when he was on the court, scoring 8 points on 3-for-6 shooting. He also collected six boards.

Kody Stattmann: In a game in which every bucket was valuable, Stattmann had an important contribution. Midway through the first half, Clark blasted by the Duke defense and put up a reverse layup but missed in traffic. Stattmann was there for the rebound and putback plus the foul, though he missed the free throw. The Aussie also tallied two rebounds and an assist, and in watching the highlights, it looks like he should’ve been credited with at least one block as well.

Malachi Poindexter: With Beekman getting in foul trouble, Bennett had to go deeper on his bench, deciding to put walk-on Poinexter in the game for extended minutes for the first time since the Clemson home loss. Poindexter’s job was to not mess up and not help Duke get back in the game. I thought he held his own. Virginia didn’t play as well with him in the game and Beekman out, obviously, but it wasn’t a disaster. Poindexter played some solid D and recorded two rebounds. He didn’t take a shot, likely a smart move by him.
For the game, Virginia shot 47.7% from the field compared to Duke’s 42.3%. Duke went 6 for 17 from 3-point range, better than Virginia, but the Blue Devils never really went on a run from deep. And that advantage was negated by UVa’s other-worldly 52-28 edge in points in the paint — simply awesome work around the basket from the ‘Hoos.

Duke excelled at the line — which they got to many times, of course — converting on 18 of 22 attempts. Virginia went 5 for 9. The result ended up being what we wanted, but Beekman’s missed free throw after his steal and score and Franklin splitting a pair late hurt. Duke outrebounded Virginia, but the ‘Hoos hung tough on the boards, 36-30.

Williams led Duke with 16 points. Keels was the only other Blue Devil in double figures with 12. A.J. Griffin, who had scored at least 10 points in eight of the team’s past 11 games and put up 27 at North Carolina on Saturday, recorded just 2 points. Duke had 14 turnovers compared to Virginia’s five, and the Wahoos turned those into 20 points. Banchero was tagged with four turnovers.

This was just an amazing effort from the ‘Hoos, who entered the game with a winning attitude. They didn’t come in just looking to compete. They came to Cameron to win. I think it is fair to say the players weren’t in the right space mentally at times earlier this season. But they came prepared for battle Monday. They took the fight right to Duke and jumped out to a 32-20 lead in the first half. That had to be huge in pushing their confidence level even higher.

Virginia’s players were more physical than Duke’s and tougher, despite being outsized. When the refereeing got one-sided, especially in the second half, the Cavaliers kept their composure and just kept making plays, staying ahead for most of the final 20 minutes and never falling behind by more than one basket after Duke took the lead with four minutes left. They didn’t panic. The ‘Hoos gave themselves a chance in crunch time and then executed.

The whole time, the steady leadership of Bennett guided the ship.

“I got a text from my dad [before the game],” Bennett said. “And he just simply said, ‘Lace ‘em up, and do it again.’ You have a tendency sometimes to make this bigger than it is when you come in here, because it’s an unbelievable atmosphere. You grow up watching it, you know how talented their team is, Coach K, all that. We just said, ‘Be laser-focused to start and play our game, get it to our kind of game if we can and battle.’”

And battle they did.

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