Louisville Game Report

ACC Tournament Bracket | Matt Riley Photo Gallery | Postgame Notes | Box Score | Video Highlights | Season Statistics | Jeff White’s Twitter

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
 
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Had Tony Bennett chosen to climb the ladder last to cut down the final strand of net Saturday evening, nobody in John Paul Jones Arena would have given it a second thought. Bennett, after all, is the architect of one of the nation’s premier basketball programs.
 
But Virginia’s head coach wanted his team’s only senior, a beloved figure inside and outside JPJ, to have that honor. And so after Bennett descended the ladder, he handed the scissors to Jack Salt, who added the exclamation point to the celebration that followed second-ranked UVA’s 73-68 win over Louisville.
 
To the delight of the thousands of fans who stayed in their seats after the final horn sounded, Salt held the net aloft in triumph, as his teammates and coaches beamed on the court around him.
 
Salt, who redshirted as a freshman in 2014-15, said he was thinking that it “was amazing just to be a part of this team. I’ve been here for five years. I’ve been here awhile. The bond I have shared with the players and the coaches is something I’ll never forget.”
 
With the victory, the Cavaliers (28-2, 16-2) clinched their fourth ACC regular-season title in six years. But their focus coming into the regular-season finale, junior guard Ty Jerome said, was on sending Salt, a 6-10 center from New Zealand, out on high note in his final game at JPJ.
 
“That’s what we talked about before the game,” Jerome said. “We didn’t talk about the title. We talked about sending him off the right way, because of all that he’s done for this program, all he’s done for each of us, and just who he is as a person.”
 
Salt said: “That means a lot. I’ve built such a good relationship with all the guys here, and that’s probably the biggest thing I’m going to take away from my five years, just the friends and the family I’ve made.”
 
Junior guard Kyle Guy echoed Jerome’s comments when asked about Salt, who’s started 103 games in his UVA career.
 
“He’s such a servant, so humble and doesn’t ask for any recognition,” Guy said. “So we made a point that we wanted to win for him and his legacy. His legacy is far beyond the basketball court. He’s meant so much to us as a role model and a leader and a teammate and brother.”
 
In 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2017-18, the Wahoos won the ACC regular-season championship outright. This year they share the title with North Carolina. But UVA defeated UNC in the teams’ only regular-season meeting and so will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, which starts Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C.
 
Virginia has a double-bye and will play in the 12:30 p.m. quarterfinal Thursday.
 
Second-half comebacks have been a trademark of this UVA team. In the past month, the ‘Hoos have rallied to win at North Carolina, at Louisville, and at Syracuse.
 
Virginia found itself down again Saturday against Louisville (19-12, 10-8), which opened the second half with a 14-4 run to take a 47-40 lead. As usual, the Cavaliers refused to panic.
 
Guy hit a 3-pointer, Jerome scored on a layup, and 6-9 redshirt junior Mamadi Diakite dunked (off one of Jerome’s game-high six assists) to make it 47-47. The Cardinals fought back and opened a six-point lead with 10:43 to play, only to see UVA rally again.
 
Virginia went ahead for good on two free throws by Jerome with 5:34 remaining. That started an 11-2 run for the Cavaliers.
 
“The last three, four minutes, they looked like a team that had been there before,” Louisville head coach Chris Mack said. “We’re getting there.”
 
The victory was UVA’s ninth straight over Louisville. When the teams met Feb. 23 at the KFC Yum! Center, Virginia won 64-52 despite making only 2 of 17 shots from 3-point range. Neither Guy nor Jerome, who was recovering from a back injury, had a trey in that game.
 
“After I shot so badly at their place, I was really excited to play them again,” Jerome said Saturday.
 
He dominated the rematch. The 6-5 Jerome finished with 24 points, six assists, four rebounds and a game-high two steals. He had only one turnover.
 
“Ty Jerome was so complete,” said Bennett, for whom there are few higher compliments about a basketball player.
 
His Louisville counterpart marveled at No. 11’s performance, too. Mack said he told his “staff at halftime [that Jerome] looked a lot quicker today. He’s got great size. He’s so composed. His ability to read a ball-screen [and make] some of those hook passes with a couple seconds left in the shot clock, not too many college players can make that play.”
 
Jerome hit three treys Saturday, as did Guy, who finished with 13 points. Redshirt sophomore De’Andre Hunter, who came in averaging 15.4 points per game, missed 10 of 13 shots from the floor, but 6-8 junior Braxton Key and 7-1 redshirt sophomore Jay Huff each contributed nine points off the bench.
 
Key hit a clutch 3-pointer late in the game, and he also had five rebounds and two blocked shots. Huff made a career-high three 3-pointers – he was perfect from beyond the arc – and his final trey, with 5:08 to play, pushed UVA’s lead to 66-62 and elicited an arena-shaking roar from the sellout crowd.
 
“I think that is the key: having different guys [step up] at different times,” Bennett said. “That has to happen for us to be successful in single-elimination tournaments now.”
 
Guy said: “I think today was a true testament of how unselfish our team is and how everyone knows their role. Everyone did the little things.”
 
HOME SWEET HOME: In 10 seasons under Bennett, the Cavaliers are 143-26 at JPJ. When his team returned from the locker room after the game to cut down the net, Bennett took the microphone and addressed the crowd.
 
“I want to thank you guys,” Bennett said. “You’ve made this place one of the toughest home-court atmospheres in the country.”
 
Later, during his press conference, Bennett again saluted the fans, whose impact was palpable during the Cavaliers’ second-half comeback.
 
“We needed that,” he said. “You could feel it, because that was a hard-fought game, and they were terrific.”
 
UVA fans, Bennett said, have “appreciated guys like Jack Salt, they’ve appreciated hard-fought defense, unselfish basketball, and then the individual gifts and talents that these players have. I think they’re a smart crowd and they’re educated [about basketball], and we needed every ounce of it today. You could feel it, so a big assist to the crowd.”
 
GRAND FINALE: In a Senior Day ceremony before the game, Salt was recognized, along with team managers Ben Buell, Justin Maxey and Faris Wasim.
 
Accompanying Salt were his parents and his sister, who’s on the rowing team at Oklahoma.
 
“I was very happy to have all of my family here,” Salt said. “This is the most family I’ve had to a game, and to walk on the floor with my mom, dad and sister, it meant a lot to me.”
 
Back problems have hindered Salt recently, and he played only 11 minutes and 50 seconds Saturday. But he started the game with flourish, winning the opening tip and then, moments later, passing to Guy for a 3-pointer.
 
Salt also had an offensive rebound and a blocked shot in the first six minutes.
 
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “I’m just trying give anything I can to this team to help us get a win. So I’ll be ready for the next two tournaments we play, and I’m looking forward to it.”
 
THEY SAID IT: With the win, UVA reached the 28-victory mark for the fifth time in the past six seasons. Among the postgame comments:
 
* Bennett on whether he thought this team, which had to replace mainstays Isaiah Wilkins and Devon Hall, could be this successful in the regular season: “You always hope, but you never know. I knew that we needed everybody. We used our theme of United Pursuit. We’re going to pursue it for all we’re worth and be united in the hard stuff and in the successes. Guys certainly improved. We got lifts. It was really different guys at different times, and obviously the key guys had terrific years. But to be able to do it in this league over almost three months and 18 games, it’s really a test of consistency, and they answered the bell.”
 
* Key, who transferred to UVA from Alabama last summer, on cutting down the net: “It was awesome. I’ve never done that in my career, so it was fun and humbling to finally do that. Hopefully I’ve got a lot more [of that] in the future.”
 
* Jerome on Virginia’s poise in pressure situations: “We’ve been here before. We’re experienced, and our coaches preach that every possession matters. Every game and every point of the game. So I guess, late in the game it’s the same mindset that we have. Every possession matters.”
 
* Guy on the benefit of winning a close game: “I think there’s no better way to prepare us for what were about to get into, in this gauntlet that we’re able to start.”
 
* Jerome on celebrating the program’s latest championship with a net-cutting ceremony: “You can’t take that for granted. You’ve got to be really thankful for that. Now we just gotta get back in the gym and work even harder and find an extra gear going forward.”
 
* Mack on the Cavaliers: “They’ve got a chance to win it all … They know who they are. They know what their identity is.”
 
* Bennett to the fans at JPJ after the game: “We celebrate with great thankfulness in our hearts, and we’re going to enjoy this. Go ‘Hoos!”