Supporting Cast Key for Cavaliers
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By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. – At Alabama, where he started 37 games, Braxton Key averaged 29.8 minutes as a freshman in 2017-17 and 25.2 as a sophomore.
At Virginia, to which Key transferred last summer, his profile is lower. He’s started only six games and averages 20.7 minutes for a team that earned a share of the ACC regular-season title and plays Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament’s second round Sunday night at Colonial Life Arena.
Would he like to play more? Of course. But Key, a 6-8, 225-pound forward who leads the Cavaliers in rebounding and is second in steals, said he knows patience is required in head coach Tony Bennett’s program.
“It’s definitely difficult,” Key said Saturday. “You obviously want to go out there and give the team whatever you feel you can. But you just have to trust the process and know that you have to sacrifice sometimes for the betterment of the team.”
Fellow reserves Mamadi Diakite and Jay Huff are in similar situations. Neither knows from game to game exactly what his role will be, but each, like Key, is an integral part of the program.
“I couldn’t be more proud of those guys,” Bennett said. “At times, they’re playing big minutes, and their time is still coming. Not everybody can play 30 minutes a game or 35, but I’ve liked their attitudes, and I love that at just the right times, they’ve stepped up.”
Key said: “We all know, whether you’re on the court or off the court, it’s not about me, it’s about we. We’re focused on winning and advancing.”
Some transfers have a year in which to adjust to a new system. The NCAA granted immediate eligibility to Key, which was his preference. But that gave him little time to adjust to the Pack Line defense and deliberate offense for which Bennett’s teams are known.
“I think there is always a learning curve when you come from a different system,” Bennett said.
That’s especially true for a player trying to grasp the nuances of the Pack Line, the man-to-man defense created by Bennett’s father, Dick.
Most college teams are “trying to pressure a lot and trying to force a lot of turnovers,” Key said. “You’re not really worried about being in gaps and being in passing lanes. You usually have one guy in help [defense], and everyone else is kind of denying.
“At ‘Bama, at least, we pushed everything baseline, so this was definitely very difficult for me to adjust to, but I think I’m getting used to it now.”
At approximately 7:45 p.m. Sunday, UVA (30-3), the No. 1 seed in the South Region, meets ninth-seeded Oklahoma (20-13), with the winner advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. Key’s blue-collar work was crucial in the Wahoos’ tournament opener.
“He was an important part of this,” Bennett said.
In 11-plus minutes off the bench Friday afternoon, he contributed five points, three rebounds and two steals and took a charge as UVA rallied for a 71-56 win over No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb.
“What he did was phenomenal for us,” junior guard Kyle Guy said. “Even though he may not play 30 minutes a game, what he brings to the table in his 15 to 20 minutes is invaluable.”
Sitting behind the Cavaliers’ bench Friday night was Ralph Sampson, the basketball legend whom Key calls “Uncle Ralph.” Sampson is the son of Key’s grandfather’s sister.
“It’s always good to see him,” Key said.
Key, who spent the 12th grade at Oak Hill Academy in Southwest Virginia, rooms on the road with Guy. They’ve been friends since their days on the high school all-star circuit. When Key decided to leave Alabama last year, Guy encouraged him to consider Virginia, a program with whose coaching staff Key was familiar. But Guy was honest about life as a Cavalier.
“One thing I know about how I recruited him was I was transparent, and one thing I know for sure was Coach Bennett was transparent too,” Guy said. “He probably said, ‘I’m not going to give you minutes. You gotta earn everything. You’re not going to come in shooting 15 shots a game.’ [Bennett] probably laid it all out for him, and he still chose to come here. That shows you that he wanted to be here and he wanted to be a part of this.”
Bennett has taken several transfers during his 10 seasons at Virginia, including Key, Anthony Gill and Nigel Johnson.
“You just want guys that are willing to go get everything that they earn,” Bennett said. “Sometimes they maybe earn less than they get, but will they be willing to be united in the pursuit of what we’re trying to do?”
NEW CHALLENGE: Gardner-Webb had no starters taller than 6-6. Oklahoma, which demolished eighth-seeded Mississippi 95-72 in the first round Friday, employs a more conventional lineup. The Sooners’ starters included 6-9, 222-pound Brady Manek, 6-7, 222-pound Kristian Doolittle and 6-6, 217-pound Rashard Odomes.
“To me, they look a little bit like Florida State,” Key said of the Sooners. “They’re bigger guys, bigger wings.”
Like UVA, Oklahoma played in the Battle 4 Atlantic tournament in the Bahamas in November. They haven’t met, however, since Nov. 23, 2010, when the Cavaliers defeated the Sooners 75-56 at the Maui Invitational.
That was Bennett’s second season at Virginia, where he was still laying the foundation of what has become one of the nation’s top programs. His record with the ‘Hoos is 249-89, with a school-record six consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament.
His counterpart, Lon Kruger, is a towering figure in the sport, too. Kruger was the first coach to lead five different schools to the NCAA tournament. One of those schools was Illinois, where Kruger battled Wisconsin teams coached by Dick Bennett.
“Coach Kruger is one of the best coaches there is,” Tony Bennett said. “When I was [an assistant] at Wisconsin, he was in the Big Ten, and I’ve followed him and have a great amount of respect for him.”
Kruger has led two teams to the Final Four: Florida in 1994 and Oklahoma in 2016. He said Saturday that the younger Bennett’s teams at UVA remind him of Dick Bennett’s at Wisconsin.
“Maybe a little bit different style in a way, but still the difficulty in playing against him is very similar,” Kruger said.
SMALL WORLD: Virginia center Jack Salt’s sister, Sophie, is a sophomore on the rowing team at Oklahoma, where she was an All-Big 12 selection last year.
When they were growing up on the other side of the world in Auckland, New Zealand, Jack Salt said Saturday, never did the siblings talk about the NCAA basketball tournament or envision this scenario.
“I didn’t even consider college [in the United States] till late in my junior year, and then my sister didn’t get any offers till her senior year,” Salt said. “So this is really a shock.”
His sister won’t be at the game Sunday night, Salt said, but they speak to each other every day.
“As soon as the bracket came out, I texted her, and she was excited,” he said.
He has another tie to Oklahoma. One of the Sooners’ reserves, 6-10 redshirt junior Matt Freeman, attended Westlake Boys High in Auckland, where he played with Salt.
PRESS ON: In last year’s NCAA tournament, as has been exhaustively chronicled, UVA became the first No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No. 16 seed, falling to UMBC in Charlotte, N.C.
Against another No. 16 seed, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing by 14 points in the first half Friday. But they steadied themselves and won going away against Gardner-Webb.
“I think how we won yesterday is a huge testament of our growth from last year,” Guy said Saturday. “Last year, we were in the same situation, and we panicked as an entire program, and this year we didn’t, and we took care of business and got the job done. Yeah, we can breathe a little bit easier now, but at the same time, it’s the NCAA Tournament, so like you said, we’re not relaxed. We’re not content by any means. We still have our foot on the gas and [are] trying to go as far as we can.”