Hoos Deliver Crowd-Pleasing Performance

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Crowds for men’s basketball games at John Paul Jones Arena this season have been smaller and less raucous than in years past, in part because of the COVID-19 protocols in place. Virginia fans turned out in force Saturday night, however, and they had plenty to cheer.

Against Miami, one of the ACC’s upper-tier teams, UVA took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by guard Armaan Franklin with 13:33 left in the first half. Franklin, a transfer from Indiana, finished with a game-high 22 points and added three rebounds, four assists and four steals in the Cavaliers’ 71-58 victory.

“I thought this was a very fine performance from him, which I was grateful for,” UVA head coach Tony Bennett said.

Virginia (14-9 overall, 8-5 ACC) led by 21 points when, with 1:35 to play, Bennett substituted for Franklin, Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman, Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick. They left to a standing ovation from the crowd of 14,089, the second-largest at JPJ this season.

Concession stands at the arena, which were closed for the Wahoos’ previous two home games, were open again Saturday night. That added to the festive atmosphere.

“I think when you’re hydrated and you’re nourished you can go a little harder and yell a little more,” Bennett said, smiling. “So I think that the concession stands opening up allowed the sugar rush, the caffeine burst, all that stuff. But, no, the crowd was great tonight. It was good to see that.”

Franklin said: “It’s always a boost when the crowd is going like that and can get you going on runs. They were a big help today.”

For the first time since early last month, the Wahoos have posted back-to-back wins. They defeated Boston College 67-55 at JPJ on Tuesday night.

“I think we’ve slowly been improving,” Bennett said, “and sometimes in that improvement … we’ll take a step back here and there, but slowly there’s been improvement in terms of that, and the experience of more games and guys playing together, I think, has helped. But that’s what you’re always chasing: chasing quality, chasing improvement. I think guys are a little more settled in and understand what it’s going to take and how you have to play.”

Virginia turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes and fell behind 10-7. But Franklin responded with seven straight points, and the Cavaliers rarely stumbled the rest of the way. The 58 points were a season low for Miami (16-7, 8-4).

“I thought we established some real quality basketball on both ends, and guys worked,” Bennett said.

The Hurricanes have supremely gifted perimeter players in Kameron McGusty, Charlie Moore and Isaiah Wong, and their one-on-one skills challenged Virginia’s Pack Line defense.

“You could see when we were just off a little bit or made a little breakdown, they could just create their own offense,” Bennett said. “So they tested us, but I thought our guys stayed intent on what they needed to do.”

Miami missed its first 10 shots from 3-point range and finished 4 for 17 from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, shot a season-high 60 percent from the floor, and they were 8 for 15 on 3-pointers. They handed out 23 assists, also a season high.

“I feel like today was a good day for us, just as a team,” said Beekman, who had a game-high 10 assists and also contributed nine points, two rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot. “I feel like we all were on the same page, we were all clicking. So I feel like when we’re all together and just as one team, we’re hard to beat, and we showed that today.”

Clark, the Cavaliers’ most experienced player, sank three 3-pointers and also had three assists and three steals. Power forward Jayden Gardner finished with 12 points and a game-high seven rebounds, and centers Francisco Caffaro and Shedrick totaled 14 points and nine boards between them.

For Franklin, it was his most complete game as a Cavalier. For the season, he’s shooting only 27 percent from 3-point range, but he was 3 for 5 from beyond the arc in the first half. His final trey, off a pass from Beekman, dropped through with one second on the clock and sent UVA into the break with a 35-26 lead.

Franklin is finding other ways to contribute, too. Midway through the second half, his tenacious defense on McGusty (21 points) forced a turnover that delighted the Cavaliers’ coaches.

Bennett’s message to Franklin this season: Don’t let your shooting define you. “ ‘You impact the game in as many ways as possible, and then that’ll come. You’ll work at it, you’ll bang shots, but don’t let a poor shooting night affect your pursuit of how you want to defend or how you want to make plays.’ I’m proud of him how he kept cutting hard, kept guarding hard, and he’s gotten better and better.”

Franklin took the game’s first free throws with 3:08 remaining, hitting a pair to stretch Virginia’s lead to 68-50. Thirty-nine seconds later, he made another one to complete a three-point play.

That was it for free throws in a game that lasted only 99 minutes.

“I don’t know if I’ve been in a game quite like that,” Bennett said.

HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT: In 13 seasons under Bennett, the Cavaliers have fared exceedingly well on the road in the ACC, with one exception. They’ve won only once at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium during his tenure.

Cameron is where UVA plays next. At 7 p.m. Monday, in a game to be shown on ESPN, the Cavaliers take on the ninth-ranked Blue Devils (19-3, 9-2), who are in their final season under Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“I would assume their concession stands are open, so they’re probably going to be pretty rowdy,” Bennett said, smiling. “I would assume that’s a fair assumption … You’re gonna have to be sound. Not perfect, but you’re gonna have to be right. They do some things defensively that are challenging, and they’ve got guys who can go get baskets. Right now they’re the best in our league. So, to beat the best you’ve got to play at a high level, and we understand that.”

Duke won Saturday night, too, crushing arch-rival North Carolina 87-67 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

Virginia’s most recent win over Duke came on Feb. 29, 2020, at JPJ.

SOUND BITES: The victory was the Cavaliers’ fifth straight over the Hurricanes. Among the postgame comments Saturday night:

* Bennett on whether the Hoos have turned the corner: “No. I just think you just work, you show up at practice, you have a quality practice and work. Each game is an opportunity to play and to see if you’ve improved and go after it. But I’m not naive enough to think, ‘Oh, yeah, we got it.’ ”

* Bennett on facing Duke: “You’re going in to play one of the best teams in the country with probably the best talent or one of the most talented teams and in that setting. So you get as ready as you can. And you approach it with joy, and you play as hard as you can … This is why you don’t get too down when you lose and you don’t get too up when you win. You just keep approaching quality, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

* Beekman on playing Duke: “I’ve watched them a little bit. When I can, I always watch ACC games just to see the teams we’re playing. We know we have a tough match-up coming up. They’ve got real good guards, and I feel like they’re just a complete team.”

* Beekman on UVA’s defense against the Canes’ guards: “I feel like we took it kind of personal … We know when their offense breaks down, they like to go one-on-one. So all week we were working on our slides, working on our team defense, just to be a Pack team. I feel like that’s what we showed tonight, and the work paid off.”

* Franklin on getting more comfortable with fellow guards Clark and Beekman: “We as a trio spend a lot of time together, on and off the court. I think our chemistry and confidence in each other just keeps on continue to grow game by game, playing with each other a lot more. I think it shows on the court.”

* Franklin on what will be his first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium: “As a kid you want to be in those types of venues and those legendary gyms playing against a legendary coach in his last year. It should be exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”

* Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga, a former UVA assistant, on his team’s defensive struggles: “Well, I would say Tony Bennett’s a hell of a coach. He made some adjustments and was able to carve [up] the scramble defense. Got the ball to the high post, to low post, and they’re huge human beings. We had no answer for those big guys inside. Gardner goes 6 for 9, Francisco Caffaro goes 4 for 4 right inside the paint, like laying it in, and then you add Shedrick [who] goes 3 for 3. So, that’s 13 for 16 for the field. That’s very productive.”

* Larrañaga: “We went zero for zero from the foul line. That kind of is a tell-tale story of we’re not attacking the basket and getting to the foul line like we did earlier in league play.”

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