By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE — That blur near midcourt at John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night? That was Kihei Clark doing Kihei Clark things.
In the latest NET rankings of Division I men’s basketball teams, the University of Virginia is No. 18, and the University of Albany is No. 318. Yet 17 minutes into the game Wednesday night at JPJ, they were tied, and the home fans had fallen silent.
“I thought we executed our game plan perfectly,” UAlbany head coach Dwayne Killings said.
No. 0 blew up that plan. After a three-point play by Armaan Franklin gave UVA a 27-24 lead, Clark swiped the ball from UAlbany guard Malik Edmead near midcourt and dribbled in for a layup. Moments later, the 5-foot-10 point guard did it again, picking Edmead’s pocket and punctuating the steal with another layup to make it 31-24. The applause threatened to shake the building.
“The crowd finally woke up … and we got into the game,” Virginia forward Jayden Gardner said. “That’s what Kihei does.”
Clark has been making big plays for the Cavaliers since 2018-19, when as a freshman he helped them win the NCAA title. No UVA fan will soon forget The Pass, Clark’s last-second assist to Mamadi Diakite in the Elite Eight that year, and he rescued his team again Wednesday night.
“He makes two steals that really change the complexion of the game,” said Killings, a graduate of Hampton University. “It gave them the momentum that they needed and they never looked back, and I thought that really crushed our spirit.”
UVA, ranked No. 13 in the latest Associated Press poll, gave up 14 points in the final 4:12 Wednesday night, much to Bennett’s displeasure, and was far from perfect in its first game since Dec. 20. Still, led by veterans Franklin, Clark and Gardner, the Hoos closed the non-conference portion of their regular-season schedule with a 66-46 win over UAlbany.
“If we’re not right, anybody will play with us,” said Bennett, whose team improved to 9-2 overall. “And if we’re right, we’ll play with anybody, and that’s just reality. We were a little so-so to start and Albany banged some shots, but I thought our defense kind of toughened up, and [Clark’s steals] ignited us.”
When he played for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, Bennett saw teammate Muggsy Bogues steal the ball from the same opponent on back-to-back plays. Until Wednesday night, however, Bennett had never seen it happen in a college game.
“That was impressive,” he said of Clark’s feat, which awakened not only the crowd but the other Cavaliers.
“It just ignited our defense,” Bennett said.
The Great Danes (5-10) scored only eight points in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and with Virginia leading 58-32, Clark left the game to a warm ovation from the crowd. In 26-plus minutes, he’d totaled a season-high 10 assists, eight points, four rebounds and two steals.
“Clark’s one of the best guards in the country,” Killings said.
So is Reece Beekman, a 6-foot-3 junior who watched from the Cavaliers’ bench Wednesday night. Beekman has been dealing with a hamstring injury he suffered Dec. 6 against James Madison. He played Dec. 17 against Houston and three nights later against Miami—Virginia’s only losses—but clearly wasn’t at full strength.
“We need Reece as close to 100 percent as possible,” Bennett said Wednesday night. “I think it’s improving, it just didn’t feel quite right.”
And so, after conferring with UVA’s medical staff, Bennett chose to rest the lock-down defender on Wednesday night. Beekman will be re-evaluated before Virginia’s game at Georgia Tech on Saturday, and “hopefully he’ll be good to go,” Bennett said.
With Beekman out, freshman Isaac McKneely started for the first time as a Cavalier and scored five points on 2-for-7 shooting. For the season, McKneely is shooting 30.4 percent from the floor, but Bennett wants him to keep firing.
“Be assertive,” Bennett said he told McKneely. “He’s been given a green light as long as [he’s] not doing crazy stuff.”
Bennett had the same message for Franklin coming into the game. A 6-foot-4 senior, Franklin missed all seven of his field-goal attempts and didn’t score in Virginia’s 66-64 loss at Miami.
“I challenged Armaan after the Miami game,” Bennett said, “and he came back and he practiced really tough and hard-nosed, and I thought he brought that into the game, with the shots he took, the way he defended. I always tell our guys, very few guys can play so flawless and perfect. You’re gonna make some mistakes, but can you play through [them] and beyond and get to the next play and not let it affect other parts of your game? And I thought that’s what he did.”