Hoos Cap Special Day With Emphatic Win

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On a day when the University of Virginia—and the Commonwealth of Virginia—paid tribute to Tony Bennett, the Cavalier men’s basketball team did its part to honor its former head coach, too.

Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it much better. Against ACC rival Georgia Tech, UVA went ahead to stay with 6:05 left in the first half and pulled away for a 75-61 victory in front of a capacity crowd Saturday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

Watching from the stands, or a suite, were Bennett; his parents, Dick and Anne; and his wife, Laurel, and their daughter, Anna. Their son, Eli, was at JPJ, too, but he was in uniform, and he checked into the game with 1:04 to play, along with fellow walk-ons Bryce Walker and Desmond Roberts.

“I didn’t premeditate [that move],” interim head coach Ron Sanchez said with a smile. “I didn’t know what was going to happen at the end of the game. I always hope that I have an opportunity to give those guys a chance. They do so much for this program and practice every day. They are such servants. To have the opportunity to put Eli into the game along with others, while his father was being honored, I did it more for me than I did it for them.”

All three walk-ons contributed to the Cavaliers’ final basket. The younger Bennett came up with a steal and passed to Walker, who fed Roberts for a layup, to the delight of their teammates on the bench.

“Amazing,” junior guard Andrew Rohde said. “That’s kind of the way we want to play, and they just embodied it.”

Tony Bennett retired in October after 15 seasons at Virginia. With a 364-136 record, he is the program’s all-time winningest coach, and during his tenure the Wahoos won the ACC tournament twice, captured six regular-season conference titles, and advanced to the NCAA tournament 10 times. They were crowned NCAA champions in 2019.

Several members of that championship team, including Jack Salt, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter, were at JPJ on Saturday night, and they were among the former players who welcomed Bennett onto the court for an emotional halftime ceremony.

UVA’s current players and most of the coaching staff stayed in the locker room to plan for the second half. But assistants Isaiah Wilkins and Kyle Guy, both of whom played for Bennett, remained on the court for the ceremony, as did Ronnie Wideman, the program’s longtime associate athletic director for administration.

After a stirring video played on the Hoo Vision board, Bennett received several gifts and learned that Gov. Glenn Youngkin had declared it Tony Bennett Day in the state.

“I’m not comfortable being honored like this,” Bennett told the crowd, “but the way I look at it is this is a celebration of all the people that have been along with me on this journey. And to you the fans, thank you for your support over these 15 years, through some of the hard losses, the great wins you’ve made this place one of the best places, the most intense places.”

He thanked his family too. “A coach’s family sacrifices so much, and all they’ve given me is unconditional love and support,” Bennett said. “I’m so grateful for that.”

At the end of the ceremony, a banner commemorating Bennett’s illustrious tenure was raised to the rafters at JPJ, where it hangs next to one honoring the late Terry Holland, and the teams came out for the second half.

The Cavaliers (12-12 overall, 5-8 ACC), who led by five at the break, made sure there was little suspense in the final 20 minutes. After the Jackets (11-13, 5-8) cut their deficit to three, Virginia ran off 10 straight points. Georgia Tech never seriously threatened the rest of the way as UVA recorded its 13^th straight win in this series.

The Jackets’ head coach, Damon Stoudamire, praised the job Sanchez is doing with a roster that includes only one senior.

“He’s a man of integrity, he’s a man of character, he’s a man that does things the right way,” Stoudamire said, “and you can see them getting better as well. So you can see that he’s starting to put his stamp on the team. I’m happy for him, and I’m pulling for him as my friend.”

Three players scored in double figures for Virginia, led by junior guard Isaac McKneely, who had 18 of his team-high 20 points in the first half. Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames, coming off a 27-point performance in a win over Pitt, tallied 18 against Georgia Tech, and Rohde added 11.

More noteworthy than the 6-foot-6 Rohde’s scoring was his playmaking. For the second straight game, he finished with nine assists and zero turnovers. In his past 12 games, he has totaled 66 assists and eight turnovers.

“He’s really settled in,” Sanchez said. “He’s the guy that calms us. He’s kind of been the tip of the sword and he’s doing a really good job of taking care of the basketball. I’m really proud of his efforts to do that and it’s really helping the team in a big, big way.”

McKneely leads Virginia in scoring this season, so his performance didn’t surprise Stoudamire, a former NBA standout.

“He’s been shooting the ball well,” Stoudamire said. “But I thought that the difference in the game for me was their bigs. I thought their bigs played really well. I thought that they made great reads offensively. They finished offensively. They kept our bigs off the glass. They did a good job of walling up and taking shots down on our offensive end and made it hard for us.”

The Cavaliers’ post players—Blake Buchanan, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson and Elijah Saunders—combined for 22 points and 23 rebounds. Saunders had missed Virginia’s previous three games with a lower-leg injury, and he was out of rhythm offensively Saturday, but he grabbed five boards to help UVA outrebound Georgia Tech 38-24.

Robinson’s role increased with Saunders sidelined, and the 6-foot-10, 250-pound redshirt freshman impressed again Saturday.

“The game is slowing down for him,” Sanchez said. “He’s making fewer mistakes. The deeper you are, the better you can be. What we have to do is get to the point where we go into our bench and our play doesn’t drop. That’s the next big step for this group, that we maintain our level of defensive competitiveness and our sure-handedness, where we don’t turn the ball over, stop doing the things that cause transition baskets [for opponents] and things of that nature. And if we keep identifying those things and go right to it and keep working on it, I think they’ll get better and better. This is the time of the season that you want to see improvements, and I’m hoping that we continue to see those from the group.”

Ames, a transfer from Kansas State, is averaging only 7.6 points per game this season, but he’s reached double figures in each of his past three outings.

“I don’t know what’s clicked for him, but I do see him playing with confidence,” Sanchez said. “I do see him finding his spots. The way that we’ve always played basketball here is that we share the ball, and I think that’s different than what he’s used to doing. He’s used to kind of creating one-on-one, which is fantastic to have a one-on-one player on your roster, but the adjustment for him was, ‘Oh, I can actually get some easier shots because my teammates are going to pass it to me,  and one of these big guys is going to screen for me so I can actually get an easy shot without having to create.’ ”

Ames noted that he’s being more aggressive and credited the passing of Rohde, who joined him at the postgame press conference. “I got a good point guard over there getting me the ball,” Ames said, smiling.

Seven regular-season games remain for Virginia, which is tied for 11^th in the ACC. Inconsistency has marked the Cavaliers’ season, but they’ve won four of their past six games, and their on-court chemistry is improving.

“Winning builds confidence,” Sanchez said. “It builds trust in what we’re doing. It builds trust in each other. These things take time. The beauty about it is that what we’re doing has been done here before. Having guys like Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter on the court, guys that helped build this thing, today for me was just really just a joy.”

The crowd also included many UVA basketball alumni who didn’t play for Bennett, including Ralph Sampson, and Sanchez said he was “thankful for all of them for taking time to come help us celebrate the day and help us get this W. There’s a lot of energy in the building.”

Bennett, watching from athletic director Carla Williams’ suite, wiped away a tear in the final seconds after seeing his son’s steal. Everyone on the UVA roster came to Grounds to play for Bennett, and they were happy to honor him with a memorable performance Saturday.

Rohde, who’s in his second year at UVA, said Bennett is “an incredible coach, but even better human being. The impact he’s had on so many people’s lives, on players, even just managers and people who’ve been around the program, it’s amazing to see, and for him to come back and have this ceremony where we can kind of just applaud him for everything he’s done for the program and this school, it’s amazing. So I’m grateful to have played under him and I’m grateful to have him in my life.”

CLASH REMATCH: The Cavaliers don’t play again until Saturday. In a 2 p.m. game to air on The CW, UVA takes on Virginia Tech (11-13, 6-7) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.

This will be the longtime rivals’ second meeting in two weeks. On Feb. 1, the Hokies escaped with a 75-74 victory at JPJ after Rohde’s last-second runner bounced off the rim. Tech made 11 of 21 shots (52.4 percent) from 3-point range to secure its first victory in Charlottesville since Feb. 10, 2018.

The Cavaliers are seeking their first win in Blacksburg since Feb. 26, 2020.

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