Trying Season Ends for Cavaliers

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

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A few days before the first of the University of Virginia men’s basketball team’s two closed scrimmages in October, a bomb fell on the program. Tony Bennett retired, abruptly ending his record-setting tenure after 15 seasons at UVA, and Ron Sanchez was promoted to interim head coach.

As shocking as Bennett’s decision was to those outside John Paul Jones Arena, it was just “as much a shock to us,” senior swingman Taine Murray recalled.

“He’s our head coach. I think that obviously it took a while for us to adjust and come to terms with the situation. I’m proud of the players, the staff, the support system, everyone, for coming together. We didn’t let it define us. I think we could have gone in a different direction, but we obviously came together.”

The Cavaliers, whose conference record in late January was 2-7, rallied to earn a first-round bye in the ACC tournament. But their season ended Wednesday at Spectrum Center, where No. 8 seed Georgia Tech rallied for a 66-60 second-round victory over No. 9 seed Virginia.

The game ended about 2:10 p.m. Later that afternoon, UVA athletics director Carla Williams announced that Sanchez would not be retained as head coach.

“I am grateful to Coach Sanchez for accepting this role during such a critical time for the program.” Williams said in a statement. “Ron is the ultimate professional because he cares deeply about this program and this University. He is an exceptional person because he is gifted as an empathetic and caring human being. He is beloved within our department and in the UVA community. Ron and the staff provided great stability, guidance and support for the young men on the team and we are thankful for his commitment to UVA and the values that are foundational to Virginia men’s basketball.”

Georgia Tech (17-15) advances to meet top-seeded Duke (28-3) in the first quarterfinal Thursday. The Wahoos finished with a 15-17 overall record.

“Just proud of the guys for battling, not only today but throughout this entire season,” Sanchez, who had two stints as an associate head coach on Bennett’s staff at UVA, said at Spectrum Center. “For them, it’s been a season of tremendous adversity at times and a lot of unknowns and just give them all a lot of credit for their maturity, for their willingness to really fight all the way to the last buzzer.

“Today was a perfect example of that, and that was led by these two guys sitting here next to me.”

Junior guards Andrew Rohde and Isaac McKneely joined Sanchez at the  postgame press conference. McKneely led all scorers with 27 points, matching his season high, and Rohde totaled five points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“They were leaders in the locker room, kept the group together, kept the group playing hard,” Sanchez said, “and kind of established and sustained our culture in our locker room.”

With three minutes to play, Georgia Tech led by 13, but the Hoos refused to go quietly into the offseason. McKneely scored 10 points in the final 2:22. Overall, he hit seven 3-pointers Wednesday, including two in the final 47 seconds, the second of which made it 62-60 with 25.4 seconds to play.

“Speaking for me and Rohde, we don’t have any quit,” McKneely said. “We have no quit inside of us. We thought we had a chance to win, even when we were down 10 with a few minutes, so we were just going to keep fighting. We knew our season was on the line.”

The Jackets steadied themselves in the final 25 seconds, going 4 for 4 from the line to avenge their regular-season loss to the Cavaliers.

McKneely said he’ll treasure having been part of such a close-knit team.

“We never quit, like I said, even through the tough losses, big wins,” McKneely said. “We stayed together through it all. Our record wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, but through wins and losses, I love these guys. It was a great season. I wouldn’t want to be a part of any other team for sure.”

McKneely said Sanchez “showed up every day, gave it his all. He watched tons of game film, came prepared to practice. He was energetic in practice. He did a great job even through the losses, keeping us together after the games. So credit to him for that. He was put in a tough situation. Just a couple weeks before the season, he had to step into the head coaching job, but I think he handled it really well.”

Rohde said this was the first time in his college career “where every day in practice I’m truly enjoying it and I’m enjoying going to practice with my brothers and my coaches, and we’re out there competing and having fun and going at each other. I’m just so blessed to be a part of this team and playing, and I’m going to look back at all the great things that happened.”

At the postgame press conference, Sanchez was asked how he’d remained so upbeat during such a trying season.

“First of all, if you’re not willing to go through hard things, you shouldn’t do this,” said Sanchez, who spent five seasons as Charlotte’s head coach before rejoining Bennett’s staff at UVA after the 2022-23 season.

“I never thought that my next step in growth would be taking over an interim tag. I never put that on my wish list to go over a tough situation. I had a great staff, a lot of individuals that I could talk to, that I could lean on. It was challenging. I was responsible for all our athletes, but I was also responsible for our staff, making sure that they stayed encouraged. This is a heavy crown, and I’m fortunate that I had a chance to wear it prior to arriving here, and that experience gave me the sustainability, the foundation to be able to navigate this.”

Some might measure a coach’s success solely by wins and losses, Sanchez said, “but there’s so much more than the 30 games that you play. How you sustain a group, how you treat people, how you manage, what kind of leader are you when things are hard.

“Anybody can do this when it’s easy. It takes something different to navigate the ship in stormy waters. I think that’s what I’m most thankful for. Not the victories. I’m thank for the hard times that we had, because today I’m 10 times a better coach than I was on October 18th.”

His parting message at his final press conference of the season underscored the grace with which Sanchez handled a challenging situation.

“I love this place,” he said. “I want it to be successful. No matter what happens with their decision, Virginia has my respect, my love, and I will continue to appreciate this place for all that it’s done for me throughout the years.”

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