Cavaliers Stuck in Wait-and-See Mode

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The waiting game has begun for the University of Virginia women’s basketball team. The Cavaliers returned home Thursday evening after a short stay in Duluth, Ga., and they won’t know until March 15—Selection Sunday—if they’re headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018.

A win over Clemson in the ACC tournament’s second round Thursday almost certainly would have locked up an at-large invitation for UVA. But the eighth-seeded Cavaliers lost 63-50 to the ninth-seeded Tigers, another team with postseason aspirations.

“In my opinion, that's an NCAA tournament game with two NCAA tournament teams,” Clemson head coach Shawn Poppie said afterward at Gas South Arena.

The Wahoos (19-11) have reason to believe Poppie is correct. ESPN, in its latest projections, has both Clemson and Virginia in the NCAA field.

UVA has dropped three straight games since winning at then-No. 8 Louisville on Feb. 22. The Hoos still have a solid NET ranking (No. 37), though they’re No. 53 in another metric the NCAA selection committee uses—WAB (wins above bubble)—in part because of their Nov. 13 loss to UMBC at John Paul Jones Arena.

Of Virginia’s 11 conference wins, three were over teams that ESPN also projects to be in the NCAAs: Louisville, Notre Dame and Clemson.

“There’s a lot of positives in the season,” said Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who’s in her fourth year as UVA’s head coach. “That's why I'm hopeful that the season is not over and that we will be in the NCAA tournament, because I think we deserve to.”

Virginia came to Duluth looking for a second straight win over Clemson. When they met on New Year’s Day at JPJ, the Cavaliers rolled to a 73-63 win over the Tigers.

In that game, UVA’s frontcourt starters, Tabitha Amanze and Sa’Myah Smith, combined for 32 points, and Clemson shot 4 for 21 from 3-point range. In the rematch, Amanze and Smith combined for seven points, and the Tigers were 10 for 20 from long range.

“I think we've just got to be consistent,” said Virginia’s All-ACC guard, junior Kymora Johnson. “I think that's been our biggest struggle this season.”

Clemson (21-10) led by two points at halftime Thursday and went up 33-26 early in the third quarter. The Cavaliers answered with 10 straight points, but the Tigers hit two treys in the final 75 seconds of the quarter to regain the lead.

In the fourth quarter, Clemson outscored Virginia 20-11 to win going away.

The Tigers approached the final 10 minutes, Poppie said, as if their season was on the line. “We felt like a win today would get us in the NCAA tournament no matter what happens the rest of the way out. That's how [Clemson] focused and fought and competed.”

Senior guard Paris Clark led Virginia with 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Johnson added 12 points but was 2 for 11 from long range.

As a team, UVA shot 4 for 19 on 3-pointers Thursday.

Johnson and Clark joined Agugua-Hamilton at the postgame press conference.

“I think we've just got to learn a lesson, unfortunately through a loss, but we've got to be more together,” Johnson said. “I'll take accountability for that. I didn't really lead my team the way I should have. But we've got to be together and we've got to compete. I don't think we competed for 40 minutes.”

Clark said: “We know what we can do. We see it every day in practice. But it's really just about executing.”

Agugua-Hamilton agreed. “I think we've got to take ownership of our part today,” she said. “We didn't compete. We weren't urgent for 40 minutes. We didn't stick to the game plan. We didn't do the things we could do to control the outcome of that game.

“But if you're talking about the course of the season, there's been a lot of ups and downs due to some adversity. I do think that we'll be ready to go, come NCAA tournament.”

The selection show will air on ESPN at 8 p.m. on March 15.

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