Cavs show ‘heart’ in crucial win
Victory may have secured their spot in NCAA tourney
WASHINGTON — At this time of year, every college basketball team has been battle-tested in some way or another. Those that grow the most from adversity are the ones that usually succeed in March.
Virginia showed a mettle Thursday night in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals at Capital One Arena that suggests it may be a springtime bloomer after a season of ups and downs.
The third-seeded Cavaliers toppled No. 11 seed Boston College 66-60 in overtime to move on to a Friday night semifinal matchup with 10th-seeded N.C. State, but it wasn’t without its share of drama.
BC forced the extra period with a jumper in the closing seconds, causing UVA to regroup and fight longer to keep its hopes of advancing alive.
“I think collectively as a group, we were really optimistic coming back to the huddle in overtime,” said senior forward Jake Groves, who led UVA with 15 points and 11 rebounds. “We had faith things were going to go our way in overtime.”
UVA trailed by 10 in the first half and led for less than two minutes in the second, but it crept ahead in the final minute before the Eagles pulled off their clutch shot. Claudell Harris Jr. missed a long 3-pointer from the top of the arc, but Jaeden Zackery grabbed the rebound and flipped the ball to Mason Madsen, who buried a shot from just inside the 3-point line with two seconds remaining.
The Cavaliers (23-9) showed no signs of panic. They approached the situation the same way they handled a roller-coaster season, bouncing back from inexperience, injuries and an inordinate number of blowout losses to remain standing and in position to still reach the goals they set out to accomplish when the season started four months ago.
“That’s heart,” said sophomore forward Ryan Dunn, who had seven points and seven rebounds. “Earlier in the year, we kind of would have struggled with that. Even midway through the second half of the year, we struggled with that when we got down by 10 and didn’t come back, but (against BC) we were fighting for something, so it’s a little extra heart.”
The victory kept UVA in the ACC Tournament title hunt and was important for an NCAA Tournament résumé that was teetering after four losses in a six-game stretch in February and early March. Included in that span were two home setbacks and losses of 34 points at Virginia Tech and 25 points at Duke.
Some experts, including ESPN noted “Bracketologist” Joe Lunardi, indicate the win over Boston College was the final piece to solidify a selection into the field of 68, but the Cavaliers are wise not to trust such speculation.
They know they must keep winning to fulfill their NCAA Tournament aspirations.
“It’s in the back of everybody’s heads, you know, our ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament,” Groves said. “We knew the significance of this game, collectively as a group, and (Friday’s) game as well and moving forward. We’ve been saying it all week that we have our fate in our hands, and if we play gritty Virginia basketball, play like we can, then we’ll be all right.”
Virginia lost to Duke in the ACC Tournament title game last season.
“We know what this one meant for us, for our postseason,” said Cavaliers senior point guard Reece Beekman, who scored 11 points and dished out 11 assists against BC. “We just wanted to come out here and give it all we’ve got.”