Buoyed by an outstanding shooting performance from beyond the arc, the Virginia Cavaliers finished their home campaign on a high note against Georgia Tech with an impressive 72-57 victory. The Cavaliers pulled away late in the first half and never relinquished their lead, as Reece Beekman shone on his senior night with 21 points and eight assists. Tristan How put the cherry on top of a Senior Night victory with a turnaround jump shot on UVA’s final offensive possession, a fitting conclusion to a celebratory second half which locked the ‘Hoos in as the 3-seed in the ACC Tournament and earned them a double bye. They’ll play at 9:30 p.m. Thursday against either Clemson, Boston College or Miami in the first round of postseason play.
Five takeaways from the regular-season finale:
Hot shooting secured a victory for the Cavaliers from the outset
Sometimes, basketball is simply a make-or-miss sport. Outstanding jump shooting can paper over all sorts of other offensive issues, and the ‘Hoos were on the positive side of the jump-shooting variability tonight against Georgia Tech. In the first half, UVA made seven of their 14 three-point attempts while holding the Yellow Jackets to just one make on eight attempts beyond the arc. While Virginia once again started a bit slowly on the offensive end largely because of the spacing limitations imposed by Ryan Dunn and Jordan Minor, a late hot streak of three makes in four minutes to close the first half got the ‘Hoos to 38 points at the break.
Virginia finished the game 12 for 26 from three, a 46 percent clip which came just one make shy of the team’s season high. And for as easy as it is to harp on the spacing issues created by how many unwilling or incapable shooters the Cavaliers routinely deploy, they do still rank 55th nationally in three-point percentage at 36.2% thanks largely to knockdown shooters Isaac McKneely and Jake Groves (they finished the game a combined seven of 15 from three). The hard part for those two, especially McKneely, is finding the space to take shots rather than making them. Georgia Tech struggled to communicate defensively, gave up clean looks to both, and suffered the consequences. Next, the ‘Hoos need to get good looks for their two stud shooters against more well-drilled units.
On Senior Night, Reece Beekman further cemented his legacy as an all-time Hoo
In what could be the final game of Reece Beekman’s career at John Paul Jones Arena, a player defined by his consistency turned in yet another excellent performance for the Cavaliers. Game in and game out for the duration of his career as a Wahoo, Beekman’s erased the opponent’s best guard from the game while carrying his fair share of the offensive load. This year, that’ s meant functioning as the primary and sometimes only creator for a team in desperate need of offense. His 43.2% assist rate this year ranks second in the country, a reflection of both the oversize load he’s been required to carry and the outstanding job he’s done in that role. Tonight, Beekman finished with eight assists and just one turnover, which came on a pass that Jordan Minor could’ve easily caught and finished to keep Reece’s assist-turnover ratio immaculate.
For 40 minutes, absolutely no one was stopping Reece Beekman from getting downhill or creating his shot at will. He finished with an exceptional 21 points to match a career high on a characteristically efficient 8-10 shooting (3-4 from three) and eight assists. On the defensive end, Georgia Tech guard Miles Kelly entered the game averaging 14.6 points per game and finished with a goose egg on 0-4 from the floor. Oh, and Beekman’s three swipes only further extended his lead atop Virginia’s all-time steals leaderboard. Put simply, Beekman was the best player on the court. Did anyone expect anything else?
Andrew Rohde didn’t play a single minute
Virginia fans vocal about Andrew Rohde’s shortcomings finally got what they wished for against Georgia Tech: the guard who just two weeks ago was a penciled-in starter didn’t even touch the court in the first half for the Cavaliers. Two games ago, he lost his starting job to Jake Groves, but Rohde still played a combined 42 minutes against Boston College and Duke. Tonight, he found himself out of not only a starting spot but also both bench guard spots as Dante Harris and Taine Murray spelled Beekman and McKneely.
Against ACC opponents, Rohde’s offensive numbers are astonishing: playing 24 minutes per game, he’s averaged just 3.7 points per game on 27 percent from the field, 26 percent from three and 30 percent from the free throw line. After scoring 10 points in the ACC opener against Syracuse back in December, he hasn’t cracked double-digits against a conference opponent sense. There were always bound to be questions about how his slow release and methodical offensive game from St. Thomas would translate to a higher level of competition; it appears that for now, Tony Bennett’s willing to hold off on answering those questions until next season.
Taine Murray excelled in his role as a bench scorer
One of the most pleasant surprises for the ‘Hoos this season has been the quiet excellence of Taine Murray when called upon. He’s not a player who shows up on highlight reels or creates advantages on the offensive end, but as a play-finisher he’s one of the best players the Cavaliers have. The numbers certainly don’t jump off the page (2.7 points per game) but the efficiency does: Murray’s shot 46 percent from beyond the arc this year and went 2-5 from that area tonight.
The simplicity of his offensive game — stationary three-point shooting or straight-line driving — is refreshing at times. Murray poured in seven points in the first half alone on just those two moves, knocking down a calm three after evading a fly-by closeout and taking defenders to the rim twice before getting to his right hand. And in the second, he knocked down a big open three to extend Virginia’s lead back to 12 following a short Yellow Jackets scoring burst which sent jitters of anxiety throughout John Paul Jones Arena. Rohde’s struggles created an opportunity for Murray to step up and shine in his newfound role, and the third-year took advantage.
The Cavaliers get a momentum-boosting win entering postseason play
For their NCAA Tournament chances, Virginia did all they could tonight. At the end of the day, the Cavaliers took care of business on their home court against an inferior opponent to secure third place in the ACC and a 13-7 conference record. It’s hard to see the third-best team in a Power 5 conference not qualifying; for what it’s worth, it feels quite unlikely that the ‘Hoos find themselves on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday as long as they win just one game in the ACC Tournament.
It’s easy enough to make the case against UVA — just go to KenPom or count the number of games this team’s lost by double digits. So how about the case for them? Virginia plays legit top-10 defense in college basketball, leads the nation in block percentage and has two of the best individual defenders in the country. One of those players erases even outstanding guards such as UNC’s RJ Davis from games, and the other puts up steals and blocks at a near-unprecedented rate and has such elite tools that he could go in the NBA Draft Lottery without any semblance of a jump shot. UVA also has one of the nation’s best jump shooters, role players getting hot at the right time, and just cut their largest net negative on the floor from the rotation entirely. And the ‘Hoos haven’t lost a close game all season.
Does anyone believe all of that? Not really. There’s a reason UVA will be underdogs in any non-First-Four NCAA Tournament game they play. Virginia teams way, way better than this one have flamed out in postseason play. But while it’s a definite possibility that this team lays an absolute egg against their 6- or 7-seed in the tradition of that 65-39 loss to Florida in 2017, there’s no reason to count them out yet.
