Ugly.
Virginia basketball has been described as many things. That’s one of the most common ones. Many call it ugly, boring, or unwatchable. The people with that view certainly had a point when it came to Virginia’s 2019 Sweet 16 game against Oregon.
Of course, the vaunted pack-line was on full display in that game, styming the twelfth-seeded Ducks to hold them to a mere 49 points. They shot a horrible 38% from the field, and a slightly less-bad 36% from three-point land. That decent performance from deep did a lot, as over half Oregon’s points came from behind the arc.
On the flip side, the Hoos didn’t do any better. In fact, they did worse, shooting 36% on field goals and 27% on threes.
The Hoos decided to jack up 33 threes over the course of the game, making only nine. Kyle Guy, a big part of the normal three-point barrage that Virginia employs to such effect, continued with his mediocre shooting. While he did contribute 10 points, he took 11 of his team’s 33 deep balls and only found the net twice.
He wasn’t alone in being somebody normally so good from deep who struggled. De’Andre Hunter was only 1-6 in that category, an even worse percentage than Guy. Kihei Clark (who we’ll get to later) and Ty Jerome were better, both going a solid 3-8.
But when two of your best three-point shooters are a combined 3-17, you’re going to need more than just solid performances from the others.
The awful shooting and low scoring of the game were bound to make it a tough watch, at least for impartial fans. Yet it got even worse.
Virginia had a combined 11 bench minutes from three different players. Oregon wasn’t as starter-focused, giving 42 total minutes to two different bench players. The Ducks weren’t as bad as the Hoos in that aspect, but they weren’t exactly a shining example of depth on a basketball team either.
That made it a game waged largely between the same 10-12 players. Now, if those players are trading dunks and threes, drives and stops, it’s one thing. But when they’re going between turnovers, missed shots, and technical fouls, it’s quite another.
At that point, there’s a hope for some fresh faces on the floor, somebody to step in and brighten the game up. Needless to say, that didn’t happen.
There were definitely parts of this game that made it ugly and unappealing, and it certainly reinforced the idea of many that Virginia basketball is not worth watching.
Beautiful.
Yes, some call UVa hoops ugly and boring. But others call it beautiful. And for some of the same reasons that many used the prior words to describe it, so too are those reasons used to describe the latter.
The horrible percentages? Great defense. The host of turnovers? Good on-ball defending. The limited depth of both teams? Fantastic starters.
See, the ax cuts both ways, and in this game it cut deep in both directions.
While some see a 53-49 dogfight as a travesty to the sport of basketball, others look at it as proof of the prowess of the two teams involved in it.
First you have Virginia, obviously a number one seed and one of the best teams in college basketball, in that year and in the last few. A team that had at least three eventual NBA draft picks, one of whom went in the lottery. You shouldn’t have to prove how good they were to anybody.
But then there’s Oregon. A number 12 seed that laid claim to a 25-12 record going into the game. They’d suffered losses to the likes of Texas Southern, and owned a 10-8 record in a very, very down Pac-12.
But at one point, that team had been 15-12. They came into that Sweet 16 game as one of—if not the—hottest teams in the nation, having won 10 straight.
So it was two extremely high-level basketball teams that took the court in Louisville for a chance to reach the Elite Eight. And maybe it wasn’t nearly as high-level of a game as anybody was expecting. But that could also be because both teams made it so difficult on their opponent.
And what’s not beautiful about an overlooked player stepping up in the biggest game of his life (at that point) to deliver his team the win?
That’s exactly what Kihei Clark did for Virginia on that March night.
Kihei had been overlooked both literally (5’9″ in stature) and figuratively (often called out as worthless) all season. Coming into his college career, Kihei had exactly two D-1 offers: UC Davis and Virginia.
After originally committing to stay out West, Tony Bennett saw him play and offered him a scholarship, which Kihei readily agreed to. Coming in, not much was known about the little dude, save for the general lack of excitement surrounding him.
The 4.5 points and 2.6 assists he averaged over the course of that season did little to endear him to Virginia fans. Obviously, it’s a completely different feeling now, but that’s besides the point. Still, Tony Bennett stuck with his first year point guard, giving him 26 minutes a game.
That patience paid dividends when it came to the game currently in discussion.
Second among his teammates with 12 points and six assists, Kihei was the man that game. There’s no other way to put it. Without Kihei Clark, Virginia would not have won that game. Without Kihei Clark, they wouldn’t have made the Elite Eight, or the Final Four, or the National Championship. The Hoos would not be national champions.
Kihei hit big shots when he needed to, dished out perfect dimes, and committed only two turnovers (second-least of the starters). His performance to propel the Hoos through to the next round was, quite simply, beautiful.
Grit.
Tying in with beautiful, but of course massively different, this is another thing that made the game so great. The ability to eke out the win under such circumstances should not be understated. It almost made it more gratifying to win a game in the way this one was won.
The quintessential moment of this was, of course, the Mamadi stare-down. Mamadi, ripping the rebound away from Ehab Amin, brought his forehead to his opponent’s and stared him right in the eye. He looked on, eyes fiery and face stony, as his adversary tumbled to the ground as he looked for a foul call.
The moment captured the emotion of the game perfectly. Two teams, both desperate to win, staring each other straight in the eye the whole game. One just pulled away quicker than the other, and that was the difference.
Virginia 53, Oregon 49. The Hoos had an Elite Eight date with Purdue.