It may have been Valentine’s Day, but no love was lost between Virginia and Virginia Tech. The waves of Hokies crammed into Cassell Coliseum wasted no time in impressing upon the visiting Hoos the depth of their hatred. Chants of “Kihei sucks” rained down from the opening tip like so many piercing arrows; those chants soon morphed into calls of “airball” that needled the fourth-year guard every time he touched the ball.
The antagonism between Virginia and Virginia Tech only got worse. Things might have been kept to a simmer if the refs had kept the game in check, but the zebra-striped crew was complicit in allowing things to reach a boil.
Tempers flared the highest when Clark was called for a technical foul in the game’s closing minutes. Immediately following the call, Tony Bennett did two things he rarely does: accost a ref, and swear at him. The latter—a heated yell of “that’s bullshit”—was possibly the first time Bennett swore at a ref in his 13-year tenure at Virginia.
When the nicest guy in college hoops reacts that vehemently to a call, something’s not right.
Still, many of Virginia’s wounds were self-inflicted. Virginia Tech left the door ajar, and Virginia failed to walk through it.
The 62-53 loss dropped Virginia to 16-10 overall and 10-6 in the ACC. Here are three takeaways
The atmosphere got to Virginia
The taunts Kihei was forced to endure were harsh. But he’s a seasoned veteran by now and has shown throughout his career that he has a hard shell. Just a week ago, Kihei played a beautiful game at Duke as a line of shirtless Blue Devils bearing “Kihei is short” on their chests stood just five feet from the sideline.
But even Kihei couldn’t handle what Virginia Tech threw at him. He took too many difficult shots, clearly trying to shut the crowd up and quell the ferocious chants. On the night, Kihei went 1-9 from the field and had 2 assists and 2 turnovers. His one bucket came with the game already decided.
Kihei exhibited the most extreme symptoms of crowd-induced ailments, but the rest of the team experienced the same problem. Virginia was often frantic on offense, allowing itself to get sped up. The Hoos were clearly rattled, and it showed in the final score.
A couple good performances, but bad shooting kills
While Kihei tried to cope with the crowd, Jayden Gardner was doing his utmost to quiet it. Gardner, the industrious 6’6” forward, parked himself down low and refused to be deterred. He had 15 points and 8 rebounds at halftime; he finished with 17 and 14.
Reece Beekman also had a good night, scoring 10 points and dishing out 4 assists. He only turned the ball over once. Beekman’s big moment came on a thunderous drive to the basket that ended in a punishing jam. The move prompted a two-part eruption from Virginia fans on Twitter: one part joy, for the rim-rocking dunk, and one part rage, for the knowledge that Beekman has that in him and has neglected to share it all season.
Kadin Shedrick also came off the bench to deliver a good offensive performance, scoring 11 points and finishing on a pair of lobs.
Despite those performances, Virginia barely eclipsed 50 points. That was due in large part to the goose egg the Hoos drew from beyond the arc. They missed all nine of their three-point attempts. Poor shooting nights are common for Virginia, but this was in another realm altogether.
Critical period awaits
Four games remain before Virginia heads to Brooklyn for the ACC Tournament. At Miami, home against Duke, home against Florida State and at Louisville. Unless Virginia clinches the ACC’s auto-bid in Brooklyn, the Hoos might need to win all four of those games if they want to dance in March.
The thought going into this game was that Virginia needed to go 2-1 between its games against Virginia Tech, Miami and Duke (all Quad 1 games) to get inside the bubble. The FSU and Louisville games are must-wins given the relative weakness of both teams.
Depending on Virginia’s ACC Tournament seed, which will determine whether it gets the coveted double-bye, the Hoos will need to win at least one or two games in the tournament.
The bottom line: Virginia needs to win a bunch of games going forward. Doing so is within reason, but extremely difficult.
Image – Virginia Athletics
1 comment
Jayden Gardner has been a great addition, but he needs more rest during a game. His shots are always short in the second half because I think he’s tired. Resting him is a perfect opportunity to play Shedrick and Caffaro together. Glad to see Tony get mad at the refs, there were so many non-calls on Tech fouls and it happens in a lot of games. In the Duke game, how can the team that scored almost twice as many points in the paint end up shooting half as many from the foul line.
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