Three takeaways from Virginia’s grueling win over Illinois

A big win happened once, and it could have been written off as an anomaly. The product of an unrelenting deluge of threes that buried Baylor and propelled Virginia to victory. It could have been written off as an anomaly.

But now it’s happened twice, and Virginia reigns as the college basketball team with the best pair of non-conference wins.

The threes clanked. The layups rolled off. The crowd favored Illinois. The refs ruled with questionable whistles. But Virginia fought past Illinois with battlefield determination. 

The Hoos won, 70-61, despite the messy blueprint, despite the tragedy still knifing their hearts, despite the difficulty of dispatching two highly ranked opponents in a three-day span.

This team is for real. The wins have catapulted Virginia to the fore of the national conversation. A top-10 ranking approaches. 

Here are three takeaways.

In the absence of three-point shooting, other ways to win

Entering Sunday’s game, Virginia had played and won three games.

The first win came by 12 points, against North Carolina Central. Unconvincing. 

The second win came by 47 points, against Monmouth. Convincing, but the product of an unsustainable 52% from three-point land. 

The third win came by 7 points, against Baylor. Undeniably magnificent, but the product of an absurd stretch in which Virginia drilled 7-9 threes.

The Hoos romped, and excitement permeated the fanbase, but the offense appeared one-dimensional. What would happen, some folk wondered, if the reservoir of threes struck a drought?

Well, this. Virginia put those fears to bed against Illinois. The Hoos shot a paltry 29% from deep. And still they won.

How? Because Kihei Clark stoked the fire with tough buckets and leadership, and because Jayden Gardner wrestled his way to 12 points despite ceaseless physical Illinois defending, and because Reece Beekman—oh, Reece Beekman!—fought to 17 points, displaying an unyielding resolve.

One Beekman play stands out. 

Three minutes remained. Clark made a steal, looked up, threw the ball ahead to Beekman. Beekman caught it just past midcourt, picked it up, took a dribble. An Illinois defender bore down on him from the side. Contact was imminent.

Then it came. That look in his eyes. Obstinate. Resolute. Fiery. 

Beekman scored, drew the foul, and tumbled to the floor. Then he stood up and resumed the fierce display that earned him the tournament MVP award.

The deepest team in a while

Tony Bennett’s early-season rotation is always suspect. He tests combinations and plays pretty much everybody. It’s difficult to gauge the rotation.

But Bennett threw his best stuff at Baylor and Illinois. And rather than shrink, the rotation remained firm. 

Virginia goes a legitimate nine deep. Only one player in that group, Ryan Dunn, played limited minutes against Illinois (three minutes), and as a first-year, he’s granted an acclimatization period.

So the rotation has taken shape, and it is stocked. There are the bruising big men, Kadin Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro; the swiss-army-knife guards, Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman; the indefatigable forward, Jayden Gardner; the three-point shooters, Armaan Franklin, Isaac McKneely and Ben Vander Plas, who can do more than just shoot; and the one who soon might be better than them all, Dunn.

This is the best team in the ACC

The meat of the college basketball season is, of course, conference play. That’s where the rivalries and the biggest fun lie. And after a couple weeks, Virginia appears poised to win another regular-season ACC title.

The ACC, as they say, runs through Charlottesville.

North Carolina, the putative best team in the country, is unproven and unimpressive. Sure, the Tar Heels return a bevy of talent from last year’s dazzling NCAA Tournament run, but that is yet to materialize this season.

Duke posted a strong fight against Kansas at the Champions Classic, but the Blue Devils are yet to coalesce under new head coach Jon Scheyer. Duke and UNC both will challenge for the ACC throne, but Virginia has taken the first concrete steps toward the dais.

Virginia’s next game will be a reprieve from the rigors of Las Vegas. The Hoos host Maryland-Eastern Shore on Friday at 6 p.m. ET on the ACCN.

Image – Virginia Athletics