COLUMBIA, S.C. - Vintage Virginia.
With a Sweet 16 spot on the line against Oklahoma on Sunday night, the UVA basketball team locked in and put together the type of performance that’s led to repeated wins in the Tony Bennett era. The Cavaliers smothered the paint defensively and spread the wealth offensively to suffocate the Sooners. That produced a 63-51 win and extended their stay in the NCAA Tournament as a result.
“I thought we played enough quality basketball,” Bennett said. “We had to be ready from the start, and we got off to a real good start, and then we had a little trouble at a stretch there. But we were steady and got good lifts. ... I think that there was a playing for each other defensively, as I said in my opening statement, and sharing the ball and just trying to - you know, you get into these possession games trying to impose your will or outlast, and that was part of it. Both teams were playing hard, and fortunately, we just had enough good plays and stops at the right time.”
Other than a couple of short flurries in each half, UVA’s defense seemed to frustrate Oklahoma’s offense. The Sooners tried to feed the paint early and the Hoos blitzed them with post traps. Later, they left the interior defense to one-on-one matchups with Mamadi Diakite, Braxton Key, Jay Huff, and De’Andre Hunter all getting turns to protect the paint. Ultimately, Virginia ended up controlling the lane and dominating points in the paint 32-12.
OU, which had unfettered looks at the rim repeatedly against Mississippi on Friday, couldn’t get any rhythm going with UVA focused on shutting down looks down low. With their bread-and-butter attack near the basket flustered, the Sooners shot 36.5% on the night (19-52) with only 6 offensive rebounds. Brady Manek kept his team within shouting distance at halftime with 13 points, but he missed all four shots after intermission. Christian James tried to pick it up in the second half with all 13 of his points, but Oklahoma spent most of the night playing catch-up.
Shutting down the paint played a key role in that storyline.
“It was huge,” Virginia’s Braxton Key said. “Our coach just told us I think they got most of their points from a two-point field goal. So just trying to get in the pack and make it more difficult for them to get inside. When they got inside, just post trapping their guards and try to give them different looks that they may not have seen prior to today.”
Rashard Odomes and Kristian Doolittle, who exposed mismatches against Ole Miss with 39 combined points on 14-of-20 shooting (70.0%), scored just 10 combined points on 5-of-13 shooting (38.5%) in this one. Doolittle made 4 of 10 shots for 8 points, while Odomes hit just 1 of 3 for 2 points.
Diakite’s presence played a big role there. He started in place of Jack Salt with OU trying to use undersized players with dribble post-ups near the rim. While all four of Diakite, Key, Hunter, and Huff notched a blocked shot, Diakite led the way with 3 blocks and he bothered other post moves as well. He moved into seventh on the program’s single-season blocks list with 50 on the season.
“[Diakite] being 6'10" and being very athletic, he was able to alter my shot and block a few of them there at the beginning of the game,” Doolittle said. “Credit to him for playing really good defense. He made it really tough on me to get the shots that I wanted, and even when I was open, just kind of wasn't in a rhythm, just being inconsistent on my part. So credit to them for that.”
With paint sealant in place on defense, the Cavaliers put the Sooners in a ball screen grinder on offense to complete the classic formula. Despite a cold night from the 3-point line (7-24/29.2%), Virginia shot 48.2% overall (27-56) thanks to repeated drives or feeds to rollers out of ball screens.
Ty Jerome and Kihei Clark got space for drives, particularly in the first half, and finished with 21 points combined. Jerome scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with 3 assists, while Clark added 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting with 2 assists. With those two along with Kyle Guy scoring his only buckets on drives (he had 4 points on 2-of-15 shooting), OU shifted its defense a little bit to try to slow that down. That led to some opportunities for the screeners.
Diakite, again, played a big role there with a game-high 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He also posted 9 rebounds, matching his career high from Friday night, to round out a strong stat line. That included 8 points after halftime with all four baskets coming out of ball screens.
Huff and Key got in on the act too. Huff scored 5 points in the first half on a dunk a 3-pointer, while Key poured in 9 points and 9 rebounds to match a season-high. Key didn’t miss on four shot attempts.
“They started off kind of low showing and we were able to get into the paint kind of easily,” Jerome said. “So they adjusted to kind of hard hedge and try to get the ball out of my hands. Mamadi and Braxton did a great job of rolling and finishing on the back end.”
“I was locked in, and I was trying to respond to the challenge Coach gave me,” Diakite said. “He started me tonight, and I wanted to prove him that I was ready to play. So I did so.”
The Cavaliers proved they were ready to play too. They opened the game with a quick 7-0 surge and then after a brief response that saw Oklahoma take the lead, they surged again with an 18-2 run. In the second half, UVA put together separate mini-bursts of 8-4 and 9-4 to push ahead by as many as 16 points and OU never got within single digits again.
The last 10 to 12 minutes were a methodical, and vintage Virginia, march to the second weekend in the NCAA Tournament.
“It means everything to me, honestly. It's my first time in the Sweet 16, like I said,” Jerome said. “After last game, I told you I've never been to a Sweet 16. Everyone is talking about a Final Four, but I've never been to a Sweet 16. Just the opportunity to play with this group again for a whole 'nother week and practicing with this group and traveling with this group, that's what means the most, I think. Just to keep playing with this group of guys.”
“This is my first time out of the first weekend in my three-year career here,” Guy said. “I had to run out and see my family before they left. They’re driving home tonight. ... I just wanted to soak up this moment. It’s a great feeling.”
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