Virginia senior Kihei Clark took four shots Wednesday night against Albany. Two of them completely changed the mood of the game and the fans at John Paul Jones Arena.
Clark notched two steals and two layups in the span of 16 seconds that changed what had been a seesaw battle into a quickly growing halftime lead and simultaneously ignited the crowd. The Hoos eventually pulled away for a comfortable 66-46 win to close non-conference play in the regular season.
Both coaches acknowledged the importance of those two plays following the UVA win.
"I told them I have not seen a guy pick someone's pocket two times in a row, that was impressive, but then I remembered after the game, and I said I take that back, I saw Muggsy Bogues ... Muggsy did it," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "You just don't see that when a guy gets a steal because once a guy picks your pocket, when you get peeled, you're like OK, no more, at least that's how you're thinking. ... That was good. Got the crowd into it, but it just ignited our defense."
"For 16 minutes and 20 seconds, we executed our game plan perfectly," Albany coach Dwayne Killings said. "We came out of the media timeout and the reason why Kihei Clark is one of the best guards in the country, the reason why he's a winner, and the reason why he's won the games that he has is he makes two steals that really changed complexion of the game. It gave them the momentum that they needed and they never looked back. I thought that really crushed our spirit."
That spark proved to be a quintessential Clark moment in what was his 139th game at Virginia, a school record. Whether it was picking up the ball fullcourt as a freshman on the 2019 National Championship team, forcing a one-man 10-second count that drew a big reaction from Bennett later in his career, or snaring these two steals that brought back Sean Singletary memories, Clark's tenaciousness is emblematic of how he plays the game.
In this case, the score stood tied at 24-24 at the under 4 minute media timeout and UVA still led just 27-24 after a traditional three-point play from Armaan Franklin, who was a big offensive story in this game. Clark followed that free throw with the first steal as he swiped the ball from Malik Edmead and raced ahead for a layup. As Edmead brought it up the next time, Clark measured it and somehow took the ball away for the second steal and bucket in a row. What had been a tie game just 45 seconds earlier was suddenly a 31-24 Virginia lead.
The half ended with another classic Clark moment. He broke down the defense off the dribble and then slipped a no-look pass through a seam to the waiting hands of Jayden Gardner for an easy layup that sent UVA to the locker room up 9 points. Gardner finished with 16 points on 7-11 shooting plus 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
That drop-off pass was just a drop in the bucket for the night as Clark dished out 10 assists, meaning he helped on 10 of the 22 baskets that he didn't score himself. He passed Jeff Jones (598 assists from 1979-82) for second on UVA’s all-time list with 600 assists. The helpers were big in this game as Reece Beekman sat out with the lingering hamstring injury suffered earlier this month.
Clark sent 4 assists to Franklin, who shook off a slow start to post a big game against the Great Danes. Franklin poured in 20 points as he made 7 of 13 shots overall, 3 of 6 triples, and of 3 free throws.
That's the second time in a row that a Virginia player bounced back from a rough outing with a good offensive game the next time out. In fact, the shooting lines matched exactly. Ben Vander Plas went 0-7 from the field against Houston, but then put in 20 points on 7-13 shooting against Miami. Franklin went 0-7 against the Canes, but then came through with the same 20 on 7-13 shooting Wednesday night.
Franklin said the coaches' message remains the same in either situation.
"Just be aggressive, hunt your shots but knowing the right time to take a shot," Franklin said. "If you're missing shots, just keep being aggressive, keep being on the attack and hunting shots honestly. Just go out there and have fun. That was the message today. Just try and have fun."
Once UVA got going with the late second-half surge, it quickly separated from Albany. The Hoos shot 52.2% in the second half while holding the Danes to 24.1% defensively. The visitors made just 7 of 29 shots after intermission and 4 makes came in the final 2:25 of the game. Long story short, the defense really clamped down in the second half.
At least part of the tale on that end was the work against Gerald Drumgoole Jr. He scored just 7 points on 2-12 shooting, which followed a 23-point outing against Northern Illinois in his team's win last week. That's one of five 20-point games this season, but he couldn't get comfortable against the Hoos.
"I thought Armaan really did a good job," Bennett said. "No. 1 can get it going. ... I thought Armaan was really good defensively and of course he had a good offensive game. So the veteran play of Jayden and Armaan and then Kihei was good."
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