Entering the weekend, the Boston College matchup had several markings of a tricky challenge for the Virginia basketball team.
A week off between contests. A noon tip-off after rowdy home games against North Carolina and Virginia Tech most recently. A post player that could test the defense inside and out.
For about nine minutes, concerns about a sluggish Saturday afternoon showing still existed as the Eagles held a narrow four-point lead. The following 31 minutes obliterated those worries, though, as the Hoos dominated every category and cruised to a 76-57 win. They have won 12 of 14 meetings in the series.
"We had four guys in double figures ... and it just makes a defense, they can't just zero in or key in on one guy," UVA coach Tony Bennett said. "They have to say alright, if we're going to shade this way or double, there's other guys. I think when your attack is balanced, it's the best kind of basketball and, again, certainly you feed hot hands if they're going."
Indeed, BC simply could not match Virginia offensively for the whole game. The Hoos placed four players in double figures and had six total players with at least six points. They logged assists on 20 of the 30 buckets, shot 50.9% for the game, and scored 1.19 points per possession. The Eagles, meanwhile, had just two players with more than 4 points, shot 40.8% for the game, and scored only .891 points per possesion.
UVA created its firepower in this game with a blend of inside and outside production.
Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner posted matching 18-point outings to lead the way. Franklin extended his double-digit scoring streak to nine games as he knocked down a trio of 3's to help boost his total. Gardner feasted in the mid-range behind 8-of-12 shooting and slammed home a follow-up bucket too. Franklin added 7 rebounds and 3 assists as part of his line, while Gardner grabbed 6 boards too.
Freshman Isaac McKneely tallied 12 points and 4 rebounds, which including 2-4 shooting from 3-point range. Reece Beekman followed with 11 points and 8 assists as he routinely found operating room in various spots around the paint. Kihei Clark had 7 points and 6 assists, while Ryan Dunn had 6 points and 4 rebounds with a ferocious tip-dunk erasing that early BC lead for good just ahead of the 10:00 mark in the first half.
In the end, Virginia had 11 layups or dunks, 13 shots inside the arc away from the rim, and 6 3-pointers.
"I think they're sharing the ball and different guys are doing different things," Bennett said. "We have good balance. We made some 3's, it wasn't like we shot a great percentage, but there was a good mix. There were some drives, there were some 3's, some offensive rebounds, post-ups, and Jayden Gardner had a very good offensive game. The ball was moving and then we stretched it a little bit, we had the right guys making some 3's at the right time."
"It's probably really tough to scout when you have a lot of guys that do a lot of different things plus everybody's capable," Gardner said. "You've seen I-Mac getting his confidence up and hitting some tough shots, some 3's. I think RD hit a pull-up today. Then you've got the vets that have been here so I think it makes it realy challenging to scout."
Still, for a few minutes, Boston College matched UVA on the scoreboard. Quinten Post, a 7'0" senior center, made sure of that.
Post recorded a pair of 3-pointers, a hook shot, a layup, and 4 free throws in the first six minutes as he scored 14 of his team's first 16 points. That pushed the visitors to a 16-13 lead that they still held at 21-17 on a Mason Madsen 3-pointer. BC made 6 of its first 8 shots.
After the early flurry, however, the offense started to struggle. The Eagles made only 4 of 17 shots the rest of the half and they never really found much traction again until the final 3:30 when they scored 8 points to take a little sting off what was a 76-49 deficit at the time. Boston College made 3 of its final 4 shots as well, meaning that the offense went 11-37 (29.7%) outside of the two brief periods of production.
Post finished with 24 points, while Makai Ashton-Langford added 12.
"In the second half, it was a nine-point game with 12 minutes to go and it's like a slow drip," BC coach "They made three or four 3's back to back to back and got it to 20. Give them credit. They did a great job of grinding us. I thought we executed the plan for about 24 minutes of that game, but that wasn't enough to win a game like this in this arena."
The Cavaliers improved to 10-1 at the John Paul Jones Arena with the victory. They've won at least 10 home games for 14 straight seasons, accounting for every year of Bennett's tenure. UVA leads the ACC with an 83-13 mark in league home games over the past 11 seasons.
Virginia won't get a chance to add to that total until February, though. The next two games are on the road with a quick turnaround at Syracuse up next on Monday and the rematch with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg set for next Saturday.
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