As Andrew Rohde's last second attempt rolled off the rim, all a soldout John Paul Jones Arena could do was put hands behind their heads in anguish as Virginia Tech walked out 75-74 winners on Saturday.
Mike Young came away a winner in Charlottesville for the first time in his Hokies tenure, while Virginia Tech picked up the program's first road win at JPJ since 2018. The close nature of the game should not have come as a surprise with Virginia Tech only winning six times since 1968 and five of the six wins coming by one or two points.
The Hokies led by 13 with 6:32 remaining in the game, which forced Ron Sanchez into an early timeout. Virginia responded with an 18-6 run to set up the late-game scenario with a few surprising wrinkles like a 1-3-1 zone defense and a fullcourt press.
Ultimately, the Cavaliers got the ball down 75-72 with eight seconds remaining and called a timeout to set up a play for Isaac McKneely to shoot a 3-pointer. Virginia Tech fouled McKneely as one of the ACC’s top 3-point shooters went into his shooting motion, but officials called the foul on the floor, sending McKneely to the line for two. McKneely made both free throws. The Hokies' Mylyjael Poteat then missed both of his attempts leading to Rohde running the ball up the floor with no timeouts and a chance at the buzzer, but it just missed.
Despite the comeback, the end result was the same for Virginia, who dropped its third game this season at home by one possession after close losses to Memphis and SMU.
"You approach this thing as it is, which is a gift," UVA coach Ron Sanchez said. "The opportunity to coach a team, the opportunity to play a game at John Paul Jones Arena in front of that crowd, to represent this university and conference. Deflation shouldn't exist, only gratitude."
"If highs and lows are going to come based off the scoreboard then you're going to live a miserable life," he added.
McKneely led Virginia in scoring again with 19 points and a career-high 7 assists, while Rohde (12), Dai Dai Ames (11), and Taine Murray (10) all joined him in double figures. The Hokies saw big performances from Jaden Schutt with 18 points and Toni Lawal with 17.
The loss keeps UVA only one spot above the bottom three of Boston College, NC State, and Miami in the ACC standings. Only the top 15 teams in the league go to Charlotte for the ACC Tournament.
"That is what an inexperienced and young group goes through before you can have success," Sanchez said. "Everybody wants to get there, but nobody wants to go through the hard. These lessons that we're learning right now are going to benefit these guys later."
Here are three takeaways from the Commonwealth Clash loss.
Rohde's Final Shot As Good As It Gets
Without a timeout and only a tick more than four seconds remaining, Andrew Rohde had little choice other than to go straight to the basket while trailing by one.
"Felt like it was going in, but that's the game it happens," Rohde said.
Not one person on the UVA sideline disagreed with his decision despite the result.
"Without a timeout absolutely," Sanchez said. "To be at the rim, if there's another second left on the clock maybe we get the offensive rebound."
Time had already run out when Blake Buchanan came crashing in at the buzzer to tip in Rohde's miss. While many opponents have had their own fun with last second shots at JPJ in recent years like SMU just a few weeks ago or Matthew Cleveland during his Florida State days, those plays have not gone the way of the Cavaliers.
With 6:32 remaining in the game though, few would have predicted Virginia would have a chance to win the game at the buzzer as it trailed by 13 points. Sanchez said the team practices those end of game scenarios every day at practice, but came inches away from executing perfectly.
"We fought back to have a chance to win it, so you just have to live with the result at that point," McKneely said. "Proud of the way we fought back, no one likes losing to their rival at home of course."
Defensive Pillars Crumbling
Virginia entered the Commonwealth Clash on Saturday ranked 181st in defensive efficiency, the worst mark for the program since 2007-08. Saturday showed why a program once known for stifling defense has fallen off. The 75 points for Virginia Tech was the most scored by the Hokies at John Paul Jones Arena since scoring 76 in overtime back in 2010.
"The first 30 minutes we didn't guard them well enough," Sanchez said.
Before the 18-6 run that helped Virginia crawl back into the game, Mike Young's team had little trouble working its way through the Pack Line defense, executing off of bad communication and poor closeouts. The Hokies shot 11-21 from 3-point range, a 52.4% mark, including more than a few without a Virginia defender within sight.
"We got to continue to build our habits, chasing screens and being there on the catch," Sanchez said. "That's a really good shooting team, I give Mike [Young] a lot of credit."
The Cavaliers were without Elijah Saunders again on Saturday, who was still wearing a boot and Sanchez listed him as day-to-day with Monday’s game against Pitt in doubt. Without Saunders, Virginia becomes an even younger and less experienced team with Anthony Robinson, Blake Buchanan, and Jacob Cofie making up a young frontcourt rotation.
Youth and inexperience has been mentioned more than a few times this season to explain different struggles, but it might be most apparent on defense with players still showing little grasp for the Pack Line.
"This is a young team, a lot of new faces as well, so just trying to put the defense together," McKneely said. "We're working on it every day in practice, feel like we're getting better, but there are stretches in the game where we let them hit a few shots in a row and we can't let that happen. I'll take some responsibility for that, I had some lapses."
The Hoos threw out a 1-3-1 zone for one possession during their comeback, a sight many at JPJ had to rub their eyes to make sure they were seeing correctly. It was the second time Sanchez has used the wrinkle this season, this time leading to a turnover and a fastbreak layup.
Outside of the final six minutes though, Virginia could never close the gap on Virginia Tech largely because the defense could never find the stop the Cavaliers needed.
"The defense wasn't at the standard that our defense was supposed to be," Rohde said.
Sanchez Technical Highlights UVA Frustration
Technical fouls on the sideline have been a rarity over the years in Charlottesville. Tony Bennett only picked up two in his 15 seasons and now Ron Sanchez is halfway to tying him in his one season.
Sanchez was called for a technical foul during the first media timeout of the game, he said arguing over an early possession where the Hokies were bailed out of a shot clock violation with a late call.
"I have a hard time with refs calling fouls within the first minute of the game," Sanchez said. "They impact the rotations of your team, especially when it's not a play that impacts a score or a possession."
For a mild-mannered Sanchez, this was the most heated he had been on the sideline this season and the most pointed in his post game press conference toward the officials. But there were a few other not-so subtle jabs tossed in as well during his postgame remarks towards Bill Covington Jr. and crew.
"At times when I felt like we got our yard and stayed in our lane and stopped them, the whistle was blown and they ended up getting free throws," Sanchez said when asked about UVA's defensive struggles.
There were a handful of calls some Virginia fans will point to after the game from Anthony Robinson taking an elbow to the face and getting the foul called on himself to Dai Dai Ames fouling a jump shooter, which elicited a UVA band member to offer his glasses to the officials. Even Mike Young was astounded at Virginia's bad luck with fouls this season.
"Their opponents have made more foul shots than UVA has taken," Young said. "Never do you see that. Never."
The call which might have had the biggest impact on the final score was the one on McKneely in the final six seconds, where Virginia Tech was called for a foul on the floor instead of in the act of shooting. Trailing by three, McKneely could only shoot two free throws instead of three with a chance to tie.
"I was anticipating the foul, I heard them whispering about it," McKneely said. "So I was anticipating it as soon as I caught the ball and felt like I was going into the shooting motion and the ref saw it a different way."
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