Darion Atkins started his second consecutive game Friday night at John Paul Jones Arena, as the Virginia men’s basketball team posted a 59-42 win against 2014 NCAA Tournament participant George Washington. At halftime, the No. 9 Cavaliers’ sole senior in the rotation had a forgettable stat line: no points, three rebounds and one assist in 10 minutes of play.
As a team, Virginia picked up its play after shooting 9-of-27 from the field with zero fast-break points in the first half. Returning from the locker room, the Cavaliers displayed both energy — Virginia outrebounded George Washington 25-11, and blocked nine Colonial shots in the second half — and flair, as junior guard Justin Anderson tip-slammed junior forward Evan Nolte’s missed 3-pointer with his off hand.
In this period, Atkins provided a critical boost for Virginia — racking up eight points, eight rebounds and three blocks after the break. After the game, coach Tony Bennett praised his most experienced Cavalier.
“I always tell [Darion] to be the anchor for us defensively, protect the paint, give us activity, be all over the glass and be opportunistic,” Bennett said. “When he does that, he is at his best and it helps us the most. It comes down to who you are as a player and what can you do to serve the team, and when he is locked into that it gives us a real good fit. He made some big plays at crucial times.”
Playing against Joe McDonald, George Washington’s starting point guard and his former teammate at Landon School, Atkins showed just how important he is to Virginia. He twice scored off putbacks — cleaning up his own miss first and then Anderson’s — and tricked his Colonial defender with an up-and-under. Atkins also blocked McDonald, forward Kevin Larsen and wing Patricio Garino — three of George Washington’s four junior starters — once apiece.
Atkins scored all eight of his points in the last 10 minutes of the game, including four in a row to give Virginia a nine-point lead at 44-35 with 8:37 to play. The senior provided a true spark in the Cavaliers’ biggest win of the year so far.
Or, as junior guard Malcolm Brogdon said, “He was a beast tonight.”
“I just wanted to come out in the second half and give us energy,” Atkins said. “During halftime [associate head] coach [Ritchie] McKay had a talk with me. He said he really wanted me to step it up energy-wise and crash the glass, and I just took it to heart. And that’s what I came out and did.”
Atkins matched up with Larsen — the Colonials’ best post player — and helped hold him to two points, three rebounds and just three shots in 31 minutes on court. Virginia repeatedly trapped Larsen in the post, forcing him to move the ball, and coaxed four turnovers from him by game’s end. Bennett, who holds his team to exacting defensive standards, said he gives his team’s post-trapping against George Washington “a B-minus.”
He also said Virginia’s strategy for defending Larsen came from his father, former Green Bay coach Dick Bennett.
“It’s stuck in my head and it’ll be tested through this year, but, from playing for my father saying, you know, ‘You should never let a good big man beat you,’” Bennett said. “You should always be able to find a way — whether it’s with traps or things like that — and he’s going to have to be unbelievable to get his looks, his shots. … Perhaps [Larsen] had an off game, but I hope it was somewhat because our defense disrupted him.”
Atkins’ response to the first half — and Virginia’s as a whole — was important against George Washington, which plays a tough and unafraid brand of basketball. The Colonials ran the Flex — a motion offense featuring a series of screens and baseline cuts — and forced the Cavaliers to raise their game.
“Sometimes it looks like someone said rugby with a basketball,” Bennett said. “You know, you’re in there and there’s screening and grinding, and I don’t know if the physicality knocked us back a little bit where we were a little fatigued or anxious. … We tried to prepare for it, but when you go against that tight Flex and know how physical it is, it takes a little bit to get used to.”
Atkins was not the only Cavalier to improve after the break. Bennett said Brogdon and Anderson both raised their games, and Brogdon said the Cavaliers played “Virginia basketball” in the second half against George Washington.
“We knew they were going to be a great team,” Atkins said. “We were really excited to have a good test — a good challenge right in front of us — and I feel like we won out. We were a little sloppy in the first half, but we brought it together in the second half, and I’m really proud of my team for playing as well as we did against this team.”
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