Virginia is still dancing. But in Thursday’s bout against the fellow No. 10 seed Arizona State, it just did not look much like ballet.
In a game of passionate, hard-fought effort — and often appalling offensive performances by both sides — the Cavaliers (20-11, 11-7 ACC) edged out the Sun Devils (24-11, 9-9 ACC) 57-55 at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. In March, survival is everything — and for 40 minutes, the Cavaliers did just enough to secure their spot in the 64-team bracket and earn their 20th win for the first time since 2017.
“That was a gutsy performance,” Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “We had to ground that one out.”
Virginia shot abysmally, going 4-for-23 on three-point shots and 32.3 percent from the floor. The Cavaliers had six instances in which they suffered scoring droughts of two minutes or longer, one of which lasted over four minutes. In the first half, especially, Virginia’s half-court offense appeared completely stunted beyond junior guard Kymora Johnson dribbling the ball around searching for open looks or generating her own shots.
Time and time again, possessions stalled, movement disappeared and sloppy passing turnovers cost Virginia’s ample opportunities to exploit Arizona State’s similarly lackluster, inconsistent shotmaking.
What kept Virginia afloat was its defense. Mixing man, zone and full-court pressure, the Cavaliers fought tooth and nail, forcing 16 turnovers, 11 steals, and six blocks on a flustered Sun Devils offense that could not buy a bucket. In the first half in particular, Arizona State notched only eight field goals and suffered seven turnovers on nine points against Virginia’s zone.
Still, for the Sun Devils to have coughed up the ball three times in a row in a first-quarter sequence and have undergone a stretch of missing 11 of their last 12 field goal attempts in the second quarter, it is borderline absurd that Virginia only increased its lead to 30-22 at the break.
Even so, the Cavaliers never found the slightest inkling of separation.
Despite finding some rhythm on the offensive glass — a staple of the team’s arduous mentality, Virginia only recorded five total second-chance points and nine assists in the matchup. The Cavaliers remained bloodthirsty on defense — including a pass deflection by junior forward Sa’Myah Smith right out of the halftime gate — Virginia was ultimately only able to score 12 points off of Arizona State’s turnovers.
Both squads’ similar inefficiencies in efficiency and opportunity left the door wide open in the fourth quarter, with Virginia leading 40-36.
With nearly 4.5 minutes to go, the Cavaliers stretched their lead to 48-40 on consecutive fastbreak field goals, first by Johnson, followed by senior guard Paris Clark. It was Virginia’s largest advantage since the beginning of the third quarter, so the Cavaliers seemed poised to catch a breath and form more deliberate offensive possessions.
But the Sun Devils were far from finished. Within a minute, senior guard Marley Washenitz drained two three-point shots to cut the Sun Devils’ deficit to two.
The game remained a tug-of-war down the stretch. Under one minute left, Virginia led 51-48, only for Washenitz to once again barrel in a triple off a second chance opportunity with 41 seconds to go to even out the field.
Despite their offensive ineptitude all night, the Cavaliers largely avoided costly mistakes, which excluded Arizona State from striking distance for the game’s majority. And yet, the Sun Devils refused to go home quietly, keeping the final moments tense and erratic.
“Arizona State, they're a very physical defensive team,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “That's what they're known for. They make it hard for you to run anything. They really make it hard for 40 minutes.”
Then, the killer blow fell in Johnson’s hands.
With 30 seconds left, Johnson knocked down the clutch three-pointer that iced the game for Virginia. The All-ACC guard, the fuel in the little engine that could and the heart of this era of Virginia women’s basketball delivered everything and more in the first NCAA Tournament game of her career.
“I’m so blessed to be in this position,” Johnson said. “This is what I came to Virginia to do.”
Even though the remaining 30 seconds continued with more back-and-forth action and the Cavaliers extending their lead at the line, Johnson’s three — and double-double performance alongside graduate forward Caitlin Weimar — stamped Virginia’s ticket to gain its first seed in the NCAA Tournament in eight years. Despite Thursday’s scoring effort coming few and far between, the next play, next possession mentality was what won this game for Virginia.
“I was just proud of our players, just kind of weathered the storm through some of the adversity we hit in the game, but we were so urgent at the end, and we just stayed together and really was on one accord,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
Next up, No. 10 Virginia goes head-to-head with a prominent SEC challenger in No. 7 Georgia in Iowa City for the first round of the NCAA Tournament — the matchup tips off Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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