It took 22 seconds in the second half for Virginia to win the game last Friday night.
NEW YORK — At some point, the Virginia men’s basketball team’s luck had to run out. They had won an ACC regular season title, an ACC Tournament championship and had made it to the Sweet Sixteen, extending one of the most successful seasons in the program’s recent history. Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Cavaliers’ stunning run came to an end as they lost 61-59 to Michigan State, bowing out of the NCAA Tournament.
Even before the Spartans’ Friday night Sweet 16 matchup against Virginia at Madison Square Garden, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said he felt sorry for Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his father.
Perhaps the most appealing thing about the Virginia men’s basketball team is the fact that they play as a team. However, throughout the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, the entire team has not been accounted for.
In the final minutes of Virginia’s victory against No. 8 seed Memphis, ‘Sweet 16’ chants filled the stadium. The 78-60 effort earned the top-seeded Cavaliers a trip to Madison Square Garden and the eighth Sweet 16 appearance in program history, and first since 1995.
Trailing Coastal Carolina 31-21 late in the first half — the largest deficit faced by a No. 1 seed against a No. 16 seed since 1989 — the Cavaliers were not playing their game. More alarming, according to coach Tony Bennett, though, was the “bickering” between the Virginia teammates.
The No. 1 seed Virginia men’s basketball team just scraped by in their opening round game of the NCAA tournament, beating No.
Whatever coach Tony Bennett said during halftime, the Cavaliers came out the break a changed team, quickly closing the gap and taking the lead, and Virginia would hold on for a 70-59 win to advance to Sunday’s game against No. 8 seed Memphis.
This season is the first time in 21 years the Chanticleers have earned an NCAA Tournament bid, as coach Cliff Ellis — who spent 10 years as the coach of both Clemson and Auburn — became just the 10th coach to lead four different Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament. No recent Coastal Carolina team has played with as much chemistry as the 2013-14 Chanticleers, and the team becomes very dangerous when players communicate and make smart passes.
The Virginia men’s basketball team won an ACC regular season title, an ACC Tournament title and locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Sunday. With all these achievements behind them, the Cavaliers have a little time to rest on their laurels — right? Senior forward Akil Mitchell summed up the reality in five words: “You don’t know Coach Bennett.”
Back in Charlottesville, hours after the confetti was swept off the floor of the Greensboro Coliseum, it still doesn’t feel real. The Virginia Cavaliers, 2014 ACC Tournament champions.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tony Bennett had been asked so frequently by the media about Wally Walker that it had become a running joke. The Virginia coach was well aware that it had been nearly 40 years — 38, to be exact — since Walker’s Cavaliers had won the ACC Tournament, and his team had the first opportunity to match the 1976 team’s feat in 20 years.
Dick Bennett, who rarely watches or attends Virginia games, promised his son Tony that he would watch the Cavaliers’ ACC Tournament opener against Florida State.
Up 51-48 with nine second left to play in their ACC semifinal game against Pittsburgh, the Virginia men’s basketball team’s lead was not looking particularly safe.
If the No. 6 Virginia men’s basketball team needed any additional motivation entering its ACC Tournament Quarterfinals matchup against Florida State, Seminole senior forward Okaro White generously provided the gasoline for its fire.
Joe Harris said going into the postseason that he wanted to be more aggressive on offense. If Friday’s debut game in the ACC Tournament was any indication, the senior guard meant it.
Maryland students stormed Gary Williams Court at the Comcast Center as the Terrapins left the ACC in dramatic fashion, winning their final conference regular season game in overtime against No. 5 Virginia, 75-69.
The past week has been nothing short of sensational for the No. 5 Virginia men’s basketball team. After earning its first outright regular season ACC championship since 1981 with a dominant win over Syracuse, Virginia claimed its first top-five ranking in over a decade. To top it off, on Monday redshirt sophomore guard Malcolm Brogdon was named co-ACC player of the week after scoring a career-high 19 points against then-No. 4 Syracuse, the first such honor for any Cavalier this season.
March 1 has come and gone, and there’s a new top dog in the ACC this week. Surprisingly, though, Virginia beating Syracuse for the ACC regular season title wasn’t even my favorite story out of Charlottesville that day. Jim Boeheim is the gift that keeps on giving.
For a team coached by the unflappable Tony Bennett, it was just another win — its 13th straight win — but there was still more work to do.
