CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Like Maryland before them, Virginia scored a big win over Duke at home. Then they had to go on the road at Boston College, a team near the bottom of the ACC but one that isn’t far from being in the middle of the pack. Maryland couldn’t avoid a letdown and lost at The Heights, and Virginia came close to a better result but couldn’t put away the Eagles, who took home an emotional 53-52 win to likewise put the Cavaliers in a tight spot for the NCAA Tournament.
Like Maryland, Virginia also has some youth, although they have three upperclassmen who start. The Cavaliers have been a tough team to fully figure out on the bottom line, as they went 0-3 against CAA schools in non-conference but won every other game. They should be able to run the table at home in ACC play with one game still left, but have only knocked off Virginia Tech and Maryland away from Charlottesville. That ability to win on the road is a big one, and it was something head coach Tony Bennett was talking about after the game with regard to how it got away.
“On the road, you have to be that much better and that much sounder,” said the third-year Cavalier mentor. “The ability to finish it out, you have to make plays. Our losses on the road, with Georgia Tech, Miami and here, we’re in there and trying to find a way. That makes it sting a little bit more.”
Virginia ran out to a 13-5 lead early on, but would surrender the lead before the first half was up. They started well in the second half, and near the halfway point had their largest lead at 43-32 and looked like they would be in good shape. But they allowed the Eagles to score the next seven points to get back in the game, and they were at least within striking distance the rest of the way.
In the final minute, things didn’t look good for BC. After a Virginia miss, no Eagle could secure the rebound, and Virginia’s Jontel Evans got to the ball and got a controversial timeout call with 33.5 seconds left. That left the Eagles in a position to have to foul, which they did. They got a break when Joe Harris, fresh off a 36-point outing against Duke, missed the second free throw, meaning they only need two to tie.
The Eagles would get three and a foul with 8.2 seconds left, and after missing the free throw, Virginia had one more chance. But Evans dribbled on the baseline with less than a second to go, and BC held on.
“I told our guys, it’s the old ABC commercial, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” said Bennett “You felt it on Thursday with an exhilarating win with all that excitement.”
Bennett said he didn’t call a timeout after the missed free throw because he felt there was a chance the Eagles might be scrambling. A lot of teams go that route, and sometimes it works. This time it did not.
“We let this one slip away,” said Evans. “We’ve got to finish strong with two games left.”
Akil Mitchell, who has emerged as a solid inside contributor, had 16 points on 8-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. He said he would talk to Evans, who was down after the big turnover, to keep him going. The Cavaliers need their senior point guard, who had a nice first half but wasn’t a factor in the second, to be effective.
“He’s our leader,” said Mitchell. “For us to be successful, for us to win, he’s got to be our leader.”
Virginia’s RPI is 64 as of Monday morning, and what that tells you is what a look at their resume will: they are a mixed bag. They have wins over Wisconsin (road), Tennessee (home), North Carolina (home), NC State (home) and Duke (home). But they also have the three CAA losses, two of which aren’t so bad (George Mason and Delaware, the former on the road) and one of which is bad (vs. Old Dominion in Richmond). They have also lost on the road against four of the bottom teams in the ACC.
That’s a big reason why Sunday stings. Beating Boston College wouldn’t be a significant win, but it would avoid a bad loss. It was also a missed opportunity from a momentum standpoint, where they could have let the win over Duke be a momentum builder.
“We needed to win this game,” said Harris, who scored 14 points but was 4-11 from the field. “We wanted to close out the year on a high note, trying to win the last three games of the regular season after a big win against somebody like Duke. We know how important these games are for our tournament resume.”
In the same sense, they can’t let this loss cascade into more losses.
“As much as this one stings, it doesn’t do any good to be negative about it,” Harris continued. “You’ve got to still have an optimistic look. We’ve got to take care of business and finish out the season on a high note.”
Virginia heads to Florida State and comes home to play Maryland to end the regular season. Should they win both, they will go 12-6 in the ACC. That might be enough, given the weakness of the bubble, to get into the NCAA Tournament so long as they avoid a bad loss in the ACC Tournament. If they get to 12 ACC wins, they have a good shot at a bye, which would lessen the opportunity for a bad loss. They’ll have to first heal that conference season-long problem of winning on the road.
