Virginia Earns Gritty Win Over Illinois, Wins Main Event Championship

Virginia basketball is formally again. 

I hesitated to put in writing that on Friday after UVA picked up an enormous victory over No. 5 Baylor. It was an awesome sport, however just one sport. Now, I’ve no such reservations. After a “down yr” that noticed the Cavaliers miss the NCAA Match for the primary time since 2013, Virginia seems to be among the best groups within the nation this season and the rankings ought to replicate that when they’re up to date after Tony Bennett’s Wahoos went to Las Vegas and earned two extremely spectacular wins this weekend. 

Nevertheless it definitely wasn’t simple. With rather less than 4 minutes left in regulation, Virginia trailed Illinois 58-56. Over the subsequent three and a half minutes, the Cavaliers made clutch play after clutch play on each ends of the ground, stringing collectively a game-changing 13-0 run to take full management of the sport late as No. 16 Virginia (4-0) defeated No. 19 Illinois (4-1) 70-61 on Sunday to clinch the Continental Tire Foremost Occasion Championship in Las Vegas. 

Whereas each groups received scorching of their respective semifinal victories on Friday evening, the title sport on Sunday was extra of a defensive slugfest, with each groups taking pictures only a contact over 40% from the ground. Kihei Clark powered the Cavaliers early with 10 first-half factors, together with a pair of three-pointers, however sturdy first-halves from RJ Melendez (8 factors, 2 threes) and Jayden Epps (8 factors, 4/6 FG) gave Illinois a slim 31-29 edge at halftime. 

Simply as they did in opposition to Baylor on Friday, the Cavaliers began the second half sturdy with a 6-0 run. Virginia maintained a slim lead for the subsequent a number of minutes till a pair of buckets from Armaan Franklin gave Virginia a six-point lead with simply over seven minutes to play.

Brad Underwood’s Illini would not go away although, as Jayden Epps knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to erase the deficit. Dain Dainja capped the 8-0 run with a dunk and Illinois took a 55-53 lead with lower than 5 minutes to go. 

Ben Vander Plas was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws, however Illinois responded with a jumper from Coleman Hawkins to regain the lead for the Illini. 

Then got here the crucial stretch of dominant basketball by the Cavaliers on each ends of the ground. Reece Beekman sparked the run with certainly one of his patented two-way performs, developing with a steal on the defensive finish after which ending in transition with a tricky layup plus a foul. Virginia would get consecutive stops on Illinois’ subsequent seven possessions because the Illini endured a scoring drought of greater than three minutes on the most important juncture of the sport. Beekman used an awesome transfer within the low submit to attain together with his left hand to increase the Virginia result in 62-58 and Franklin added a driving layup to make it a seven-point sport with lower than a minute to go. 

Virginia salted the sport away from the free throw line from there, ending the sport on a 14-3 run because the Cavaliers confirmed outstanding grit and psychological toughness to reply to the adversity and make the performs on the most important occasions. 

Reece Beekman was undoubtedly the most effective participant on the ground on Sunday evening, ending with a game-high 17 factors in addition to 4 rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Maybe extra importantly, he was the first defender on Illinois’ 6’6″ star Terrence Shannon Jr. After going off for 29 factors on 8/9 three-point taking pictures in opposition to UCLA on Friday, Shannon was held to simply 9 factors on 4/10 taking pictures from the ground, 1/5 from three, and 6 turnovers. Beekman was deservedly named the Most Invaluable Participant of the Continental Tire Foremost Occasion after the sport. 

Beekman was joined by worthwhile contributions from Kihei Clark (12 factors, 3 assists, 2 steals), Jayden Gardner (12 factors, 5 rebounds), and Ben Vander Plas (8 factors, 10 rebounds). 

Virginia went into the weekend with some extremely difficult circumstances. The tragic taking pictures at UVA on Sunday evening resulted within the cancelation of Virginia’s sport in opposition to Northern Iowa on Monday. After having an surprising week off, the Cavaliers arrived in Las Vegas this weekend with heavy hearts and distractions abound. In a match that featured 4 ranked groups that each one got here in undefeated, Virginia emerged victorious with two of probably the most spectacular wins of any crew in school basketball this season and a well-earned Foremost Occasion match title, UVA’s eighth November match championship within the final 9 years. 

Most importantly, these two performances by the Wahoos this weekend have given a devastated UVA neighborhood one thing to cheer about. 

Now 4-0 on the season, Virginia will look to maintain the ball rolling in opposition to Maryland Japanese-Shore on Friday, November twenty fifth at 6pm at John Paul Jones Enviornment.

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