In the most unconventional of seasons, the No. 21 Virginia men’s basketball team, thanks to some unlikely outside assistance, found itself within reach of an achievement bordering on routine heading into Saturday’s finale at Louisville. A victory would give the Cavaliers their third ACC regular season title in four years and secure the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament next week in Greensboro, N.C.
Forward Sam Hauser, who’s in his first year at Virginia, embraced the moment with a season-high scoring performance, and the Cavaliers’ smothering defense did the rest for a 68-58 win in front of an announced 4,812, the largest indoor crowd in Kentucky since the coronavirus pandemic began.
“It feels great,” said Virginia Coach Tony Bennett, whose team led for all but 38 seconds. “I told them before the game, I took this job at Virginia to hopefully have chances at title fights, and I talked about that. This year, yeah, there’s different things, but to get it how we did it, I’m so grateful.”
Virginia’s ACC tournament run will begin in the quarterfinals at noon Thursday. The Cavaliers will face the No. 8 seed or the No. 9 seed, which meet Wednesday.
Hauser finished Saturday’s game with 24 points, including 14 in 11 minutes in the second half, to cap a regular season in which Virginia (17-6, 13-4) claimed the regular season crown despite losing to the second- and third-place teams, Florida State (15-5, 11-4) and Virginia Tech (15-5, 9-4), in lopsided fashion. The Seminoles put Virginia back in the mix for first place earlier Saturday with a surprising 83-73 loss at Notre Dame, which entered with just six ACC wins.
The Cavaliers watched that upset before arriving at the arena later in the afternoon, and they came armed not only with extra incentive but, at least for a handful of longer-tenured players, positive feelings from previous program-defining accomplishments in the building. During its NCAA tournament championship run in 2019, Virginia outlasted Purdue in overtime, 80-75, at Yum Center to advance to its first Final Four since 1984.
“We had our eye on the game, knowing that if [Florida State] lost and we won, we would win it,” Hauser said. “When they actually ended up losing, we couldn’t have a blind eye to it. We knew what was at stake, and I think that gave us even more motivation for this game.”
It was the first conference title for Hauser (9 for 14 from the field, eight rebounds), a transfer from Marquette. He made his first seven two-point attempts, often with a defender in close range, and when his first three-pointer swished through with 15:56 remaining, the Cavaliers expanded their lead to 39-29.
The Cardinals (13-6, 8-5) closed within 41-38 with 13:47 to play, prompting Bennett to call a timeout with the crowd re-energized and Louisville holding the momentum. Hauser scored the next five points to steady the Cavaliers, who didn’t allow the margin to get within one possession the rest of the way.
Guard Trey Murphy III added 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, and center Jay Huff, a fifth-year senior, had 10 points, six rebounds and four of the Cavaliers’ eight blocks, leading to a 32-22 advantage in points in the paint.
“This is exactly what I came here for,” said Murphy, a transfer from Rice. “I wanted to play against the best competition and win championships at the highest level, and so I’m super excited, super proud of my guys, super proud of the coaching staff, and we really put together a great game.”
Virginia limited the Cardinals to 36.8 percent shooting, including 27.6 percent in the first half, and stifled guard Carlik Jones, Louisville’s leading scorer and a contender for ACC player of the year honors. He had just six points on 2-for-15 shooting.
Kihei Clark was largely responsible for guarding Jones, underscoring his value to the Cavaliers beyond statistics seen in the box score. The junior point guard and floor leader shot just 1 for 7 for two points but had three assists and a steal while playing 32 minutes of rugged defense.
David Johnson led the Cardinals with 14 points but needed 17 field goals to get there. Forward Jae’Lyn Withers added 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting as the only other Louisville player to score in double figures.
“It’s not lost on me I’m sitting right now in the locker room where we had one of the biggest celebrations when we beat Purdue to go to the Final Four,” Bennett said. “We were throwing water and just so excited. I said, ‘Congratulations to 2021 ACC regular season champs.’ ”
More college sports from The Post:
