Undefeated Basketball Programs Uplift UVA Community During Trying Times
In times of tragedy and sorrow, sports have a unique ability to uplift the human spirit through distraction or, better yet, through victory. The capacity of sports to inspire joy or amusement becomes even more important when the tragedy itself involves sports.
Such was the case last week when three UVA football players were tragically and senselessly gunned down in a shooting at the University of Virginia. The deaths of Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry devastated the entire UVA community as well as several other communities around the country that these young men called home. But the tragedy had a sharp and grave impact on the Virginia football program and its fans, who followed the careers of these young men closely and found pride in their performances on the field.
With the Virginia football team rightfully canceling the last two games of its season, any UVA fans hoping to find solace or distraction in sports looked to the Virginia basketball program. Both the UVA men's and women's basketball teams had the immense challenge of playing two road games last week. The student-athletes and coaches of these teams were physically far from home, but they competed in the games with heavy hearts and played with their minds on the grief-stricken UVA community.
The Virginia women's basketball team participated in the first UVA sporting event since the shooting on Wednesday against Loyola in Chicago. The team met on Tuesday and made the decision to play the game in honor of the three lives that were lost.
"We have several players that were very close to those three young men, but even the ones that were not are still dealing with the trauma lingering from the senseless act of violence against some of their peers," said UVA women's basketball head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. "We talked about this game as a group, and the consensus was that they want to compete for Lavel, Devin, and D’Sean, because that was the best way we could honor them.”
Loyola gave the Cavaliers all they could handle, but the Hoos responded with a strong fourth quarter and pulled out the 68-62 victory. Four days later, UVA earned another hard-fought road victory against American in Washington, D.C. to remain unbeaten.
"I love this family," Coach Mox said. "I just told them it took a lot of courage for them to come out and play and to band together and just fight through adversity, I couldn't be more proud. And I just told them I love them."
Last season, the Virginia women's basketball team won a total of five games in the entire season, finishing with a 5-22 overall record. The Cavaliers did not get their fifth win until February 20th in the third to last game of the season. In the first year under Coach Mox, the Hoos have won each of their first five games for the first time since 2015.
The UVA men's basketball team has also experienced a significant turnaround from last season. After going 21-14 last year and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, Virginia is now 4-0 for the first time since the 2019-2020 season. And the Cavaliers accomplished that feat despite facing some remarkably steep competition.
The Continental Tire Main Event tournament in Las Vegas featured four ranked teams that each brought undefeated records into the weekend. Given all the circumstances the Cavaliers were facing, it would not have been surprising to see them turn in an 0-2 record in the tournament. Many UVA fans just wanted Virginia to give a good effort, regardless of the outcome.
Instead, the Hoos were the last team left standing in the tournament, returning from Las Vegas with back-to-back ranked wins for the first time since 2019, some championship hardware, and a shiny new No. 5 ranking in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Virginia used a massive second-half run and a career performance from Armaan Franklin to knock off No. 5 Baylor 86-79 on Friday. In the title game on Saturday, UVA closed the game on a 14-3 run to pull away from No. 19 Illinois for a 70-61 win to clinch the championship. Reece Beekman was pivotal in both games, recording a double-double against Baylor and posting 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals against Illinois. He was named the MVP of the tournament after the game on Sunday.
After each of UVA's epic triumphs, head coach Tony Bennett, thoughtful and well-spoken as always, made sure to put things in perspective.
"It feels good in the moment, but because I think, even more so now, we know what truly matters - our families, our faith, appreciating the gift of each day - when you have a momentary celebration like this, it enables you to enjoy it. And it seems to matter, but in the big picture, it doesn't," Bennett said after the win over Illinois. "When you step between the lines, when you play, when you practice, you get into your routine and you get after it, but your heart and mind is never far from our football team, those families, our staff. Everybody."
Tony Bennett has long-earned a reputation as not only a coach who does things the right way, cares about the well-being of his players, and wins and loses with class, but also as simply one of the nicest and most genuine human beings you'll ever meet. UVA fans have known this about their men's basketball head coach for years. But somehow, some way, my respect and admiration for Tony Bennett reached another level this weekend, as he honored the victims and their families, the Virginia football program, and the entire UVA community with his kind and considerate words that couldn't have been spoken any better.
"I know there are a lot of crushed spirits and broken-hearted people and we're praying for those people," Bennett said after the win over Baylor. "To have that performance - it's just a game - but if it brought some momentary joy to any of those guys, thank goodness for that."
It's not about how you start, it's how you finish. That holds true for basketball as it does in most sports and in life in general. It's more important to be playing your best late in the season than it is to get off to a hot start. But this time was a little different for both the Virginia men's and women's basketball teams, who knew how much it would mean to the UVA community if they won.
Tony Bennett was right when he said "it's just a game." But for the countless heartbroken UVA fans who desperately needed something to cheer about, the games the Virginia basketball teams played this week might as well have been championship games. For the first time since 2016, both the UVA men's and women's basketball teams won each of their first four games. It couldn't have come at a better time.
