Virginia’s Late Rally Comes Up Short in 69-65 Loss at Notre Dame
For a moment, it seemed like the Cavaliers were cooking up another last-minute magic act to steal a victory at Notre Dame.
UVA came up with a few late takeaways and made a few shots in a row to apply some pressure to the Fighting Irish. But, Dane Goodwin and Prentiss Hubb made their free throws to keep the Cavaliers at bay and seal Notre Dame’s 69-65 victory over Virginia on Saturday night at Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame got an early boost from Blake Wesley, who scored the first eight points for the Irish and had 10 of his 14 points in the first half. Then, it was Paul Atkinson Jr. who got hot late in the first half and led the Irish with 12 points at halftime.
If not for some stellar first-half offensive rebounding by Virginia, this game could have been a blowout at halftime. The Cavaliers had nine offensive rebounds and 14 second chance points in the first half to keep things close. Jayden Gardner recorded 12 points and eight rebounds in the first half and the Hoos trailed the Irish 34-27 at halftime.
Dane Goodwin and Nate Laszewski, who are the ACC’s first and fourth-ranked three-point shooters, respectively, were relatively quiet in the first half, attempting just three combined triples and making only one of them. In the second half, Virginia committed critical defensive errors and consistently left the two most dangerous shooters on the floor open for clean looks from beyond the arc. Both Laszewski and Goodwin knocked down three three-pointers in the second half and had 16 points each in the game. Blake Wesley and Paul Atkinson Jr. joined those players in double figures with 14 points each.
Notre Dame’s hot shooting in the second half combined with a cold stretch for Virginia’s offense to start the second half resulted in a Notre Dame lead of as many as 15 points.
Jayden Gardner, who finished with a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double, kept the Cavaliers in the game with back-to-back baskets, followed by a right hook from Francisco Caffaro to get UVA back within single digits. Caffaro also had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Virginia’s defense improved in the second half and held Notre Dame to just one field goal over a stretch of over eight minutes. UVA got back-to-back dunks to get within four points. Reece Beekman cut backdoor for a slam and then Caffaro intercepted a pass and slammed down a rare transition dunk for the big man.
UVA’s defense then broke down at the worst moment, as Dane Goodwin got free from the left wing for a three-pointer to stretch the Irish lead back to nine points with just over a minute remaining.
Virginia was forced to play the foul game to extend the contest. After a Kihei Clark layup, UVA got the ball back as a Notre Dame inbounds pass went off the hand of Laszewski. Clark then knocked down a floater to make it a four-point game. Blake Wesley was fouled and made one of two free throws. Reece Beekman wasted no time in driving to the basket and slamming down an impressive two-hand dunk to cut the deficit to three.
Notre Dame initially had trouble inbounding the ball again, but Cormac Ryan managed to chuck the ball down the floor and Dane Goodwin chased it down before being fouled by Kody Stattmann. Goodwin made both free throws, but Kihei Clark then drained a deep three-pointer to make it 67-65 with 4.2 seconds remaining.
Virginia fouled Prentiss Hubb, who swished both free throws to put the game away.
The comeback effort from the Cavaliers was admirable, but ultimately, their defensive breakdowns which led to open threes for the Irish as well as their stretches of ineffective offense built a deficit which was too much to overcome.
Notre Dame remained a perfect 9-0 at home this season, while Virginia lost at Notre Dame for the first time ever. The Cavaliers fell to 12-9 overall and 6-5 in ACC play. UVA returns home to host Boston College on Tuesday at 6pm.
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