Tony Bennett felt things slipping a bit, sensed his Virginia basketball team had lost its defensive focus, drifted away from its mental and physical toughness during its two-game losing streak.
Like any coach worth his salt, Bennett knew exactly what to do in order to cure the Cavaliers’ slump: practice even harder.
After getting back from a road loss at Clemson on Tuesday night, the UVa coaches decided to toughen things up at practice before Maryland came to town. Desperately needing to get back in the win column, Bennett believed that was the best way to refocus his team.
“It was the toughest physical practices we’ve had this season,” Cavaliers junior point guard Jontel Evans said Saturday after Virginia pummeled visiting Maryland 71-44 to earn its 20th win of the season. “I’m talking physical practices … I was getting elbowed, everybody was getting hit in the face, coming out with scars, I was getting blood all over my jersey.”
Bennett told his team that toughness and defense was the only way chance of competing with the ACC’s elite teams, a couple of which are coming up on the schedule. There was no time to prepare for those like this weekend.
You like defense?
How about holding Maryland to 13 points in the second half, which tied the John Paul Jones Arena mark by fewest points by an opponent in any half?
How about the Terps (15-11, 5-7) hitting only 5-of-24 shots in the second half?
How about handing Maryland its most lopsided loss since 2009 at Duke?
How about Maryland’s fewest points against Virginia since 1982 (a 45-40 loss to the Cavaliers in overtime)? How about UVa’s largest margin of defeat over the Terps since an 86-59 whomping in 1989?
We could go on, but you get the point.
Oh well, what the heck. Can’t resist just one more.
How about holding the ACC’s leading scorer, Terrell Stoglin to 14 points, none in the second half as he went 4-for-17? Stoglin, who averages 21.7, was coming off a game in which he scored 14 points in less than three minutes against Boston College late Thursday night.
While Virginia finally got some offense going (the Cavaliers are 24-2 under Bennett when scoring 70 or more), the defensive effort was superior.
The Wahoos got another standout performance from ACC Player of the Year candidate Mike Scott with a career-high tying 25, but this time he got the much-needed help that had been missing of late. Sammy Zeglinski showed an offensive pulse with 11 points (3-of-7, 2-5 on 3’s), while freshman Malcolm Brogdon played more like a sophomore with 14 points (5-of-6).
While Zeglinski has been in an offensive slump, he has continued to play well in other phases of his game and Saturday was no different. The Z-man split time with Brogdon and Evans on defending Stoglin and they earned bragging rights for shutting him down.
Stoglin, who has lit up many an opponent this season, threatened to do so again in the final moments of the first half as he drained three 3-pointers in 85 seconds to give the Terps their first lead at 26-24 at the 3:43 mark.
Little did the Maryland sharpshooter realize he was essentially done at that point. He didn’t score again, going Oh-for-7 the second half. Other than the late, first-half flurry, Stoglin was a mere 1-for-14 on the day.
The key, Zeglinski said, was making Stoglin work on both ends of the floor. Virginia ran an exceptionally high amount of motion, which meant that Stoglin had to chase Zeglinski or whomever he was assigned to defend so much that it wore him down.
Don’t know about you, but that’s some solid coaching strategy, wearing down the ACC’s top scorer on one end, then using three fresh bodies on him on the other end.
“I could sense his frustration,” said Brogdon, who played suffocating defense on Stoglin much of the second half.
But the Maryland guard didn’t really say much about being handcuffed by Virginia’s defense. Didn’t curse, didn’t scream, didn’t whistle Me and My Shadow. Just kept missing.
“I sensed frustration from everybody on their team when they started talking to the refs,” Evans said. “When [Stoglin] wasn’t hitting his shots, I could see it in his body language.”
Evans wanted to keep the ball out of Stoglin’s hands because the Cavaliers knew how dangerous he could be, how he could create his own shots. Zeglinski tried to run Stoglin to death and Brogdon used a distinct size advantage (6-foot-5 vs. 6-1) against the Terps’ star.
“I wanted to contest his shots,” Brogdon said. “I’m a taller guard and I bothered him with my length. I knew he came off a lot of screens, so I was always alert.”
What did Brogdon think when he was third man up in defending the league’s top scoring threat?
“As Coach Bennett says, I tried to meet the roar and step up to the challenge,” Brogdon said. “If my team needs me, I’m going to try to do it. I think between Sammy and Jontel and myself, we made a stand.”
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon was certainly impressed with the way Virginia dominated his team, which seemed without an udder in the wake of losing point guard P’Shon Howard to injury. Nick Faust, not really a point guard, couldn’t get the ball to the Terps big men and was shaky with his ballhandling, with five turnovers and no assists in 29 minutes.
“Give Evans credit,” Turgeon said. “That kid can really guard.”
Music to Bennett’s ears, no doubt.
What Virginia’s coaching staff had to love was how Zeglinski managed to shake off his recent struggles and contribute offensively. Mired in a recent 7-for-31 shooting slump (4-of-25 behind the arc), the Philly senior popped in 3-of-7 shots against the Terps, including 2-of-5 from Bonusphere.
Brogdon, who has scored in double figures in three of his last five games (including nine points in another), produced his most points (14) since his career-high 16 vs. Michigan back in late November.
“I’ve tried to focus on being more aggressive,” said Brogdon, who knocked down two 3’s and scored on drives to the hole. “Getting that start at Clemson was a great opportunity for me (when teammate Joe Harris was regrouping from a broken left hand vs. UNC). That helped me because Coach Bennett and the other coaches have faith in me.”
Other than Zeglinski himself, nobody was happier for the Cavalier guard to connect on some shots more than Bennett, who knew how much the slump had weighed on one of his team’s leaders.
Zeglinski was just happy with the win, the first time since 2007 that a Virginia team had cracked the 20 victories mark.
“It’s exciting,” Zeglinski said. “I’ve had some ups and downs in my career, but to get 20 wins is a real milestone for me and Mike.”
Twenty the hard way, with elbows flying, blood-on-the-jerseys defense and returning to play hoops the way Bennett intended.
They’ll need that when they head to Blacksburg on Tuesday night in search of No. 21.
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