Virginia Avoids Scare Against Gardner-Webb, Looks to Write a New Ending After Loss to UMBC

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Kyle Guy knows the jokes aren’t going away and that last year’s historic loss to UMBC will forever live in the annals of history. But now maybe the Venmo requests will finally come to a halt.

“I’ve been getting Venmo requests for a year now asking them to pay them for losing to UMBC,” Guy said moments after the Cavs pulled away from Gardner-Webb in the second half to avoid a second consecutive disaster.

Guy, Ty Jerome and the rest of the Virginia team can finally exhale after the Cavs exorcised their demons from a year ago with Friday afternoon’s win over the No. 16 seed. But for a while there, especially in the first half, there were anxious, stressful moments.

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Virginia came out of the gates painfully slow, unable to make shots and also highly ineffective in containing the offense of a third-place Big South team that needed to win its league tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament.

As Gardner-Webb’s lead stretched to 14, those in Colonial Life Arena began to wonder whether they would see revisionist history and watch Virginia fall to a No. 16 for the second consecutive year. The Twitter trolls were out in full force, one even wondering whether Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who has won four of the last six ACC regular-season titles, would be fired if they came up short again.

“That will always be part of our story,” Bennett said of last year’s debacle. “I’m sure a lot of people thought it was going to be part of our story for the second year in a row. But this is a new year.”

For a while, it looked like the clock had stayed still and it would wind up being the same story. Those throughout the building were shaking their heads in amazement, unable to comprehend what was happening on the court. They weren’t the only ones in disbelief. The Cavs players started to look rattled, playing tentative and tight, understanding what was at stake if they came up empty yet again.

“That pressure is real,” Jerome said. “People that don’t play, they won’t understand it.

“But that pressure is real.”

But when the players walked to the huddle down 28-14, Jerome caught them peeking upward towards the scoreboard. He wasn’t having it.

“Stop looking at the score,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”

Virginia wound up cutting the deficit to six at the break and when the team went into the locker room there was a sense of calm – instead of a year ago, when panic set in among the players and one coach even came in heated to try and get some fire and energy into the group.

“It was a different halftime than last time,” Tony Bennett said. “It was one thing I said to my staff, and we talked right before we went in there. I said, ‘Uplift them,’ and we talked about don’t panic, but play with fight because that’s what got them back in.”

Coming out of the break a year ago against UMBC, Virginia looked like, well, anything but an even-keeled, methodical and disciplined group. The Retrievers went on a 20-6 to start the second half and took a 14-point advantage with 15 minutes left. Then the Virginia we all knew, the one that has dominated the ACC for the past handful of years, started jacking shots, turning it over and playing like a bunch of AAU kids.

This time Virginia kept its composure and wound up taking the lead with 16:16 remaining on a DeAndre Hunter three-point play. Then Jerome followed with a 3-pointer about a minute later that stretched the lead to 42-38.

The normally stone-faced Jerome flashed a huge smile. From then on, the entire game changed. Virginia had its swagger back and pulled away for an easy victory.

“It definitely takes the weight off,” Jerome said.

“Relief,” added big man Jack Salt.

Next up for Virginia is Oklahoma on Sunday with a Sweet 16 berth on the line. The huge weight on their shoulders is gone but there’s still pressure on a group that is considered one of the favorites not only to get to the Final Four, but to cut down the nets in Minneapolis.

“I’d be lying if I said no,” Guy admitted of this win erasing the monumental upset from a year ago. “It’s not going to go away, it’s never going to go away. But we can definitely change how the story ends.”

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