Buchanan Leads Virginia to Gritty 73-70 Win Over Florida in Charlotte

Freshman Blake Buchanan led all scorers with 18 points, including 14 in the second half, to lead the Cavaliers past the Gators

Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers appear to have found the answer to their questions in the front court. And his name is Blake Buchanan. 

In the second game of the season against a Florida team with much more size and physicality than UVA, it was the true freshman Blake Buchanan who stepped up off the bench and burst onto the scene with a spectacular performance, leading all scorers with 18 points, including 14 points in the second half and several clutch free throws down the stretch to lead Virginia to a gritty 73-70 victory over Florida on Friday night at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. 

One of the biggest questions entering Friday's game was how UVA's front court, severely lacking in size, physicality, and experience, would fare against Florida's assortment of bigs, who had shown themselves capable of dominating the paint. That was certainly an issue for UVA early on, as the Gators enforced their will down low, scoring 18 of their first 21 points in the paint. Virginia missed two of its first seven shots, while Florida made seven of its first ten and grabbed an early 14-7 lead behind several easy layups from Florida bigs Micah Handlogten and Tyrese Samuel. 

The tides changed when Blake Buchanan checked into the game. Lacking in experience, but posing as Virginia's best option as a paint deterrent at 6'11", Buchanan made an immediate impact on both ends of the floor. He effectively contested Florida's shots at the rim and scored back-to-back baskets to help UVA go on a 9-0 run to take the lead. After getting dominated in the paint early on, Virginia bounced back and actually outscored Florida in the paint in the first half 20-18. 

After getting off to a slow start with some missed shots, Reece Beekman came alive and scored 10 first-half points, including two three-pointers. Virginia finished the first half strong, with Dante Harris scoring a couple of baskets off the bench and Ryan Dunn throwing down a powerful dunk in transition. UVA shot 50% from the floor in the first half and took a 39-35 lead at the half. 

Virginia continued to disrupt Florida's attempts to get the ball inside to start the second half, coming up with several steals. The Cavaliers would finish with 15 steals in the game. On the offensive end, Jake Groves gave Virginia a massive lift early in the second half, knocking down back-to-back threes and scoring ten points in a row to help give UVA its largest lead of the game at 54-43. 

Groves saw his hot streak end in unfortunate fashion as he blew a wide-open fast break dunk and then immediately picked up his third personal foul 90 feet from the basket. After building that 11-point advantage, Virginia proceeded to go on a five and a half minute scoring drought, during which Florida went on a 14-2 run. Riley Kugel, who led the Gators in scoring in their season opener but who was limited to just two points in the first half against Virginia, began to assert himself as Florida regained the lead. 

A three-pointer for Isaac McKneely ended Virginia's stretch of more than six minutes without a made basket, but Florida continued to give UVA trouble on the interior, especially on the boards. The Gators recorded 21 offensive rebounds and 19 second chance points. Much of that production came from Micah Handlogten, who had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double, including eight offensive rebounds. 

Just as the Cavaliers struggled to keep the Gators off the glass, Florida had no answer to keep Blake Buchanan away from the rim other than fouling him. That was a good plan for Florida at first, as Buchanan struggled to convert from the free throw line. With three minutes to go in regulation, though, Virginia got the ball to Buchanan rolling down the lane and he drew the fifth personal foul on Handlogten, taking him out of the game.

Both teams scored a couple of layups in the next 60 seconds in a flurry of uncharacteristically (at least for Virginia) fast-paced basketball and then Blake Buchanan knocked down a couple of free throws to give Virginia a 71-69 lead with just over a minute remaining. 

Then came a bizarre sequence in which Buchanan swiped the ball away from Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. and out of bounds. The refs initially called the ball off Clayton, giving possession back to Virginia and they confirmed that call on the court after a lengthy review at the monitor. But color commentator and former UVA basketball star Cory Alexander then got the attention of the refs and informed them that the ACC Network broadcast had a different angle that showed that Clayton hadn't touched the ball last. Sure enough, the refs reviewed the play again using Alexander's courtside monitor and overturned the call, giving possession back to Florida. Tony Bennett was then seen yelling across the court at Cory Alexander for inserting himself into the game and influencing the refs to change the call to go against Virginia.

Clayton drove inside and drew another foul, but made just one of two free throws to make it 71-70. Reece Beekman was whistled for a travel as he went up and down on a heavily-contested layup attempt, giving the Gators a chance to win the game. As they had all game long, the Cavaliers came up with a big steal and the ball arrived in the hands of none other than Blake Buchanan, who was fouled and made 1/2 free throws on the other end to make it 72-70 with 11 seconds remaining. 

With one final chance to tie or take the lead, Florida was again denied by Virginia's aggressive defense, as reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Reece Beekman hounded Clayton on the boundary and poked the ball away and down the floor. Beekman chased it down and was fouled with less than a second on the clock. Beekman made one of two free throws and then time expired before Florida could attempt the desperation heave, giving Virginia a well-earned 73-70 victory. 

Regardless of the outcome, Friday's game was always going to be an experiment for Virginia to figure out how to play against big, physical teams like Florida. The Cavaliers got their answer as a Blake Buchanan and Ryan Dunn came up big in the front court and UVA played excellent team defense all the way around to disrupt interior passes. Although some concerns remain about giving up offensive rebounds, Buchanan, Dunn, and company have given Virginia a solid foundation on which to build in the front court moving forward this season. 

Dunn was credited with six steals to go along with eight rebounds and six points, while Buchanan finished with a statline of 18 points on 4/7 shooting, 10/16 free throws, and seven rebounds, including five offensive rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Jake Groves had 12 points and two assists, but Virginia was -8 in the 16 minutes Groves was on the floor. Reece Beekman finished with a well-rounded 13 points, five assists, four steals, three rebounds, and a block. 

Virginia shot 38.9% from beyond the arc as a team, making seven threes on 18 attempts and shot 44.8% from the floor, but again struggled from the free throw line, making just 14 of 24 attempts (58.3%), continuing a disturbing trend through the first two games of the year. 

Now 2-0 on the season, Virginia returns home to take on North Carolina A&T on Tuesday at 7pm at John Paul Jones Arena.  

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