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Virginia (8-9, 1-5 ACC) suffered a 54-52 loss to SMU (13-4, 4-2 ACC) on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game in the thread below and stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more postgame coverage.

Read five takeaways from the game here: Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 54-52 Loss to SMU

SMU 54, Virginia 52 | Final

Boopie Miller takes a heavily-contested three-pointer on the right wing over Blake Buchanan and drains it. SMU's bench erupts as the Mustangs take the lead with just four-tenths of a second remaining. McKneely is sent to the deck on the last play of the game with no call and ultimately Jacob Cofie heaves a shot from the other side of half-court that falls just a couple of inches shy of the rim. Virginia suffers a heartbreaking 54-52 loss to drop to 1-5 in ACC play.

SMU 54, Virginia 52 | Final

Virginia nearly the turns the ball over as Rohde's pass is deflected, but Sharma rescues the loose ball and he is fouled. Sharma goes to the line for a one-and-one and makes both free throws to push the UVA lead back to four points. SMU takes a little bit longer to get a shot this time, but Boopie Miller drains the clutch three to make it a one-point game. Virginia gets the ball inbounds to Taine Murray, who is fouled with 7.4 seconds remaining. Murray goes to the line and and misses both free throws. SMU gets the ball up the floor and calls timeout with 4.1 seconds remaining.

SMU 51, Virginia 52 | 4.1 2H

SMU quickly moves the ball up the floor and Miller drives baseline and finds Edwards in the opposite corner and he drills the open three, just SMU's third made three-pointer of the night, but it's a big one as the Mustangs get back within two points and only take seven seconds off the clock. Virginia struggles to inbound the ball and Ron Sanchez calls his final timeout.

SMU 48, Virginia 50 | 25.0 2H

Out of the timeout, Miller's layup attempt is well-contested and UVA forces the miss. Cofie misses a jumper late in the shot clock, but Buchanan comes up with a massive offensive rebound. Sharma is fouled by Cross and makes both ends of the one-and-one to extend the UVA lead to 50-45 with 32.7 seconds remaining. Ron Sanchez calls timeout.

SMU 45, Virginia 50 | 32.7 2H

Virginia gets another big stop, but comes up empty on its next possession with a chance to take the lead. Cofie then commits an ill-advised foul trying to steal the ball from Cross under his own basket, but Cross misses the front end of the one-and-one. Harris fouls Rohde, who goes to the line for a one-and-one and makes the first, but misses the second. Cofie initially secured the offensive rebound, but SMU forces a jump ball and regains possession. Rohde comes up with a steal and then finds Buchanan in transition for an alley-oop dunk. It's a 10-0 run for Virginia to take a 48-45 lead with 1:22 to go. SMU calls timeout.

SMU 45, Virginia 48 | 1:22 2H

Jacob Cofie drives on Cross and scores through contact off the glass. Blake Buchanan comes up with a huge block on Cross to give UVA a chance to tie. The Cavaliers cash in on the opportunity as Ishan Sharma hits a deep three-pointer to tie the game at 45-45. Timeout SMU with 2:51 remaining.

SMU 45, Virginia 45 | 2:51 2H

Harris fouls McKneely, who makes both free throws to get Virginia back within three points. Sharma is called for a foul on Oquendo and he makes both free throws. Yigitoglu finds Oquendo for a layup and the SMU lead is back to seven. Rohde drives baseline and hits a short jumper for his first points of the game. Virginia calls timeout trailing by five with four minutes to play.

SMU 45, Virginia 40 | 4:17 2H

Ambrose-Hylton gets to the rim for a layup. B.J. Edwards is left alone inside the free throw line for an easy bucket. Virginia finally ends a five-minute scoring drought as Blake Buchanan scores off the feed from McKneely plus a foul. With the way these two teams are shooting the ball, this one might be first one to 50 wins.

SMU 41, Virginia 35 | 7:56 2H

Buchanan threads a beautiful backdoor pass to McKneely for a layup. SMU answers on the other end as Miller finds Yigitoglu for a dunk. Rohde drives baseline and sends a bounce pass to Blake Buchanan for a dunk. Neither team is shooting well from the perimeter. SMU is shooting 2/15 from three and Virginia is shooting 3/16 from beyond the arc.

SMU 37, Virginia 33 | 11:52 2H

Cofie plays great defense on Yigitoglu to force a miss, but SMU keeps the rebound alive and Chuck Harris gets an easy layup out of it to start the second half. Ames finds Buchanan in the paint and he hits a short push shot. Cofie turns the ball over and Boopie Miller races down the floor for a transition layup. Cofie hits a jumper from the elbow. Miller dances with Buchanan, draws the help from McKneely, and passes to an open Chuck Harris for three.

SMU 35, Virginia 29 | 15:43 2H

Both teams go scoreless for a couple of minutes until Elijah Saunders gets free to the rim and finishes a perfectly-placed lob from Blake Buchanan for an alley-oop dunk to tie the game. Isaac McKneely is fouled in transition and makes both ends of a one-and-one. Kario Oquendo blows past Rohde for a layup to end SMU's scoring drought that lasted more than four minutes. Oquendo steals a pass from Ames and, after lingering in the paint on the other end for a few seconds, finds Yigitoglu for a dunk. Ron Sanchez calls his use-it-or-lose-it timeout for Virginia's final possession of the first half, which ends with Rohde hoisting up a contested pull-up three that glances off the front of the rim. SMU leads UVA by two points at halftime.

SMU 27, Virginia 25 | Halftime

With the shot-clock winding down, Taine Murray drives inside and kicks out to Ishan Sharma, who quickly pulls the trigger on a corner three and swishes it at the buzzer. Yohan Traore grabs an offensive rebound and slams home a dunk. Boopie Millers gets to the rim for a layup to tie the game at 13-13. Rohde leaves a three well-short and then Miller scores again with a tough finish. B.J. Edwards uses a jump stop to get inside and gets a floater to fall. Elijah Saunders drills a three from the right wing to end SMU's 6-0 run. Keon Ambrose-Hylton gets joins the party with a layup off a dish from Kario Oquendo. Anthony Robinson gets the pass from Ames and scores at the basket. SMU gets another second-chance opportunity and cashes in as Yigitoglu scores the putback. Virginia comes up empty and Yigitoglu gets free for another layup. McKneely and Saunders fun a pick and pop and Saunders gets a wide-open three out of it. The Mustangs have made seven of their last 10 shots, but the Cavaliers are still hanging around.

SMU 23, Virginia 21 | 4:24 1H

Ames uses a screen to find a lane to the basket and scores off the glass, giving the Hoos their first lead of the game. Matt Cross commits two quick fouls for SMU and the second one sends Taine Murray to the line for a pair of free throws. Now Jacob Cofie is headed to the bench with his second personal foul.

SMU 9, Virginia 10 | 11:59 1H

Samet Yigitoglu gets the scoring started as he rolls free to the basket and Chuck Harris finds him for the layup. Harris gets a wide-open look from the left wing and knocks it down. Dai Dai Ames gets UVA on the board with a mid-range jumper. Rohde plays good defense, but Harris is able to get an off-balanced shot to fall off the glass. Ames drives to the basket and hangs in the air through contact and finishes the layup. Rohde finds Blake Buchanan for an alley-oop dunk to get UVA back within one. Harris stays hot, maneuvering around Rohde in the paint and hitting a short jumper. Chuck Harris has scored or assisted on each of SMU's four baskets so far.

SMU 9, Virginia 6 | 14:11 1H

Here are the starting lineups for tonight's game:
SMU: B.J. Edwards, Boopie Miller, Chuck Harris, Matt Cross, Samet Yigitoglu
Virginia: Andrew Rohde, Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Elijah Saunders, Jacob Cofie

Dai Dai Ames returns to the starting lineup after coming off the bench for the last three games.

As we await our 9pm ET tipoff between Virginia and SMU on the ACC Network, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. SMU Game Preview Score Prediction

Virginia vs. SMU Pregame Notes

  • The all-time series between Virginia and SMU is now tied at 1-1 after the Mustangs defeated the Cavaliers 63-51 last month in Dallas.
  • The only other meeting between these two programs came in the semifinals of the Corpus Christi Challenge on November 29th, 2013, when Virginia defeated SMU 76-73.
  • UVA is 0-3 against the newest members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, having suffered road losses to SMU, California, and Stanford.
  • Virginia is on a three-game losing streak for the first time since the 2020-2021 season.
  • The Cavaliers are 7-2 at John Paul Jones Arena this season and 1-6 away from home this season.

More Virginia Basketball News

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VIDEO/Transcript: Ron Sanchez Weekly ACC Zoom Press Conference - 1/13

Reevaluating Potential Virginia Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Crashes and Burns at Stanford

What's Going on With Christian Bliss? Ron Sanchez Finally Gives an Answer

Report: Former Virginia Guard Dante Harris Transfers to Memphis


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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.