Anthony Gill wore all of his hats against No. 16 seed Hampton. The senior forward made his presence felt in all facets of the game — shouldering the usual load in the low post, rebounding at a high clip and also serving as the self-proclaimed “true point guard of this team.”
For good measure, the High Point, N.C. native also served as resident spiritual healer. After coach Tony Bennett collapsed on the sideline near the end of the first half, Gill bent over Bennett, placed his hand on his coach’s shoulder and said a prayer.
“I’ve just been a little under the weather the last couple of days, and I think I was a bit dehydrated,” Bennett said. “When you squatting down and you get up quick — I just grayed out or blacked out a little bit.”
Gill did not hesitate to take credit for Bennett’s swift recovery.
“I didn’t know what was going on, and I was praying — just to make sure that he was okay,” Gill said. “It worked. I healed him.”
That moment occurred in the midst of a 20-3 run by No. 1 seed Virginia, and brought a jolt of excitement — although unwanted — into a developing blowout by the Cavaliers (27-7).
The second half would offer no such scares, as Virginia cruised to an 81-45 victory to reach the Round of 32.
The Pirates (21-11) embraced their role of spoiler, and did what any team punching above their weight must do — hit hard and hit early. At the 17:32 mark in the first, Hampton led by four. With 13:26 on the clock, coach Edward Joyner Jr.’s team was up 10-9.
That lead would be their last, as the overwhelming talent differential finally swung the balance towards Virginia’s favor.
Gill thrived against an undersized Hampton frontcourt. He had six of his team’s first 11 points and made three of his first four shots.
“AG was able to finish a couple for us early, and that got us going,” senior guard Malcolm Brogdon said.
The defensive attention Gill demanded opened up the offense for his teammates, who struggled to knock down shots early on.
“AG started making some layups, and that opened it up for some threes and some runouts,” junior guard London Perrantes said.
Virginia missed five of their first seven three-point attempts, but eventually the shots started falling. The Cavaliers ended the half with seven threes. Perrantes led the way with a 3-6 performance from downtown. Brogdon chipped in with two threes.
“We wanted to challenge them to try to make them knock down shots, and they did,” Joyner Jr. said.
In the second half, the depth of Virginia continued wearing down the Pirates. Sophomore guard Marial Shayok scored all 10 of his points after halftime. The Ottawa, Ontario native led all non-starters in scoring. In total, the Cavaliers won the battle of the benches 33-9.
“Most of the time teams that have the best bench production — whether that’s getting stops or producing on the offensive end — I think they end up winning a lot more games than the teams that don’t,” Brogdon said.
Also turning it on in the second half was senior center Mike Tobey. The 2015 ACC Sixth Man of the Year scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked two of his team-high three shots in that half.
Graduate guard Quinton Chievous led Hampton with 17 points on 7-13 shooting. The Tennessee transfer scored over half of his team’s points in the first and knocked down two early threes — Chievous shot only 30.5 percent from deep this season.
Throughout the game, the Chicago, Ill. native was the only Pirate to have success against Virginia’s defense. Chievous shot 53.8 percent from the field. The rest of his team shot 23.3 percent (10-43).
“Chievous is a little like [junior forward Jaron] Blossomgame for Clemson,” Bennett said. “He’s really quick off the bounce. We were concerned about that matchup, and he exploited it a little bit.”
Gill notched a career-high four assists, prompting the tongue-in-cheek remarks about his status of being the team’s true point guard.
“That’s credit to my teammates knocking down shots when I give them the ball,” Gill said.
Virginia takes the court Saturday against No. 9 seed Butler, who defeated No. 8 seed Texas Tech 71-61.
Gill will look to continue being the do-all player. For Bennett, expect plenty of electrolyte-infused beverages.
“I’ve had more Powerade than I’ve ever had in my life right now,” Bennett said.
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