There was the crush of white pom-poms pregame, flopping haphazardly at first and then with growing conviction. Before long, they jounced in unity, with each beat of the music. The crowd roared, too, as a close game rattled on.
Then came sophomore center Blake Buchanan, galloping forward with 1:30 left in a one-point game, catching a transition lob and slamming it home.
Bedlam exploded all around. Bedlam for Buchanan, the former starter whose minutes and production had nosedived over the past weeks, and for Virginia, playing a tight game at John Paul Jones Arena against Southern Methodist after three consecutive, airless blowouts. Buchanan showed something impressive. And he brought the whole crowd with him.
Despite Buchanan’s standout performance, however, the Cavaliers lost to the Mustangs, 54-52, on junior guard Boopie Miller’s last-second three-pointer.
It was a game where each team’s typical offensive strengths deserted them. Southern Methodist, which entered as the ACC’s best three-point shooting team, went 5-21, and Virginia, which entered as the conference’s fourth-best, went 4-26. The visitors, though, found a solution, penetrating the lane with ease, and scoring 36 points in the paint. The hosts relied on something different.
“This is energy and effort,” Interim Coach Ron Sanchez said. “In my opinion, energy trumps any strategy.”
Recently, Sanchez has not been able to use the word “energy” to characterize his team, except as an aspirational hope. According to Sanchez, rebounding depends primarily on energy, and it has been a scourge this season. Virginia has out-rebounded an opponent in only one of its nine losses.
“In private, we’re having some conversations about our rebounding, for sure,” Sanchez said. “With the individuals whose roles are to do that.”
Sanchez challenged his players before the game to try to get eight rebounds, Buchanan said. The sophomore obeyed — and then some. He planned to just “be aggressive.” Rebounding, he knows, has posed a struggle all year for him. But something clicked.
Buchanan collected 15 rebounds and scored 11 points in 27 minutes Wednesday, including three crucial offensive rebounds, all in the final seven minutes.
This impressive number came after Buchanan had recorded more than seven rebounds only once all season, a nine-board performance against Bethune-Cookman. He had scored in double-figures only twice — 11 points against Manhattan and 10 against Campbell. This performance, by any measure, came out of nowhere.
And it came in a particularly challenging match-up against hulking Mustang freshman center in Samet Yiğitoğlu. He stands at 7-foot-2, 265 pounds, while Buchanan weighs in at 6-foot-11, 225 pounds.
“The guy [not] only towers over him with inches, but he also has a tremendous amount of weight,” Sanchez said. “He’s a load. And Blake battled.”
Nevertheless, Buchanan hunted those offensive rebounds without a trace of fear. He displayed only aggression, borne seemingly from some place deep inside, unseen to this point this season.
Freshman guard Ishan Sharma, asked about Buchanan, rustled a box score.
“Blake was big time. Eleven points, 15 rebounds,” Sharma said, reading off the paper. “He was huge. Did all the little things.”
Buchanan broke out once last season, an 18-point, seven-rebound performance in November against Florida. But then he faded, never again reaching that benchmark in points and only once surpassing it in rebounds. The trouble, of course, is maintaining the success.
“My hopes are that’s who Blake is from here on out,” Sanchez said. “I think he showed flashes of that last season, as a first-year guy.”
The flash Wednesday looked brighter than anything in a long time. It played a big role in turning the stadium — which for a month, as students remained on break and the team struggled, resembled a slumbering giant in comparison with its usual self — into a place of deafening noise.
The noise was the loudest later on. Sharma drilled a three-pointer with 2:52 to draw a roar. Buchanan’s transition dunk yanked another shout from the fans, now standing. The vigor mounted.
Sharma headed to the line with 18 seconds left and Virginia leading 50-48, and the free throws went in, because the crowd would not allow otherwise. But then Miller hit a three-pointer to cut it to 52-51.
This time senior guard Taine Murray stepped up to the free throw line. This time both shots missed. And this time, as people swayed anxiously in the stands during a timeout with 4.1 seconds left, the crowd grew muted. It waited.
Out of the timeout came the players, to the ball went Miller, and into the basket went the dagger. The fans watched, stunned.
“Boopie just made a terrific play,” Southern Methodist Coach Andy Enfield said.
In the moment, that was all there was to it. Another stinging defeat. But for the Cavaliers — now on their first four-game losing streak in eight years and off to their worst conference start in 17 years, languishing at 8-9 and 1-5 in the ACC — the game at least provided a glimmer, especially for one player.
“If we can get that kind of performance from [Buchanan],” Sanchez said, “and we can get Isaac [McKneely] playing to the level that he's capable of playing, and other guys, then we can take this on the road, and we can compete.”
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