With two minutes remaining on the clock, the game sat tied at 55-55.
Florida State missed its first opportunity, and Virginia responded with a buzzer-beating corner three-pointer from junior guard Andrew Rohde, fading away, with only a minute to spare.
That shot proved the difference-maker. Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames knocked down a couple free throws a minute later, and it ended with an inbound to a sprinting Rohde and the Cavaliers (15-15, 8-11 ACC) soaking up the remaining seconds for a 60-57 win over the Seminoles (16-14, 7-12 ACC) in their last home game of the season.
After the game, Interim Coach Ron Sanchez — who has been critical of his team’s efforts in the paint in recent weeks — had nothing but praise. He pointed back to the ill-fated California road trip at the start of conference play as evidence of just how much this team has grown.
“The group has shown grit — they didn't fracture down the stretch,” Sanchez said. “This is what growth looks like. This is what trust looks like. This is what learning from your previous experiences looks like.”
Florida State and Virginia have built a bit of a rivalry over the years — close games almost every year as two legendary coaches with conflicting styles matched up.
That era is ending — Tony Bennett retired before the season, and Seminoles Coach Leonard Hamilton will be doing the same after Florida State plays its last game. In an homage to that history, though, this game was defined by strong defense, gritty offense and a one-possession margin of victory.
Hamilton, after the game, could not narrow his time in Charlottesville down to one fondest memory — some big game-winners, some great basketball and an ever-entertaining rivalry with Bennett, whom he said he spoke with before the game.
“As you get older, when you're sitting around sipping lemonade, there were some games that you might want to watch,” Hamilton said. “Because they were games that I thought really both teams deserved to win.”
Led by Watkins’s 18 points and some excellent depth, the Seminoles played physical basketball from start to finish, out-rebounding the Cavaliers 37-33 and forcing 14 turnovers. Virginia, in turn, had an excellent game from beyond the arc — 11-24 from distance — as well as some strong perimeter defense, barring a handful of lapses.
The first half ended with the Seminoles leading 28-27. A back-and-forth affair from the tipoff, no team led by more than five points, with a combined six points being scored in the last five minutes of the half. The Cavaliers held their opponents to 22 percent from beyond the arc and forced six turnovers while limiting Florida State’s starters to only 12 points.
Leading Virginia, and the game, in scoring at halftime was Rohde. He scored the Cavaliers’ last 11 points of the half, and he was the team’s only scorer in the last eight minutes of the half. Supplemented by Ames’ nine points, the two shot a combined 5-12 from the field and 4-6 from deep.
“We trust [Rohde], because he has experience,” Sanchez said. “He can handle that moment. He can make a mistake and still come back and knock down a shot.”
As in many recent games, Virginia was overpowered inside in the first half — Florida State logged 20 boards to the Cavaliers’ 13 and scored 20 points in the paint. Losing 50-50 balls and giving up bushels of points in the interior is becoming commonplace for Sanchez’s team, which sports a young front court that consistently gets bullied by larger, more physical teams.
Virginia got off to a strong start in the second half, going on an 11-3 run through the first four and a half minutes. Some strong efforts from Ames, Saunders and sophomore forward Blake Buchanan led to 11 second-chance points in the first eight minutes, as well as nine rebounds to the opponent’s three.
Florida State, however, quickly began to warm up, preventing the Cavaliers from ever building a double-digit lead. It stayed a one-possession game almost the rest of the way. The Seminoles forced turnover after turnover and maintained their strong rebounding, while Virginia continued to keep the game close.
Senior forward Jamir Watkins’s coming alive — 14 points in the second half — certainly unlocked a new dimension for Florida State. Rohde had kept him fairly uncomfortable in the first half, but the Seminoles’ leading scorer used his NBA-ready athleticism and strong handle to facilitate for his teammates and crash the boards.
What kept the Cavaliers in the game was a near-perfect second half from Saunders. With a cut-up chin, he took three shots — all from distance — and made all of them. Strong rebounding and mistake-free basketball for the San Diego State transfer, paired with excellent defense, was supplemented by seven rebounds in the half and some great connective play by Buchanan, and continued scoring output from Rohde and Ames.
Buchanan’s rebounds, alongside 13 from his teammates, was a necessary development. Junior guard Isaac McKneely shot 3-11 from the field, and the team had zero bench points, so an effective second half on the boards allowed for Saunders, Ames and Rohde to put points on the board on the way to the narrow win.
“The message at halftime was simple,” Sanchez said. “It was, ‘Let's get back in transition and let's rebound better. Let's not give them anything in transition, and let's try not to give them any second chance points.’”
His team did just that — this Seminoles team is not an easy out with athletes and playmakers from the top of their roster to the bottom. A great effort on the glass and some strong defense in transition made all the difference in such a close game.
With one regular season game left — an away matchup Saturday against Syracuse — the win over Florida State may bode well for Virginia’s seeding in next week’s conference tournament. The Cavaliers now sit at ninth in the conference, tied with Virginia Tech, with whom they have split the season’s head-to-head.
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