March Madness: Top takeaways from 2019 NCAA Tournament Round of 64
By Brian Rauf
4) Virginia shaking their demons
You thought it, didn’t you? We all did.
When Gardner-Webb quickly built a double-digit lead against Virginia and maintained it for most of the first half, the same thought was on everyone’s mind – this can’t happen again, can it?
It didn’t, and it didn’t because Virginia did something they didn’t do last year by regaining their composure and sticking with their gameplan.
You could tell the UMBC loss was on the minds of UVA’s players when the game began. They were tight, making poor decisions, turning the ball over, and playing uncharacteristically poor defense. That had them down 28-14 early in the first half and still trailed by six at halftime, but head coach Tony Bennett said he kept telling his team the same message.
"“Don’t you dare leave anything in this locker room. But you don’t panic.”"
The Cavaliers got back to playing their own game and closed on a 57-28 run to advance to the second round.
Honestly, I thought this might be the toughest game mentally that UVA will play all tournament. They’ve heard the UMBC jokes for a year and it showed with their slow start. Being able to overcome that mental hurdle was a huge thing for them. I think we’ll see them playing much more free and much more confident for the remainder of the tournament, especially with the way they were able to close that game.