Analogies for defense throughout the sports world include a pair of top hockey goalies in Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevsky vs. the New York Rangers’ Igor Shisterkin or maybe solid NFL defenses with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers matched up with the San Francisco 49ers.
Throw in a top NBA matchup between the Boston Celtics vs. the Milwaukee Bucks or two MLB teams with pitchers with lower ERAs and you have the four major pro sports covered with stopping offenses.
Flip over to college basketball where the Virginia Cavaliers slipped past the injury-riddled Florida State Seminoles, 62-57, on Saturday and you have another pair of defensive stalwarts who are near the top of college basketball each season.
Florida State and Virginia only allowed each other to shoot around 25 percent from the floor in the first half as FSU had a 22-21 lead at the break.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett was not surprised with the effort that the Seminoles made despite their 1-9 record, plus all of the injuries that Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton has had to endure since the beginning of the season.
“In the second half, we opened it up a little more and said, ‘Go make plays!’” explained Bennett. “For the most part, we were a little careless down the stretch.”
Virginia took the upper hand immediately to start the second half as Kihei Clark scored off of a goaltend on Virginia’s first possession and the Cavaliers then held the lead for the rest of the game.
Clark led the Cavaliers with 18 points, while Jayden Gardner netted 10. While Clark was able to push the lead when FSU center Raheem McLeod was hit with a flagrant-one foul, Gardner scored off of a rebound and made a layup right away as Virginia built its biggest lead at 36-29 with 15:55 to play.
“Teams like that, you let them hang around and we still even let them hang around at the end, but the only lead you can get makes it easier during the stretch run,” said Clark.
Later, Clark would make five free throws and a jumper in the clutch to place the Cavaliers in survival mode.
“I think by getting another guy involved off the lane and spreading out off of that and being assertive helped the opening,” explained Bennett. “The experience he has and if you haven’t played against it, it’s a challenge.”
Clark was 4-of-9 from the floor, and 9-of-10 from the line as his ball-handling ability came into play in the clutch as well.
“We can talk about his shots and his dribbling skills and free throws and how he makes shots, but he makes great decisions,” said Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton. “He doesn’t really get rattled that much. He is like a coach on the floor.”
Virginia has also been getting solid play from freshman Ryan Dunn, who played 15 minutes and was a key on the boards with five. He was 4-of-4 in the Cavaliers’ bevy of free throws that closed the game.
“We need to get stops and we needed buckets as well,” noted Dunn. “Offensively, I just trusted Kihei. You trust him in just coming to the rim. Defensively, that’s where I need to be and where we all need to be to get stops.”
Clark’s two free throws with 4:09 remaining gave Virginia its biggest lead at 51-39 before the Seminoles made one last attempt to get in position to win. They had to make the Cavaliers’ free throw as Virginia made 9-of-10 in the last 1:52.
Darin Green, Jr., and Caleb Mills scored four points each in the last 1:16. Green’s jumper off the right baseline sliced the FSU deficit to 56-52 with 40 seconds left.
Matthew Cleveland also notched a double-double with a layup on an inbound pass with 16 seconds remaining which moved the lead to 58-54 with 16 seconds to play. He finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“This is not our typical team, but we are getting better every day and hopefully, we will get on that ACC winning streak and surprise all of you guys,” explained Hamilton.
