The national defending champion is eliminated after a match.
Virginia, the winner of the 2019 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, suffered another shocking loss in the first round on Saturday, reaching 13-seed Ohio, 62-58, in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Knights had a seven-point lead early in the second half, but then went more than 10 minutes without a field goal, a stretch that allowed Ohio to take its own seven-point lead. Virginia reduced the lead to two, with eight seconds left on a 3-point Trey Murphy, but Ohio froze the game with two free throws by Lunden McDay.
“Man, that game, the atmosphere, even with limited fans, is a dream come true to be here playing the game I love,” said Ohio striker Ben Vander Plas. “I have a few family members in the stands, playing with a team I love, playing for a coaching staff that I like to play with. Man, it was a special moment there. We will continue to continue.”
Virginia, with 4 seeds from the Western Region, did not arrive in Indianapolis until Friday afternoon, after a positive COVID-19 test and subsequent follow-up of the contacts forced most of her list into quarantine until Thursday. The Knights trained as a team in Charlottesville on Friday morning, underwent COVID-19 testing on arrival in Indianapolis and then again at 1:15 a.m. Saturday morning and then had a shootaround on Saturday afternoon.
However, Virginia coach Tony Bennett would not blame the rust or the lack of training time for the loss.
“We came in, you know, we thought we had a chance. We certainly did,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if it would have mattered if it was a normal preparation or not. How can you say? We played a good team and this is this tournament.”
“We prepared according to our abilities. Again, Ohio played a better game when they needed to make games, they made the games and we left a few on the table. So again, I’m grateful I had “You can’t go back and change anything. I thought our boys were just as prepared for the circumstances.”
This is the second time in the last three NCAA tournaments that Virginia has lost a two-digit series in the first round. In 2018, the Cavaliers were the first 1-seed to fall to 16-seed when they lost to UMBC. Also, they now become only the third team since 1979, losing the first round to double-digit seeds around a national championship in three consecutive tournaments, joining 1986-88 Indiana and 1994-96 UCLA.
“I’ve faced so much joy in this tournament so many times,” Bennett said. “I also had a heart attack. Again, as I say, you must always be willing to accept both, to know that when your career ends, this does not define you, whether you win it or you will lose it or whatever. It’s what you do, you do it with love, joy and passion, then you don’t let it define you beyond what it should be. “
Ohio finished fifth in the Mid-American Conference during the regular season, but the Bobcats won three games in three days to win the conference tournament and win the league’s automatic bid. They had a few COVID-19 problems in the last month of the season, but now they have won 10 of the last 11 games and are playing some of the best basketball in the country.
Goalkeeper Jason Preston established himself as a top name in the NCAA tournament, finishing with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Bobcats. Preston scored just 52 points in total as a high schooler, but now he has played on the NBA radar himself and is one of the best remaining point guards in the tournament.
“I told him that stars are born here, legacies are made,” Ohio coach Boals told Preston. “Give them a lot of credit. [Kihei] Clark is a very good defender. But Jason, in the second half, managed to get some of them, he had some huge recoveries … Just a phenomenal effort. He is the heart and soul of our team. The world has seen today who he is and what he can do. Simply proud of him. “
Vander Plas, a player that a MAC coach told ESPN earlier this week was a “Virginia-type player,” was arguably the best player on the floor for long periods on Saturday. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, making three triples. At one point in the second half, Vander Plas scored 10 consecutive Ohio points.
He’s confident the Bobcats can keep it.
“I think we’re going into every game, waiting to win, getting ready to win. So we’re going to try to win everything,” Vander Plas said. “That’s what we’re here to do. Let’s go – what is it, five more games? We’ll try to win five more games one by one.”
Virginia will have a lot of staff decisions to make in the coming weeks. The Knights have three seniors in rotation, including rookies Sam Hauser and Jay Huff. Murphy, a junior, is also a projected NBA draft pick in the second round of the ESPN rankings.
However, for a team that entered the season as a top five team in the preseason, this is a disappointing end to the campaign.
“You know there will probably be better times to talk to them more clearly about what they meant and who they are as men and as players,” Bennett said. “After the match, you don’t hear much. Just try to encourage and thank them and tell them that they will always be part of it. Again, they will have a regular ACC season championship and they got a chance to “He’ll understand how it ended, but that was the stretch. I said I’d like to have a few magic words to make the sting go away, but no. Time heals all things.”
Ohio continues to play Creighton with 5 seeds, who wanted to beat UC Santa Barbara with 12 seeds on Saturday. And along with Ohio State, upset by 15 seeds, Oral Roberts on Friday, the Bobcats are wearing the cloak for The Buckeye State.
“I think we are happy to move on. We are very grateful. Our boys have come waiting to win a game,” Boals said. “The fact that we are the only ones left, I think is great for social media and fans. But our search continues. We want everyone to support us as much as we can. I think this is great for our university.”