No. 4 seed Virginia arrives late and leaves early from NCAA tournament

“We had a chance, and we wanted that,” Virginia Coach Tony Bennett said. “We prepared to the best of our abilities . . . and Ohio played a better game. When they needed to make plays, they made the plays, and we left some on the table. . . . I’m grateful we got the chance. You can’t go back and change anything.”

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The decisive stretch began with two minutes to play in the second half when Ben Roderick scored five consecutive points to grow the lead to 56-49 for the Bobcats, who earned an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the Mid-American Conference tournament title as a No. 5 seed.

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Jason Preston, the MAC tournament MVP, made two free throws to give Ohio a 58-51 lead with 43 seconds left before the Cavaliers (18-7) moved within one possession multiple times, the last at 60-58 with seven seconds to play.

On the Bobcats’ ensuing inbounds pass Virginia’s Sam Hauser fouled Lunden McDay, who made both foul shots to seal the upset and send Ohio (17-7) to the second round to face No. 5 seed Creighton on Monday in the West Region.

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Hauser led Virginia with 15 points, but his 4-for-16 shooting performance highlighted the Cavaliers’ offensive struggles. Virginia shot 35 percent, including just 8 for 31 (25.8 percent) from three-point range; got outrebounded 38-29; and allowed 26 points in the paint.

Ben Vander Plas scored a game-high 17 points for Ohio, which also got 15 from Roderick and 11 from Preston.

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“Everything was different,” said Hauser, a transfer from Marquette. “It wasn’t a normal college basketball year, but overall I was just happy to be able to play and to play a pretty good number of our games, and obviously this last week has been hectic, but we were happy to have a chance to play in the tournament.”

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The Cavaliers trailed for the first time since the opening seconds, at 42-40, when Vander Plas made the first of two straight three-pointers with 7:44 left in the second half. His next three-pointer came 45 seconds later, and Bennett immediately called timeout.

Vander Plas made another jumper to cap a 16-2 barrage, but Virginia brought the margin back to one possession, at 49-47, with 2:59 to play with Reece Beekman’s consecutive layups and Trey Murphy III’s three-pointer from the right wing after Dwight Wilson missed a dunk.

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Ohio overcame 10 turnovers and 30.4 percent shooting on three-pointers to win its fourth game in a row in its first NCAA tournament since 2012.

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“I thought we played a pretty solid defensive game up until the last couple minutes when we had a couple big breakdowns and they got a couple of layups at the rim,” Hauser said. “Other than that, I thought we played hard on defense. They made some tough shots, and they made crucial plays at the right time.”

Simply making it to tip-off proved an arduous journey for the Cavaliers, who last played March 11 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, beating Syracuse, 72-69, on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Beekman at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.

The next day, a Virginia player tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the ACC’s regular season champion to withdraw before the semifinals. The next step involved consulting with NCAA officials to determine whether playing in the NCAA tournament would be viable.

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The Cavaliers learned they would be able to do so with no positive tests for seven consecutive days, so players remained in quarantine in Charlottesville through last weekend and most of this past week. The only communication between them and Bennett during that time was electronic.

Players, coaches and the athletic training staff gathered together for the first time in more than a week Friday morning at John Paul Jones Arena and traveled by bus to the airport for a charter fight to Indianapolis, where they quarantined at the team hotel for a required period.

After two more rounds of negative PCR test results, the second administered after midnight Saturday, Virginia finally was able to conduct a walk-through Saturday afternoon at Assembly Hall, one of six venues hosting NCAA tournament games entirely in and around Indianapolis.

The Cavaliers emerged from the hiatus sluggish offensively in the first half, although a burst in the first few minutes and shortly before halftime helped build a 24-17 lead with 3:57 to go. The margin shrunk to 28-27 at halftime when Vander Plas made a three-pointer with three seconds remaining.

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“It was a windy road, unique the way it started,” said Bennett, who coached the 500th game of his career. “Obviously this last nine days — or eight days, whatever — is as strange and unique as you find heading into this, but again at the start of the season we didn’t even know if we’d get to play that many games, didn’t know what would happen with the NCAA tournament.

“I’m glad we’re having the NCAA tournament, but it was a strange year, unlike any, and I hope it never happens again.”