BLACKSBURG, Va. — Buzz Williams has a great deal of respect for the job coach Tony Bennett has done at Virginia.
Williams, Virginia Tech’s first-year coach, is well versed in the challenges Bennett faced as he turned a team that finished with five ACC wins his first season into a conference champion and Final Four contender in five years.
“I think it will go down in the annals of history as one of the top 10 rebuilds ever,” Williams said. “[Bennett is] as good a person as you’ll find in the business. He’s done it the right way.”
Williams was asked after his team’s heartbreaking 91–86 home overtime loss to No. 4 Duke on Wednesday night if he sees Bennett’s success as something he can strive for with his team.
“My name is Buzz. Have you looked at my résumé? I don’t compare to coach Bennett,” said a modest Williams, who led Marquette to two Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight.
Though he may downplay his own coaching credentials, Williams is right about one thing. Bennett and his Cavaliers have provided the blueprint for resurrecting a crumbling program and turning it into a national power.
With a powerful defensive identity and a cast of standout players, No. 2 Virginia (26-1, 14-1 ACC) is a legitimate national championship contender this season. The Cavaliers host Virginia Tech (10-18, 2-13 ACC) in their final home game of the season Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers have reached an elite status that the Hokies can only dream of at this point. But even during a season full of losses, Virginia Tech has been encouraged by its performance and prospects for the future.
The Hokies took Duke to the wire with a cast of mostly freshmen and sophomores. Freshman guards Jalen Hudson, who scored 23 points off the bench, Ahmed Hill and Justin Bibbs accounted for almost half of the team’s scoring.
Sophomore point guard Devin Wilson had 10 points and 11 assists, one shy of Virginia Tech’s single-game record.
The Hokies said they gained confidence from their performance against Duke, even though they weren’t able to finish the job. They had a chance on their final possession of regulation, but Hudson missed a contested layup attempt with four seconds left.
Hudson said he thought he drew contact from a Blue Devils defender, but he wasn’t surprised to not hear a whistle so late in the game.
It was the second home game this season that Tech gave a top five team a scare. It also had a chance to beat Virginia on Jan. 25 in an eventual 50-47 loss.
The Hokies led the Cavaliers by 10 points near the midway point of the second half, but Virginia battled back thanks to an inspired offensive performance by guard Justin Anderson, who scored 10 points in the final 7:05.
“I think down the stretch we let Justin Anderson go off a little bit, but other than that I think we played really well against them the first time,” Virginia Tech freshman forward Satchel Pierce said. “Basically, we’ve just got to play like we did before, but just turn it up a little bit.”
Anderson has missed the last three weeks with a broken finger and he is expected to be out until at least the ACC tournament.
But even without Anderson and starting point guard London Perrantes, who is recovering from a concussion and broken nose, the Cavaliers blasted host Wake Forest 70–34 on Wednesday night. It was less than two weeks after Viriginia barely escaped with a 61-60 home win over the Demon Deacons.
Though the Hokies played well against the Cavaliers in their first meeting, the Wake Forest result should show them what could happen the second time around.
“We should have had that one at home. It’s going to be tough in Charlottesville, but we like the fight, we like the challenge and we’re going to go in there with everything we’ve got,” said junior guard Adam Smith, who had 15 points in the first meeting.
At the very least, Virginia Tech knows it is capable of competing with the top teams in the country. The Hokies’ close losses to Virginia and Duke have given them confidence, but they’re still searching for ways to get over the hump and finish off wins.
“It’s simply one possession. It’s one defensive rotation. We’re right there,” Smith said. “No question, I feel like we’ve earned some of these close games that we’ve lost.”
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