The current national champion is eliminated after a game.
Virginia, the winner of the 2019 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, suffered another shocking defeat in the first round on Saturday, dropping to 13 seed in Ohio, 62-58, in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Cavaliers had a seven-point lead at the start of the second half, but then went on for 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 remaining on a 3-point Trey Murphy, but Ohio froze the game with two free throws from 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 some family members in the stands, playing with a team that I love, playing for a coaching staff that I love to play with. Man, it was a special moment. Let’s just keep it up.”
Virginia, the 4-seed in the western region, did not arrive in Indianapolis until Friday afternoon, after a positive COVID-19 test and subsequent contact tracking forced most of its quarantined squad until Thursday. The Cavaliers trained as a team in Charlottesville on Friday morning, underwent the COVID-19 test on arrival in Indianapolis and again at 1:15 am on Saturday morning, and then did a dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon.
However, Virginia coach Tony Bennett would not blame the rust or lack of training time for the loss.
“We went in, you know, we thought we had a chance. We certainly did,” said Bennett. “I don’t know if it would matter if it was normal preparation or not. How can you say? We played with a good team, and this is the tournament.”
“We prepared to the best of our abilities. Again, Ohio played a better game when it needed to make moves, they made the moves and left some on the table. Then again, I’m grateful that we had the chance. You can’t go back and change nothing. I thought our boys were as ready as they could be under the circumstances. “
This is the second time in the last three NCAA tournaments that Virginia lost to a double-digit seed in the first round. In 2018, Cavaliers were the first 1-seed to drop to 16-seed when they lost to UMBC. They have also become only the third team since 1979 to combine double-digit seed money in a first round in three consecutive tournaments, joining Indiana 1986-88 and UCLA 1994- 96.
“I have faced so much joy in this tournament on many occasions,” said Bennett. “I also faced the pain in my heart. Again, as I said, you always have to be willing to accept both, to know that when your career ends it doesn’t define you, whether you win everything or lose or anything. That’s what you do it, you do it with love, joy and passion, so you don’t let it define you beyond what it should. “
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 some problems with COVID-19 during the last month of the season, but now they have won 10 of their last 11 games and are playing one of the best basketball in the country.
Point guard Jason Preston established himself as a name to watch in the NCAA tournament, ending with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Bobcats. Preston scored just 52 points in his senior year of high school, but he has now entered the NBA radar and is one of the best remaining playmakers in the tournament.
“I told him that this is where the stars are born, the legacies are made,” said Ohio coach Jeff Boals of Preston. “Give them a lot of credit. [Kihei] Clark is a great defender. But Jason in the second half was able to get around some of them, had some huge rebounds … Just a phenomenal effort. He is the heart and soul of our team. The world has seen today who he is and what he is capable of doing. I am very proud of him. “
Vander Plas, a player that a MAC coach told ESPN earlier this week that he was a “Virginia type player”, was arguably the best player on the pitch for long periods on Saturday. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, scoring three points. At one point in the second half, Vander Plas scored 10 consecutive points in Ohio.
He is confident that the Bobcats will also be able to continue.
“I think we entered each game with the expectation of winning, preparing to win. So we are going to try to win the whole thing,” said Vander Plas. “That’s what we’re here for. Let’s go – what is it, five more games? Let’s try to win five more games, one at a time.”
Virginia will have many personnel decisions to make in the coming weeks. The Cavaliers have three veterans in their rotation, including titleholders Sam Hauser and Jay Huff. Murphy, a junior, is also a choice designed for the second round of the NBA draft on the ESPN draft.
For a team that entered the season as one of the top five teams in the preseason, however, this is a disappointing end to the campaign.
“You know there will probably be better times to speak more clearly to them about what they mean and who they are as men and as players,” said Bennett. “After the game, you don’t hear much. Just try to encourage and thank them and tell them they’ll always be a part of it. Again, they’ll have an ACC championship in the regular season and get a chance to play in the tournament. it will hurt like it ended, but it was the extension. I said I’d like to have some magic words to make the sting go away, but I don’t. Time heals all things. “
Ohio moves on to play against 5-seeded Creighton, who managed to beat Santa Barbara’s UC with 12 seeded seeders on Saturday. And with the state of Ohio upset by Oral Roberts with 15 seeds on Friday, the Bobcats are carrying the mantle to Buckeye State.
“I think we are happy to move on. We are very grateful. Our boys came here hoping to win a game,” said Boals. “The fact that we are the only ones left, I think this is great for social media and fans. But our movement, keep going. We want everyone to support us as we can. I think this is great for our university.”