Leading up to this heart-pounding moment in the ACC tournament quarterfinal against Syracuse, Reece Beekman had made eight 3-pointers all year — none since Feb. 10 at Georgia Tech — and had missed 10 in a row, including three in Thursday’s game. Against the Orange, the true freshman had nary a basket, not even a free throw.
But with the game versus Virginia’s on-again-off-again nemesis knotted at 69 and the clock ticking down to 1 second left in regulation, the ball wound up in Beekman’s hands, and he had no choice but to let it fly.
Bang!
March Madness is back, baby.
"Game." – @reece_beekman
?⚔️? #GoHoos #ACCTourney pic.twitter.com/oADStS6qI5— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) March 11, 2021
The 16th-ranked and No. 1-seeded Cavaliers survived the 8th-seeded Orange, 72-69, to advance to the semifinals Friday at 6:30 p.m. UVa (18-6, 13-4 ACC) will face No. 4-seeded Georgia Tech, which defeated No. 13-seeded Miami 70-66 in Thursday’s second quarterfinal. The ‘Hoos swept the Yellow Jackets this season, but both games were close (64-62, 57-49).
After the ball swished almost perfectly through the net, a screaming Beekman sprinted down to the other end of the court before being mobbed by his joyous teammates and coaches near Syracuse’s bench. He said after the game he had never hit a buzzer-beater in his basketball career. What perfect timing for his first one.
“That was my first-ever walk-off game winner,” he said, “so just hitting one of those for my team, it meant a lot. It was a whole lot of excitement, just a lot of energy that just came over me, and a lot of joy.”
INJECT THIS INTO MY VEINS pic.twitter.com/KXUKKAJ6lo
— Zach Carey (@zach_carey_) March 11, 2021
Reece Beekman says he and Jabri Abdur-Rahim were talking about what it would be like to have a chance at a buzzer beater earlier this week. Conversation was sparked by Notre Dame’s buzzer beater earlier in the tournament.
— Bennett Conlin (@BennettConlin) March 11, 2021
At the end of the game, Virginia had not one, not two, but three players on the floor that had hit multiple 3s, all of whom are better 3-point shooters than Beekman: Sam Hauser (3 for 10 in this contest, better than 44% on the season), Trey Murphy III (3 for 11, better than 44%), and Kihei Clark (2 for 5, 32%).
Beekman was hovering around 25% on the season.
With 6 seconds left, Hauser dribbled to his right and reversed the ball back to Clark, who drove to the left elbow. There, he had several choices: put up a floater, pass back and to his left to Murphy, try to throw the ball over the top down low to Jay Huff, or pass to his right to a wide-open Beekman. I don’t think Hauser was an option, given the positioning of everyone on the floor.
“At the end, we wanted a quick — I said, Kihei just attack the lane,” coach Tony Bennett said.
Beekman was perhaps not the best player to take the shot, but it was the best pass Clark could’ve made in that situation. And percentages don’t matter as much with the game on the line. Beekman confidently stepped up and drained it with no hesitation.
“[My teammates] kept saying the whole game, ‘Keep shooting, keep play-making, just be yourself,'” Beekman said.
“He stuck with it,” Hauser said. “He knew he had to shoot it. He was open. He shot it in rhythm. He’s one of those kids that just keeps coming back. If he gets knocked down, he keeps getting up.”
Big-time players step up in big-time moments, and I think the ‘Hoos have a player in Beekman, a Milwaukee native who played his high school ball at Scotlandville Magnet in Baton Rouge, La.
“Beekman is the one we want to shoot it there,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We don’t want to give anybody a shot, but he’s the one guy we would want to shoot it. He hasn’t made a 3, he’s not a good 3-point shooter. But that’s the way it goes. He knocked it down, and that’s to his credit.”
Virginia defeated Syracuse 81-58 in Charlottesville on Jan. 25 in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting. The ‘Hoos had won five of the past six matchups. Perusing social media, it looked like most UVa fans were hoping to face the Orange, rather than N.C. State, which split with the Cavaliers this season, beating them Feb. 24 at John Paul Jones Arena. Plus, the Wolfpack had won five straight going into the ACC tournament. They were the hotter squad.
But the Orange crushed the Pack on Wednesday, 89-68, behind 27 points from Buddy Boeheim, who made 6 of 12 from beyond the arc. This result gave the fan base the matchup it wanted.
Perhaps we need to be careful what we wish for when it comes to the Wahoos facing Syracuse in the postseason, if you know what I mean. And I know you do.
As they have at times as an ACC opponent, the pesky Orange (16-9, 9-7) frustrated the Cavaliers throughout the game, jumping out to a 7-0 lead and grabbing as much as an 11-point edge in the first half. In the first 20 minutes, Syracuse had six offensive rebounds, leading to 12 second-chance points.
Boeheim picked up right where he left off, making his first three 3-point attempts on his way to 15 first-half points.
Virginia fell behind 37-26 with six minutes remaining in the first half before finishing with a flourish. The Cavaliers closed the frame on a 10-2 run to go into the break down just 39-36. They almost took the lead as two Hauser triples just rimmed out in the final minute.
UVa had the momentum to begin the second half and captured a 42-39 lead, its first, within the first two minutes behind 3s from Murphy and Hauser.
However, Syracuse did not go away quietly. Though the Wahoos led throughout most of the second half, they were never ahead by more than 4 points until the 2:06 mark when a Hauser jumper put Virginia up 67-61.
But then, following a Boeheim 2-pointer, the Orange implemented the dreaded full-court press.
The Syracuse strategy that still gives UVa fans horrible flashbacks caused a turnover when Beekman’s pass to Murphy was tipped by Kadary Richmond, landing in the hands of Marek Dolezaj. He passed to Richmond, who found Quincy Guerrier on an alley-oop. Within seconds, the complexion of the contest changed.
Murphy and Boeheim traded a pair of made free throws. Then, on Virginia’s next-to-last possession, Hauser got bumped, but no foul was called. Virginia ended up getting penalized for a shot-clock violation. On the other end, Murphy barely grazed Boeheim and was called for a foul. Boeheim made both free throws, setting up Beekman’s heroics.
“This is a big tournament for us and a big step for our team,” Beekman said, “so we’ve just got to take each game one at a time and just try to get ready for the next one. Each game is going to be a dogfight for the rest of the season, so we’ve just got to be prepared, just be ready to play basketball.”
UVa had four players in double figures. Hauser paced the team with 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting. He added five rebounds, three assists, and a block.
Murphy posted 15 points on 4-for-12 shooting to go along with two boards, two steals, and two blocks. The transfer from Rice has cooled off considerably recently. He was shooting about 50% from beyond the arc a few games ago, but is now at 44.6%. He has made just 6 of his past 25 3-point attempts spanning five games (24%).
Huff recorded his 10th career double-double with 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting. He matched his career high with 12 rebounds. The fifth-year senior from Durham also tallied four blocks and two assists. It was the 18th time this season and 45th time in his career he had at least two blocks. He did not attempt a 3-pointer for the first time this year.
Clark had 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting and added six assists, just two turnovers, two boards, and a steal.
“Our veteran players, the guys who have the experience, I thought stepped up and did some important things as the game wore on,” Bennett said.
Before his big shot, Beekman had missed five field goals, including three 3s, but he did record four assists, just two turnovers, three rebounds, and two steals. And Bennett credited him for assisting on one of the best plays of the game.
“I thought one of the best plays … of the game was in front of our bench,” Bennett said. “[Beekman] attacked baseline, and Sam sort of floated behind him, and [Beekman] pitched it to him, and we got a 3. I thought that was significant. I thought [Reece] got more aggressive, maybe not so much shooting, but attacking a little more in the second half.”
Every Virginia starter played at least 31 minutes. Tomas Woldetensae played 15 minutes, contributing 8 points on 3-for-7 shooting, including 2 for 5 from deep. He also had one rebound and one assist.
Justin McKoy got 12 minutes and scored 2 points. He stabilized Virginia on the boards in the first half when the Cavaliers were really struggling. The sophomore from Cary, N.C., finished with six rebounds and added an assist.
Casey Morsell played four minutes and did not record any statistics.
UVa took good care of the basketball, committing only seven turnovers. Syracuse had 12. Virginia outrebounded ‘Cuse 33-30.
The Cavaliers shot 45.5% from the field, going 11 for 35 from deep (31.4%, compared to 14 of 31 or 45.2% in the regular-season meeting). Once again, Virginia was marvelous at the line, going 11 for 12. It is No. 3 nationally at 81.3%.
The Orange were led by Boeheim, who finished with a career-high 31 points. Coach Boeheim’s son made 10 of his 17 shots, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. In two ACC tournament games, the junior tallied 29 points per game and made 11 of his 20 3-point attempts.
Also for Syracuse, Guerrier had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Robert Braswell scored 10 points.
The Orange shot 42.1% from the field, including 8 for 22 on 3s (36.4%). They went 13 of 17 at the line. The whistle seemed to favor Syracuse for most of the game. On one sequence, Huff was called for a charge after a Syracuse player jumped into him and got bumped.
Syracuse seems to live on the bubble in March, and this year is no different. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had the Orange as his last team in the field of 68 after the game.
Beekman’s mom was in attendance. He said she works a lot but tries to make every game. Beekman’s older brother, Bryce, was a Washington State football player who died last March.
“[Beekman has] been through so much, and I’m just overjoyed for him and, of course, the team,” Bennett said. “But there’s some special meaning for him and his mom being here and all that.”