To view more pictures from last night's win over Winthrop click here.
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- By late Thursday afternoon, Tony Bennett's basketball team will be in the tropics, far, far away from UVa's Grounds and John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers played their first two games of the season at home. Their next three will be at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, site of the eight-team Paradise Jam tournament, starting Friday night against TCU (2-0).
UVa is 2-0, too, after convincing victories over South Carolina State (75-38) and Winthrop (69-48) at JPJ. UVa found itself seriously tested in the second half of the Winthrop game. Back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman guard Andre Smith gave Winthrop a 44-41 lead with 10:28 to play, and the crowd of 7,983 grew uneasy.
About a minute earlier, after the Eagles pulled to 39-38, Bennett had reassured his players during a timeout.
"I said, 'We need to be in this spot. We need to be able to get stops, come up with big buckets,' " Bennett told reporters after the game. "I said, 'We're fine.' We talked about that: 'Keep playing, don't yield, and it's OK we're in this spot, and we need to mature in this situation,' and I thought the guys did a nice job."
Indeed, the 'Hoos held Winthrop (0-2) to four points in the final 10 minutes. On a night when Bennett had only eight scholarship players available, he got significant contributions from most of them, including junior point guard Jontel Evans, senior forward Mike Scott, senior center Assane Sene, freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon and sophomore forward Akil Mitchell.
"The guys really did pay the price in the offseason," Bennett said. "It's not just lip service. Everybody says they go to work, but they took it upon themselves and they really were purposeful in the areas they needed to address. So you can see the physical maturity, the skill maturity, and I think even emotionally they're in a better place."
Virginia's next opponent is TCU in the opening game of the Paradise Jam tournament in the US Virgin Islands.
Paradise Jam Announces Television Broadcast Schedule
ST. THOMAS, USVI -- The U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam announced Tuesday (Nov. 15) the tournament's television broadcast schedule. Fox College Sports and FSN will air both semifinals on Sunday, and the final and consolation game on Monday.
In Virginia, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will air both semifinals. CSN+ will air both the final and consolation game.
Sunday's semifinals are slated for 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm ET. The Virginia/TCU winner will play the Norfolk State/Drexel winner in the first semifinal. The Drake/Mississippi winner will play the Marquette/Winthrop winner in the second semifinal.
The consolation game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday with the championship game to follow at 8:30 p.m.
-Excerpts from article by Jeff White, VirginiaSports.com (Link to Full Article)
Click to watch video highlights of Tuesday night's win over Winthrop 