Unless he was watching Sunday's game between Marquette and Villanova, Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett probably didn’t realize how close the Cavaliers came to being ranked No. 1.
Marquette guard Andrew Rowsey, a Rockbridge County graduate, got the Golden Eagles as close as three points with more than a minute remaining before top-ranked Villanova held on for an 85-82 road win.
Rowsey had 19 of his team-high 29 points in the second half.
One day earlier, visiting Virginia had defeated favored Duke 65-63 in an outcome that no doubt contributed to UVa receiving 17 first-place votes in the Associated Press poll released Monday morning,
The Cavaliers, who are ranked second for the third week in a row, had received one first-place vote in the poll released Jan. 22.
Predictably, the latest developments were of little concern to ninth-year UVa head coach Tony Bennett.
Virginia was the preseason No. 1 in 1982-83 and remained there for four weeks before losing to Chaminade in one of the biggest upsets of all time.
“I’ve never been ranked No. 1,” said Bennett, whose 2014-15 Virginia team spent a total of 13 weeks at No. 2.
He previously had coached at Washington State, which got as high as No. 4 under his guidance in 2007-08.
“Maybe the fans or some people [would say] ‘wouldn’t that be cool’ if you were No. 1 or No. 2?” Bennett said. “I’m thankful to be in that spot but realize that it’s more about how we’re playing.
“I guess I haven’t thought about it, so hopefully we’ll just keep playing at a high level and that will be challenged every time out.”
Virginia (20-1, 9-0 ACC) is home for a 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting with Louisville (16-5, 6-2). The Cardinals are have the fourth-highest number of votes of those teams outside the Top 25 this week.
An area of concern for UVa following its Duke trip was an injury that sidelined redshirt freshman De’Andre Hunter for the final 4 minutes, 46 seconds.
“I believe we’ll hold him from practice [Monday] and just kind of be day-to-day with it,” Bennett said of a twisted ankle that kept Hunter from finishing the game.
Hunter was one of four Virginia players who scored in double figures at Duke, with Hunter logging 24 minutes off of the bench. Bennett also reported that a reduced 14-minute afternoon from Isaiah Wilkins had more to do with foul trouble than the balky back that had hindered him four days earlier against Clemson.
Bennett, who previously had gone 2-9 at Cameron, observed a milestone with UVa’s victory at the only ACC venue where he had never won. When he was coaching at Washington State, he had victories at every school in what was then the Pac-10.
“I’m thankful,” Bennett said. “I really am. This is the gold standard, what Duke’s done, but we’re in a race here. We’re just trying to get better and that’s the way you do it — one at a time. “
An agitated Bennett was on top of his game, not backing down when he disagreed with the officiating crew of Tim Nestor, Jeff Clark and Brian O’Connell.
“My wife was sitting right behind me and she’ll probably say, ‘You acted like an idiot,’ and I’ll probably have to apologize to a bunch of people,’ Bennett said. “Maybe I didn’t go about it right. I wanted the officials and my team to know, ‘I don’t agree with this. ‘ “
The victory was UVa’s 12th in a row since a 68-61 loss at West Virginia on Dec. 5.
“That’s a pretty intense environment,” Bennett said. “Ronnie Wideman , our assistant athletic director, said, ‘That’s why we play those West Virginia games.’
“We went to VCU and it was an incredible atmosphere. You have to draw on those games for experience.”
Only two of Virginia’s players, seniors Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins, had ever played in a game at Cameron, an annual Virginia stop before ACC expansion.
“As loud as those other arenas were, it wasn’t even close to this,” UVa sophomore Kyle Guy said. “We tried our best to make it just like any other game. Coach [Bennett] vaguely said, ’It’s been a while since we’ve won here, so why not do it now?’
“I tried not to pay too much attention to the outside noise.”
That attitude no doubt helped when Guy hit two free throws to make it a four-point game with five seconds left. He earlier had missed the front end of a one-and-one with 24 seconds remaining.
“I had seen too many shots go in and out,” Guy said, “so I wanted the ball so I could get fouled again.’ “
Then there was the fateful play that ended with Guy and Duke’s Grayson Allen squabbling in the corner .
“I did hit him in the face but obviously I wasn’t trying to,” said Guy, who was a 3-point line’s distance away from the lane where Allen had hit a buzzer-beating layup in Duke’s 63-62 victory over UVa in 2016.
Allen, who has been involved in several altercations during his career, was eager to move on after Saturday’s exchange.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I saw the play [on a scoreboard replay]. I leaned into him. It wasn’t anything intentional or anything like that. I talked to Kyle after the game and nothing’s wrong.”
A replay wasn't necessary for the Cavaliers. The digits on the scoreboard were all they needed.