STEVE DESHAZO: Cavaliers learning to pick their spots to jab away at opponents

CHARLOTTESVILLE — If the band-aid covering the stitches over Jacob Groves' right eyelid — ''four, I think'' was his estimate — seemed more appropriate for a boxing match than a college basketball game, he could have invoked that old saying after a brawl.

You shoulda seen the other guy.

The victim in this case was Texas A&M, which brought a No. 14 national ranking to John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night and looked every bit the part. The Aggies were bigger, stronger and mostly more athletic than Virginia.

Still, though, the Cavaliers managed to walk away with an impressive 59-47 victory in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge that should quiet any discontent from last week's drubbing by Wisconsin.

"The message was, 'Don't yield,' " said Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett, who joked that Groves could have used a visit from Ferdie Pacheco, Muhammad Ali's old corner man.

Bennett's team survived a flurry of A&M jabs but counter-punched with its own familiar style — one that the Cavaliers will have to maintain as they begin their conference schedule Saturday against Syracuse.

"U.Va. wins a high percentage of their games because of their opponents' lack of concentration endurance," said Aggies coach Buzz Williams, who knows whereof he speaks after spending five seasons at Virginia Tech.

Williams' teams love to play high-tempo games, the polar opposite of the preference that has made Bennett successful in his 15 years at Virginia, includes a national championship in 2019.

In Williams' style, a turnover here or there isn't a big deal, because there are plenty of chances to atone. Williams tried to convince his players — none of whom had faced the Cavaliers — that the math is different against Virginia.

"When you take a 100-question test, what is the value of each question?" Williams said he told his players. "It's one. If you take a 50-question test, the value is two.

"Most of the time, we play 100-question tests; tonight we played a 25-question test. The value is four points. A turnover is not one turnover; it's four turnovers."

By that calculation, the Aggies committed 64 turnovers Wednesday night. (It was actually 16, but you get it.)

That number stuck in Williams' craw — even more than A&M's 24-percent second-half shooting or 4-for-23 accuracy from 3-point range. But it was Virginia's counter to the Aggies' 18 offensive rebounds.

And so, because they aren't particularly big or fast, the Cavaliers will have to keep finding ways to negate their opponent's advantages.

On Wednesday, they used crisp passing to get open shots and offensive balance to compensate for getting zero points off the bench. All five starters played at least 31 minutes, and each scored in double figures.

Said Groves: "Nobody is selfish on this whole team."

And it came on a night when one guard (Reese Beekman) was limited by a leg injury and another (Dante Harris) sat out with a sprained ankle.

After losing four starters from last year's squad, Bennett has cobbled together an intriguing roster with transfers like Groves (Oklahoma) and Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas, Minn.) who are still learning his trademark pack line defense.

But they've fit in well so far. And it doesn't hurt to have Beekman and the freakishly athletic Ryan Dunn on their side.

Beekman had three steals and two blocks, while Dunn blocked five shots (including two by A&M center Henry Coleman) and added three steals, giving him the edge in a category the Cavaliers call "stocks" (combined steals and blocks).

"No. 2 (Beekman) is an NBA defender," Williams said, "and No. 13 (Dunn) is real close."

That's the recipe the Cavaliers will have to follow if they hope to advance in the NCAA tournament for the first time since cutting down the nets in 2019.

Their whole will need to continue to be greater than the sum of its parts. And they'll need to give out more bruises than they absorb.

Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy .