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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia junior forward Kadin Shedrick extended his body as far as he possibly could and stretched out his right hand to swat the off-balanced shot of UNC guard R.J. Davis. Cavaliers guard Reece Beekman collected the loose ball on the right wing and fired a pass to Armaan Franklin at the other end.
Franklin was covered by Tar Heels forward Pete Nance, so he flipped the ball back to a trailing Shedrick, who dunked the ball with force before letting out a scream.
The play closed the door on North Carolina in the final seconds of No. 13 UVA’s 68-59 ACC Tournament quarterfinal win Thursday night at Greensboro Coliseum. And it showed just how impactful Shedrick can be when his name is called.
The second-seeded Cavaliers face off against third-seeded Clemson in the semifinals tonight. The winner advances to Saturday’s championship.
Shedrick, a 6-foot-11, 231-pound Holly Springs, North Carolina, native, had been relegated to the bench for much of the final month of the regular season, playing as many as 10 minutes only twice in the previous seven games because, as he explains, coach Tony Bennett decided to lean more heavily on a smaller lineup.
But he stayed ready, and he was needed this week in Greensboro. Starting senior forward Ben Vander Plas suffered a season-ending broken right hand in practice Wednesday, meaning an elevated role for Shedrick and senior forward Francisco Caffaro.
When Vander Plas was injured, “I was like, ‘OK, let me get ready. This might have to be my comeback,’” Shedrick said.
Shedrick played 18 minutes against the Tar Heels, had two highlight-reel dunks — including an alley-oop from Beekman — and blocked a season-high five shots. He was one off his career-high for blocks registered against Clemson last December.
“That shows the resiliency he has as a player and as a person,” Franklin said. “I know he hasn’t played a lot during this last stretch of the season, but when Ben goes down, he was ready. He was ready to excel in his role and not just be out there, and I think he did a great job.”
Shedrick and Caffaro were critical for the Cavaliers in their defense of UNC first-team All-ACC big man Armando Bacot, who showed signs of the sprained ankle he suffered in Wednesday’s second round but was still a load in the paint. Bacot had four points and three rebounds in 21 minutes.
“I don’t know if people know how strong he is. He is huge,” Shedrick said. “I know a lot of Virginia fans think I’m not the strongest, and I’m not, but I think I held my own, even though he’s incredibly strong.
“That’s pretty much what I’m thinking when I come into the game and I’m facing a guy like that. I want to make sure I hold my ground, and if he is in a spot to score, I’m long, so try to alter his shot.”
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Caffaro was also effective in the paint for UVA. He got the start and had two big dunks and two rebounds in 12 minutes.
“I thought Kadin really gave us some rim protection, played hard, and Francisco did as well,” Bennett said. “Again, losing a guy that’s played a lot, that’s always tough, but this group rallied around that and each other and came out and played against a team that was playing some hot basketball from the last game.”
Shedrick’s teammates talked about the positivity he showed during the last few weeks of the season when he wasn’t getting consistent playing time. Before this week, he played a total of 17 minutes in the previous four games combined.
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“Anybody would be upset, but his attitude and emotion never changed,” Beekman said. “He just wanted the best for the team and the best for us, so he was encouraging to everybody. He stuck with it and came out with this moment and showed his worth.”
Shedrick said he spent most of the last month of the regular season practicing with the scout team, but he said he put all his effort into being positive and helping his teammates improve.
“I saw it as an opportunity to play against the rotation guys every day,” he said. “I was talking smack to my boys. I was like, ‘Yo, I’m getting after y’all today. I’m sorry, but that’s how it has to be.’ I’d go out there and try to score as much as I can, block as much as I can and just be physical. I treated it like game day.”
He admitted to being a little rusty in the first half against the Tar Heels, but he settled down and had a big impact in the second half. His final dunk was icing on the cake.
“To get a block on one end and run the floor and get a dunk on the other, that’s what I play for,” Shedrick said. “That’s my favorite play. It meant a lot to me, especially that coach trusted me to go out there and give my all for my boys, and I’m glad my boys stuck with me this whole time.”
Franklin joked that he “had full intentions of trying to dunk that,” before he saw Nance right behind him. He was happy to toss the ball to Shedrick for the final flourish.
“I love to see the emotion after the dunk. He was screaming a little, gave a little flex,” Cavaliers freshman guard Isaac McKneely said. “I love to see stuff like that, especially from him. The past couple games he hasn’t played maybe as much as he would have liked, so I’m really proud of him, and he’s just gonna keep getting better and better, and I can’t wait to see him grow.”