The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team had a pathetic performance in their 75-41 loss at Virginia Tech University. The Hoos were outscored 56-27 in the final 30 minutes of the game. Virginia Tech was energized for this game as always, and they dominated Virginia on both ends of the floor largely from the rim. Virginia has now lost two of its last three games, and appears to be regressing a bit in the most crucial stretch of the season.
All things considered, the Cavaliers still have 20 wins and are alone in third place in the ACC Championship. Despite the tough loss, there are many reasons to be optimistic about UVA's upcoming matchups. For now, here are five takeaways from tonight's loss to Virginia Tech.
The hoo comes to Castle while he's sleepwalking
Virginia played its worst first half of the season so far. After keeping it close for 10 minutes, Virginia didn't score for an almost unbelievable 9 straight minutes, and Virginia Tech led 20-0 in that period. Isaac McNeely said it best, “[Virginia] “It’s not necessarily a team that plays well from the back.” He was right, the Hoos dug an insurmountable hole in the first half and had no chance of coming back in the second half.
Although Tech isn't a particularly strong defense — it ranks 100th overall in KenPom — the Cavaliers couldn't get anything going in the first half. They played ten different men and made several different attacks, but nothing worked. Front court players seemed afraid of the paint, and guards fell into their all-too-familiar rhythm of throwing mid-range jumpers on the end of a shot. Rhys Beckman looked fatigued, and wasn't finishing around the rim the way he has done so well the last 10 games.
This Virginia team simply isn't strong enough offensively to give up a double-digit lead heading into halftime. In upcoming games against top offenses UNC and Duke, they will have to perform better in the first half if they want to hold on. This may include Tony Bennett calling a timeout earlier than he normally would, and he may need to be willing to scrap certain elements of the game plan if they are not executed in the first half.
The vaunted Pack Line defense was shredded
Mike Young knows how to make life difficult for defenders with set screens and quick passes. Credit to Young, because tonight the Hokies got everything they wanted on offense. Lane Kidd dominated the paint, and Cator, Peran and Nickel poured it in from deep. Tech always seems to make the right extra pass, leading to wide-open three-point appearances and uncontested dunks.
The Hokies had 17 assists, and turned the ball over just 7 times — including a few in garbage time — against a Virginia team that forces a higher turnover rate than any team Bennett has coached. On the other hand, the Tech team scored 24 points from the total turnover. Winning the turnover battle kept Virginia in tight games when their offense wasn't clicking or they were losing the rebound battle. The Hokies' guards looked comfortable all night even against DPOY Reece Beekman and perhaps the best defender in the country Ryan Dunn.
This defense is still one of the best in the country, but they can certainly have nights as a unit. Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn can't cover every spot, and it will be important to know which defensive group will face the two best offenses in the conference: UNC and Duke. This could give us a litmus test of where we stand heading into tournament play.
Virginia failed to generate quality three-point looks
When the blocker offense is buzzing, Virginia consistently creates open catch-and-shoot threes. Tonight, the Hoos didn't do that. They made zero threes in the first half, on just 5 attempts, and finished the game 2-12 from deep. Just over midway through the first half, Tony Bennett switched to an outside triangle attack in an attempt to turn things around, but they were still unable to get clean shots for Jake Groves, Isaac McNealy and co.
A lack of three-point attempts has been a common trend in Virginia's losses. Virginia made four threes on 14 attempts in its recent loss to Pittsburgh. It's not just about hitting the magic number of 20 three-point attempts per game, because in order to get that far, they actually need to set up open three-pointers. McNeely has struggled for much of the season against face-guarding and defenders running over screens, but he can't be the team's only hope from the outside.
The 'Hoos have a few standout guys from downtown. Instead of relying solely on the ebb and flow of a motion offense, perhaps it's time to incorporate Bennett into some new routines and sets designed to get three-point looks for his great shooters. With Isaac McKneely and Jake Groves, there's a chance for some creative action (like Zoom) that could get the ball rolling.
I'm not claiming here to have the solutions, but it's clear that the combination of a blocker and a triangle does not support consistent offensive production.
The floor is still very low for the Cavaliers
In the first half of the year, the story surrounding this Virginia team was the massive deficit in each of their losses compared to their wins. They were severely beaten five times, four of which came on the road. Many Virginia fans described it as growing pains for a team that hadn't played together in a long time, and it seemed true as Bennett really turned things around in January and early February. Until tonight.
Tonight's game was a reminder of what can happen when Virginia runs a stinking offense when you face a good scoring team that gets a little hot. It's happened enough times this year that this is a legitimate concern in any given game on any given night. At this point, there are only so many times you can “burn the tape” and be ready for the next match. This team clearly has flaws, and they can be exposed even against mediocre teams.
While the floor is alarmingly low, the ceiling is also high. Virginia has beaten a lot of good teams, winning several ACC games by more than 20 points. No one should be shocked if the Cavaliers look like a completely different team against UNC on Saturday. Hopefully Bennett can keep the team's morale high, and cite their recent eight-game winning streak as proof of what they can do when they play good Virginia basketball.
Virginia needs another quadruple win
The Cavaliers have only two Quad 1 wins this season, early in the year against Florida and more recently at Clemson. This could have been their third game, but they failed to take advantage of a tough road environment against a Tech team desperate for a win. Virginia has only two guaranteed Quad 1 games remaining (home vs. UNC, road vs. Duke), though it could get one or two more in ACC Championship.
Most bracket experts expect Virginia to be an eighth or ninth seed right now, and fortunately this loss shouldn't move things too much. However, if they finish the season 2-6 in Quad 1, there's a good chance Virginia fans will sweat a little more than they want to on this particular Sunday. The good news is that UVA has four days to prepare for UNC, and the atmosphere should be electric at JPJ at 4:00 on Saturday.
If Virginia beats Duke or UNC, and takes care of business against Boston College and Georgia TechThey should be comfortable on the March Madness field. Otherwise, it could take several ACC Tournament wins to secure a spot in the big dance.
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