Isaac McKneely led Virginia with 18 points. ~ Photo courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
The Virginia basketball team began its Thanksgiving sandwich week with a win Tuesday night. The Cavaliers opened both halves strong and secured a 74-65 victory against Manhattan to improve to 4-2 on the season. They'll return to the John Paul Jones Arena on Friday afternoon to face Holy Cross.
The Hoos were happy to be back in the win column after a rough two-game tournament in the Bahamas. Tennessee and St. John's walloped UVA 64-42 and 80-55 at the Baha Mar Hoops Championship last Thursday and Friday. Those losses exposed some issues for the Wahoos and even with the long travel and relatively short turnaround to the Manhattan game, they tried to begin the repair work on those things. Virginia interim coach Ron Sanchez said the team identified transition defense, turnovers, and rebounding as the key target areas.
So while Tuesday's victory wasn't as dominant on the scoreboard as it looked like it might be early in the second half, there were some steps in the right direction with those things. Virginia committed just 8 turnovers and allowed only 5 fastbreak points in the win, for example. The Wahoos placed five players in double figures and logged 15 assists on 29 field goals. On the other hand, Manhattan didn't impose the same physicality as last week's opponents but still disrupted the Hoos at times.
Sanchez said his initial impression was that there was progress made for the team.
"I'll tell you this, coming off that weekend is really hard to show up on the court again and put up enough energy and get it done," Sanchez said. "So I'm really proud our guys for going through that, identifying things that we as coaches told them they need to work on, and diligently working at trying to be better in those specific areas. As long as we have that level and posture, we'll continue to journey forward, and we'll improve every single game."
Here are some key takeaways from the victory.
Rohde O Plays Part In Win
As mentioned above, five Hoos scored in double figures. Isaac McKneely led the way with 18 points that included a 3-4 shooting night from 3-point range. Blake Buchanan used a size advantage on the way to 11 points and 5 rebounds, while Jacob Cofie found similar success with 10 points and 5 rebounds. Dai Dai Ames added 10 points and 5 assists, the latter accounting for a third of the team's total in that category for the night. Elijah Saunders had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals too.
The fifth member of the double-digit scoring club, though, captured a lot of the attention in the postgame chatter. Andrew Rohde tallied 14 points on 6-9 shooting to go with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals. He had only 1 turnover. Several of those made baskets came on floaters from the free throw logo area.
That's the third time in the last four games that Rohde cracked the 10-point barrier on better than 60% shooting. He had 13 points on 5-8 shooting in the Villanova win and 11 points on 3-4 shooting in the St. John's loss. After an inauspicious start to the season where he had 1 point and 4 turnovers against Campbell before sitting out against Coppin State, that's a nice string of production for the junior. He hit double figures just three times all of last season and didn't crack 60% even once. In fact, he made 50% of his shots in just four games a year ago.
Sanchez made note of Rohde's offseason work and that floater after the game, but also pointed out the importance of his leadership on the floor.
"Andrew's offseason was a lot on his shooting, ballhandling, and some physical development things," Sanchez said. "That floater is part of his game. We want guys to be who they are. If it's a shot he can make and it's a shot that he really works on, then we'll allow him to shoot it. Andrew's doing a really good job communicating. He's got a lot of experience in an inexperienced group so his leadership on the floor is also a part of his development as a player as well."
Some Rough Spots
While the positives around low turnovers and Rohde's performance were there, the Hoos had some rough spots too. In terms of the areas of focus, the top concern coming out of the game will likely be rebounding. Manhattan outrebounded Virginia 31-28 in the game. Given that the Wahoos shot a high percentage (53.7%, 29-54), there were fewer defensive rebounds for the Jaspers but they still managed to win the category thanks to 10 offensive rebounds.
JUCO transfer Masiah Gilyard caused the most problems with 5 of his team's 10 offensive rebounds. The 6'3" guard averaged 7.9 rebounds at Blinn College in Texas so he clearly has a knack for it. Forward Will Sydnor (6'8") matched Gilyard with 7 total rebounds, but only 1 came on the offensive glass. From the Hoos' perspective, though, there's a blend of toughness and fundamental improvement to address on the boards. There have been some missed boxouts, loose balls, and lack of secured opportunities that need to be cleaned up.
The Jaspers also disrupted the flow a bit with some late-game pressure that continues to be a challenge in this season's early stages. Sanchez pointed out a long outlet as a risky read. There was also a little bit of hesitation getting into offense after the press so even if Virginia didn't want to attack it aggressively in order to work the clock with a late lead, there was a rhythm breaker factor in play. Plus, Rohde and McKneely look like it takes a lot of effort to fend off aggressive defenders in those pressure situations, which will raise questions of mental and physical stamina against teams that look more like a Tennessee or St. John's than a Manhattan.
Finally, Virginia also has not shown knockout power in two of the games at the JPJ. Campbell hung around in a similar manner in the season opener, trailing by as few as 5 points late in that 65-56 UVA win. Then Manhattan had the margin within 6 points in the final 4 minutes Tuesday night. In both cases the Hoos led by double digits earlier in the second half, including a 16-point edge at 47-31 in this game, but couldn't pull away to a more comfortable W.
Sanchez sees those as growth areas for a team with a lot of newcomers in the rotation.
"I talk a lot about shared experiences," Sanchez said. "And you have to go through these things in order to come out on the other side. You can't navigate this, you can't get better unless you travel the road. This tough road is required."
The Virginia Defense
One reason both Campbell and Manhattan closed the gap, while Tennessee and St. John's ran away with wins? UVA's defense is still developing. That's been costly in the 3-point category when looking at the four games mentioned here. Campbell knocked down 11 triples to open the year. Tennessee made 9 thanks to Chaz Lanier going 6-12 from downtown, while St. John's hit 10 3-pointers in the second Baha Mar matchup. Finally, the Jaspers had 11 in the most recent outing.
It's not hurting the Virginia defense as much in terms of percentages - opponents have shot 34.8% on 3's so far - but the volume of makes is adding up points quickly. The Pack-Line, like most sagging defenses, can be vulnerable to that in nature, but it also can be a sign of late rotations. Players are not getting in and out of help positions fast enough in some cases either. Plus, there have been some really poor closeouts by individuals trying to get to the perimeter in recovery too.
In other words, it's a work in progress and it may be a challenge all year long. Virginia doesn't have an instant shutdown defender on this roster currently and Ames is still learning the ropes as a potential on-ball heater within UVA's concepts.
"It's not a grade, it's an understanding and the guys that are on the floor, I do believe that they have a grasp of it," Sanchez said. "Now understanding it and executing it at a really high level are two different things, but that's definitely the first step in wanting to be really good defensively. You could see it down the stretch, we had a couple of breakdown that would have been costly against another opponent."
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