The Virginia basketball team has travelled to the far reaches of the ACC this season with games in Dallas, California, and then Miami for its latest test. Entering the contest with the Hurricanes, those trips had resulted in plenty of air miles, but no wins. The Hoos finally changed that pattern with an 82-71 victory on Wednesday night.
It marked the first true road win for the team this season. The Cavaliers had suffered double-digit losses on all of their previous trips so they were happy to break through at Miami.
"They came together at the right time," Virginia interim coach Ron Sanchez said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "They could have fractured. [Miami] cut the lead to 3, they made their run, but we got the stops when we needed to. We shared the ball well."
UVA (10-11, 3-7 ACC) put together a pair of strong offensive halves to get that win. The Hoos tallied 40 points before halftime and 42 points after to secure their highest scoring output of the season. Three players did the heavy lifting with Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, and Blake Buchanan combining for 62 of those points. McKneely led the way with 26, while Murray and Buchanan provided 20 and 16 respectively. Virginia logged assists on 20 of 28 shots in the game.
That offset another strong showing from Miami guard Matthew Cleveland as he ripped off his seventh game with at least 20 points in ACC play. He scored 27 points, giving him a four-game string of 31, 23, 30, and 27 against conference foes. Brandon Johnson was the only other Hurricane in double digits with 13.
Those numbers indicate an obvious tilt to offense in this game as both defenses struggled to get stops consistently. The Cavaliers finished at 54.9% shooting for the game and made 15 of 20 free throws too. They landed at 1.4 points per possession. Miami, meanwhile, shot 51.0% for the game and also made 15 of 20 free throws. The Hurricanes produced 1.2 points per possession.
Here are some more takeaways from a road win for the Wahoos.
Scorching 3's
Part of the big offensive night came courtesy of red hot shooting from beyond the arc. UVA hit 11 of 24 3-pointers for a 45.8% success rate in the game. That included 6-15 (40.0%) in the first half and 5-9 (55.6%) in the second half. This marked the 19th game this season where Virginia has made at least 6 3's.
McKneely and Murray, in particular, had a groove going downtown.
McKneely fired off 12 3-point attempts and canned 6 on the way to a season-high 26 points. Maybe there's something about Florida for the junior? That was just shy of his career best scoring night when he had 29 at Florida State last season. He did match his career high of 6 3-pointers in a single game. He has 14 games this season with multiple 3-pointers made. He now has scored 20+ four times this season and twice in the last three games (Villanova, Stanford, Boston College, Miami).
The West Virginia native made two of those 3's at key moments in the second half with Miami trying to rally. At 7:48, the Canes had climbed to within 4 points at 59-55 when McKneely nailed a long-range jumper to turn the momentum. At 4:26, he did it again with a triple shortly after Miami cut the deficit back to 4 at 64-60. He added a jumper at the elbow, another 3, and 2 free throws in the game's final four minutes too to make sure UVA got to the winner's circle.
"For I-Mac to step up and make those shots, those were big for us," Sanchez said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network.
Murray had a pair of similar 3-pointers earlier in the half. The first came at 16:45 to answer a Miami bucket and keep an 11-point halftime lead intact for the moment. Later at 11:28, the Hurricanes closed to 50-46 on the scoreboard but Murray knocked down a 3 to keep them at arm's length. He also scored on a drive at 9:25 when Miami was within 5.
For the game, Murray made 4 of 6 3-pointers on the way to 20 points. That included 2-2 shooting on 3's in the second half. That marked just his third career double-digit scoring game and set a new career high in the process. Murray also dished out a career best 7 assists.
"I'm so happy for Taine his last time in South Beach, for him to play such a big game," Sanchez said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "I'm just thrilled for him. He waited his turn and opportunity came today and he answered the call."
Blake's Birthday Bash
With that duo dealing on the outside, Buchanan provided a lot of the balance on the inside. The sophomore recorded 16 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting at the free throw line. It's the fourth time in five games that Buchanan scored at least 7 points.
The Idaho native also finished with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and a blocked shot. It's the fifth time in seven games that Buchanan grabbed at least 5 rebounds and the sixth straight game with at least 1 block. He's had 2+ assists in nine games this season.
Like McKneely and Murray, he made some key plays in the second half. Buchanan snared an offensive rebound that led to Murray's first 3 in the second half. He also had the assist on Murray's other key triple. He scored on his own offensive rebound at the 6:17 mark that kept the lead at 8 points too.
It turned out to be a good birthday for Buchanan thanks to that production as the Hoos notched the road win.
"I'm so proud of Blake Buchanan. Today's his birthday," Sanchez said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "He scored 16 points and I think he could have scored a few more and finished a few more, but really happy for him that he played that well."
Shorter Bench
The Cavaliers played without Elijah Saunders and Andrew Rohde, who both sat out with injuries. Saunders entered the game averaging 28.7 minutes while scoring 11.8 points per game with 5.5 rebounds. Rohde averaged 29.4 minutes, 8.7 points, and 3.6 assists. That alone is a lot of minutes to fill in their absence, but Ishan Sharma still didn't feel well after missing Saturday's Notre Dame game even though he played 19 minutes. He had 4 points.
That meant the Hoos had to go with a shorter bench in Miami. McKneely (37), Murray (36), and Buchanan (33) all provided 30+ minutes, while Dai Dai Ames (26) and Jacob Cofie (25) landed in the mid 20's. Ames had 5 points and 3 assists, while Cofie chipped in 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.
The group rose to the occasion and reached a season high with the 82 points. Did the shorter rotation help? It's possible because UVA had at least two bigs and at least two shooters on the floor most of the time. Plus, the rotation choices may have been much clearer given the circumstances. Obviously, facing a 4-17 Miami team helped as the hosts entered the game allowing 1.15 points per possession and 39.3% 3-point shooting, both of which in the bottom 20 nationally. The Hurricanes fell to 0-10 in the ACC with the loss.
"It's awesome," Murray said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. "We were obviously down our men with Elijah and Rohde being out so it's awesome that we could come together and get a win. I'm so proud of the guys. Yeah, awesome. We've been through ups and downs so I think we're cherishing these moments."
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