On a day of celebration for long-time coach Tony Bennett, the Virginia basketball team delivered a winning salute with a 75-61 victory Saturday at the John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers started quickly with a 9-0 flurry out of the gates and then took the lead for good with 6:04 to go in the first half in what turned out to be one of their better ACC performances of the season.
Combined with Monday's victory at Pittsburgh, UVA won back-to-back games for the first time in 2025 and for just the third time since Thanksgiving. That pushed the Hoos' record to 12-12 and 5-8 in the ACC. They now get a one week break to prepare for a rematch with Virginia Tech next Saturday in Blacksburg.
Before that trip, though, Saturday's box score shows a team that put a lot of things together on a big day at the JPJ. Virginia shot 49.2% from the field, dished out 21 assists to 8 turnovers, took the rebounding category 38-24, and generally kept GT off the free throw line with just 9 attempts.
"Well if we think back to the beginning of the season, the turnovers was our plague. It was hurting us," UVA interim coach Ron Sanchez said. "Then rebounding was the second part. Today, I think we only gave up 5 or 6 second chance rebounds. [Andrew] Rohde with 9 assists again and 0 turnovers. ... He's doing a really good job of taking care of the basketball. I'm really proud of his effort to do that and it's really helping the team in a big, big way."
Rohde indeed played a big role in the win with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, and 0 turnovers. He has 25 assists with 0 turnovers over his last three games. Isaac McKneely and Dai Dai Ames joined him in double figures with 20 and 18 points respectively, while Jacob Cofie, Blake Buchanan, and Anthony Robinson provided some inside balance with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Cofie had 9 and 6, Buchanan had 7 and 11, and Robinson had 6 and 1. Those six players made 28 of 52 shot attempts (53.8%) to fuel the aforementioned strong shooting day.
McKneely set the tone in the first half with 18 points on 7-10 shooting in the initial 20 minutes. He opened and closed with a scoring burst as a pair of 3-pointers helped build the early 9-0 advantage, while two more 3's and a layup in the final 5 minutes helped the Hoos get to the locker room with the lead. That was enough for the Yellow Jackets to selectively use some box-and-1 tactics in the second half. After intermission, though, it was Ames that got it going as he scored 14 points on 5-9 shooting and that helped keep any GT hopes of a comeback at bay.
On the other side of the ledger, Virginia didn't fully shut down Tech as the visitors managed 45.3% shooting with 12 layups or dunks. Nathan George led the way with 20 points and 5 assists, while Duncan Powell added 18 points with a variety of buckets. That wasn't enough to rally for a third straight win after the Jackets had knocked off Louisville and Clemson in its previous two outings.
Here are some takeaways from UVA's second straight ACC win.
Multiple Shooters
With Saturday's win in hand, the Hoos seem to be gaining a little bit of consistency. They have won three of their last four games and four of their last six. It adds up to a 4-4 record in ACC play since Jan. 15 with two losses coming down to the final possession at the JPJ against SMU and Virginia Tech.
"Winning builds confidence," Sanchez said. "It builds trust in what we're doing. It builds trust in each other. These things take time. The beauty about it is that what we're doing has been done here before."
During the stretch of four wins in six games, Virginia has cracked 73 points five times. That represents a turnaround from a team that has scored 62 or fewer points in 11 different games this season. A key in the recent games with more production has been the emergence of three outside shooting threats all at once.
In a 74-56 win against Boston College, McKneely (6-9), Rohde (2-2), and Elijah Saunders (2-2) all made multiple 3's. Against Miami in an 82-71 victory, McNeely (6-12) and Taine Murray (4-6) teamed up for 10 triples. In a 73-57 win at Pitt, Rohde (3-5), Ames (3-6), and McKneely (2-8) had multiple 3's, a feat they mirrored Saturday against Georgia Tech as Rohde (3-6), Ames (4-6), and McKneely (4-9) provided all 11 3's on the evening. Even in the two losses, Virginia had 18 3-pointers combined against Notre Dame and VT.
The outside shooting has been part of the formula for the team this season. The Cavaliers have made six or more 3-pointers in 22 games. They are shooting 37.6% from downtown this season, good enough for 29th nationally. They own a 3-point rate, the percentage of the total shots that come from behind the arc, of 42.8% (91st).
Dai Dai Ames Finding A Groove
One player contributing to that shooting success lately has been Ames, who has knocked down 10 of his last 20 3-point attempts. That has helped him create his best stretch yet as a Hoo.
Against Virginia Tech, Pitt, and Georgia Tech, Ames has hit double figures. He had 11 points against VT and then exploded for a career-high 27 against the Panthers. His 18 points against the Jackets are the second most he has scored in a college game. This marked the first time he has put together three straight outings with 10+ points at Virginia and just the second time in his career. The sophomore first did it with Kansas State way back in November of 2023, but just one of those games came against a major conference team.
What helped Ames turn the corner lately?
"I wish I was in Dai Dai's head to answer that for you," Sanchez said with a smile. "I don't know what's clicked for him, but I do see him playing with confidence, I do see him finding his spots."
Ames came into college as a scorer. He poured in 1,500 career points in high school, which included a school-record 65-point game and an average of 21.4 points per game as a senior. He said conversations with his family have helped him stay confident and be aggressive on the floor.
More Offensive Rebounds
The outside shooting has not been the only factor of late. The Cavaliers have also started to get more productive even when they miss shots. That's come from offensive rebounding more successfully.
Over the last four games, Virginia has secured 8+ offensive rebounds three times and all three came in wins. At Miami and Pittsburgh, UVA had 9 an 8 O-Boards. Back at home on Saturday, the Hoos pulled down 13 offensive rebounds that led 16 second chance points. Prior to this four-game stretch, they had 8 or more offensive rebounds just five times in the previous 20 games.
The increased work on the glass is partially a byproduct of bigger lineups on the floor. For most of the recent games, Virginia has had two of Cofie, Buchanan, and Robinson on the floor together most of the time. That's three players listed at either 6'10" or 6'11" on the roster. Earlier in the season, that did not happen as often with Elijah Saunders (6'8") and TJ Power (6'9") getting some of the frontcourt minutes as more hybrid wing-post options. In recent games, though, Saunders has not been available due to injury and Power has dropped out of the rotation. While Saunders did return for 11 minutes of spot duty on Saturday, the bulk of time still went to the other trio.
Individually against Georgia Tech, Buchanan ripped down 11 rebounds with it split 5-6 between offense and defense. He's had four games with 6+ boards since Jan. 15. Cofie tallied 6 rebounds against GT, the fifth time in the last six games he's had at least 6 boards. He has 13 such games this season. While Robinson had just 1 rebound Saturday, he's posted 4+ rebounds in four of his last seven games.
Rohde said the coaches have challenged the bigs to, well, be big on the backboards.
"Coach is challenging them every game to get more rebounds and get as many rebounds as they can," Rohde said. "We're just trying to steady improve. We're working on that every day in practice and I think a lot of it is on us as guards to come help them out a little bit because you know they have their hands full with rebounding so we've got to do our best to help the bigs out."
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!