Virginia was searching for Rust-Oleum. It's fans were looking for Rolaids. That's the kind of first half the Hoos were dealing with Saturday night.
After jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead, the Cavaliers stumbled into some quicksand for the next 12 minutes. They scored just 4 points during that span and had two separate 5-minute scoring droughts in the process. They found themselves in a 19-11 hole as a result. Frustration was bubbling, fans were mumbling, and an old rival was leading.
Fortunately for the Wahoos, they rumbled to life late in the first half to surge into the lead and then slowly pulled away to an 80-72 win against Maryland at the John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia coach Ryan Odom said the way out of the post-exam break struggles was to look to each other not inward.
"I told the guys, the lid's going to come off the basket if you lean into one another," Odom said. "If you don't lean into one another and you don't pass the ball and you don't move your body and you don't have a positive attitude - and some of those, it's hard. When you're a basketball player and you miss a shot that you think you should make, that can drag you down and hurt your confidence. And so ultimately, how do you get your confidence back? You get it through your teammates and you get it through your coaches. And certainly at that moment, our job was to keep our guys cool but competitive. We needed to compete harder. I think Maryland was taking it to us early in that game, their physicality and pressure defense in the halfcourt was bothering us ... and I do think they leaned on one another to get out of the rut they were in."
On the court, the leaning in factor appeared in a familiar way. The Hoos dished out 18 assists on 30 made baskets, a season-long trend on the way to a 10-1 record to date. Dallin Hall and Chance Mallory led the way with 6 assists each.
That part of this team's style showed up to help break out of the first-half funk. Over the final 3:42, UVA went on a 13-0 run to surpass the 11 points scored in the first 16 minutes when there were more turnovers than made baskets at one point. Among those 13 points, Devin Tillis made a layup and Johann Grünloh got a dunk, both on Mallory assists. The hosts led 24-19 at the break.
Still, the game see-sawed during the early moments of the second half with the Terrapins eventually rising to a 35-33 lead with 14:43 to go. From there, Virginia ripped off a 15-2 run to climb ahead 48-37 and the visitors could never quite catch up again. During that key burst, Hall, Mallory, Tillis, Jacari White, and Ugonna Onyenso each logged at least 1 assist.
Ultimately, Odom was pleased with how his team stuck together and figured out a way to get to the winner's circle.
"Yeah, just some resiliency," Odom said. "It's great to be in those moments and certainly we were in those moments in the first half and the second half and had to answer. Teams that want to compete at the highest level, you have to answer."
Here are three takeaways from Virginia's win against Maryland on Saturday.
Captain America's Big Night
UVA had five players post at least 7 points in the victory with Jacari White (15), Devin Tillis (10), Johann Grünloh (8), and Ugonna Onyenso (7) all on that list. No one made as big of a splash as Dallin Hall, though. The senior guard poured in a season-high 20 points with 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals as well.
Hall got his 20 on 8-8 shooting, which included a 3-pointer, and he did most of the damage there in the second half. He dropped 18 points after intermission, consistently picking apart Maryland's pick-and-roll defense in the process. Hall gave a shoutout to Grünloh for setting many of those screens, smiling while saying those should count as an assist.
In the decisive stretch that gave Virginia the lead for good, Hall scored a layup and delivered 2 assists. Saturday night's win marked the fourth game this season Hall scored in double figures, but his continued impact around his teammates is what Odom pointed to after the game.
"Dallin's huge," Odom said. "Our guys call him Cap and he's steady for us. He's been in some big moments over the course of his career. He's determined to be a leader for this team. I texted him last night. His voice, I'm hearing it more and more and more with the guys, in a more assertive way, which is not necessarily natural for him. We really need that. I think our guys respond to him they respect him so much."
Hall has produced eight games this year with 3+ assists so that part of his role has been consistent. The Cavaliers' only loss this season came in Hall's only no assist outing, a disappointing game against Butler when he was in foul trouble throughout and played only 12 minutes. He's also regularly shifting guys into spots on the floor, providing words of direction, or simply giving encouragement.
The last part there actually is part of what endeared him to his teammates. UVA brought in 12 new players this offseason as the coaching staff changed and the Hoos were going through summer workouts while getting to know one another. During a particular running drill, Hall kept giving out supportive words to teammates as they passed each other on the floor.
That led to a nickname that stuck. Hall's teammates call him Captain America based on the scene where he says 'on your left' during The Winter Soldier.
"He's everything for us," Tillis said. "He's our captain. We call him Captain America. He's ultimately our leader and when he's scoring 19, 20 points, whatever he had, it just fuels the fire even more. To have a guy like that at the head of the snake, to have a game like that, it's really remarkable and it speaks to the work that he's put in throughout the year."
As for the nickname, Hall quickly smiled and spread the love back to his teammates.
"That would make everyone else the Avengers so that's [fun]," Hall said.
A Dunk That Shook The Building
Dallin Hall's embrace of his teammates was there during one of the game's biggest moments Saturday. Hall passed the ball ahead for an eventual assist, but this wasn't just any assist.
Jacari White took the pass and attacked the rim with purpose. He rose up, pulled the ball back with one hand, and then slammed it home with authority despite a challenge from Maryland's Solomon Washington.
The reaction was immediate and ear-splitting as the JPJ erupted. It had such force that Voice of the Cavaliers John Freeman made the call that he detonated on a turtle. It brought back memories of other high-rising hammers from Mustapha Farrakhan to De'Andre Hunter to Ryan Dunn to any number of other crowd pleasers. On the floor, White sat up and screamed out himself while his teammates celebrated around him. That included Devin Tillis grabbing his head like an emoji and Hall yelling with White as he helped him up.
That jam and traditional 3-point play after the made free throw gave UVA a 46-37 lead and plenty of momentum.
"You saw how we jumped on him after that dunk," Tillis said. "I mean it has a huge affect when you have players that can make plays like that. I've never been on a team where a player can go up and dunk [like that]. That's probably why my reaction was so crazy, but when you have players that can make plays like that, it's huge because you get the crowd into it and then it helps us get our momentum going."
Tillis scored on the next possession to finish off the critical 15-2 run. White's contributions were all over that run. He had an assist to start it, two 3-pointers, and that crazy dunk all within that surge.
Paint Attack
Jacari White's dunk was only part of the story in the paint. Virginia ended up with a massive advantage in that category, outscoring Maryland 44-12.
Coach Odom said that the Terps' defensive scheme played into that stat. The visitors, as is common for a Buzz Williams coached team, put pressure on the dribbler throughout the game and really closed out hard on shooters. That makes sense given that the Hoos' 3-point rate this season has been one of the big storylines with shooters all over the roster.
"They were flying at us and we only took 9 3's in the first half," Odom said. "Everybody, they're catching the ball and then all of a sudden there's a guy on them and when you're playing against a defense like that, you have to play with poise. Shot fakes and ball fakes and things like that."
As a result, Virginia routinely looked for chances to break down that strategy. Players were reminding each other on the floor to attack the paint in conversations, Devin Tillis said. Sam Lewis scored a big bucket in the first half that way. A called paint touch for Ugonna Onyenso in the second half produced a bucket as another example. That one came during the critical second half surge, as did a Dallin Hall layup.
Tillis scored in the paint during both key runs. Late in the first frame, he made short shot to start the half-ending 13-0 run and had another layup in there as well. A layup in the second half closed off the important 15-2 run.
"My mindset was let's get in the paint and let's make things happen in the paint," Tillis said. "That's what I did to spark something going. ... I think we dominated in paint points tonight. I think that was really the message. Try to get away from shooting the 3 a little bit and attack them on the paint the whole game."
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