After the contest Wednesday night at the John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia interim coach Ron Sanchez likened basketball games to boxing matches. He meant the back and forth nature of it. Take a few punches. Land a few. Round after round.
"We reference our time on the court and in games to boxing matches," Sanchez said. "Some boxing matches require 12 rounds and you can't choose to fight 11 because if you do, you get knocked out. Today, Memphis made their run and tried to knock us out and we didn't, we kept fighting. That's that competitive endurance that we're talking about."
Whether by knockout, technical knockout, the score card, or another measure, though, the Virginia basketball team's struggles in marquee fights this season continued against Memphis. The Tigers eventually edged the Hoos 64-62, dropping UVA to 1-5 in the team's most recognizable matchups this season. The Villanova win remains the only break-through so far.
Most have followed a similar pattern. Virginia plays competitively in the first half and hangs around for a portion of the game, but eventually fades to the finish line. The Memphis game didn't play out quite that way, but UVA did have more trouble in the second half and couldn't quite find enough consistency to win. In this case, the Hoos led by 9 at halftime, 30-21, only to see the Tigers roll to 43 points after intermission and rally to victory. A combination of early fouls in the second half, untimely turnovers against pressure, and missed opportunities fueled that half-to-half flip.
The Cavaliers, as a result, were left to evaluate if their latest non-conference test will help this team improve and try to make a push in ACC play. Wednesday's two-point final margin of defeat was the closest of the five losses in these marquee matchups so the Hoos looked for progress within the loss.
"It's been a tough stretch with some super talented teams that we played. I think we're getting better and I think tonight it really showed," UVA senior Taine Murray said. "Just trying to go the whole game. I think in some of the other games, we've had good first halves and it kind of got away on us. I think it's really preparing us well and I think it showed our improvement tonight."
Here are some takeaways from the Wahoos' loss to the Tigers.
Press Play, Turnovers
Memphis turned up the defensive heat against Virginia, particularly in the second half. That strategy came with a combination of fullcourt presses regularly and tight halfcourt defense. The press caused problems for the Hoos in a few ways: turnovers, disrupted any flow the offense had in the second half, and contributed to a poor shooting night. Forward Elijah Saunders said the press helped the Tigers set the tone.
"Just their physicality. They kind of set the tone with how the game was going to be called on their end with their physicality, with the press," Saunders said. "We've just got to get better with having a guy in the middle, having better passing. We work on sureness every day, but just keep improving on those aspects."
In the end, the Cavaliers shot 39.6% (21-53) for the game. That's a tough number to overcome, but the news gets worse if you break it down further. For the most rewarding shots on the floor, those at the rim and 3-pointers, the hosts shot 10-21 on layups and dunks (47.6%) in addition to 6-19 (31.6%) from behind the arc.
The ongoing pressure impacted the guards the most. Dai Dai Ames (2-11), Isaac McKneely (2-7), Andrew Rohde (2-3), and Ishan Sharma (0-2) all had issues with getting clean looks or with getting into scoring spots. Ames did not have a basket in the first half, while McKneely had only one in each half.
Beyond the scoring, turnovers continued to be a challenge too. Virginia ended up with only 11 turnovers officially, but the give-aways were costly in what turned out to be 62-possession game. That's a 17.7% turnover rate. Rohde had the most with 5 turnovers and Sanchez ultimately had to sit him as a result.
Long story short: bad shooting and high turnovers make it hard to score and stay competitive.
Murray's Strong Showing
Virginia hung in the game thanks to the play of Saunders and Murray. Saunders led UVA with 15 points, which included a 3-4 shooting night from 3-point range. He added 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Murray, meanwhile, added 14 points on 5-9 shooting to go with 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.
Of those two stat lines, Murray's is the more surprising. Saunders, after all, is a regular starter and a focal point of the offense, while Murray is a senior contributor but one who mostly plays in a support role. This marks his first double-digit scoring game of the season and he matched his career high with 14 points.
The highlight of the night for Murray may have been a baseline drive in the first half where he rose to the rim and threw down a dunk. With family visiting for the holidays from New Zealand, that's likely to be a memorable moment from his career in Charlottesville.
"I'm really proud of Taine Murray today," Sanchez said. "His effort was fantastic. He played with an unbelievable amount of passion on both ends. I'm really happy for him. ... I'm really happy for Taine. He just played hard. He wanted to be the hardest playing guy out there and the game rewards hard playing. I think today he was rewarded by doing that."
No Fire Blanket
For years, Virginia line-ups have featured a dynamic defender. Think of names like Akil Mitchell, Malcolm Brogdon, De'Andre Hunter, Braxton Key, or most recently Reece Beekman as examples. A player that could slow down an opponent's hot hand or challenge almost any top scorer. Someone that you could throw into a matchup and often put out a scoring fire.
This UVA roster doesn't have a player like that on the roster. It's one spot where Beekman is sorely missed. He could bother and challenge the other team's best perimeter player night after night. There's no eraser roaming around like Ryan Dunn either. Without a player of that caliber defensively or a rim protector nearby, it's up to the team scheme to cover up for it. The Hoos haven't necessarily been horrible statistically in that regard, ranking inside the top 100 at 0.969 points per possession allowed entering Wednesday's game, but that's a far cry from the vintage Virginia defenses of previous years.
And Memphis guard PJ Haggerty exposed that vulnerability to help carry his team to victory. He poured in 27 points on 8-15 shooting overall and 1-3 shooting from 3-point range with 5 assists. The one triple was a critical one, though. Late in the shot clock with 2:28 left in the game and his team leading just 57-53, Haggerty rose up and knocked down that big shot. Saunders answered on the other end with a 3 of his own for UVA, but it wasn't enough. Haggerty also made 10 of 11 free throws in the game as he repeatedly visited the charity stripe.
Haggerty also jumpstarted the comeback for his team. With Memphis down 32-21 after a Jacob Cofie bucket for the Hoos early in the second half, Haggerty ripped off 6 points in a row. That included back-to-back trips to the free throw line and a layup. He had another layup in the first 5 minutes of the half too. Later, he'd add 2 layups and 6 more free throws.
It's the fifth time an opposing player has eclipsed 20 points this season. Tennessee's Chaz Lanier (26), Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. (27), SMU's Kario Oquendo (21), and Villanova's Eric Dixon (20) all got there along with Haggerty. Plus, St. John's RJ Luis Jr. just missed that number with 18. Haggerty matched Clayton as the opponent with the highest point total against UVA so far this year.
"He's obviously really talented, especially when their offense kind of spreads it out and lets him go to work," Murray said. "His ability to obviously shoot and then put the ball on the floor makes him hard to guard. I think guys did a good job on him, but obviously tough when he gets going like that."
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