Cavaliers Now

The Cupcake Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Dispatches Howard

Sa’Myah Smith and the Cavaliers bullied Howard in the paint en route to a comfortable 76 – 50 win.
Val Prochaska|
Sa'Myah Smith
Sa'Myah Smith | Virginia Athletics

Plus

A win is a win is a win, but dang.  A burst of ACC action over the weekend has this season looking up, but here we are, back to playing cupcakes.  My motto:  I watch so you don’t have to.  While Howard is a feisty team, and likely to go the NCAA tournament come March because they are the class of the MEAC, the gulf between the two teams is evident from this stat:  Howard scored 50 points on the night; the Cavaliers scored 54 points in the paint.  This game was over as soon as it started.

Plus

There is only one reason for tonight’s game, and the game after exam break against Winthrop and that is to get Sa’Myah Smith game-fit and feeling comfortable in the starting lineup.  Mission accomplished.  In her second game back, Smith had a game-high 18 points (on 8/12 shooting) and she grabbed eight rebounds in 31 minutes.  Smith personally put this game to bed in the first quarter as she scored 12 points on perfect 5/5 shooting (including one trey.)  Smith scored on the opening tip-off, Smith had a two-minute burst where she:

  • Converted the and-1 by getting out in front of a Romy Levy fast-break,

·       Got out in front of a second fast break, this time from Kymora Johnson,

·       Tied up a ball for held-ball,

·       Made a three-pointer, and

·       Grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback.

This is a very different team with Smith.

Plus

Virginia, the 3rd leading shot blocking team in the nation, had 10 blocks.  And it’s not just the size from Tabitha Amanze, Caitlin Weimar and Adeang Ring.  Gabby White had three (check the game highlights below, at the 1:33 mark for the highlight of the game,) Romy Levy had a pair and Johnson had one.  The blocks are coming from everywhere.

Minus

I don’t think coach Agugua-Hamilton knows how Caitlin Weimar fits into the rotation yet.  Weimar started last game, but then only got scrubs’ minutes today.  She did score four points and grab two boards in her six minutes on the court.

Plus

Virginia’s ball movement continues to be excellent.  Virginia had 24 assists on 34 made baskets. 

Plus

Gabby White, just a freshman mind you, is a fully grown woman.  She has perfect body control and doesn’t get sped up when she attacks the rim.  Her on-court maturity screams coach’s kid, which she is.

Minus

The Hoos shot 5/18 from deep and are now at 32% for this season.  Now, this is a slight improvement from last year’s 30.8% conversion rate.  Given that three-point shooting seems down this year (the median three point percentage this year is 30.3% while last year the median rate was 31.1%) this “slight improvement” looks a lot better.  But 32% isn’t going to scare anyone in the ACC.

Minus

Kymora Johnson is definitely looking to establish herself as a facilitator first this year.  And she leads the ACC in assists at 5.9/game.  But she is still the biggest scorer on this team and she’s had more than a couple of really poor shooting nights, and this was one of them.  Johnson was 3/15 from the field and 2/7 from beyond the arc.  Her free throw attempts are down this season by about a third.  I am sure coach Mox is as concerned as I am.

Plus

Romi Levy slotted in, as anticipated with the return of Smith, at the three.  Her high-low feeds into the post are one of Virginia’s strengths this season.  Levy had seven assists as part of a 9-point, 7-rebound game.  Levy already has a triple-double this season.  I am pretty sure she can do it again.

Next Up: It is exam break.  It’s always fun to see which schools will play this next week, in direct contravention of the notion of the student-athlete, but Virginia won’t be one of them.  Virginia will face Winthrop on Saturday, December 20th at 12 noon.  The game will be on ACC Network Extra.

Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for nine years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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