Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: UVA Basketball Holds on Late to Down Virginia Tech

After a two-week turnaround, the Virginia Cavaliers avenged their defeat to the Virginia Tech Hokies, winning in Cassell Coliseum 73-70.
Val Prochaska|
Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

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Virginia Cavaliers

It was a nail-biter two weeks ago when Virginia fell to Tech at the JPJ.  After squandering a first-half 15-point lead, this game was a nail-biter too.  Two points separates Virginia’s two flagship universities on the season, but it is Virginia that is building the momentum.

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  Virginia is building some momentum with three-straight wins and victories in six of the last eight games.  The Cavaliers are finally growing up and playing Virginia basketball.  Instead of writing columns about Virginia possibly missing out on the ACC Tournament, we’re writing columns about interim head coach Ron Sanchez possibly keeping the job.  That’s progress, and all I can ask of any young team.

Plus

Exhibit A:  Anthony Robinson.  He followed the old-school Tony Bennett method, arriving on Grounds and immediately redshirting.  He started slowly this year, getting lost in the minutes shuffle that also included TJ Power and Elijah Saunders.  But he’s getting comfortable, averaging 13 minutes per game the last seven games.  In ACC play, he’s been averaging 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 60% from the charity stripe.  Solid rookie minutes.  But he’s got good hands, a grown man’s body, and he’s been bringing the energy off the bench.  Today was the best game of his young career as he scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, three off the offensive glass.  He’s not been a good free-throw shooter, but he looked extremely confident stroking 7 of 8 from the line in this game.

Minus

This is what a bad game from Andrew Rohde looks like:  seven points on 1/3 shooting, four rebounds, nine assists and two turnovers.  But he was assessed a technical at the end of the first half as both teams were jawing heading into the locker rooms.  He picked up a third foul thirty seconds into the second half and had to go to the bench.  He picked up a fourth as a blatant frustration foul when his pocket was picked and Tech’s Ben Hammond scored on the break.  Rohde would only play eight minutes in the second half and the Virginia offense completely stagnated.  Virginia made only eight buckets in the second half and that’s largely attributable to Rohde’s absence.

Plus

Rohde last made a turnover in the first minute of the Notre Dame game.  He then reeled off 141 consecutive error-free minutes before he tossed a pass to a napping Isaac McKneely.  Over the last 13 games, Andrew has dished out 76 assists against just 10 turnovers.  It took Rohde a season and a half to “click” at Virginia, but this is the best stretch of point guard play that U-Hall/JPJ has ever seen.

Plus

Isaac McKneely had a team-high 22 points, the fourth time in seven games that he’s breached the 20-barrier.  Not coincidentally, Virginia has scored 70+ points in six of those games.  McKneely is one of the best three-point shooters in the nation, and this team can win games when he gets hot.  On the day, Isaac shot 6/14 from deep, or right at his season average of 42%.  I mentioned that the Hoos only made eight baskets in the second half; McKneely accounted for five by himself.

Plus

End of the first half, Virginia looked like it had gone in a collective funk following Rohde’s first TO in three games.  A 34-19 lead had dwindled to just four points when Virginia got the ball back with 19 seconds remaining.  Sanchez called timeout to draw up the final play and it cannot be scripted any better:

Tony Bennett would have let the kids play and I would be left screaming at the TV.  There is too much momentum to be won hitting a shot like this just before the half.  In a game decided by just three points, this was the difference.  Virginia had been the better team for 16 minutes.  Going into the half “only” ahead by four points could have been a difference maker.

Plus

The bench crew showed up.  Robinson is the big story, obviously, but Taine Murray and Ishan Sharma filled their roles admirably, having a +/- of 6 and 7 respectively.  Murray had a nice drive to the basket (one of only three buckets scored by someone other than McKneely in the second half) after a Brandon Rechsteiner three got the deficit down to three.  Murray also grabbed the game-sealing defensive rebound as time expired. Sharma, for his part, hit a lovely three as Virginia was building that 15-point lead, and had a steal, rebound, and an assist in just nine minutes. 

Read More: Five Takeaways

Plus

Virginia definitely eked out a win in this one.  ESPN surveyed two dozen players two years ago about which is the hardest venue to play and Cassell tied for first along with the Crazies in Cameron.  A win here, regardless of how disdainful Cavalier Nation wants to be of Tech, is a good thing.  Had the Hokies won, they would have been celebrating the outrageous shooting of Jaydon Young:

This was his second such shot – as the shot clock was sounding following a fine defensive stand by the Cavs – after going 0/5 in the first half.  Tech came to play.  Despite Anthony Robinson and Isaac McKneely’s heroics, despite seven combined points from Jayden Schutt and Mylyjael Poteat, this was a one-possession game.  It was a true rivalry game, as they so often are.  Time to break out the Good Ol’ Song.

Next Up: Virginia hosts #3 Duke on Monday, February 17th.Gametime is 8:00pm and the game is on ESPN.

More Virginia Basketball News

Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 73-70 Victory Over Virginia Tech


UVA Basketball: How to Rewatch Tony Bennett's Halftime Ceremony

The Brilliant Numbers Behind Andrew Rohde's Recent Point Guard Play

Coaching Carousel: Who Will Virginia Battle for Top Coaching Candidates?

Reevaluating Potential Virginia Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

What's Going on With Christian Bliss? Ron Sanchez Finally Gives an Answer

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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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