The Plus/Minus: UVA Basketball Surrenders to Notre Dame

The Pack Line, as Virginia fans once knew it, no longer exists. Notre Dame shredded the Virginia D en route to a 74-59 win.

Aaron Snyder

This should have been a winnable game.  Notre Dame on the season only had ACC wins against Boston College and Syracuse.  A win would have given Virginia a third ACC win and some breathing space in the race to secure an ACC Tournament berth.  Unfortunately, only one team showed up…

Minus

Notre Dame shot 48% from the field and 52% (12 for 23) from deep. Almost every one of those 23 triples was a wide-open shot. Notre Dame was able to get into the paint almost at will, and as the defense collapsed to help the on-ball defender, shooters were wide open at the perimeter. The most reliable three-point shot in basketball, other than the corner 3, is the drive and kick-out. If a team gets 10-12 of those a game, it is much more likely that they’ll convert at a 52% clip.

Positive

Isaac McKneely, coming off a great night vs Boston College, was scorching from the opening tip.  iMac made his first four threes, and a nifty drive to the rim for good measure.  By the 5:50 mark in the first half, McKneely had scored 14 of Virginia’s first 18 points and single-handedly erased an early 14-3 deficit.  Commentator Dan Bonner marveled twice that “Notre Dame really ought to try guarding that guy [McKneely.]”

Minus

McKneely didn’t score again.  He only took four shots in the second half.  Unfortunately for Virginia, McKneely’s hot start to the game was largely negated by Markus Burton’s equally hot start: the team’s first nine points and 12 of Notre Dame’s first 31 points.  It’s only been two games for the sophomore, but Burton has lit up Virginia.  Last year he was the only point guard to get the better of Reece Beekman as he scored 15 points on 6/10 shooting (2/3 from deep.)  On this night, Burton had a game-high 21 points and was 4/6 from deep.

Plus

Virginia never really gave up.  Though they could have.  The Cavaliers had a pair of 7-0 runs and a 10-0 run.  The closed the game having made five of their last seven shots.

Minus

And they still lost by 15.  The Hoos had a 3+ minute scoring drought in the first half and a 6+ minute scoring drought in the second half.  For the season, Virginia has now had 19 separate scoring droughts of longer than 3:30.  That’s always been an issue in the Bennett era, but when combined with a defense that allows 52% completion on threes, it’s fatal.

Minus

Most soccer leagues across the globe feature multiple divisions, and every year the bottom two or three teams get relegated to a lower division.  Trying to stay “up” can make the games between bottom feeders more interesting, while the collapse of some teams can be especially telling.  The ACC has 18 teams; only 15 will go the ACC Tournament while the remaining three will be relegated to season-ending ignominy.  Virginia was in perfect position to win at home against a Notre Dame team that last won a game away from South Bend last February 21st.  Instead they got blown out.  The final score is deceiving.  With 8 minutes remaining, Notre Dame opened up a 63-36 lead.

I think this picture says it all:

This is a coaching staff with no answers. / ESPN

Plus

And yet Virginia sits 15th in the ACC.  Boston College (1 win) and NC State (2 wins) both lost today, and Virginia owns the tiebreaker with both of them.  So there is hope.  If hoping that Virginia is not bad enough to miss out on the tournament is your bag.

Plus

Jacob Cofie put in quite the shift in the second half.  He scored 15 of his team-high 17 points on 6/9 shooting, made his one three pointer and was 2/2 from the line.  All of his points in the paint were contested, and since I need a glimmer of good news, I’m going to view his scoring as evidence of his promise and not that he was just fortunate.

Read More: Aidan's Takeaways

Minus

Looking at the box score, one could be excused for thinking that this should have been a prototypical Virginia game.  Virginia only had six turnovers and they allowed Notre Dame just five fast break points.  While they were pounded on the boards and surrendered 10 offensive rebounds, the Irish only scored seven second-chance points.  Virginia shot 43% from beyond the arc.  The pace was a glacial 57 possessions. And still the Cavaliers lost by 15.   

There’s just no consistency on this team.  Andrew Rohde and Blake Buchanan, who each have had monster games in the past 10 days, combined to score five points on 2/11 shooting and pull down seven rebounds and dish out three assists.  In 49 combined minutes.

Next Up:  Virginia travels to Miami on Wednesday, January 29th to play the very worst team in the ACC, the winless Hurricanes.  Gametime is 7:00pm and the game is on ESPN2. 

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