Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Coasts by Pittsburgh

Chance Mallory shone early and the shooters heated up late as the Cavaliers cruised by the Panthers 67 – 47.
Val Prochaska|
Virginia Cavaliers guard Chance Mallory (2) passes the ball in the second half against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Virginia Cavaliers guard Chance Mallory (2) passes the ball in the second half against the Pittsburgh Panthers. | Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  After a harder-than-expected week on the road – double overtime win in South Bend and a come-from-behind win at Beacon Hill – facing Pitt at home will cure a lot of ills.  This is a much-diminished Pitt team missing two starters and employing one of the shorter lineups in the ACC:  Cameron Corhen stands 6’ 10” with no other rotation player taller than 6’ 6”.  Beyond the size of their frontcourt, Virginia can also throw in 6’ 7” Devin Tillis and Sam Lewis.  Across the lineup, Virginia was taller at every spot on the floor.  Well, except when Chance Mallory was out there.

Plus

Mallory’s size, or lack thereof, almost doesn’t matter on the court.  He’s tougher than anyone else and he plays harder.  Mallory finished with 11 points, three assists, four steals and the highlight play of the game:

No, wait. That's wrong. This was the game's highlight:

This is an old Virginia team:  Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall, Devin Tillis, and Jacari White are all fifth-year seniors, Thijs De Ridder and Johan Grunloh are listed as freshmen, but are 23 and 21 years old respectively.  And Mallory has fit in seamlessly since the first days of this season.

Minus

Two weeks ago Mallory was the second-best free throw shooter in the ACC, converting right at an 83% clip.  The last three games, including last night’s 0/3 performance at the line, Mallory is 6/15.  He’s most likely in his own head.  Given that he has probably been the best player on the court his whole life, he may not have much experience in getting out of his own way.

Plus

Three-point shooting is mercurial.  Some days you have it, some days you don’t.  Against Boston College, the men went just 4/23 and had to claw their way back against a poor BC team.  In the loss to UNC, the Hoos shot 8/27.  The first half was rough for Virginia as the team went 4/14.  In the second half, the shooters righted themselves going 7/17 for a more reasonable 7/31 (35%) from beyond the arc.  Eight different Hoos collected a three and the team was led by Sam Lewis who was 4/8.  Lewis’ back-to-back threes with about eight minutes remaining gave Virginia the 20-point cushion.

Minus

Jacari White still ain’t right.  Coach Ryan Odom is equally aware of White’s issues coming back from his fractured wrist and he gave White 20 minutes of playing time.  And White is trying – he was more aggressive on defense and he attacked the rim out of the half-court more than is typical for him – but ultimately White was 0/7 from deep.  Despite going 4/17 in the six games since his return, White is still connecting on 43.6% of his threes for the season overall.  I wonder how much longer he’s going to have the brace on his hand.

Minus

For the 10th time this season, Virginia fouled on a three-point shot.  Pitt was 3/12 from deep at the time.  You don’t have to play it that close.

Plus

The announcer’s table was crowded as the ACC Network gave us both Dan Bonner and Jim (Grandpa) Boeheim as color guys.  Boeheim was in fine form:  “The refereeing crew, some of these guys are the best in the country.  I’m not saying they are good, just the best.”

Minus

For the most part, the refs were fine.  They did allow Pitt’s Nojus Indrusaitis to set multiple moving screens.  Other than that, the refs allowed the guys to play and the two teams combined to take only 21 free throws.  Good thing there weren’t more as Pitt and Virginia were atrocious, making just 11 of those free throws.

Plus

Pitt jumped out to a 7 – 3 lead. Over the next seventeen and a half minutes Virginia outscored Pitt 30 – 13 to take a 33 – 20 lead into halftime.  Sounds like a Tony Bennett score.  I’m sure every person writing a column like this was thinking the same as I was:  this was the night that Virginia should have named the court after Bennett.

Plus

Virginia keeps racking up ACC wins (8 – 2) and sits third in the table behind Duke (9 – 0) and Clemson (8 – 1) and very much alive for an ACC tournament double-bye.  It does suck that Virginia and Clemson do not meet this season.  Virginia just played the weakest portion of their schedule – Notre Dame, Boston College and Pitt are three of the five worst teams in the ACC – and the schedule tightens up with rematches against Virginia Tech and NC State looming.  As well as Duke away.

Next Up:  But first, Virginia hosts Syracuse on Saturday, February 7th.  Game time is 12:00 noon.  The game is on ESPN.

Published | Modified
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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