The Plus/Minus: Virginia Blows By Miami
Virginia picked up its fifth ACC win of the season, surpassing last year's conference win total, with a 77-60 victory over Miami on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down UVA's wire-to-wire victory.
Plus
A win is a win is a win. Virginia typically is a slow-starting team, but this first half, against a on-the-bubble Miami team, was Virginia’s finest first half of the year. Miami closed what had once been an 18-point deficit to just three points with four and a half minutes left. UVa closed out the game on a 14-0 run to secure the victory.
Plus
In any normal, non-Hannah-Hidalgo kind of year, Kymora Johnson would be ACC Freshman of the Year. For the sixth time in nine games, Johnson eclipsed 20 points, leading the Cavaliers with 21 points buttressed by her going 5/9 from deep. It wasn’t just the numbers, Mo hit the two biggest shots of the game, back-to-back, when Miami had closed to just three points.
She also hit buckets as the second and third quarters were winding down, both times after the Hurricanes had made mini runs. Johnson doesn’t miss minutes, so while Camryn Taylor has missed two and half games for injury, half a game for a team suspension, and many minutes due to her foul troubles, this team has become Johnson’s.
Plus
We got to see some of the potential of this Cavaliers squad when Taylor is fully available. She committed just a pair of personal fouls, scored 18 points on a very efficient 8/12 night, and had that double-double with 11 boards. Because Taylor didn’t commit any silly reach fouls, she was able to stay in the game and be a force in the battle of the boards.
Minus
Because it was a battle. Miami pulled down 17 offensive rebounds (same as Virginia) and they won the points-in-the-paint metric, 38-16. Miami shredded Virginia’s interior defense as both Kyla Oldacre and Lata Lattimore caused Virginia problems all night. Oldacre is an intriguing player. Well, just from what I have seen in her games against Virginia. She is barely a five point per game scorer; except that she scored a career-high 19 points against the Cavs last year and this game recorded a season-high 14 points. She is a large woman – 6’6” and wider than everybody in the ACC save for maybe NC State’s River Baldwin – yet she is surprisingly nimble around the hoop. She sliced Virginia’s defense with 7/9 shooting. How do other teams defend her?
Plus
Against Syracuse over the weekend, Virginia recorded assists on 27 of their baskets. Tonight it was 22 assists on 28 baskets. These are elite numbers. By way of comparison, UNC knocked off #6 NC State today. The Tarheels had 17 assists on their 32 made baskets while the Wolfpack recorded 11 assists on 25 buckets. Virginia’s unselfishness means that anyone on the court can score for the Hoos.
Plus
As evidence of that, Alexia Smith scored 12 points on 4/6 shooting and 2/3 from deep. She also had a game-high 8 assists. Jillian Brown had 10 points on a similar 4/6 and 2/3 shooting night. That was a season-high for Smith and the first time in nine games that Brown reached double digits in scoring. Coach Agugua-Hamilton has boasted all season long about her team having a next-one-up mentality as Olivia McGhee, Edessa Noyan and Paris Clark have all set personal highs this year. Today it was Smith and JB taking their turn.
Minus
Yonta Vaughn missed the game again today. This is now two home games in a row that she has missed. That is either a pretty serious injury or a disciplinary issue. Smith stepped up admirably as the “second” point guard, but this team is still on the margin and the all-hands-on-deck mentality fostered by Coach Mox works better when all hands are available.
Plus
Virginia currently sits 11th in the ACC. Teams 10-16 have to play on the first day of the ACC tournament. To grab the single bye, Virginia will have to move up two spots to 9th. The team currently sitting 9th? Miami. Virginia was two games back. Now they are one. Virginia, which has played the hardest schedule in the ACC, has, unsurprisingly, a harder backstretch than Miami. But those are games for another day. The first order of business was knocking off the Hurricanes. Mission accomplished.
Source: theacc.com
Plus
Just to reiterate the ball movement. Virginia went 11/25 from deep. Five different players had a three. The team had 22 assists. Eight different players recorded assists.
More: Matt's in-depth game report.
Next Up: No rest for the weary as Virginia travels to Louisville on Sunday, February 25th. Game time is 12:00 noon and the game is on The CW.
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