The Plus/Minus: Virginia Bounces Back, Trounces Fordham
Virginia wrapped up non-conference play with a blowout 82-56 victory over Fordham on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their bounce-back win.
Plus
A win is a win is a win. For a team that was in some disarray following the weekend loss to Wofford, Virginia bounced back in a big way.
Minus
Fun party game: ask a geophysicist how gravity works. Not how we measure it or what the effect of gravity is, but how it actually works. You won’t get a very straight answer. The same is true of momentum in sport. We can see it when everything is clicking for a team, but like lightning, it’s hard to catch in a bottle. Virginia had cruised their way to a 50-25 halftime lead and then came out on fire in the second half, going on a 14-1 scoring tear to bulge the lead to 64-26. And then… the wheels completely fell off the UVa bus. Much of the second team was in following a timeout and the reserves got very sloppy with two straight turnovers that Fordham converted into open threes. Fordham had gone to full-court pressure and the Cavaliers were struggling to break it. Coach Agugua-Hamilton had seen enough and she promptly put the starters back in. Sandwiched around a Camryn Taylor bucket, the starters had a pair of quick turnovers as well. Virginia ended the 3rd quarter with just those two points over the last 5:06. After recording just six turnovers in the first half, Virginia committed eight TOs in the 3rd quarter.
Minus
The 4th quarter started off just as badly as Virginia went 0/8 from the field and was scoreless for the first five minutes. And then the clouds parted and Virginia went on to score 16 points in the last five minutes. Momentum is fickle.
Plus
Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo is going to be ACC Freshman of the Year. She’s already won four of the Freshman of the Week awards. Kymora Johnson had a game that will put her in contention for the last award of 2023. After two less-than-stellar outings, Johnson set a career-high with 26 points on 10/13 shooting including going 6/7 from three-point range. She added five rebounds and seven assists. I especially liked this one to Cam Taylor late in the first half.
Plus
Coach Mox was extremely angry after the Wofford loss; she faulted the team’s execution and energy. Well, the Hoos came out on fire in this one, scoring the game’s first 18 points and effectively ending the game in the first six minutes. Paris Clark was especially active early. Of Virginia’s first ten points, Clark had a bucket in transition and three assists. Clark set the tone with this inside-out assist on Johnson’s first three of the night.
Minus
Yonta Vaughn and Edessa Noyan missed their second straight game. Sam Brunelle played most of the first half but got tangled up. She played just two minutes early in the third quarter and then sat out the rest of the half. ACC play awaits and the team needs to be at full strength. Thankfully, Virginia has ten days before facing off against NC State.
Related: Matt's got the full game report and Coach Mox's reaction.
Plus
The Cavaliers shot well from deep, connecting on 53% of their threes (12/22.) Even without Johnson’s heroics, the rest of the team acquitted themselves well, hitting at a 40% clip. Here’s Kaydan Lawson converting a rhythm three in transition.
Cady Pauley and Brunelle also hit rhythm threes. This is how you break out of a three-point slump.
Plus
Virginia ran well in transition, scoring 36 fast break points. The team is doing much better on finding trailers in transition and avoiding the tunnel vision that had plagued them to the start of the season.
All the Highlights
Next Up: Virginia hosts No. 3 NC State on New Year’s Eve. Game time is 6:00pm. I was not alone in predicting that this would be a down year for the Wolfpack, but here we are, and Wes Moore has NC State firing on all cylinders. The team is led by River Baldwin and Saniya Rivers who may be the two most improved players in the ACC.
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