The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Strangles Rider
Virginia used a dominant performance on the boards to pull away from Rider for a 78-51 win on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their third-consecutive victory.
Plus
A win is a win is a win. Let’s see. Virginia beat La Salle by 20 points on Saturday. Two weeks earlier, La Salle had cruised by Rider by almost 30 points. This was never going to be a fair fight.
Plus
Virginia is a very good rebounding team and this Rider team didn’t stand a chance. The Cavaliers pounded the Broncs on the glass, holding a 60-22 advantage. The offensive rebounding was even more lopsided as Virginia was +28 on the night (31-3) Virginia held a 26-0 advantage in second chance points and that was the contest right there. Which is good, because…
Minus
This team continues to shoot the deep ball very poorly. Virginia was 7/28 on the night, and you know, 25% is right at their season average. There are 360 schools playing Division I women’s basketball. 300 of them shoot the three better than Virginia. Virginia did a better job finding the corner threes, taking five of them and converting two. Virginia took a pair of threes in transition. They made this one.
Both of those threes are converted at higher rates than catch-and-shoot threes taken just swinging the ball around the top of the arc.
Minus
Another game, another slow start for the Cavaliers as they trailed the Broncs 15-11 at the end of the first quarter. It’s been a season long story as the team’s scoring margin is +1ppg at the end of the first half while it is almost +15ppg for the second half. It is great that Virginia is stronger in the second half, with 25-13 and 21-11 advantages in the third and fourth quarters, but the game is four quarters long and the better ACC teams will punish Virginia until they figure out how to jump start their first quarters.
Plus
Camryn Taylor continues her strong play, recording 18 points on 7/11 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds, tying a career high. Most notably, in 27 minutes, Taylor committed just two fouls. Limiting her fouls was a point of emphasis for this season and she’s knocked off half a foul per game. This team will always benefit from more Cam Taylor.
Plus
Edessa Noyan got more playing time with London Clarkson sitting this game out under concussion protocols. Noyan responded by displaying her versatility en route to a career high eight points. She hit a three from the top of the arc. (I don’t like those shots but she was wide open.)
She knifed through the Rider bigs for a lovely layup. She had six rebounds, two steals and (what looks like an unrecorded) assist. It was a good outing for the freshman from Sweden.
Minus
Rider found some holes in the Virginia defense utilizing a high screen to find a half dozen back cuts at the rim. Rider ran this action successfully three times in the first half, I presume Coach Agugua-Hamilton made the necessary adjustments, but then as the game was winding down, the Cavaliers were victimized twice midway through the fourth quarter.
See Also: Matt's got the game report plus reaction from Coach Mox.
Minus
Virginia showed some of the same problems running the break as they’ve had all season. On 15 fast break opportunities that I charted, fully 10 times the player who got the steal/rebound/turnover went coast to coast and finished at the rim. Against superior numbers, and with help available. Virginia converted on six of those. A sixth time Cady Pauley was fouled and she went to the line.
This one worked. But this is tunnel-vision basketball. 6 for those 16 possessions seems like low-percentage basketball. If the team is not shooting well from deep, Virginia has to be smarter out in transition.
Plus
According to the latest Graduation Success Rate data compiled by the NCAA, Virginia student-athletes had the highest graduation rate in the country at 96%. Since this has become a point of emphasis for the NCAA, and American society in general, graduation rates have been trending up. But it’s nice to receive the validation that Mr. Jefferson’s university is leading the way.
All the Highlights
Next Up: It’s winter exam break. Virginia is off until Saturday, December 16th when UVA hosts Wofford at JPJ. Game time is 1pm and the game will be on ACC Network Extra.
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