Breaking Down Virginia's Big-Time 71-58 Victory over Miami

Taking a deeper look at the Cavaliers' convincing win over the Hurricanes on Saturday

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Feb 6, 2022 6:00 AM EST

Virginia delivered its most complete performance of the season on Saturday night, defeating Miami in convincing fashion 71-58. The Cavaliers shot 60% from the floor, 53.3% from three, and led by as many as 21 points in the win. Let's take a deeper look at some of the key stats, standout performances, and takeaways from Virginia's victory over Miami.

Key Stats

Assists

Reece Beekman, Francisco Caffaro, Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball vs. Miami Hurricanes — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

Miami 14 assists on 27 made field goals | Virginia 23 assists on 30 made field goals

In a vacuum, Miami’s offense did not have a bad game. Kameron McGusty had 21 points and Charlie Moore had 17 points and the Hurricanes shot 54.0% from the floor. However, the Hurricanes had to work very hard for their shots. Miami’s base offense was unable to crack the Virginia defense, so the Canes resorted to a lot of isolation plays for the guards, which did not help Miami get into an offensive rhythm as a team. McGusty and Moore were able to score (combined 17/26 FG), but the rest of the team went 10/24 and scored just 20 points.

Virginia, on the other hand, shared the ball very well and generated open looks for the whole team with good interior passing. Many of UVA’s made field goals in the game were uncontested layups or mid-range shots, which the Cavaliers converted at a very high percentage. Miami was forced to throw different defensive schemes at Virginia throughout the game, but UVA adapted well. The UVA defense did not have to make many adjustments, as most of Miami’s buckets did not come from defensive breakdowns.

Three-Point Shooting

Armaan Franklin, Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball — Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

Miami 4/17 (23.5%) | Virginia 8/15 (53.3%)

Miami came into the game averaging just over 36% from three as a team. The Hurricanes missed their first ten three-point attempts and made just four of their 17 attempts from beyond the arc in the game. The Canes realized much too late in the contest that the perimeter shots were not going to fall. Miami had a lot of success driving to the basket, but very often settled for contested jumpers instead.

UVA attempted only seven three-pointers last time out against Boston College, making three of them. The Cavaliers are aware that three-point shooting is not a strength, but they managed to generate so many wide open looks from downtown that even they couldn’t pass them up. UVA knocked down eight three-pointers on 15 attempts, including three from Armaan Franklin and three from Kihei Clark.

Free throws (or lack thereof)

Kadin Shedrick, Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

Miami 0/0 | Virginia 3/3

This is a key stat not because of the way it impacted the game, but rather for the way that it astonishingly did not impact the game. Every fan base will naturally complain about officiating, but in this one, it seemed to be a non-issue. There were only three total free throws taken and there wasn’t much evidence that any more should have been taken. That’s not to say that it was not a physical game or that there were not fouls that could have been called, but both teams played hard without fouling for the most part and the referees let them play. Miami was called for eight fouls in the game and Virginia was whistled for nine and only two of the 17 total fouls called were shooting fouls. A rare sight to be sure.

Standout Performances

Armaan Franklin

Armaan Franklin was without a doubt the player of the game. The Indiana transfer had his best game in a Cavalier uniform by far, recording 22 points, three three-pointers, three rebounds, four assists, and four steals. In what has largely been a disappointing season from a three-point shooting standpoint, Franklin has worked hard to develop his offensive game such that he can still score from various areas on the floor. On Saturday night, he had it all working for him and he knocked down some threes as well. As we’ll touch on later, if Franklin can establish some semblance of consistency from the perimeter, this becomes an entirely different Virginia offense.

Jayden Gardner

As Miami tried to work its way back into the game, Jayden Gardner made crucial plays on the offensive end to protect Virginia’s lead. Gardner scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and made five of his six field goal attempts after halftime. The East Carolina transfer also flexed his passing abilities, dishing out four assists as he found open teammates when the Miami defense collapsed onto him. Gardner also had seven rebounds and a steal.

Reece Beekman

Beekman ended the game just one point shy of a double-double. That stat would likely be meaningless to him, as Beekman has shown time and time again how willing he is to score zero points as long as Virginia wins the game. The sophomore guard finished with a nice statline of nine points, ten assists, two rebounds, two steals, and a block. He was also the primary defender on Miami’s second-leading scorer Isaiah Wong, who came into the game averaging over 16 points per contest, but was held to just six points on 3/9 shooting, including 0/3 from three-point range. Beekman has my entirely unbiased vote for ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Takeaways

Armaan Franklin is the key

Armaan Franklin’s shooting performance against Miami was a breath of fresh air for a Virginia team that struggles a great deal to make shots, especially from the perimeter. No, Franklin is not the 42% three-point shooter the Hoos thought they were getting when he transferred from Indiana this past offseason, nor is he likely to transform back into a lights-out shooter in the final month of the regular season.

But, the Cavaliers do not need Franklin to suddenly become the February 2020 version of Tomas Woldetensae overnight. Franklin simply knocking down one or two perimeter shots does wonders for the spacing in the Virginia offense and we saw that against Miami on Saturday night. Miami was forced to extend towards Franklin as he curled off of ball screens, leaving countless opportunities for the Hoos to find their big men down low for layups and dunks, which they did frequently. Even when Miami moved into a zone defense, UVA was able to break it down by spreading the floor and allowing Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark to get inside and make plays. That is only possible if Franklin forces the defense to respect his perimeter shooting ability. Franklin knocking down jumpers also seemed to be contagious, as Kihei Clark made three triples and Kody Stattmann and Reece Beekman also made three-pointers. Franklin being a threat from three-point range unlocks endless opportunities for the UVA offense.

Virginia has a chance against Duke

Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball, Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman, Armaan Franklin — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

The odds will still be stacked almost entirely against the underdog Wahoos when they go into Cameron Indoor on Monday night, especially having to play the top team in the ACC less than 48 hours after facing another tough opponent in Miami. But, the Cavaliers showed what they can do when they play to their potential - beat good teams.

The transitive property should never be taken very seriously in sports. An example: Duke beat North Carolina 87-67 on Saturday, crushing the same team that routed Virginia 74-58 on January 8th. But, UVA just beat Miami, the same team that took down Duke in Cameron on January 8th. The point? Anything is possible once the ball is tipped. Tony Bennett’s crew has won two games in a row and have entirely bought into a “one game at a time” mentality as the Cavaliers attempt to go on a run to end the regular season. Let’s see what the Wahoos are made of.

Season Reset

Virginia is now 14-9 overall and 8-5 in ACC play with seven games remaining in the regular season.

Next five games: at Duke (Feb. 7), vs. Georgia Tech (Feb. 12), at Virginia Tech (Feb. 14), at Miami (Feb. 19), vs. Duke (Feb. 23)

Postseason outlook: On principle, the outcome of one game does not change the trajectory of an entire season. However, Virginia’s convincing victory over Miami on Saturday is very nearly an exception to that rule. Until this point, UVA’s only “good” win (according to the metrics) was a 58-40 victory over Providence on November 23rd. There is certainly a large hill to climb, but the Cavaliers showed that they can not only hang with the top teams in the ACC, but they can beat them as well. The Hoos will have plenty of opportunities to prove they can do so again in the final seven games of the regular season and then in the ACC Tournament. It’s still a long shot, but the Cavaliers have given themselves a chance with this win over Miami.