The Plus/Minus: McKneely Scorching as Virginia Buries NC Central

Isaac McKneely put on a show as Virginia cruised past NC Central 77-47

Virginia cruised to its fourth-consecutive win, crushing North Carolina Central 77-47 on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down UVA's easy win. 

Plus

A win is a win is a win. Isaac McKneely came out on fire, hitting the first four treys he attempted. Averaging a little under 12 points/game, McKneely had 12 points in the game’s first four minutes. NC Central was never in this game.

Plus

After going 6/8 from deep against Syracuse, McKneely followed that up by going… 6/8 from beyond the arc. He tied the career high he set against Syracuse with 22 points in a mirror reprise: 8/11 from the floor and 6/8 from deep in both games. Denny Neckel, friend of Virginia sports writers everywhere, had this to say:

Best UVA 3PT% through 8 games since 2011 (min 35 3PA): pic.twitter.com/pfVAyrSQzL

— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) December 4, 2023

Updated to include this game, McKneely is now connecting on 58% of this threes.

Plus

Elijah Gertrude is showing why Coach Tony Bennett and the staff were considering burning his redshirt before Dante Harris’ injury. The twitter highlights are all akimbo over his dunks, but I’m more impressed with Gertrude’s mid-range game. He had a great baseline drive and acrobatic finish at the rim to go with a nifty turnaround and a mid-range jab-step step-back. In transition he gets up the court very quickly. He’s also got a gunner’s mentality, though Tuesday night that might not have been a good thing as he was just 1/5 from deep.

Plus

If there was someone flashing a better mid-range game than Gertrude on this night, it was Leon Bond III who went 6/8 with two wicked turnarounds. He was second on the team with 14 points and he had a game high nine rebounds. The top-shelf athleticism of Gertrude, Bond and Ryan Dunn gives Bennett more physicality than he’s ever had in Charlottesville. Which brings me to this gem…

Plus

This is Taine Murray (UVA's 9th man) showing some serious hops against Syracuse. That’s a lot of energy just to save a backcourt violation.

Taine Murray saves the ball from a backcourt violation during the Virginia men's basketball game against Syracuse :: Dennis Nett/Syracuse.com

Related:  Read Matt's game report.

Minus

These are the dog days of winter. I fully cop to being envious of UNC, who before the ACC slate starts in earnest will face off against #5 Connecticut, #16 Kentucky and #19 Oklahoma. Virginia has NC Central, Northeastern and Morgan State sandwiched around a trip to a respectable Memphis. It’s fun for some to see Virginia beat up on a MEAC-caliber team that was missing two starters and their sixth man, but not me. Highlight clips aside, buy-in games are of little merit. It was a walk-on who McKneely blitzed for his first four threes. On the other hand, playing a string of patsies out-of-conference worked well enough for John Thompson when Georgetown was in their pomp.

Minus

This team, excepting the brilliance of McKneely, is still very poor at shooting the 3. Take away McKneely’s 6/8 night and the rest of the Hoos shot 3/13. Reece Beekman (0/2 on the night) is now like Kihei Clark; any threes he makes is a bonus. Andrew Rohde (1/3 tonight) has yet to find the form of his freshman season. Jacob Groves (0/2) is working so hard on defense as the starting 5 that his form has cratered. McKneely is carrying the three-point torch all by himself.

Plus

NC Central’s leading scorer coming into the game was Po’Boigh (pronounced Po Boy) King. Rohde drew the assignment of stopping him for most of the game, and stop him he did. King was 2/13 and 0/3 from deep and it was due largely to the Rohde’s D. I can rave about the athleticism of Dunn and Bond, and now Gertrude, but Rohde and McKneely are playing equally fantastic defense this young season.

Highlights

Broadcast highlights from tonight's win vs. North Carolina Central!#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/YxqG5P57xe

— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) December 6, 2023

Plus

The game was balm for Blake Buchanan. Maybe more than Gertrude or Bond, BB needed an easier game to reestablish his footing. Mission accomplished. Buchanan went for 4/7 en route to nine points. He also had three offensive boards, six rebounds total, one assist, one block and two steals. Buchanan has really good hands. I could see him average 2.5 steals/game over the next couple of years.

Minus

You would think the ACC Network would have learned how to stream commercials by now. It’s been six years. But most commercials skip, or they start in the middle only to be repeated so they can start correctly. Commercials are annoying, yes, but even more so when they don’t run correctly.

Next Up: Virginia breaks for exams and their next game is Saturday, December 16th when the Cavaliers host Northeastern. Game time is 6pm and the game is on the ACC Network.

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