The Plus/Minus: Virginia Struggles on the Road Again, Falling to NC State

Another road game and another road loss as Virginia falls to the Wolfpack 76-60

Virginia suffered yet another lopsided road loss on Saturday afternoon as the Cavaliers fell to NC State 76-60 in Raleigh. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what went wrong. 

Minus

I hate losing to NC State. Kevin Keatts lurches along with one mediocre team after another, and yet his team always manages to play their best ball against the Cavaliers. I still hate seeing Casey Morsell playing against UVA in conference. Morsell was the first player to commit to Virginia after the UMBC loss, so he will forever hold a special place in my heart, but it kills me to see him play for NC State.

Minus

Sometimes you cannot tell the turning points in the games, but on this day, it was very easy to see. 

With seven minutes left in the first half and Virginia up 19-15, State’s DJ Burns got the ball on the baseline and was doubled up by Ryan Dunn and Blake Buchanan. With just a couple of seconds remaining on the shot clock, Burns fired a cross court pass that Andrew Rohde tipped (and almost stole) out of bounds. State had 1.4 seconds left on the shot clock and they pulled off this play for the three-pointer.

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Following an 8-point run, NC State led 28 – 21 five minutes later and the game was essentially over. This Virginia team is simply not equipped to chase games.

Extended Anecdote

Former Virginia head coach Terry Holland told the story about the time he was ambushed in an elevator by some doctor who had criticisms for Holland about how he was handling Ralph Sampson. Holland asked the good doctor how much experience he had playing and/or coaching basketball, and then, what would he think of Holland offering advice on how the doctor performed surgery.

I know I don’t know as much about basketball as Tony Bennett. Heck, I may not even know as much as Bennett’s wife. What I DO know is that Grant Hill to Christian Laettner against Kentucky proves that you always, always, always put a defender on the in-bounder. The idea is that with a fifth defender back there’s the possibility that the shooter can be doubled. In response to Terry Holland, I would say that while I am no collegiate coach, I have watched thousands of hours of basketball. I have read tens of thousands of words on basketball. And you almost never see the shooter effectively doubled. It certainly didn’t happen on this play. Virginia never recovered. 

Plus

Blake Buchanan got the starting slot and drew the assignment of guarding man-mountain DJ Burns. (Seriously, I can’t think of a bigger guy in ACC hoops annals.) Burns is a smart, fifth-year senior. Virginia selectively doubled Burns with Ryan Dunn, and while this slowed him down, Burns was able to pass out of the double successfully. When Buchanan tried to guard Burns on his own, Burns punished him.

But this is part of the education of a big. It is much harder to play the 5 as a freshman than it is to be the point guard, and that’s even more so in Bennett’s pack line. If the goal is to be playing in March, Buchanan needs these minutes.

Minus

The flip side is that if the team plays too many more games like this, there won’t be March basketball. This game got away from Virginia quickly, and save for a couple of garbage-time Isaac McKneely threes, the score would have been a fourth 20-point blowout loss.

Minus

Buchanan and Dunn continue to look constipated at the foul line. I’m sure that they have taken hundreds of free throws and spent hours upon hours of video review by now, but they are clearly in their own heads standing at the pin stripe. Someone needs to teach them the Rick-Barry underhanded free throw. I think we’re officially in danger of reaching Ben Simmons’ level of shot avoidance at the rim because they don’t want to embarrass themselves at the line.

Plus

Dunn is slowly starting to score more. He’s doing it efficiently, given that he doesn’t have much of a jump shot and despite his travails at the line. Dunn put up 13 points at Notre Dame on 6/9 shooting, 15 points against Louisville going 7 for 8 from the floor, and now 16 points on a 7 for 9 game. That’s bedrock production that the team ought to be able to build on going forward.

Minus

It’s no secret that I have wanted more minutes – many more – for Leon Bond III, but they are cratering the past couple of games. He didn’t enter the game until seven minutes into the second half. I was preparing a snarky observation directed at Bennett when Bond had the worst minute of anyone on the team this season. On NC State’s first play, Bond was late on a rotation en route to a Wolfpack three. On Virginia’s next possession he took a long, hesitant two. And on the next play he let Michael O’Connell blow by him to the rim. The fact that O’Connell missed the and-1 following Bond’s foul was small comfort to Bennett. Bond was yanked after a minute of playing time and wouldn’t re-enter until very late in the game as part of the garbage team.

Bond is very much Virginia’s Rorschach test. He either needs to be playing more because Andrew Rohde is taking up too much oxygen, or else he’s the metaphorical back-up quarterback, specifically the backup because he’s not good enough to start.

Next Up: Virginia has a week off before traveling to Wake Forest next Saturday, January 13th. Game time is 2pm and the game is on ESPN2.

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