Virginia Basketball 22-23 Roster Preview: Jayden Gardner

After leading the Cavaliers in scoring and earning a Third-Team All-ACC selection last year, what's the next step for Gardner in his final season?

The countdown is on for the start of the 2022-2023 college basketball season. Just a few days remain until a new season of college hoops tips off. With that in mind, it's time to preview the roster for the 2022-2023 Virginia men's basketball team. CavaliersNow is going through the UVA roster player-by-player in preparation for the season, which begins on Monday, November 7th against NC Central at John Paul Jones Arena.

Today, we analyze fifth-year forward Jayden Gardner.

Click on the links below to read our player previews for the rest of the UVA men's basketball roster:

Armaan Franklin

Kihei Clark

Isaac Traudt

Ben Vander Plas

Taine Murray

Francisco Caffaro

Ryan Dunn

Isaac McKneely

Kadin Shedrick

Leon Bond III

Reece Beekman

When Jayden Gardner first transferred to Virginia from East Carolina, there was some question of whether his offensive output would translate from the American Athletic Conference, where he was three-time all-conference selection, to the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was a double-double machine with the Pirates, but replicating that against ACC competition was far from a guarantee. 

Gardner blew past the expectations and quickly set aside any doubt of his ability to "hang" in the ACC. He started all 35 games, led the Cavaliers in scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg), and earned a third-team All-ACC selection. Gardner shot 50.1% from the floor, which ranked 7th in the ACC, and had seven games with at least 20 points. 

Gardner was Virginia's No. 1 scoring option - almost by default due to UVA's struggles on the offensive end, particularly from the perimeter. But he was a reliable scorer capable of creating and making his own shot. Gardner is lethal from the mid-range both from the elbow and the baseline and he can also knock down turnaround fadeaways from that distance with some consistency as well. When defenders play up on him too much to limit his jumper, Gardner does a nice job at countering by driving past them to the basket. Virginia also had a lot of success having Gardner set screens for Reece Beekman and then pop free for open mid-range shots. 

Now that we've covered some of the good things Gardner did in his first season with the Cavaliers, it is now time to talk about his limitations and where he can improve. Throughout the season, but especially in ACC play, Gardner struggled in matchups with bigger stretch fours - forwards with the size to contest Gardner's jumpers, outrebound him on both ends of the floor, and also step out to the perimeter and shoot the three, something that isn't in Gardner's arsenal. Gardner improved his defense drastically over the course of the season - and should take another big step forward after another full offseason getting accustomed to Tony Bennett's system - but his size at 6'6" and his inability to shoot threes limit how well he can completely fill the role of a power forward. 

Gardner has said in interviews that he is working on his three-point shot. Of course, that would be a fantastic development and transform him into a completely different player on the offensive end, but we certainly won't get our hopes up too much. His jumper is basically automatic from mid-range, but he says he has struggled to adjust the arc on his shot to be able to shoot consistently from the perimeter. 

The good news is that Virginia shouldn't need Gardner to do any more than he did last season on the offensive end. With the team's roster additions giving an increased level of depth and versatility at all five positions, the UVA coaching staff should be able to manage the lineups to maximize Gardner's contributions on both ends of the floor. With Virginia's improved outside shooting - the additions of Isaac McKneely, Ben Vander Plas, and Isaac Traudt and the hopeful shooting improvements of Armaan Franklin, Reece Beekman, and Kihei Clark - there should be much more spacing in UVA's offense, giving Gardner room to operate on the interior. 

Virginia should also be able to manipulate the rotations and personnel to prevent Gardner from getting stuck with bad matchups against oversized forwards - whether that's by playing him and Ben Vander Plas at the same time or by giving Isaac Traudt some minutes. Last season, the Cavaliers had little choice but to leave Gardner on his own in mismatches, made most evident in UVA's pair of blowout losses to North Carolina in which Gardner struggled mightily to defend UNC's Brady Manek. This season, there are simply more options for Virginia to explore to limit disadvantageous matchups like that, minimizing Gardner's liabilities and maximizing his value. 

Gardner should still hunt his mid-range shot with aggression, but with the increase in offensive options as UVA's disposal, he shouldn't have to bear the entire offense on his shoulders the same way he had to last season. This can and should still be a great season for Gardner and the media seem to think that way too, as Gardner was voted to the preseason All-ACC Second Team and is on the preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award. 

UVA will still lean heavily on Gardner as a go-to scorer who can create his own shot at key moments. While the Cavaliers are hopeful to not be so reliant on him in every game, Jayden Gardner will still play a significant role in how far Virginia can go in the 2022-2023 season. 

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