Five Takeaways From UVA Women's Basketball's 69-46 Win Over Wake Forest
Virginia women's basketball (9-6, 1-2 ACC) picked up their first ACC win of the season by taking down Wake Forest (7-6, 0-2 ACC) 69-46 on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Let's break down some key takeaways from the Cavaliers' victory.
Virginia bounces back after humbling trip to South Bend
The Cavaliers faced one of the best teams in the nation last Sunday and suffered a lopsided, though not unexpected 95-54 loss at No. 3 Notre Dame. That kind of blowout defeat can have a demoralizing effect on a team. But Coach Mox's squad responded by playing with an intensity and energy that hasn't been seen very often this season. UVA jumped out to a 7-0 lead and did not allow Wake Forest to make a shot until nearly six minutes into the game. The Demon Deacons hung around until the fourth quarter, but the Cavaliers never wavered and earned a wire-to-wire victory to break into the win column in conference play.
Breona Hurd provides a big spark
The freshman from Missouri started the first eight games of her collegiate career, but after a few tough games, Hurd has now come off the bench in the last four games. That move has seemed to pay off, as Hurd has scored in double figures in three of those four games. On Thursday, Hurd had her best scoring night since her debut, recording15 points on 6/7 shooting and 3/4 from beyond the arc and made several more game-winning hustle plays, collecting six rebounds and blocking two shots in 26 minutes. Virginia's got a good one in Breona Hurd.
Still too many turnovers
The only negative takeaway we have from this game is that the Cavaliers let the Demon Deacons hang around for far too long because they continued their season-long trend of coughing the ball up way too many times. Virginia had 20 turnovers in the game, 14 of which came in the first half. The Hoos improved their ball security in the second half (only six turnovers), a big contributing factor in their ability to pull away for this win, but it remains a major concern for Virginia moving forward. Better teams will punish UVA at this turnover rate and we've seen that already.
The Hoos use barrage of threes to bury Deacs
The game turned in the third quarter, as Wake Forest had narrowed the deficit to one point before the Cavaliers unleashed a barrage of three-pointers. Virginia made five triples in the third quarter, including three in a row as part of a 12-0 run that allowed UVA to open up a 46-31 lead. Wake Forest stayed within striking distance until an Olivia McGhee three sparked a 11-2 run in the fourth quarter to give Virginia a 20-point lead that put the game away for good. McGhee and Johnson hit two threes apiece and Hurd knocked down three of her four attempts from beyond the arc. As a team, Virginia shot 10/25 from downtown. That's plenty good enough to win some games in the ACC if the Hoos can keep that up.
UVA's zone defense is taking shape
Virginia has been workshopping an extended 3-2 zone defense over the course of the season, to varying levels of success. Wake Forest doesn't have the guard quality of some of the better teams in the ACC, such as Notre Dame, but UVA's zone was working extremely effectively for most of the game and that's a very positive sign for the Hoos moving forward. Having a lengthy wing like Olivia McGhee or Breona Hurd at the top of that zone was working particularly effective, as was having Latasha Lattimore use her arms to disrupt passing lanes. This looks to be Virginia's base defense as ACC play continues.
Up next, Virginia has a full week off and will then play at Clemson on Thursday, January 9th at 7pm ET on ACC Network Extra.
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