Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 54-52 Loss to SMU

Aaron Snyder
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Virginia (8-9, 1-5 ACC) suffered a heartbreaking 54-52 loss to SMU (13-4, 4-2 ACC) on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Boopie Miller on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five takeaways from UVA's fourth-consecutive loss, but perhaps its most painful defeat of the season to date.

Virginia lets the game slip away in final 30 seconds

As we will discuss later on, the Cavaliers rallied late when they looked dead in the water and made a series of clutch plays to put themselves in fantastic position to win this game, leading 50-45 with 32 seconds to go. But the Hoos followed up that run with a series of mistakes that cost them a huge win. SMU hadn't been shooting the three-ball well, but the Mustangs generated a wide-open corner three with ease and took only seven seconds off the clock in the process. Sanchez then called his final timeout even though it seemed his team was going to be able to get the ball inbounds. Ishan Sharma made two free throws, but then SMU hit another three that was a little bit too open for my liking to make it a one-point game. Taine Murray, who was probably pretty cold after playing sparingly throughout the game, showed as much by missing both free throws. Buchanan contested the three-pointer from Miller well enough, but the Cavaliers left the door open for the Mustangs and they took advantage as Miller knocked down the shot. SMU was 2/18 from three until hitting three triples in a row in the last 30 seconds. On a night where Virginia's defense was fairly buttoned up, those defensive lapses (as well as Murray's missed free throws) allowed the game to slip away.

Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.

The Cavaliers showed fight

In the first meeting between these two teams in Dallas, Virginia led 45-38 with 10 minutes to go and proceeded to miss every shot the rest of the way as SMU closed on a 25-6 run. This time, UVA flipped the script and used a late run to take control of the game. That the Cavaliers were able to do that shows a lot of fight and mental toughness for this team, which is remarkable considering the significant adversity they have faced this season. From Tony Bennett's retirement and through all of the losses this team has suffered this season, and in particular the ones where things got out of hand in the second half, it was impressive to see the Hoos respond when they fell behind and when the shots weren't falling, putting together a 12-0 run to turn a 45-38 deficit into a 50-45 lead.

Ishan Sharma shows no fear in big moments

The Canadian sharpshooter didn't seem like a true freshman when he drilled a deep three-pointer that pulled Virginia even at 45-45 with just under three minutes remaining. He also seemed to have ice in his veins when he knocked down four free throws in the final minute of the game that should have been enough to put the game away. Fellow freshman Jacob Cofie also had a big bucket just before Sharma's game-tying three-pointer. These freshmen are not afraid of the big moments.

Blake Buchanan delivers a big-time performance

Blake Buchanan had never had double-digit rebounds in a game in his career until Wednesday night. Against SMU, Buchanan posted his first-career double-double as he finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds. He also registered two assists, two blocks, and a steal. Of that stat line, a great deal of it came in the clutch as Buchanan posted nine points on 4/5 shooting, 10 rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal in the second half. Buchanan took a huge step forward on Wednesday night and Virginia is hoping this marks a turning point for the sophomore center.

Cold shooting, poor offensive execution leads to a missed opportunity

Virginia choking away the five-point lead late will get the headlines, but the Cavaliers win this game with relative ease if they execute just a little bit better offensively. SMU came into the game averaging 84.7 points per game (17th in the country) and shooting 38.2% from three (25th in the country). But Virginia held the Mustangs to 54 points and 5/21 (23.8%) from three. The Cavaliers played very well defensively to force a lot of those missed shots and empty possessions, but they missed so many opportunities to seize control of the game for themselves on the other end of the floor.

UVA only turned the ball over eight times, but the team shot 4/26 from three (15.4%) and 34.6% from the floor. Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde, who both shoot well above 40% from three on average, each went 0/6 from beyond the arc on the night and a combined 2/18 from the floor. Virginia struggled to generate good looks throughout the game, but there was also a healthy amount of missed open shots. This could have been a huge win for the Cavaliers, but they missed it due to a failure to execute offensively.

Up next, Virginia goes back out on the road for another rematch, this time at Louisville on Saturday at 12pm ET on ESPN2.

More Virginia Basketball News

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VIDEO/Transcript: Ron Sanchez Weekly ACC Zoom Press Conference - 1/13

Reevaluating Potential Virginia Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

What's Going on With Christian Bliss? Ron Sanchez Finally Gives an Answer

Report: Former Virginia Guard Dante Harris Transfers to Memphis


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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.