Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball's 82-71 Victory at Miami
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Virginia earned its first true road victory of the season, as the Cavaliers (10-11, 3-7 ACC) came away with an 82-71 victory at Miami (4-17, 0-10 ACC) on Wednesday night in Coral Gables. Here are our five takeaways from the game.
Saunders and Rohde sidelined, Virginia plays with eight scholarship players
Before we dive into the game, a note on Virginia's available personnel for the game. The Cavaliers were limited to just eight scholarship players on Wednesday night. Three of the team's expected scholarship players coming into the year have been out all season (Jalen Warley, Christian Bliss, Elijah Gertrude) and then Elijah Saunders and Andrew Rohde, two of the team's three leading scorers, missed the game with injuries. With Saunders and Rohde out, the stage was set for Miami to potentially snap an 18-game ACC losing streak, a streak that began with a lopsided loss at UVA last season. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they were able to avert that disaster thanks to three outstanding individual performances, which will make up our next three takeaways.
Virginia Player of the Game #1: Taine Murray
Every now and then, Taine Murray shows glimpses of being an exceptional basketball player. This being his senior season, we'll never get to see him reach that potential consistently, but Murray delivered the best game of his career on Wednesday night at Miami. Murray scored a career-high 20 points on an ultra-efficient 8/12 shooting and 4/6 from beyond the arc. He also distributed seven assists while turning the ball over only once, providing crucial playmaking in Rohde's absence. But Murray also had a huge impact on the defensive end, as he was tasked with trying to stop Miami's leading scorer Matthew Cleveland. Now, Cleveland still had a great game, leading all scorers with 27 points, but Murray bothered Cleveland enough to prevent a Carsen Edwards-esque takeover performance that would have assuredly won the game for Miami. Murray earned this game ball on both ends of the floor.
Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of the game.
Virginia Player of the Game #2: Isaac McKneely
With the aforementioned second and third-leading scorers out, Virginia desperately needed its leading scorer to have a good night shooting the ball. Isaac McKneely did just that, knocking down six threes on 50% shooting and finishing with 26 points, three assists, two rebounds, and two steals, including a clutch forced turnover late in the game that helped Virginia seal it. McKneely was held scoreless for the first 12 minutes of the second half, then came alive and scored 13 points over the next six minutes to allow the Cavaliers to maintain their lead. His 26 points were just three shy of his career-high of 29 points set at Florida State last season. I guess McKneely likes shooting in the Sunshine State.
Virginia Player of the Game #3: Blake Buchanan
Had it not been for the incredible performances of McKneely and Murray, Blake Buchanan would have gotten all the headlines for the game he had on Wednesday night. Buchanan made his first six shots of the game and finished just one board shy of a double-double with 16 points (6/8 shooting) and nine rebounds, including five offensive rebounds, to go along with two assists and a block. Those two assists were big ones too, as Buchanan twice found Murray in the corner for wide-open threes. Given UVA's personnel restrictions, the Cavaliers were forced to go to some unusual defensive tactics, including switching all ball screens, which left Buchanan and Jacob Cofie frequently guarding smaller and faster players. They held their own and Virginia got just enough stops on the defensive end to come away with the win.
Virginia finally wins on the road
Coming into this game, Virginia was 1-7 in games played away from Charlottesville and 0-5 in true road games. The Cavaliers were averaging just 60 points per game in those eight games away from John Paul Jones Arena and were turning the ball over almost 14 times per contest. Had the Hoos continued that trend of poor offensive execution in road games, they certainly would have lost this game considering how Miami played. Cleveland scored 27 points and Miami shot 51% from the floor and outscored UVA 32-24 in the paint. But Virginia was even better offensively, knocking down 11 threes on 45.8% and shooting 54.9% from the floor while turning the ball over just seven times. Miami is not a good team, and this win is by no means encouraging that the Cavaliers are "figuring it out", but it's significant that UVA avoided losing to the worst team in the ACC, picked up its third win in conference play, and finally figured out how to win on the road.
Up next, Virginia returns home to take on Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash on Saturday at 4pm ET (ACC Network) at John Paul Jones Arena.
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