Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Controls Manhattan

Blake Buchanan started strong and the team finished well at the free throw line down the stretch as Virginia holds off Manhattan 74-65.

Val Prochaska

Aaron Snyder
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Virginia posted a 74-65 victory over Manhattan on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their win.

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  The Virginia Cavaliers returned home after a bruising pair of games in the Bahamas to face the much-less-intimidating Manhattan Jaspers, KenPom’s #306 ranked team.  It was pretty uninspiring competition for Virginia, but I’m betting UConn’s Dan Hurley would have preferred that kind of result to the two-time defending champion’s most recent two games: back-to-back losses.

Plus

Blake Buchanan looked to establish himself from the get-go as he scored eight of Virginia’s first 18 points.  He showed good vision with a pair of assists.  And I kind of liked that he attempted his first ever collegiate three.  He was wide open, and it was worth a try.

Minus

I think Buchanan recognizes that this is an important year for him.  He put on some muscle over the summer, and Virginia needs to find points in the paint.  He’s handling the ball much more above the free throw line and he’s proven dangerous from there.  But in a year and a half on Grounds, he hasn’t learned how to shoot.  He’s 45% career from the charity stripe and in the paint, he doesn’t shoot as much as push the ball off his hand.  He was 5/9 from in close and not one of those shots ever looked like great shots.

Plus

I recently heard Andrew Rohde’s game described as “good old man YMCA game” and that really fits.  Rohde has made the leap in his second year at UVA.  He’s doubled his scoring average, he’s shooting almost 50% from deep and 55% from the floor.  And now, with this evening’s 14-point performance, he’s notched double-digits points in three of the last four games.  He also had a game-high four steals.

Plus

Virginia was one of the very worst free throw shooting teams in the country last year, and it looks to be continuing again this year.  Virginia was 2/7 from the line until the final four minutes of the game, when Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely and Rohde suddenly went clutch and converted a perfect 8/8 from the line to ice the game. Clutch shooting, indeed.

Minus

I honestly don’t know why every team doesn’t come out and press Virginia from the opening tip.  There’s a risk-reward calculus that goes into the decision to press: you may be able to get some easy buckets off steals and turnovers, but you risk getting beaten at the opposite rim if the press is broken.  Unless you are playing Virginia.  Manhattan, down by a dozen with maybe 10 minutes left in the game, brought out the full court pressure.  As a change of pace move, it worked for two possessions generating a steal and turnover.  But Virginia adapted and didn’t have too much difficulty advancing the ball.  But not once did the Cavs try to punish the Jaspers.

Minus

Virginia shot 6/14 from deep, or 42%, which is just fine as far as it goes.  But this team doesn’t have much interior scoring and 14 threes just isn’t enough.  Isaac McKneely was 3/4, which again is good, but IMac needs to take more threes if the Cavaliers are going to be successful in ACC play.  By way of comparison, Manhattan was 11/26 from three, also 42%.

Plus

There are two Elijah Saunders baskets in the clip below, and they were back-back plays, which is pretty cool, but I especially like how Ames, for the first basket, went right to Saunders.  The play before, Saunders had turned the ball over.  A good point guard has to read the game to see who needs to shake off a bad play and put him in position to make up for a previous error.  Ames made the right call here.

Minus

For all the pre-season chatter about Virginia trying to play faster, we have six games worth of data to show that Virginia is decidedly not playing any faster.  Tonight the Hoos had 59 possessions, and on the season they are averaging 59.3 possessions per game.  That’s actually slower than last year when Virginia averaged 60.1 possessions.

Read More: Matt's Takeaways from the game.

Minus

Virginia opened up leads of 27-12, 47-31, and 60-46.  Each time they allowed Manhattan to claw back to within five and seven points.  Furthermore, each time the Jaspers had the ball and with a made three, would have been within three or four points of the Cavaliers.  Virginia was simply incapable of putting away a low major team.  At home.  On a night when UVa shot 42% from deep.  That’s worrisome.

Plus

While not necessarily pacy, Virginia nevertheless scored 25 points off of 14 Manhattan turnovers. Even better, the Hoos only had eight TOs themselves. (Virginia turned the ball over a combined 34 times in two games in The Bahamas.)

Plus

Five Virginians scored in double figures:  McKneely (18), Rohde (14), Buchanan (11), and Ames and Saunders with 10.

Next Up: Virginia hosts Holy Cross on Black Friday at 4:00pm. The game will be on ACC Network Extra.

More Virginia Basketball News & Content

Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways


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UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas

Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John's 80-55 | Key Takeaways

Published |Modified
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for seven years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.