Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Ekes out Win over American

The duo of Elijah Saunders and Taine Murray, the heroes of mid-week’s near upset of Memphis, again lead the way against American as Virginia triumphs 63-58.

Val Prochaska

Virginia Athletics
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The Virginia Cavaliers really did try to give the ball game away, but the three-ball deserted the American Eagles late and the Hoos held on for the win.  Here are my initial thoughts on the game.

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  And that includes what I would normally consider an “uninspiring” win, but this team is going to struggle all year so every win should be savored.  This was the last tune-up game, and while Elijah Saunders is rounding into form and Taine Murray has had his best two games back-to-back, it’s hard to know what’s going on with Dai Dai Ames and Isaac McKneely.

Minus

Me.

After the SMU game, I opined that Saunders – 3 points on 0/4 shooting from the floor – was more Jordan Minor than Jayden Gardner.  I was being snarky, but Saunders was struggling to find his spot in what is otherwise a pretty barren frontcourt.  Since then he’s gone for 15 and 8, 15 and 4, and in this game he scored a career-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds.  He was efficient from the floor (7/9) and the line (7/8.)  While he’s going to score most of his points closer to the basket, he was 3/5 vs Florida and 3/4 against Memphis from deep.  He will have to be guarded out on the wing.

Plus

Murray had another solid game.  He was second on the team with 13 points and was efficient at all levels:  4/6 from the floor, 3/4 from beyond the arc, and 2/2 from the charity stripe.  He plays within himself and he brings more energy than anyone else off the bench.  Witness this play, where Murray misses at the rim but hurries back for the steal.

Minus

The team’s floor drops precipitously when Andrew Rohde is the point guard.  It’s just not his game and he’s going to struggle in the ACC.  I understand some of the appeal of lining Rohde up at PG, he’s a big guy – 6’6” – and repeatedly tried taking American’s smaller guards to the rim.  He missed all five times.  And then there was this possession:

Rohde falls down and who knows what the heck Isaac McKneely was thinking with that over the shoulder toss?  I get that the moment was huge.  Virginia was only up by three and there was only a minute remaining, but ACC teams are going to be able to put a lot more pressure on the ball than that.

Minus

So where was Dai Dai Ames you ask?  Well, he was parked at the end of the bench as coach Ron Sanchez pulled him at the 11:42 mark with Virginia trailing American 41-37.  Ames wasn’t playing particularly well, but he had made a three, which is more than Rohde had at that point.  Ames is a better point guard than Rohde and sitting him for the last 11 minutes of the game could have backfired.

Read More: Luke's Key Takeaways

Minus

Isaac McKneely, supposedly the team’s best player, was for the umpteenth time this young season, a non-factor.  He scored 11 points on 4/10 shooting (3/8 from deep) and most crucially, he missed both his free throws down the stretch with the game very much on the line.  I was surprised looking at the stat sheet that McKneely took 10 shots; it seemed much fewer as I was watching.  This team is struggling to score and iMac is connecting on 45.6% of his threes and there just seems to be very little urgency to get him the ball.

In this clip, Virginia is down by two points with three and a half minutes left, and McKneely just stands in the bottom-right corner for 15 seconds.   I have no idea if this lack of motion is by design, but the lack of movement surrounding the overall time is striking.  Sure, Rohde made the long 2-pointer, but settling for those kinds of shots late in the game is a formula for a losing ACC record.

Minus

With six minutes remaining in the first half, the second of two consecutive Saunders’ and-1s gave Virginia a 23-16 lead.  Over the next 18 minutes across the two halves, American outscored Virginia 31-19 to take a 47-42 lead.  American came out of the break with much more energy and Virginia was last getting back in transition.  Colin Smalls got hot, in a way that Virginia fans can only dream about, hitting a trio of threes himself in two and a half minutes.

With eight minutes to go, American had converted 11 of 23 threes, a 48% success rate.  From there on out, they would miss their last seven three-point attempts.  It could have been fatigue.  There were very few fouls committed by either team, so no stoppages, and the game blew by the 12-minute media timeout. And no doubt American came back to earth; the Eagles convert on just 33% of their threes on the season.  Regardless, American lost this game more than UVa won it.  The Cavaliers have not played a complete 40 minutes all season.

Plus

TJ Power, who has been buried so far in the depth chart he’s only playing more than Christian Bliss, got four minutes.  He had a nice drive to the rack for two points, a nice assist on a Murray three, a rebound, an (unrecorded) steal (which you can see in the Taine Murray clip,) and a blocked shot.  He took a three that really should have gone in, but alas, it rimmed out.  Nevertheless, it was probably the most productive stint Power has logged since coming to Virginia.

Minus

I think Virginia would be a very good mid-major program this year.  Unfortunately the Cavaliers play in the ACC, and while it is still very much a down year, I fear it is going to be a long season with only the promise of the NIT awaiting them.  But as many have pointed out to me, there is a reason I don’t make predictions…  Maybe this year won’t be as bad as I’m envisioning it to be.

Next Up: The non-conference slate is over and the ACC begins in earnest as Virginia hosts NC State at JPJ on Tuesday, December 31st. Game time in 12 noon and the game will be on ESPN2.

More Virginia Basketball News

Key Takeaways from UVA Basketball's 63-58 Win Over American
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Falters Down the Stretch to Memphis

Five Takeaways From Virginia’s 64-62 Loss to Memphis

Sanchez Gives Injury Update on Dai Dai Ames on Coach's Corner Radio Show

Report: UVA Basketball Set to Host Bosnian Sharpshooter for Visit

Published
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.