Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Falters Down the Stretch to Memphis

Virginia pounced on a sluggish Memphis team but struggled in the second half before falling 64-62.

Val Prochaska

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Paradigm check: if the glass-half-full vs glass-empty debate is the optimist/pessimist default, Virginia fans need a new one.  After blowout losses in their last four non-cupcake games, Virginia was particularly valiant in a two-point loss to No. 21 Memphis.  An optimist will see this a progress – playing a physical, athletic top 25 team tough – but a pessimist will see the same litany of weaknesses exposed.

Plus

Let’s call this game a moral victory.  I know, I know, moral victories are for losers, but let’s face it, this team is a pale shell of previous (recent, even) Virginia iterations.  Virginia led 30-21 at the half, was shooting 40% from deep, and had corralled the turnovers that have plagued them in recent games.  This despite getting mauled by Dain Dainja on the offensive boards and Blake Buchanan and Jacob Cofie fouling out of the first half.  The Cavaliers looked good in the first half and showed that they can compete in the ACC this year.

Plus

Taine Murray had a career game scoring 14 points on 5/9 shooting.  He drove to the rim continually, giving Virginia two guys (along with Dai Dai Ames) who can actually touch the paint.  Murray started last time out against Bethune-Cookman, but went scoreless.  Against bigger, tougher competition, Murray provided the spark the team needed.

Plus

At the 8:27 mark in the first half, Buchanan joined Cofie on the bench with two fouls.  Virginia was up 19-14.  Coach Ron Sanchez ran out a lineup of TJ Power, Murray, Ames, Isaac McKneely and Anthony Robinson.  Who had that quintet on their bingo card? Five minutes later, the Hoos were up 26-16 for their largest lead of the game.

Plus

Anthony Robinson played only because of Buchanan and Cofie’s foul troubles but his impact was instantaneous.

First offensive possession, Robinson rolled to the rim for this bucket. (He missed the and-1.)

One the next defensive possession, Robinson had a block.  Murray drove past Moussa Cisse (the above play) for the basket.  Robinson drew a foul on Cisse on Memphis’ next possession.  The next defensive possession, Robinson had a goal tend, but given that the team was rolling and the JPJ was jumping, this was actually a good play.  Each of the next two defensive stands, Robinson grabbed rebounds.

Robinson needs to play more.

Minus

TJ Power’s scholastic success (a top 25 recruit) can not have prepared this young man for how awful he has been at the collegiate level.  He’s a liability on the court shooting 26% from deep and 16% inside the arc.  The hope was that Power’s shooting would space the court and the Cavaliers could go big with him at the 3.  If Sanchez wants to go big, Power needs to be dropped and Buchanan, Robinson and Saunders need to be rolled out.

Minus

Andrew Rohde is a night and day different player from last year, shooting 54% from the field, 44% from deep and 80% from the charity stripe.  Those are splits worthy of Isaac McKneely.  He ought to be a valuable role player.  But he’s forced to play the point, and let’s face it, he’s not succeeding.  Rohde played 22 minutes and had five turnovers.  And they were all ugly.  After one particularly brutal TO, commentator Chris Spatola opined, “there are times this year where Virginia is inventing new ways to turn the ball over.”

Read More: Five Takeaways

Minus

Who would have thought that Jalen Warley, a player I do not rate particularly, could be so missed?  Dai Dai Ames is a real point guard, but he should have been benched, but because Sanchez has no other options, Ames was on the court til the bitter end. 

One of Virginia’s bigger successes in the first half was keeping PJ Haggerty off the free throw line.  (Last year he was number 2 in the country behind player of the year Zach Edey in free throws attempted, and he’s top 20 this year.)  Haggerty started cooking early in the second half as he knocked home four early foul shots, and then as Memphis actually got back into the game, Haggerty had a pair of and-1s, courtesy of two really poor Ames fouls.  They were frustration fouls – pushes in the back, really – as Haggerty was already scoring.

Then with Virginia down by five and it was the Cavaliers who were chasing, Ames was on his back and he flagrantly stuck out his leg to try and trip Haggerty on the offensive end.  It was a dead-ball foul because Saunders had just fouled him.  Haggerty ended up getting four free throws, canning three of them, and Memphis got the ball back.  Virginia hung tough down the stretch, but that deliberate trip was the tipping point of the game.  It was almost worthy of Grayson Allen.  Ames should have been benched, but that would just have brought Rohde back in.

Christian Bliss just can’t get healthy fast enough.

Plus

And yet Virginia didn’t fold.  Down 47-39, Virginia dialed it up.  Elijah Saunders hit a pair of threes, the team never stopped fighting and survived two defensive stands where they gave up two offensive rebounds. Against St. John's, against Tennessee, these Cavaliers basically folded and got blown out.  Here, they didn’t give up and they fought hard. This is the most confident I have been about Virginia’s ACC prospects since the Villanova game.

Up Next:  Virginia hosts American at JPJ on Sunday, December 22nd.  Game time is 2:00pm and the game will be on ACC Network Extra.

More Virginia Basketball News

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

Virginia vs. Memphis Live Updates | NCAA Men's Basketball

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

Report: UVA Basketball Set to Host Bosnian Sharpshooter for Visit

Point/Counterpoint: Injury Reports and Gambling in College Sports

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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.