Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Takes Down Bethune-Cookman

Ishan Sharma rescues a floundering Virginia as the Cavaliers close strong to defeat Bethune-Cookman 59-41.

Val Prochaska

Aaron Snyder
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I was texting with some buddies during halftime and I conceded that I was close to entering I-watch-so-you-don’t-have-to territory.  Virginia finished strong and pulled off the win.  But, oh, that first half was bad…

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  But this was truly ugly as Virginia struggled with a poor Bethune-Cookman team.  I mean it. They were bad.  They had five air balls in the first half. And yet they held a 21-18 lead at half time.

Minus

The first half was the worst half of basketball that Virginia has played all year.  The Cavaliers started out 1/15 from the floor and as the half ended, they had more turnovers than made buckets.  Virginia had three turnovers in their first four possessions.  This is past becoming a problem for the Hoos.  In their losses to Florida and SMU, they similarly turned the ball over four times in their first five possessions.  But as I said, Bethune-Cookman is poor.  At the 10-minute mark the score was 10-3 Bethune-Cookman.  As commentator Anish Shroff intoned, “It’s a slow start on a sleepy Thursday in Charlottesville.” 

Plus

For now, this will be called the Ishan Sharma game.  In a three and a half minute span,  Sharma canned three three-pointers knotting the score at 14-14 after Virginia had been down 12-3.  Sharma had half of Virginia’s 18 first-half points.  He finished with 12 points, going 4/7 from beyond the arc, and he handed out three assists as the Cavaliers did the point guard by committee thing.  There was zero spark in this team in the first half.  Sharma saved the Cavaliers today.

Plus

Virginia is a poor free throw shooting team, and they started the night 4/8 from the line.  But they finished strong as Andrew Rohde and Elijah Saunders converted both of their and-1s and Isaac McKneely hit both of his free throws down the stretch.

Plus

Blake Buchanan spent the summer working with legendary strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis, and yes, he does weigh more, but no, he’s not appreciably stronger.  He’s getting bellied up by low major guys, in this case, Daniel Rouzan.  But Buchanan is still very much a work in progress.  My old editor at the HoosPlace website claimed that it took a big 1000 minutes to master the Pack Line, and because Buchanan didn’t redshirt, in many ways, his learning curve has been steeper.  But the promise is there.  These were three consecutive plays early in the start of the second half that quelled a 6-0 mini Bethune-Cookman run.

Plus

Elijah Saunders hasn’t particularly impressed in his time here at Virginia, often looking more like Jordan Minor than Jayden Gardner.  Things are about to get harder what with ACC play starting, and frankly, Saunders needed a game like this, a chance to get untracked.  He finished with a game-high 15 points along with eight rebounds.  He was also active on the offensive end as Virginia has sent more players to crash the offensive boards since returning from The Bahamas. 

This was the prettiest play of the night:

Oh, and for good measure, it was his three that gave Virginia the first lead of the game:

Plus

For as ugly as the first half was, Virginia clamped down in the second half, going on a 24-4 run over the last 9:46 to ice the game.  Virginia scored 41 second-half points, which is as many points as Wildcats scored all game.  Again, this wasn’t a good team, Virginia, after showing zero signs of life in the first half, at least looked like the Cavaliers of old in the second.

Read More: Five Takeaways

Minus

Isaac McKneely had a stinker of a night.  Seven points on 1/6 shooting from deep to go with three ugly turnovers.  It’s a good sign, I guess, that the Cavaliers cruised to a win with the team’s best player having such an off night.  UVA is back to playing Sides most of the time on offense and McKneely is not Kyle Guy.  Running off screens is not his game.  Sanchez simply has to figure out how to get iMac more shots.

Plus

Josh Pastner, formerly head coach at Georgia Tech, is now an ACC Network analyst.  He was great, and since he was just in the ACC two years ago, he knows all the guys and he knows he told his guys to defend Isaac McKneely.  Best line of the day, when discussing TJ Power, who certainly hasn’t played like a five-star, either here or at Duke:  “Look, I saw Power play.  I scouted him, I recruited him.  He’s a real good basketball player.” 

Pastner was wrong.  There’s a reason he’s not coaching anymore.  But Pastner’s familiarity with the ACC landscape is a plus for the network.  He was much more incisive than say Seth Greenberg was early in his career.

Minus

Dai Dai Ames is still injured.  Apparently he practiced a bit during shoot-around, but his return is still to be determined.  The men usually don’t play this week (the women didn’t) as it is exam week.  A break would have suited the team better, I think, because Rohde and McKneely weren’t up to the task of playing point guard on this night.  Some of their turnovers looked like middle school TOs.  (You got that the first half was ugly, right?)

Next Up:  It’s a big game next week as Virginia hosts Memphis on Wednesday, December 18th.  Game time is 7:00pm and the game is on ESPN2.  Last year the Tigers destroyed Virginia in Memphis.  It’s going to be a tall order for Virginia to repay the favor this year.

More Virginia Men's Basketball News

Five Takeaways From Virginia’s 59-41 Win over Bethune-Cookman

Virginia vs. Bethune-Cookman Live Updates | NCAA Men's Basketball

ACC Weekly Roundup: Power Rankings and the Good, Bad, and Ugly

UVA Basketball: Dai Dai Ames Injury Exacerbates Point Guard Situation

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.