The Plus/Minus: Virginia Tech Outplays Virginia

The 75-74 final score line flatters to deceive as Virginia Tech knocked off Virginia at the JPJ where the Cavaliers had won four straight.

Aaron Snyder

Virginia was riding a one-game winning streak (woo-hoo!) entering the Commonwealth Clash game with Virginia Tech.  That streak is over.  Teams with 3-8 records in conference play (as Virginia’s is now) rarely compile winning streaks.  Such is life for the Cavaliers these days.

Minus

In November I saw both these teams play live in Baltimore in the Hall of Fame series, Virginia beating Villanova in their most complete game of the season while Virginia Tech made a mediocre Penn State team look like world beaters.  Tech’s Mike Young has his team looking better and playing solid ball; it’s what good coaches do.  For Virginia’s Ron Sanchez, it still looks like the team is just getting out of the starting gate.

Minus

Ron Sanchez got his rotations out of whack just three minutes in as Blake Buchanan picked up his second foul and had to be removed.  The Cavaliers were already short-handed as Elijah Saunders missed his second straight game.  (More bad news, he’s not going to be ready for Pitt on Monday, either.)  That left redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson and TJ Power as the only other bigs that Sanchez could play alongside Jacob Cofie.  Power did grab a couple of offensive rebounds in his four-minute stint, but he continued his 0-for-January streak by badly missing his three-pointer.  Robinson has flashed some potential, but is very much a project.  He scored six points in 15 minutes, and had the team’s best +/- at 8, but he committed four fouls and he hasn’t mastered hedging. 

That left room for Buchanan to re-enter the game with 10:40 remaining and Tech having opened up a 20-15 lead.  I’ve often complained about coaches who rigidly “foul out” their own players in the first half, so I applauded Sanchez having the flexibility to bring BB back onto the floor.  Unfortunately, Buchanan picked up his third foul within a minute.  It was a foul he has got to know by now that he cannot make sitting on two early fouls.

Plus

Andrew Rohde is having the kind of season that fans of college sports should love.  Rohde gets a lot of hate for the season he had last year and for him not being a point guard.  It’s not last year and it’s not his fault Jalen Warley left and Christian Bliss wigged out.  Rohde is having the best season of anyone on the team and last night’s game was just another example of the workmanlike professionalism he brings to the table.  Rohde was in pain versus Notre Dame, sat out against Miami, and was wearing a leg sleeve on this night.  Despite wincing every time he came off the court, he still scored 12 points (2/5 from deep) and handed out seven assists against zero turnovers.  Over the last 10 games, Rohde has dished out 48 assists while recording only 8 turnovers.

Let that sink in for a moment.  That’s a 6 – to – 1 assist to turnover ratio.  That’s not just good.  That’s god-like.  For comparison, Ty Jerome, in his championship winning third season, when he led the ACC in assists, had a 3.3 assist to turnover ratio.

On the last play of the game after two missed Virginia Tech free throws, and with no time outs, Rohde brought the ball up court and got a pretty decent look from the baseline at the buzzer.  It could have been the shot of legends. (I wrote about Reece Beekman’s winner vs Syracuse here.)   It should have been the shot of legends.  But not in this trainwreck of a season.

Plus

At 6:23 remaining in the second half, Virginia was down 56-69 and still in the midst of their 21st 3.5+ minute scoring drought of the season.  Virginia had gotten a couple of stops by switching to a zone on defense, because who practices against a zone facing Virginia.  But as soon as the Cavaliers went back to the Pack Line, Tech’s 6’ 8” Tobi Lawal got three mismatches on 6-foot nothing Dai Dai Ames in the paint.  It did not go well.  Rohde caught fire – 9 points in six minutes – and Taine Murray scored on a fast break.  [Side note: Virginia broke very well on the night, scoring, what, a decade-high 12 points on the break.  And the team looked good doing it, too!]  The team went 6/6 from the line down the stretch and Virginia was at 74-75.

Minus

It was a thrilling finish and Virginia did well to make a game of it.  But the game was only close because Tech pulled a Virginia-last-year-vs-NC State 1/8 from the line.  Jayden Young (79% on the year) went 1/3, Ben Hammond (77%) went 0/1, and Mylyjael Poteat (73%) bricked both of his free throws. 

Read More: Aidan's Five Takeaways

Minus

Tech 11/21 from deep while Virginia was 8/23 from beyond the arc.  That was the ball game.  Both teams fought to a standstill on the boards with Tech having just a 31-30 advantage.  It was a turnover free kind of game – Virginia won that one, 7-4, but Tech won the game by converting 52% from three.  Every time Virginia nudged closer, Tech hit a three.  Virginia has to win the three-point battle to win games.

Minus

The refs did Virginia no favors.  Buchanan’s second foul was a phantom call.  During timeout Ron Sanchez complained to the refs and was T’ed up for his troubles.  We don’t know what he said, but he looked relatively calm on the replay.  It was a discretionary call by the refs, to be sure, but it didn’t help the cause.  (Jaden Schutt canned both free throws.)  Six seconds left in the game, Virginia down by three, everyone knows that the ball is going to Isaac McKneely and he was fouled on his three-point attempt.  Only the refs ruled that foul was before McKneely got in his shooting motion.  Isaac only got to shoot a pair of free throws when he could have just as easily been shooting three.  Games are won or lost on the margins, and Virginia, well, they’re a marginal team.  That’s all it takes to get the loss.

Next Up:  It’s a quick turnaround heads to Pitt on Monday, February 3rd.  Game time is 7:00pm and the game is on ESPN.

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