UVA Women’s Basketball Falls to No. 3 Notre Dame 95-54 | Key Takeaways

Luke Lamberson | Dec 29, 2024

Notre Dame Athletics

Virginia women’s basketball lost 95-54 against Notre Dame to fall to 8-6 and 0-2 in the ACC. There were not many positives on Sunday as the Hoos fell behind early and never came back. Let’s look at some takeaways. 

The Hoos actually started well...

Getting out to a 4-0 lead and sitting at 9-9 halfway through the first quarter, UVA looked fairly comfortable. Noyan, Lattimore, and Johnson were on the board early. The Hoos took high-quality shots, protected the basketball and gave Notre Dame trouble with their 3-2 zone. After a number of slow starts this season, it appeared that Coach Mox’s team was turning a corner and potentially poised to spark an upset reminiscent of last season.

...but then a 28-0 run by Notre Dame ended this one very early

A team that is on the road and looking to pull a large upset cannot afford to make mistakes and the Wahoos made a lot. A few poor out of control shots and bad turnovers led to 10 quick Notre Dame points. The Irish switched to a zone on defense and UVA simply could not generate any offensive looks.

Notre Dame’s offense is potent and they punished the UVA zone repeatedly. As silly as it sounds looking at the final score, I thought the Hoos were okay in their half-court defensive sets, but they scored so little that they rarely were able to actually set up their defense. Although still overcommitting on some dribble penetration sequences, UVA actually held the Irish to 23% from three in the first half.

Despite not scoring in five minutes to end the first quarter, Coach Mox only made one substitution, Breona Hurd for Paris Clark, before putting Clark back in the game. For a team that often plays 10 players, it was surprising to see Coach Mox stick with the same lineup for so long. The run continued through the second quarter as the Hoos went 10 minutes without scoring. By the time Lattimore hit a free throw with 5:17 left in the second quarter, the Irish led 37-10 and would never look back.

The offensive issues worsened

A 22 point fourth quarter from the Cavaliers made the final offensive output seem a little better, but this was a very poor offensive showing from UVA. Scoring only 32 points in the first three frames, the Hoos shot 29% from the floor and 23% from deep. The team looked sloppy for extended stretches, forcing shots and passes and never really settling in. Paris Clark really struggled, shooting 3/17 from the floor.

In a game where UVA’s guards are not playing well, the lack of interior presence becomes a glaring issue. Last season, Cam Taylor could have found some buckets when Johnson or Clark were struggling, but that player has just not emerged this season. Lattimore struggled to generate looks and no one was able to create any separation on the offensive end. The Hoos must find some interior scoring to be competitive this season. 

Notre Dame is elite, but UVA was outclassed

The Irish are national title contenders and Hannah Hidalgo will be a finalist for the national player of the year. But in year three of the Coach Mox era, this result is a large step backwards. After the first five minutes of this one, Notre Dame completely dominated every facet of the game and UVA had no answers.

Perhaps even more concerning was the Irish’s 39 fast break points on only 14 Virginia turnovers. The Hoos lacked their trademark hustle and grit that has made the last few seasons so fun. There is still a lot of time left in the season for this young team to come together and find their identity, but it is going to need to start happening soon.

The Hoos will look to get back on track against Wake Forest at 7pm on Thursday, January 2nd in John Paul Jones.

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