Virginia Basketball Storms Past Villanova 70-60 | Key Takeaways

Matt Newton | Nov 16, 2024

Virginia Athletic

Virginia basketball improved to 3-0 on the season and picked up its first major conference victory by storming past Villanova for a 70-60 win in the Hall of Fame Series at CFG Bank Arena on Friday evening in Baltimore. Here are five quick takeaways from UVA's win:

This could be a great three-point shooting Virginia team

Virginia's recipe on offense this season might just be to live and die by the three. UVA shot 14/25 beyond the arc (56%) and six different Cavaliers made at least one triple. Villanova's perimeter defense left a lot to be desired, and some of the looks Virginia got against the Wildcats will not be as easy to produce against better teams. But after a slow start in which they passed up too many open shots, the Hoos heated up from beyond the arc and aggressively hunted those shots. Whereas last season UVA relied too much on Isaac McKneely (more on him later) for the team's three-point production, this year's Virginia squad has a range of perimeter threats, with as many as six or seven different Cavaliers being capable of knocking down a three at any given moment. 25+ three-point attempts should be the norm for this team.

Nearly perfect Isaac McKneely

While I've just spent some time talking about the diversity of options Virginia has for three-point shooters, Friday night was about Isaac McKneely, who led all scorers with 23 points and shot 8/9 from the floor, including a perfect 6/6 from beyond the arc. McKneely was as ultra efficient as the numbers suggest, but he was also aggressive in looking for his shot. Villanova foolishly left him open a few times, but Virginia also executed excellent offense and ball movement to create some of McKneely's opportunities. When the West Virginia native is on like he was on Friday night, the Cavaliers are going to be tough to beat.

Read Val’s Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here: The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Lights Up Villanova

A bounce back game for Andrew Rohde

After missing the previous game with a back injury, Andrew Rohde returned to the floor against Villanova, but it was clear that his back injury was still ailing him as he was grimacing quite a bit during the game. With that said, it didn't seem to be too much of a problem for Rohde, who has been on the receiving end of much slander from the UVA fanbase since he arrived before last season. Rohde had one of the best games of his collegiate career on Friday night, knocking down a couple of early three-pointers off the bench and finishing with a statline of 13 points on 5/8 shooting and 3/5 from beyond the arc to go along with three rebounds, one steal, and four assists to two turnovers. Rohde had a couple of nice floaters in the paint and made some great passes in the half court offense, but when he is hitting open threes, it has enormous benefits for the spacing of Virginia's offense. It's only one game, but the Cavaliers will certainly be hoping this performance boosts Rohde's confidence moving forward.

Trouble with the press?

Virginia's offense executed at a high level in the half court and Dai Dai Ames, Andrew Rohde, and even Isaac McKneely combined to give the Cavaliers a more than serviceable level of point guard play. The lone exception was in facing Villanova's full-court press, as the Wildcats succeeded in speeding up the Hoos and forcing them to commit a few turnovers in the back court. UVA turned the ball over 12 times and Villanova scored 12 points off of those takeaways. Had Villanova been able to execute its own offense at a higher rate and play more sound half-court defense, the Cavaliers' struggles to break the press might have cost them. On this night, it didn't, but UVA should expect the next opponents on the schedule to follow Nova's example in implementing the full-court press. Something for Virginia to work on in practice this week.

Rebounding concerns

Speaking of things the Cavaliers have to work on, the Wildcats had a big advantage on the glass in this matchup. Villanova outrebounded Virginia 34-27, a product of good positioning but also just aggressiveness and physicality in pursuit of 50-50 balls that UVA simply didn't match. The Wildcats grabbed 12 offensive rebounds (as compared to three for Virginia) and the Cavaliers were fortunate that Villanova scored only 11 second-chance points off of those offensive rebounds. Virginia will face even greater tests from a physicality standpoint next week against Tennessee (and then Baylor or St. John's); the Hoos must do better on the glass.

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