Red-hot McKneely quiets Wake crowd with season-high 27 points

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Out of all the field goals Isaac McKneely made Wednesday night in Winston-Salem, his favorite was his last 3-pointer of the evening with six minutes remaining in the game.

Host Wake Forest, which rarely loses at home, had rallied back to cut Virginia’s lead to 66-64 during a 10-1 Deacons run at the 6:52 mark. UVA freshman Jacob Cofie made two free throws a few seconds later to boost the lead to 68-64, but Wake was desperate and the crowd had heated up to fuel a comeback.

On the ensuing play, Wake kept attacking the paint, but missed a shot, the rebound up for grabs. Virginia guard Andrew Rohde grabbed the ball, but his momentum found him sailing out of bounds. In maybe the most heads-up play of the night, Rohde, in mid-air, called timeout, which allowed the Cavaliers to keep possession.

During that timeout, Coach Ron Sanchez drew up a play for McKneely, Virginia’s sniper, who was having another good night. Play resumed and McKneely delivered with a 3-pointer that gave his team — a 7.5-point underdog — a 71-64 lead in the hostile environment.

With that bucket, Virginia scored on 7 of its last 8 possessions to seal the upset and stave off a furious Wake rally, the Cavaliers winning 83-75.

McKneely finished with a season-high 27 points, making 10 of 14 field-goal attempts, 4 of 7 from Bonusphere. None felt better and were more important than his last triple of the night.

Asked about his favorite shot of the night, McKneely, who’s called iMac by his teammates and coaches, pointed to that specific 3-pointer.

“There’s one toward the end where [Wake] made a run, cut it to like three or four and then I hit a big 3,” McKneely said. “That’s why it was my favorite, right there … it silenced the crowd a little bit.”

McKneely’s shot also silenced Wake’s offense a little — nah, a lot — from that point on. The Deacs couldn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.

The junior’s ability to fill the net was crucial on a night when Wake Forest was desperate for a win. The Deacons had been knocked off the NCAA Tournament bubble in its previous outing, a bad loss at NC State over the weekend, so beating Virginia was a priority.

Taking advantage of UVA’s lack of size and experience in the frontcourt, and with the Cavaliers minus their most physical inside player, injured redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson, Wake was relentless in taking the ball inside. The Deacs scored an eye-popping 52 points in the paint.

Virginia’s answer had to come from the perimeter, with the Cavaliers coming into the game ranked No. 36 in the nation in 3-point shooting accuracy. Problem was, Wake was the ACC’s No. 1 defense against the 3-pointer.

Didn’t matter. UVA smartly used its screens to open up shots for its bombers and they came through, making 10 of 22 triples. The Cavaliers scored 51 points outside the paint.

“I thought McKneely was the best player on the court tonight,” Wake coach Steve Forbes said.

Two of his own players weren’t too shabby, as Hunter Sallis put up 25 points and Cameron Hildreth 22. Most of those points came down on the block. McKneely’s was more challenging from the perimeter, although he was crafty enough to drive inside the arc for mid-range jumpers.

“They were trying to take me out of the game, deny me,” McKneely said. “Once I see that first one go down, I just get in the groove. I was making them and my teammates were giving me good passes. I was feeling good tonight.”

Forbes was complimentary of Virginia’s offense, noting that the Cavaliers just kept screening until they found a suitable shot.

“We wanted to limit [Virginia’s] 3’s,” Forbes said. “They ran their offense with great pace.”

Wake had no answer from behind the arc. The Deacs are not a good 3-point shooting team and they showed why, making only 2 of 14 attempts from long range, and one of those was actually a fluke basket, a lob pass to Efton Reid that actually went in for a 3.

McKneely started hot, making 5 of 8 field-goal attempts in the first half (3 of 5 from the arc), leading the Cavaliers to a season-high 44-33 halftime lead. He didn’t let up after the break.

After UVA appeared intimidated at UNC over the weekend, the Cavaliers played loose at Wake. Maybe it was because Sanchez told the team going in that “we have nothing to lose … we can play spoiler,” according to McKneely.

All the pressure was on Wake, which for the fourth straight year has wilted at season’s end. Virginia may have knocked the Deacs out of contention for the NCAAs.

Sanchez was thrilled about his team pulling out the win, improving to 14-14 on the season, 7-10 in the ACC, with only three games to play (Clemson comes to Charlottesville on Saturday).

“We’re fun to watch offensively,” Sanchez said. “Unselfish basketball. The guys are playing their roles to a really high level with tremendous buy-in.”

He continues to be impressed by McKneely, the team’s leading scorer, who surpassed 1,000 career points at Carolina last Saturday.

“We drew up a couple of actions for him and he delivered,” Sanchez said. “To be able to do that (27 points) as a marked man on the scouting report, it’s really impressive. So when he’s going, our job is to make sure that we continue to find him and feed him and let him carry the offensive load.”

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA improved to 14-14 overall, 7-10 ACC
• Virginia is 5-8 away from home and 4-6 in true road contests
• UVA scored a season-high 83 points
• UVA shot 63 percent (17 of 27) en route to a 44-33 halftime lead
• The 44 points marked a season high in any half for UVA and most since scoring 45 points in the second half at Boston College on Feb. 28, 2024
• Six players scored four or more points apiece in the first stanza led by Isaac McKneely’s 13 points
• UVA (10 3-pointers) has made six or more 3-pointers in 26 games
• UVA allowed a season-high 52 points in the paint
• Virginia is 177-12 all-time when scoring 70 or more points since 2009-10 (9-1 in 2024-25)
• Virginia is 48-1 all-time when scoring 80 or more points (2-0 in 2024-25) since 2009-10

Series Notes

• Virginia is 72-72 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including an 19-42 mark in Winston-Salem, in the series that dates to 1910-11
• UVA has won 13 of the last 15 meetings in the series
• UVA has won six of the last seven games between the teams at Joel Coliseum, where UVA 9-18 all-time vs. the Demon Deacons
• Ron Sanchez has posted a 2-2 mark against Wake Forest (1-2 as head coach at Charlotte)

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Isaac McKneely (27), Dai Dai Ames (14), Andrew Rohde (13), Jacob Cofie (12)
• McKneely netted his seventh 20-point game (12 career) with a season-high 27 points
• McKneely reached double figures for the 22nd time (5th consecutive, 48 career)
• McKneely has made multiple 3-pointers in 21 games
• Ames reached double figures for the seventh consecutive game and 11th time this season (19 career)
• Rohde reached double figures for the 12th time (43 career)
• Cofie reached double figures for the ninth time
• Cofie had season highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (10)
• Anthony Robinson missed the game with a foot injury