Jay Huff has played his way into ACC Player of Year conversation

By Jerry Ratcliffe

When Kenpom.com basketball analytics released its top 10 candidates for national player of the year a couple of days ago, there was only one ACC player on the list: Virginia senior Jay Huff.

If that is the case, then Huff certainly should be a strong candidate for ACC Player of the Year.

Huff ranked No. 6 on Kenpom’s list, and not a Blue Devil, Tar Heel or Seminole in sight. While it was teammate Sam Hauser who was attracting a lot of preseason attention for such awards, right now it’s Huff’s world and the rest of the ACC is just living in it.

The numbers that the 7-foot-1 Durham native has been putting up are eye-popping, particularly in his last two outings in essentially back-to-back games against Georgia Tech and Syracuse.

In those two games, Huff averaged 19.5 points, made 15 of 22 shots from the field (68 percent), was 3 of 4 from 3-point range, was a perfect 6 of 6 from the free throw line, had 17 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.

Huff ranks in the nation’s top 90 in offensive rating, 2-point percentage, 3-point percentage, shot block rate and defensive rebounds. That’s a rare combination for any college player, let alone one who is 7-1. He’s also in the top 15 nationally in blocked shots with 32, 19th in 2-point percentage (71.4 percent) and is making 45.7 percent of his 3-point field goals, 88 percent of his free throws.

Huff is No. 17 in the ACC in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.31), second in blocked shots and second in field goal percentage.

Those numbers are almost mindboggling when you put them all together.

If you’re looking for thrills, look no further. Huff’s dunks come in varieties, including reverse slams, one-hand and two-hand slams, and a variation of alley-oop dunks mostly on precision-timed lobs from 5-9 point guard Kihei Clark.

If that’s not enough, then don’t let him get near the top of the key with an open 3-point shot. That’s his favorite place on the floor and he’ll knock it down before you can blink. Just ask Georgia Tech. Huff nailed four in a row from that spot early in the game to stun the Yellow Jackets.

Fans thrilled to watch Clark and Huff team up on some backdoor oop-slams against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone last Monday night.

“That’s just something against Syracuse’s zone, every once in a while you’re going to get one of those,” Huff said after scoring a career-high 21 points. “I think we can definitely exploit that, in a lot of games. It’s hard to stop Kihei when he gets going down the lane, and if you stop him then he’s really good at making that pass.”

Huff is a team player who loves watching his teammates score as well. Over the last two games he and Hauser have combined for 40 points or more in both.

“Against a team like Syracuse, with a zone that they play, a pass fake, and then kick to someone different typically works well,” Huff said. “Syracuse left [Hauser] open a few times at the top, which you can’t do. It’s just got to be the biggest no-no on the scouting report.”

If that trio can continue to work defenses as they have over the past week, there may be no stopping Virginia.