MBB: Virginia begins post-Bennett era with 65-56 win over Campbell

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia opened the Ron Sanchez era in winning fashion Wednesday night, holding off a pesky Campbell squad, 65-56, in front of 13,414 fans at John Paul Jones Arena.

Sanchez — holding the title of interim head coach after serving as Tony Bennett’s assistant — got his first glimpse of his new-look Cavaliers in a live game setting that counted, and liked what he saw for the most part.

“I liked that we had multiple guys in double figures scoring,” the coach said of his first victory as head man in Charlottesville. “And we shared the ball. When we ran our stuff, we ran it well…

“But overall, honestly, just, we took care of the basketball, did a decent job there, did a decent job on the glass — I think we should have grabbed a few more offensive rebounds, something we’ll address. But overall, we’ll just look at the film and we’ll celebrate what we did well, and we’ll get to work on the things that need improvement.”

When asked if Bennett had reached out to him earlier in the day, Sanchez had a surprising response.

“Actually, I called him. I said I’m beating you to the punch in case you were thinking about calling me,” Sanchez said with a grin. “He said, ‘Why would I call you today?’ That’s what he said to me. I said, ‘I don’t know… we have a game?’ But no, he didn’t say anything, he just said hello, he said good luck, he said I’m thinking about you and I’m praying for you. That was it.”

Sanchez’s Wahoos (1-0) looked a lot like his predecessor’s teams did on Wednesday: they grinded out possessions and looked for the best shot on offense, while playing tough and aggressive defensively for 40 minutes.

UVA limited the Fighting Camels (1-1) to 38-percent shooting both from the field (21 for 56) and the 3-point line (11 for 29). The Hoos shot 57 percent from the floor (24 of 42) and 46 percent from downtown (6 of 13).

Sanchez went with junior Andrew Rohde at the 1-spot, revealing in his postgame comments that the decision was made on Tuesday to start the St. Thomas transfer after recent intense competition in practice.

Rohde missed both of his field-goal attempts and split a pair from the charity stripe, finishing with 1 point, but dished out 5 assists in his 33 minutes of action. He turned the ball over four times.

Joining Rohde in the starting five were junior Isaac McKneely and sophomore Blake Buchanan along with newcomers Elijah Saunders (San Diego State) and TJ Power (Duke).

McKneely (11 points), Saunders (11) and Buchanan (10) each finished with double figures in the scoring column, while first-year forward Jacob Cofie was mighty impressive all around in his collegiate debut.

Cofie led all scorers with 16 points (7 for 8 FG; 2 for 3 from deep) to go along with 6 rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal in 29 minutes off the bench.

“That first bucket, I was ready to go,” said the 6-foot-10, 232-pound Seattle native. “I was ready to get more, I was excited and motivated.”

Another freshman, Ishan Sharma, showed off his perimeter shooting abilities, sinking a pair from 3-point range in his 9-minute debut.

The Hoos got off to a slow start, not connecting on their first field-goal until McKneely drained his first triple of the season at the 17:36 mark of the opening half.

The Camels hung around with their 3-point shooting, cutting Virginia’s lead to one, 20-19, with 6:22 left until halftime, but the Hoos used a late 12-2 spurt — highlighted by back-to-back corner 3s by Cofie and Sharma — to push their advantage to double digits, 35-23, before Campbell sank a last-second 3-ball to trim it back to nine by the break.

Saunders went to work out of the locker room, scoring 7 of UVA’s first 9 points of the second half — all inside the paint — capped by an and-1 that made it 44-32 with 16:05 remaining.

Campbell refused to go away, however, answering with consecutive 3-pointers (with a Virginia turnover sandwiched in between) to get back within two possessions less than two minutes later.

The Camels were only able to trim their deficit to five — twice in the final two minutes — from there on out, as Virginia clamped down on the defensive end. The Hoos forced two shot-clock violations (sound familiar?) in three Campbell possessions, and then went 6 for 8 from the free-throw line across the final 1:35 to seal the victory.

UVA won the rebounding battle, 32-25, and dished out a total of 17 assists on the 24 made buckets. Buchanan matched Rohde’s team- and game-high of 5 assists to go with his game-highs of 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“I feel a lot more natural this year,” the big man from Idaho admitted. “I’m not reactive, I know where to be, I know what to expect and I’ve already done a year of college basketball, so the game is a lot slower this year than it was last year.”

Saunders was in foul trouble for the majority of the contest, playing only 17 minutes and 58 seconds before fouling out with 1:46 left. Despite that, he was 5 of 8 from the field (0 for 1 from long range) and added 5 rebounds (2 offensive). Cofie insisted that Wahoo fans are far from seeing what all his new teammate is capable of.

“He’s a great player,” Cofie said of Saunders. “I feel like you guys haven’t experienced how good of a player he is yet. I feel like you guys will see soon.”

Virginia outscored Campbell in the paint, 28-12, and converted 9 Camel turnovers into 16 points on the other end. The Cavaliers coughed up the rock 11 times, leading to 14 Campbell points.

Senior Taine Murray added 5 points in his 19 minutes off the bench. Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames, who many — including Camels coach Kevin McGeehan — believed would get the nod at point guard, finished with 2 points, 2 boards and an assist in a little more than 10 minutes off the bench.

The Hoos finished the night shooting 11 of 18 (61 percent) from the free-throw line.

Nobody on Campbell’s roster reached double-digit scoring, with Colby Duggan’s 9 points leading the team. Three other starters — Caleb Zurliene, Cam Gregory and Nolan Dorsey — each chipped in with 8. Of the 10 Camels that checked into the game, eight of them knocked down at least one triple.

Jon Golden Photo Gallery

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA began its 120th season of men’s basketball with the non-conference win
• UVA is 25-2 in its last 27 season-opening games
• The Cavaliers are 97-23 all-time in season-opening games
• Ron Sanchez won his first game at interim head coach at Virginia
• Sanchez improved to 3-3 overall in season openers as a head coach (2-3 at Charlotte)
• UVA shot 57.1 percent in the win, including 46.2 percent (6 of 13) from 3-point range
• UVA out-scored Campbell, 28-12, in the paint
• UVA led 35-26 at the half, shooting 63.6 percent (14 of 22) from the field and 60 percent (6 of 10) from 3-point range in the first half
• UVA improved to 99-10 in non-conference action at John Paul Jones Arena since 2009-10
• UVA forced two shot clock violations
• UVA won the rebound battle 32-25

Series Notes

• This was the first meeting between the teams
• UVA improved to 103-30 all-time vs. Coastal Athletic Association opponents

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jacob Cofie (16), Elijah Saunders (11), Isaac McKneely (11), Blake Buchanan (10),
• Cofie reached double figures in his collegiate debut
• Cofie started 5 of 5 from the field including 2 of 2 from 3-point range, and finished 7 of 8 (2 of 3 3’s)
• Cofie’s 16 points were the most in a Virginia debut since Jayden Gardner netted 18 in a season-opening loss to Navy on Nov. 9, 2021
• Saunders reached double figures in his UVA debut (7th career)
• Buchanan reached double figures for the second time
• Buchanan had a career-high five assists and tied a career high with three blocks
• McKneely reached double figures for the 27th time
• TJ Power made his first collegiate start in his UVA debut
• Dai Dai Ames and Ishan Sharma (6 points) also made their UVA debuts

UP NEXT

Virginia will host another nonconference opponent, Coppin State, on Monday night at JPJ (7 p.m., ACC Network Extra).

Quick postgame recap after UVA’s season-opening win over Campbell https://t.co/fWDhTYxCys

— Jerry Ratcliffe (@JerryRatcliffe) November 7, 2024