McKneely, Groves are lighting up opponents from Bonusphere

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Pitt coach Jeff Capel knows that defending Virginia is sort of like playing “Whack-a-Mole.” Shut down one 3-point shooter, and another pops up. Shut that one down, and all of a sudden a guard is driving for a layup or passing for an alley-oop.

The Panthers arrive at John Paul Jones Arena tonight (7 o’clock, ACC Network) on a hot streak with three straight wins, but Capel realizes he will have to pick his poison in an attempt to control the Cavaliers’ offense.

Here’s part of his dilemma — UVA sophomore Isaac McKneely has climbed back to the top of the nation’s best 3-point shooters. McKneely is making 47.97 percent of his long-range bombs, and if he gets hot, watch out.

“IMac,” as the sharpshooter is called, sometimes “McThreely,” has had to make room for teammate Jake Groves out in Bonusphere, but there’s plenty of space for the duo to operate.

Groves is actually making 3-pointers at a higher clip than McKneely, but has attempted far less. The transfer from Oklahoma is shooting 51.4 percent from beyond the arc, but has attempted only 72, which doesn’t qualify him among the NCAA’s top 50 in the category. McKneely has already made 50 triples.

It presents a true dilemma for Capel’s Panthers. If it were only McKneely, then Pitt might be able to crowd him, run him off the line. But with Groves bombing away, what is one to do?

“They’re shooting the heck out of the basketball from the 3-point line,” Capel said this week. “Anytime you have guys that can shoot, that adds a lot. It increases your spacing, it opens things up even more for [Reece] Beekman with his driving or [Ryan] Dunn with his driving.

“It spreads your defense out and makes you have to communicate more. When you have a guy like that can stretch the floor like [Groves] can, he’s a really good shooter, a really good player, and has added another weapon to their offense.”

In last Saturday’s UVA win at Florida State, Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said that the Cavaliers’ 3-point shooting was the difference in the game. Virginia made 10 of 18 for the game (56 percent), and was 6 of 8 from the arc (75 percent) in the second half.

McKneely, who scored a career-high 29 points, made 5 of 7. Groves, who was in foul trouble for part of the game was 2 of 2. However, Groves is 16 of 22 from the arc over his last five games coming into tonight’s game. That’s a sizzling, almost unfathomable 73 percent (see related story about Tony Bennett nearing a coaching milestone in tonight’s game).