Rohde surprise starter at PG, extension of Sanchez on floor

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Exactly 13,414 people inside John Paul Jones Arena, including visiting Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan, were flummoxed when Andrew Rohde was announced as Virginia’s starting point guard for Wednesday night’s season opener.

All the preseason hype had been directed toward Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames, especially after Florida State point guard transfer Jalen Warley left the program a week before the opener, having never worn the UVA uniform. The other point guard, redshirt freshman Christian Bliss, sat on the sidelines nursing a foot injury.

Rohde wasn’t really mentioned during the preseason as a possibility, so when No. 4 took the floor to start the game, and finished with the second-most floor time on the night (32 minutes, 41 seconds), Wahoo fans were taken aback.

So was Campbell’s McGeehan, who gameplanned to face Ames.

“Well, I was expecting Ames to start, so that was an adjustment,” McGeehan said.

Virginia interim coach Ron Sanchez, making his debut after replacing legendary Tony Bennett, didn’t actually settle on Rohde until Tuesday, explaining that he and the staff talked about it and decided to give the nod to the junior because of experience.

“There’s been a battle at that position in the summer, in the fall, and we just decided to go with a little more experience,” Sanchez said after UVA’s 65-56 win over the Fighting Camels. “We’re not an experienced team to begin with. We don’t have a lot of returners and we decided to go with guys that have a deeper understanding of our defensive system.”

Virginia followers know that Bennett’s — now Sanchez’s — Pack-Line defense is challenging for newcomers, so it’s understandable that perhaps Ames doesn’t have it down pat this early in the season. Campbell wasn’t an easy team to open up against because McGeehan uses the old Princeton offense, which features lots of backdoor cuts and kickouts to the perimeter, which requires more defensive discipline.

Rohde was one of the biggest targets of fan criticism last season because of his poor shooting, when he made only 29 percent of his field-goal attempts in 33 games, and 25 percent from 3-point range (43.8 percent from the free-throw line).

While Bennett, now Sanchez, viewed Rohde as a valuable asset for reasons other than his offense, fans weren’t convinced it was worth the trade off.

To his credit, Rohde played a solid floor game Wednesday night, although his shooting was still in question. He missed the only two shots he attempted, but more wisely played the role of facilitator. He had 5 assists and 4 turnovers, played solid defense and got the ball to his playmakers, a big part of what a point guard is supposed to do.

Ames played 10 minutes, took only one shot and missed, made two free throws, had one assist and two rebounds.

All of this was okay with Sanchez, who explained that Rohde was an extension, a bridge between the four teammates on the floor and the head coach.

“He has to settle us down. He can’t speed us up. He has to get iMac (Isaac McKneely) shots. He has to make sure that Elijah (Saunders) gets shots. He has to make sure that TJ (Power) gets shots. His responsibility is to make sure that the guys that are supposed to shoot get those shots, and I think he’s really growing into that role,” Sanchez explained.

That’s exactly what Rohde did, plus Sanchez pointed out that Rohde’s defense is where he has improved most since a year ago. Wahoo fans always recognized that Rohde was a good passer and, for the most part, made good decisions with the ball. Shooting has been a weakness, but Virginia recruited more shooters in the offseason, taking away some of that stress.

“I know that people only look at the stat line, a lot of other factors go into guys impacting a game,” Sanchez said.

Just like fans questioned why guys like Jack Salt got so much playing time under Bennett. Well, it goes back to what Sanchez said. It’s not always about the stat line. Players have roles to fill, roles that coaches require to make their systems work. If those same guys are capable of lighting up the scoreboard, that’s a bonus. If they aren’t, it’s okay, as long as they are surrounded by guys who can.

In this case, unlike last season when UVA was incredibly inefficient offensively, there appears to be a plethora of guys who can fill it up.

The question is, what happens when Virginia goes up a couple of levels in opponents and Rohde faces more athletic, aggressive, in-your-grill point guards. Can he handle it?

Will Ames have to accelerate his ability to play the Pack-Line?

It’s well known, in fact, Sanchez even said it last week, pointing out that Ames has “kind of a boogie to his game,” and “we have to allow him to be him.”

McGeehan said that from his perspective, Rohde did a “nice job” of managing the game and making sure everything was where it needed to be as far as sets.

“But I felt like we also were able to bother him a little bit, that we were a little disruptive with him, where I think Ames would be harder to do that with,” the Camels coach said.

If McGeehan is saying that, what do you think coaches from Tennessee, Florida, SMU and Memphis might think over the next few weeks when gameplanning for the Cavaliers?

Rohde’s teammates had nothing but praise for their teammate.

“He’s a great passer, he sees the floor well, he’s very good at getting us to our spots and trying to get organized,” said sophomore big man Blake Buchanan (10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks).

“He’s more of a leader to me,” said freshman forward Jacob Cofie (team-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting). “If I don’t know where to go, he’s always there for me.”

It’s a long season, and with Warley suddenly gone, Sanchez is likely going to need all three point guards — Rohde, Ames and Bliss — to survive the season.

Still, the sooner Ames gets up to speed, the better.