Shoddy defense, poor shooting spells doom for UVA

By Jerry Ratcliffe

During the Tony Bennett era, Virginia seemed to always find a way to beat Syracuse in the Dome. Bennett owned the Orange (12-2), including a 6-2 record up in the frozen tundra, and the last five in Syracuse.

All that didn’t matter Saturday night. It all went out the window — if the Dome had a window — as the host Orange demolished UVA, 84-70, ending the regular season for both teams.

Cavaliers interim coach Ron Sanchez said his team’s goal was to avoid playing on the first day of next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte. Mission accomplished.

Win or lose Saturday night, Virginia had a lock on ninth-place (a five-way tie) in league standings, a first-round bye and a date with 8th-seeded Georgia Tech at high noon next Wednesday. The winner of that one faces top-seeded Duke.

Bummer.

If Virginia can’t discover more energy than it displayed in Syracuse, it’s stay in Charlotte will be brief. Sanchez couldn’t figure out why the Cavaliers got their doors blown off in the first half Saturday night when the Orange rolled to a 43-26 lead.

“That is just unacceptable,” Sanchez. “We are better than that. We did not compete hard enough to do what we needed to do defensively.”

Syracuse (13-18, 7-13 ACC) exposed all of Virginia’s warts. The Orange, led by center Eddie Lampkin’s 25 points, 10 rebounds, scored 42 points in the paint, controlled the boards 31-17 and physically dominated the Cavaliers with defense.

Meanwhile, UVA (15-16, 8-12) experienced its first losing regular season since 2010. The Wahoos defense, especially in the first half, was atrocious, an embarrassment to the Pack-Line.

Syracuse made 59.6 percent (31 of 52) for the game, the highest number against UVA this season.

In 500 games under Bennett, UVA gave up 80 points or more only a dozen times. This season alone, Cavaliers opponents scored at least 80 points seven times.

“[Lampkin] took advantage of our younger guys down there (in the paint),” Sanchez said. “We tried to trap him, double him. We just didn’t do a good enough job. That’s been a kind of kryptonite for us this season versus really good interior players.”

Normally, Virginia answers with good offense — particularly from the perimeter — but that part of the game plan was out of order.

The Cavaliers, who ranked No. 22 nationally in 3-point percentage coming in, couldn’t throw a beach ball into the ocean. They made 3 of 15 attempts from the arc, sharpshooter Isaac McKneely was 1 of 6, Andrew Rohde 0-2 and Dai Dai Ames 1-2.

When Virginia can’t play effective defense, it’s not good, but still can win if it’s shooting the ball well. When the shooting is also off, the Cavaliers have practically no chance.

Freshman Jacob Cofie led the way with 13 points and Ames added 10, the only players in double figures.

Steamrolled in the first half, Sanchez told the team in the locker room that it wasn’t about X’s and O’s, that it was more about energy and playing harder, a message that resonated 20 minutes too late.

Virginia outscored Syracuse 44-41 in the second half. Day late, dollar short.

Afterward, redshirt freshman big man Anthony Robinson (8 points, 6 rebounds) said that Sanchez told the team not to dwell on the trip north and to reset, looking toward the “third season” (non-conference games, ACC games, postseason).

Sanchez is looking forward to the ACC Tournament as a fresh start.

“We had a rough start to conference play, and to be able to right the ship and end up [No. 9] is a credit to our team and our coaching staff,” Sanchez said. “Now it’s time for postseason play, so there’s got to be a level of excitement from all of us.”