Traudt, Shedrick make JWilly’s coaching debut a success with easy win in Italy

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Different city, different opponent, even a different head coach, but same result for Virginia’s basketball team for its second game in a 10-day exhibition tour of Italy.

The Cavaliers, paced by freshman Isaac Traudt’s 19 points, blasted Orange 1 Basket Bassano, by a 71-41 count on Tuesday night in Florence. UVA had previously steamrolled Stella Azzurra 76-24 on Saturday in Rome.

For this outing, Tony Bennett turned over the coaching reins to associate head coach Jason Williford.

Traudt, a 6-foot-9 forward from Grand Island, Nebraska, led the Wahoos with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, coming off Saturday’s game when he scored 8 points.

Kadin Shedrick, showing strong consistency, scored 12 points, had 2 assists and a steal after posting 13 points and 7 rebounds against Stella Azzurra over the weekend. Francisco Caffaro added 11 points, while Kihei Clark had 5 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. Taine Murray added 6 points and 4 assists, while Leon Bond had 2 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

Transfer Ben Vander Plas, Reece Beekman and Issac McKneely all sat out the game. Bennett is resting three players each game in order to distribute equal playing time to the team.

UVA led 15-11 after the first quarter but outscored Orange 1 by a 20-5 count in the second. The Cavaliers led 58-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Of course, this trip isn’t all basketball. It’s about team-bonding, building chemistry both on and off the court in addition to the educational experience of gaining a feel for the Italian culture and history with plenty of sight-seeing excursions built into the trip.

UVA’s next game is Thursday in Rappallo.