Virginia hoping to bounce back strong against Saint Francis in afternoon contest
Posted on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, 7:38 pm
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
Jay Huff celebrates with Trey Murphy III. Photo credit: Johnnie Izquierdo / Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Last time out, when then-No. 4 Virginia was stunned 61-60 by heavy underdog San Francisco, Tony Bennett left his team with a strong message.
“Look at it in the mirror, grow from it, forget about it,” Bennett told the Cavaliers.
Past UVA teams haven’t had any difficulty bouncing back from losses for the most part, but there are a lot of new working parts on this squad, whose personality is still developing. Bennett also cautioned his team about getting heady about rankings.
“Nothing is assumed just because of what’s on the front of your jersey,” the coach said.
This afternoon at 4 o’clock, the now-15th ranked Cavaliers host Saint Francis (Pa.) in the home opener at John Paul Jones Arena (ACC Network). The visiting Red Flash are 1-1 and should easily grab UVA’s attention after they knocked off Pitt, 80-70, in the opener five days ago. St. Francis’ loss came at the hands of UMBC.
For Wahoo fans panicking after the upset by San Francisco, take it for what it was worth. Anyone who has followed Virginia since Bennett has been here knows that he prefers to use early games to tinker with his team, find out what chemistry certain lineups or combinations have with one another, discover the strengths and weaknesses of individual players and the team itself.
Be reminded that UVA has lost only eight regular season nonconference games to non Power 5 teams during the Bennett era.
In 2013-14, the Cavaliers lost to VCU and Green Bay, but still finished first in the ACC (16-2) and had a 30-win season. In 2015-16, an early season loss to George Washington didn’t keep UVA from finishing second in the ACC (13-5) in a 29-8 campaign.
San Francisco exposed some warts to the rest of us that Bennett and his staff were already aware of. After losing physical inside players like Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key, there really are ideal replacements, although those could develop as things move forward.
Virginia has played more of a 5-out offense thus far, with players who could spread the floor, hit the 3-pointer, and drive to the hoop. Still, the Cavaliers had trouble finishing on some of those drives, particularly 5-9 point guard Kihei Clark, who has struggled with this some in the past.
Freshman Reece Beekman, a more physical and bigger guard at 6-5, may benefit by playing alongside Clark in the same lineup because Beekman has no problem finishing.
“I think some of the concerns or question marks we had showed and they didn’t get answered,” Bennett said after the San Francisco loss. “We need to go to work and say, ‘What can we do to be better?’ and use this in the best way possible. That’s all I know how to do.”
For those wondering, by the way, San Francisco lost its game following the Dons’ upset over Virginia. SF lost 84-71 to Rhode Island, also at the Mohegan Sun event, evening the Dons to 2-2 on the season.
Meanwhile, Saint Francis boasts senior Mark Flagg, who connected on 13 of 17 shots from the field and didn’t miss a shot against Pitt. He’ll come into the Virginia game averaging 13.5 points and 7 rebounds. Junior Myles Thompson chipped in 13 points in the win over Pitt, and isn’t afraid of the ACC. Last season he scored a career-high 23 points at Florida State and the year before posted 14 at Virginia Tech.
Senior Ramiir Dixon-Conover hit for a career-high 21 in the opener against Pitt. Freshmen Maxwell Land and Ronell Giles Jr., scored 12 and 10 points, respectively vs. Pitt as freshmen accounted for 38 percent of the Red Flashes points in that upset.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Sam Hauser leads Virginia in scoring and rebounding at 14.5 and 7.0, and is shooting 60 percent from the field, 50 percent from behind the arc and 100 percent from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Jay Huff is average 9.0 points, 5.5. Rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, and Clark has added 8.0 points per game.
Other Cavaliers have show flashes in the first two games, with Rice transfer Trey Murphy III scoring 21 in his UVA debut against Towson. Beekman had a team-high 11 points in the San Francisco loss, and Justin McKoy had career highs in points (11) and rebounds (6) in that defeat.
McKoy summed things up nicely.
“We take [the San Francisco loss] for what it is, San Francisco played a great game,” McKoy said. “They definitely out-hustled us, had more energy than us. Everything is a learning experience.”
