Virginia ready for NC State rematch as McKneely heats up again

By Jerry Ratcliffe

With all the other issues that have held Virginia’s basketball team back this season, there is one facet of the Cavaliers that may have been overlooked: the 3-point shot.

Is UVA a team that lives and dies with the 3? Statistics would suggest so. In games where the Cavaliers have made at least six 3’s, they are unbeaten at 9-0. When they make less than six triples, Virginia is a very mediocre 4-5.

No wonder teams are preoccupied with knowing where Isaac McKneely is the majority of the time. NC State coach Kevin Keatts certainly has that notation in his game plan for tonight’s rematch between his Wolfpack and UVA (7 p.m., John Paul Jones Arena, ACC Network).

McKneely ranks third in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage at 48.9 percent (44 for 90), but only by about half a percentage point, even though he has attempted fewer triples than anyone else in the NCAA’s top five.

When he dropped six bombs on Georgia Tech a few days ago — two of ‘em nearly touching the floor’s logo — it was too much for the Yellow Jackets to answer.

State’s Keatts certainly plans to have the Wolfpack keep close contact with the Virginia dead eye in tonight’s game. He knows if McKneely goes off, it could be bad news for State.

“Obviously [UVA’s] two guards are really good, and they go as they go,” Keatts said of McKneely and point guard Reece Beekman. “McKneely, when he’s making shots, he’s as good as anybody in the country.”

Keatts said like any good 3-point shooter, McKneely moves well without the ball, something that Virginia’s coaches have instilled in their chief outside threat. Tony Bennett said that the coaches have to sometimes “nudge” McKneely to hunt shots and to take them when he finds them.

“We want him to be more aggressive,” Bennett said. “As long as they’re quality shots, he can take as many as he wants. If great shooters are taking a bunch of bad shots, that’s not going to help anyone except the defense.

“I think having a feel — he’s such a team guy and the way he was brought up and the way his high school played — you have to nudge him forward a little. He’s only a sophomore, so he’s still evolving in his game, his strength and his maturity, physically and mentally.”

Bennett noted the deep 3’s at Georgia Tech and said that McKneely’s range has expanded to 24-to-25 feet, which makes him even more dangerous to opponents.

While McKneely’s contributions will be important in tonight’s rematch between UVA (13-5, 4-3 ACC) and State (13-5, 5-2), Bennett wants to make sure his Cavaliers, sporting the nation’s longest active home winning streak at 20 games, are solid all around, particularly on defense.

In the 16-point loss at Raleigh on Jan. 6, the Wolfpack was more physical, particularly in the paint with D.J. Burns (6-foot-9, 275, at least) and Ben Middlebrooks (6-10, 240) dominating down low.

It was in the waning minutes of that game when Bennett saw something in Jordan Minor, a fight in his game when the results were academic at that point, that prompted the coach to give his sparsely-used grad transfer a start in the next game. Minor has been starting ever since and has given the Cavaliers some stability, some physical presence in the post.

“[Virginia] is starting to find a groove, and just like every coach and every program, it takes you a little time to get kind of a rotation, but I think they’re feeling comfortable with their rotation,” Keatts said. “I like what they’ve done, and obviously Tony has kind of figured things out about his team. When you have a Minor, who’s starting to play a lot better inside, it gives you just a tremendous lift.”

Keatts pointed out what has been discussed in this column in recent days, in Minor’s ability to set screens, and how that had generally been missing in Virginia’s offense.

“He reminds me a lot of the former centers that played for Virginia (a la Jack Salt, Francisco Caffaro), when you talk about his physicality, being able to defend without having to draw a double team to help,” Keatts said. “He’s just a big presence around the basket.”

While Bennett is hoping Minor will solve some of the problems UVA had in the paint down in Raleigh, it’s going to require more than his presence to contain State’s offense.

Jayden Taylor and Dennis Parker had 15 points each in that win, and as Bennett put it, “they really took it to us … tremendous defensive pressure.”

The Cavaliers are determined not to allow that to happen again. Having guard Dante Harris return to the lineup will help. He boasts a strong game on both ends of the floor and missed the first meeting with the Wolfpack due to a badly sprained ankle.

While State is in second place in the ACC standings (Virginia is tied for sixth), only one full game separates the two. UVA is actually ahead of the Wolfpack in the NCAA NET rankings, so State would have more to gain in that respect than Virginia, which would be considered a Quad 1 win for the ‘Pack.