Wake had perfect game plan; Bennett still believes this team can turn it around

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Outside of Virginia’s basketball program, the sky is falling. Fans have hit the panic button. Some are figuratively jumping off bridges. Some have thrown in the towel.

Inside the program, Tony Bennett may be frustrated, but he’s focused on the big picture.

Keeping that focus under current circumstances is a challenge after UVA dropped its fourth-straight road game on Saturday, another blowout loss, this time to Wake Forest (see related game story, notebook and box score here). That’s four road losses by a combined 80 points.

Where others see a disaster looming, Bennett is like a woodpecker in a petrified forest: staying busy and looking for opportunities.

It has been easy to be a Virginia basketball player, a coach, a fan, during most of Bennett’s 15 years in Charlottesville. It’s always easy when you’re winning. It’s times like these, somewhat foreign to UVA basketball, that is a test.

Bennett’s message to his team Saturday was just that after the Cavaliers dropped to 11-5 (2-3 in the ACC).

“I said anybody can have a good culture and good team character and buy in when you’re successful,” Bennett relayed what he told his team. “This is the time when you’re struggling and you’re getting humbled.

“Will you have a good team culture? Will you show character? Will you show up on Monday and work as hard as you can?”

While Bennett and his coaching staff continue to try and figure this thing out, he asked the players whether they would stay unified.

“As much as this stinks, be thankful for what this is teaching you, because it’s teaching you valuable stuff,” the coach told his team. “Either you’re about that or you’re not. For a number of years, it has been easy. There might have been a tough loss here or there, but this is the time and that’s why I talked about ‘don’t grow weary in doing good’ for in due time — and I don’t know when that due time is, is it next game, is it down the road — you will reap a harvest.”

Almost sounds Biblical, but while this team hasn’t been through tough times, Bennett has, and he firmly believes things will get better.

“I know we’re judged on wins and losses, but in the long run, there’s a bigger picture going on and you find out what your identity is about. You find out what your culture is in these times.”

Certainly the coaches are looking at every angle. The team has issues, more than anyone recognized heading into the season. Everyone did know there was a lack of size and physicality, and that rebounding might be a problem.

Well, it is. Virginia is by far the worst rebounding team in the ACC. What we didn’t expect is that it would be such a poor free-throw shooting team (No. 280 in the land in free-throw shooting percentage).

While the Cavaliers are a decent defensive team, there have been far too many breakdowns for Bennett’s liking. Everyone expected this to be a more athletic team than it has displayed, a more offensive team with lots of shooters and a team with depth. That hasn’t panned out.

Still, go to sleep on Virginia and you’ll pay the price. Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes will tell you in a heartbeat.

“It is hard [playing Virginia], OK,” Forbes said. “You know, there’s a reason why [Bennett’s] won a national championship, a reason why he’s three-time National Coach of the Year. They have a program and they have a way they do things, and they are not coming off of it. They know once you mess up, they will make you pay.”

Forbes’ battle plan was to defend the full shot clock, to chase the ball and to chase the Cavaliers off screens, to keep them from lighting up the Deacs’ defense with 3-pointers. Check, check and check.

“[Virginia has] its struggles offensively, but they still make you guard them,” Forbes said. “They’re not ever coming down, throwing one pass and shooting it. So you’ve got to stay with it. The moment you fall asleep, they make you pay.”

One of the most outstanding statistics the Wake coach saw pop off his scouting research on Virginia was that when the Cavaliers win, they attempt at least 19 3-pointers.

“Last year, they made 15 3s against us. This year, we wanted to not let them attempt 15,” Forbes said, looking down at Saturday’s stat sheet for the game. “They didn’t get 15 off. They got 12. That’s a big difference.”

The Cavaliers only made four of ‘em, and sharpshooter Isaac McKneely was shut out from the arc, missing his only two attempts. That’s a problem for Virginia, while at the same time being a tribute to Wake’s relentless defensive pressure aimed mostly at McKneely and point guard Reece Beekman, who finished with 10 points but wasn’t overly effective.

Forbes felt that Hunter Sallis played the best all-around game of any player he’s had at Wake Forest on Saturday. Sallis, a transfer from Gonzaga, put up a season-high 21 points and harassed McKneely all afternoon.

“[Sallis] chased McKneely as good as anybody could chase McKneely,” Forbes said. “He did an unbelievable job.”

He also praised Boopie Miller’s defense against Beekman, who went 3 for 12.

When Virginia’s best two shooters go for a combined 5 for 22, you know you’re in for a long day. Who else is going to score? Forbes’ defensive plan was to cut off the head of the snake, and it worked.

Meanwhile, Wake made UVA’s “Pack-Line” choose its own poison. Deal with the Deacs’ size inside and let the big men kick it out to the perimeter where they’re loaded with talented, mobile guards.

Virginia was predictably vulnerable on the boards and Wake took full advantage. Bennett, still searching for answers, changed up his starting lineup. He went with four guards: Beekman, McKneely, Ryan Dunn and Jake Groves, and a forward in Jordan Minor, who got his first start and a season-high 22 minutes of court time.

The Cavaliers had previously gone with freshman Blake Buchanan in the middle, but he was getting muscled out of position too much to be effective. Minor, who finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds and a blocked shot, perhaps gave them something to build off in the future.

Maybe this just isn’t a good road team. The difference between UVA at home and on the road is dramatic. At home, where the Cavaliers own the nation’s longest active home winning streak at 19 games, they would be a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament. On the road, they wouldn’t get an invite to the NIT.

Bennett believes this will change. He doesn’t know when. Maybe this month, maybe late in the season, heck, maybe even not until next season.

For the coach, it’s the big picture. For fans, the sky is still falling.