After two straight losses and two weeks off for exams, the Virginia men’s basketball team finally got back on track Saturday in a 57-43 win against Northern Iowa. While the results won’t garner many style points offensively, the Hoos were happy to tap into their defensive identity and post their eighth victory of the season.
UVa coach Tony Bennett started Akil Mitchell and Darion Atkins together in the frontcourt for the first time this season as well as Justin Anderson in place of London Perrantes with Malcolm Brogdon at point guard in an effort to get experience on the floor and to stabilize the defensive end. He also shifted to more small ball line-ups with Justin Anderson at the power forward slot to help match up better defensively with the Panthers.
“I said I’m going to go with our experienced guys. Akil and Darion have been in the system defensively. Akil can stretch out and guard a four that is a guard type and I really wanted to go with that. Even the perimeter guys, that’s our most experienced team,” Bennett said. “They were OK, but I thought as the game wore on, we got to get four guards out there and play that way.”
Those maneuvers paid dividends. UNI shot just 31.7% for the game, including a rough 7 of 27 first half (25.9%). That’s the fourth time this season that an opponent has scored less than 20 in a half. Northern Iowa also made just 2 of 19 3-pointers (10.5%), snapping a 91-game streak of making at least 3 triples in a game.
Atkins made the most of his first start of the season by setting a new career-high output with 5 blocked shots, which matched the JPJ record. Atkins really had a rock solid night all around during his 23 minutes. He finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 5blocked shots, and 1 steal on 4-of-10 shooting.
“I think Darion did a really nice job for us. Whenever his mind is right, Darion is capable of doing some really good things for us, especially defensively,” senior Joe Harris said. “Him and Akil are easily our best post defenders and that again comes because they’re also our most experienced post defenders. But Darion just provides a spark out there whether it’s him blocking or altering shots or getting rebounds or setting good screens, I thought he had a really nice game.”
While the defense seemed to be in gear throughout the game, the offense took a while to find any success against a packed in approach from Northern Iowa. The Cavaliers led just 21-16 at halftime thanks to 8-of-27 shooting (29.6%) and 8 turnovers. That improved to 12 of 26 (46.2%) after intermission with just 2 turnovers. The Hoos made just 7 of 26 3-pointers (26.9%) and 10 of 18 free throws (55.6%) in the contest, though.
With points hard to come by at times, Anderson helped spark Virginia’s offense with his defense and an aggressive mindset. Twice in the second half, Anderson blocked a would-be lay-up and the Cavaliers benefitted in transition the other way. Early in the half, Brogdon had turned the ball over in traffic and the Panthers raced the other way in search of an easy basket. At 16:49, however, Anderson rose up and swatted the attempt by Matt Bohannon. The Hoos countered on the other end with a 3-pointer in transition from Harris and took a 28-18 lead. Later in the half, Anderson flew in from the wing to block an offensive rebound putback attempt by Jeremy Morgan. Seven seconds later, Anderson drew a foul driving against an unsettled Panthers defense and made 1 of 2 free throws for a 49-37 lead at the 3:31 mark.
“Maybe your defense breaks down a little bit, but when you have Darion back there, five blocks, and you put Justin as a four, that cleans up some mistakes you make. That’s huge,” Bennett said. “When those turn into transition buckets, that was very timely for us. Thos were some athletic, acrobatic blocks that we certainly capitalized on.”
Anderson also threw in a defensive rebound that he pushed ahead for a thread-the-needle transition bounce pass to Mitchell and a lay-up at the 9:26 mark that made it 40-29. He finished with16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots in 35 minutes.
“Coming into the game we thought he was one of the keys to their team in many ways with his energy and his ability to get points in a hurry,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. “That block and assist are two examples of that. He’s played well for them, and today he was the guy that was key.”
free throws and 3 point percentage are really concerning…
“Just win baby”