For the second time in four years, Tony Bennett took his Virginia basketball team on a trip near the nation’s capital to test its mettle early in the season. In both cases, the Cavaliers found out what a lackluster defensive performance can mean in the home gym of a hungry opponent.
George Washington knocked off No. 6 Virginia 73-68 on Monday night in front of an enthusiastic and tightly packed 5,025 fans at the Smith Center in Washington D.C. It was the Colonials’ first win against UVA since 1974. Much like a 63-59 loss at George Mason’s EagleBank Arena in 2012, the Hoos strayed from their identity with the Pack Line Defense and paid the price. Against Mason, they allowed 54.5% shooting and committed 20 fouls leading to 19 free throws. Against GW, they allowed 45.1% shooting and committed 24 fouls that led to 28 free throws.
Simply put, for a team that relies heavily on its defense to set the tone, an imprecise effort on that end of the floor quickly can lead to a loss.
“Whenever we’d climb back in and we needed a stop, whether it was a foul, an offensive rebound, didn’t get back in transition, or just miscommunication, we lacked the discipline required,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “That was the message after – first comes discipline and then comes freedom after that. You think you can be free and loose – absolutely you can play the game free, but you better have a level of discipline and execution in the areas that matter and I didn’t think we had that.”
“I don’t think it was the atmosphere that got to us,” Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon said in The Daily Progress. “I think it was our defense, what we pride ourselves on the most. What’s really our foundation, let us down tonight.”
UVA’s lack of precision with the Pack Line could be spotted all over the floor even though the Colonials didn’t shoot a scorching percentage. The foul situation is the most obvious area, which GW took full advantage of with its 82.1% shooting at the line. Virginia’s 24 fouls were well above last season’s average of 14.3 per game or any year’s average under Bennett.
While new emphases within the rules and the freedom of movement initiative have been discussed throughout the offseason, the Cavaliers’ struggles had as much to do with positioning and alertness as much as any officiating changes. Throughout the night, rotations were late or too far out of position to even recognize which rotation was expected. The two easiest areas to spot the problems were with Virginia’s usually solid post trap – the team gave up at least a dunk and two 3-pointers in the first half on slow or missed rotations – and straight-line drives, a major no-no in any defense.
Tyler Cavanaugh, Patricio Garino, Joe McDonald, and Paul Jorgensen all put up double digits as a result. Cavanaugh and Garino put in 18 points each, while McDonald an Jorgensen added 10 each as well.
It just wasn’t a sharp effort from the usually stingy Pack Line.
“Our post trap has been pretty good and we didn’t execute that well,” Bennett said. “They scored early buckets out of it. … So they hurt us in our post trap. Then we didn’t post trap, they went inside and they’re really a good inside team. They’re able to run their actions and get touches. Sometimes, we just needed to guard the ball and keep our guy in front. We had breakdowns that were costly. They beat us outside or with quick straight-line drives that no defense can help. Simple things – jumping to the ball and getting hit on screens.”
The Hoos stayed in touch on the scoreboard thanks to a strong showing, particularly in the second half, from Brogdon. He poured in a career-high 28 points to lead all scorers. That included scoring 11 of the team’s final 13 points as he tried to spark a rally. Brogdon made 9 of 18 shots and 9 of 10 free throws. He added 8 rebounds and 4 assists as well.
Fellow seniors Anthony Gill and Mike Tobey were in double figures as well. Gill scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting with 5 rebounds. Tobey had 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting with 7 rebounds. Otherwise, the Cavaliers couldn’t find the balanced scoring that usually makes them dangerous. Evan Nolte, London Perrantes, Darius Thompson, Devon Hall, Marial Shayok, Isaiah Wilkins, and Jack Salt combined to go 8-of-28 shooting, a poor 28.6%. That pulled the team average down to 40.3% for the night.
As players try to carve out new roles around the mainstays like Brogdon and company, that sort of uneven performance – especially if it overlaps with defensive breakdowns – won’t be enough to win games against quality competition.
“They outplayed us,” Bennett said. “They deserved it. I hope we’ll learn well from this experience.”
