Playing after a loss is something the Virginia men’s basketball program does exceptionally well these days. UVA has not lost back-to-back games since Wisconsin week during the 2013-2014 season when it fell to Wisconsin and Wisconsin Green Bay in consecutive games. The trend continued in the opening round of the Charleston Classic.
Coming off its first defeat of the season at George Washington on Monday, the Cavaliers crushed overmatched Bradley, 82-57, on Thursday. They trailed 22-19 with 7:39 to play in the first half, but uncorked a 19-3 surge before halftime and never led by less than 10 points for the final 41:26 of the game.
Perhaps, Virginia’s bounce-back success in these situations comes from coach Tony Bennett’s ability to recalibrate his team’s focus.
“We worked very hard to address the areas that were costly in the George Washington game,” Bennett said per The Associated Press. “It’s not a quick fix. You do it through repetition and getting after it. They were hard practices; they were driven. My voice is gone because of those practices, but I think that guys responded.”
After struggling on both offense and defense at GW – the Hoos shot 40.7%, allowed 45.1%, and got outrebounded in the loss – Virginia indeed made a lot of corrections during the week. The Cavaliers shot a sterling 56.6% and held the Braves to just 39.1% on the other end. No. 6 UVA also won the battle of the boards, 35-21.
While some of the turn-around came from playing against a less formidable opponent, the Wahoos got a boost from some personnel changes as well. They inserted Marial Shayok into the starting lineup for Darius Thompson, who moved into a first guard sub role. Devon Hall slipped into a later substitution spot.
The subtle changes seemed to make Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes, UVA’s primary perimeter starters from the last two years, more comfortable without disrupting either Thompson or Hall too much. It also sparked Shayok, who had not found any sort of rhythm in the first two games. Brogdon scored 13 points with 1 assist, but he was more assertive after a 2-of-7 shooting night against Morgan State and a 1-of-5 shooting start before a later surge at George Washington.
Shayok benefitted in a big way from joining the starting lineup. He had managed just 2 points in 26 minutes over the first two games of the season with only 5 rebounds and 2 assists as well. Against the Braves on Thursday, he matched those 26 minutes and was far more productive with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. That is a new career-high in points and a tie for a career-high in rebounds.
Perrantes, meanwhile, really found his comfort zone after two off-kilter games. Against Morgan State, he hit 2 of 5 shots with 1 assist and 1 turnover. Against the Colonials, he finished 2-of-8 shooting with 2 assists and 3 turnovers. For a player with a career 3.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, he didn’t flow through the game the way Virginia fans had grown used to in his first two years. The touch returned against Bradley as he opened the game in a familiar play-making role. He eventually made 4 of 7 shots for 12 points and added 8 assists with 2 turnovers.
Anthony Gill joined the three backcourt starters in double figures with 16 points, including one thunderous dunk on a no-look pass from Perrantes. He’s been in double figures in all three games this season. Gill added 7 rebounds.
“I knew we were eventually going to click,” Perrantes said per The Associated Press. “We still haven’t played our best ball. We wanted to come out and respond after the George Washington game. It’s early, it’s our third game of the year and we’re still trying to figure out some things.”
Virginia’s defense and rebounding execution, though still spotty at times against dribble penetration, was much improved overall as well. Only Bradley’s Luuk van Bree got to double figures with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, which included making 4 of 6 3-pointers. UVA bothered the Braves into 13 turnovers vs. 7 assists too.
Still, the Cavaliers know there is a lot of work to do with bigger challenges ahead both in Charleston and on the rest of the schedule.
“We tried to take a step forward tonight, that’s what we talked about during practice this week,” Bennett said per The Associated Press.
