After opening ACC play with struggles on the road, the Virginia men’s basketball team ripped off back-to-back road wins and climbed the ACC standings. The Hoos dismantled Louisville in the Yum! Center on Saturday to the tune of a 63-47 victory. The Double Bonus takes a quick look back at the win against the Cardinals.
Revisiting 3-Man Motion
Way back in a January 2015 Double Bonus article after defeating NC State, I took a close look at what Virginia calls its ‘3-man motion’. Take a look at that link for screen capture pics to get an idea of what it looks like. I dubbed it ‘Triangle Motion’ because it features three players working through motion concepts along the center of the floor, usually with two high or two low players that make it look like a triangle, and two players spotting up on opposite wings as shooters or outlet pass options. Often when an interior player passes to a wing spotting up, it leads to a side screen-and-roll situation for those two players too.
There are two main reasons the Cavaliers like to go to this call. First, it creates spacing because with two 3-point shooters spotting up on opposite sides of the floor, it draws two defenders out away from the paint because the defense is wary of drive-and-kick rhythm shots out there. Second, it allows those two wing players an opportunity to rest on offense without subbing out of the game. That’s particularly true in the case of London Perrantes, who is usually one of the players standing and sliding along the 3-point line. The 3-man motion look features some built-in calls too, including a diagonal low-to-high screen to get Anthony Gill diving into post position vs. just posting up after screening.
Typically, this motion concept is a change of pace tactic from the Hoos. Against Louisville, however, it was the main event. UVA opened the game in the 3-man motion concept and immediately got the ball to Gill isolated on the right block. He faced up his defender and made the short jumper for a 2-0 lead and the visitors never trailed from that moment. Virginia scored at least 14 points out of the triangle look, good enough for a minimum of 22% of the point production on the day. That doesn’t include two to three first-half possessions that led to baseline out of bounds plays where the Hoos scored 7 points as well. (One of Bill Raftery’s favorite moments came out of the 3-man motion concept too when Malcolm Brogdon lost a falling defender and then hit a pull-up jumper.)
The 3-man motion concept was a good choice for Louisville since Rick Pitino’s group frequently plays a 2-3 matchup zone that floats between man and zone principles even within possessions. The 3-man motion call gives players the freedom to read that defense and expose potential gaps or matchups with unplanned cuts and screens. Coach Bennett alluded to that fact in his postgame comments when he said: “The guys had to be freed up to play offensively – it’s such a hard matchup zone.”
Virginia has gone to this look more frequently in recent weeks, but never as much as it did against the Cardinals. Let’s see if the Hoos go back to that well again in the coming games.
Shayok’s Response
In the Clemson Double Bonus article, there was a quick segment on Marial Shayok’s loss of playing time. After the 11-day layoff for exams, Shayok played double-digit minutes only twice from the Villanova through Clemson games. Against the Tigers, he did not play for the second straight game. Since that time, however, Shayok has gotten on the floor in three straight games.
Against Syracuse, his brief appearance yielded no stats in five minutes but he did show signs of defensive improvement. That likely got Shayok another shot in the two road games last week. He delivered. At Wake Forest, Shayok went 4-of-4 shooting for 10 points with 2 assists and 1 rebound as well. That included one of the 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds as UVA made a frantic rally and stole the win at the buzzer. At Louisville, Shayok went 2-of-4 shooting (missed a dunk where he got caught between a layup and a dunk) for 6 points with 3 rebounds.
Shayok logged 17 minutes at Wake and 13 more at Louisville. In both appearances, Shayok looked more comfortable on both ends of the floor. Those minutes included a short stint against the Demon Deacons at “power forward” in a four-guard lineup.
As the season enters the second half of ACC play, keep an eye on Shayok. He could be a key factor for the Wahoos in their push for the postseason.
Favorite Assists
Virginia had 14 assists in the win at Louisville, but four from the second half were really entertaining. Here you go:
On one possession, all five players touched the ball but the sequence ended with a beautiful assist. Anthony Gill hit Darius Thompson on a backdoor cut (yes, UVA has used it before – read about the wrinkle here) and Thompson made an immediate touch pass for Tobey diving in for a dunk.
Near the five-minute mark of the second half, London Perrantes drove along the baseline and appeared to be in Steve Nash mode where he would just keep dribbling all the way through to the other side of the floor. But he truly went Nash when he got to the other side of the paint and threw a no-look bounce pass off the dribble to Anthony Gill for a layup.
Perrantes had another one in the last three minutes that was of the no-look variety. Late in the shot clock, UVA called for a high ball screen to try to get Perrantes free to make a play off the dribble. After Tobey set the screen above the top of the key, he rolled to the rim with Perrantes drawing two defenders with him toward the right side of the floor. Perrantes fired the no-look dime to Tobey for an easy dunk.
Finally, Malcolm Brogdon got in on the act late in the half too. Brogdon broke down the defense by splitting a potential double team and that go him into the paint. When the defense stepped up to stop the drive, he sent the ball to Anthony Gill cutting along he baseline for a two-handed jam.
Double Bonus Theme Checks
Guard rebounding. Revisited most recently after Syracuse, big rebounding games from the guards (5+ from any one guard) continued at Wake Forest where Malcolm Brogdon had 7 boards. There has been a big rebounding game from a guard in seven of nine ACC contests.
Defensive rebounding percentage. Louisville ranks fourth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage at 40.1%. The Cardinals grabbed 12 boards on 33 missed shots Saturday for 36.3%. That produced just 9 second chance points. UVA has climbed to 45th nationally in defensive rebound percentage at 75.9%. That ranks second in the ACC behind Georgia Tech’s 77.4%.
Post minutes. After a lengthy discussion about Jack Salt starting and dividing up 80 post minutes, UVA swapped its starting lineup to once again include Isaiah Wilkins on Saturday. The minutes breakdown in the game: Anthony Gill 28, Mike Tobey 22, Isaiah Wilkins 22, Evan Nolte 6, Jack Salt 1, and Jarred Reuter 1 (the last two in the final minute of a blowout).
