Virginia ripped off two more ACC wins against Pittsburgh and Boston College last week. Both second halves essentially became UVA clinics on ball movement and Pack-Line defense. What can the Hoos carry into the Virginia Tech rematch from those contests? The Double Bonus takes a look.

Ball Screen Defense

Don’t look now, but the Hoos seem to be figuring out how they can play consistent high level defense with this year’s personnel and added freedom of movement rules emphasis. Since giving up a season-high 53.5% shooting at Wake Forest, the Cavaliers have cleaned up a lot of things defensively. Transition defense has improved after unsettled situations were costly many times earlier in the year. The interior defense is better. Closeouts are better. And so on.

As a result, the numbers are better too. UVA held Louisville, Boston College, and Pittsburgh to less than 40% shooting over the last three games. The Cardinals (32.7%) and Eagles (26.5%) struggled in particular to generate any sort of consistency on offense. The biggest difference may have come in the form of energy and urgency as the Wahoos seem to have recaptured the tenacious spirit on defense that categorized their rise to elite status nationally the last two seasons. Players no longer seem as concerned about missed rotations or foul whistles – there’s just a different flow to their effort of late.

Maybe that game in Winston-Salem really was an aWAKEning as some on the message boards have suggested.

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