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UVa’s Sean Singletary scored 20 points and had 7 assists. (All photos for this game provided by Ian Rogol) |
The Virginia men’s basketball team enjoyed a little Wednesday night dessert before Thursday’s Thanksgiving meal by munching on one of the “cupcakes” on the schedule. Virginia held North Carolina Asheville scoreless for nearly six full minutes after the opening tip and pulled out an 81-64 victory.
As cupcakes go, however, UNCA proved to be a worthwhile opponent. Even in a 17-point loss? Absolutely. The Bulldogs provided a variety of defensive looks – man-to-man, 2-3 zone, 2-2-1 press, and more – along with a deliberate, screen-heavy offense that required UVa to defend for at least half the shot clock on many possessions.
Plus, the visitors didn’t just pack up and go home after trailing by as many as 22 points. In fact, they closed to within eight in the final 7:00 to force the Cavs to refocus for the stretch drive.
“It’s a good experience. Down the stretch of our season and throughout the season, people are going to be playing some junk defenses, but J.R. [Reynolds] and I are ready for that and it is a good learning experience,” Sean Singletary said. “I think we’ll be fine.”
To their credit, the Cavaliers handled the “recognition game” well, even if the execution wasn’t flawless. After all, the rotating defenses did disrupt their rhythm in the final 15 minutes (more on that in below), but Asheville’s offense created some uncontested looks, but not a staggering amount (something that the Hoo defense improved upon after giving up too many good 3-point looks against Morgan State on Sunday; it is still an area that needs to get better, though).
Defensively, that resulted in a good night statistically. UVa held UNCA to 30.5% shooting, including 33.3% from 3-point range. The Hoos also pulled 33 Bulldog shots of the defensive glass.
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Virginia’s J.R. Reynolds had 18 points and 5 assists. |
The story had a similar theme on the offensive end with the exception of the home stretch of the second half. Virginia came up with high percentage shots for most of the first 25 minutes and finished 43.3% from the field. That included a decent night from behind the arch where UVa made 10 of 23 attempts (8 of 14 in the first half alone).
And it wasn’t a one-man show either. 10 different Cavaliers scored in the game and 5 different players hit 3s. Of course, Virginia’s dynamic duo -Reynolds and Singletary – had key roles in the offense as they either hit shots or found open teammates. Reynolds finished with 18 points and 5 assists, while Singletary added 20 points and 7 assists.
Just as importantly, those two guards asserted themselves late in the game when UNCA closed to within eight points. Reynolds scored six straight points when the score hit 64-56 to push the lead to 70-56 and essentially end any nervousness among the 10,811 in attendance.
“I had been in attack mode pretty much the whole game, but once I saw the lead was cut down, I knew we had to make a run and stop them on defense,” Reynolds said. “I just wanted to attack the basket and try to get to the rim.”
Leitao is pleased with how his two guards are playing, but he wants more players to consistently follow their lead.
“If they didn’t play and play together and play pretty well today, we probably would not have won,” Leitao said. “The challenge is to find other people that want to play to that level and right now we don’t consistently have guys that want to play to that level.”
That doesn’t mean it was a great night offensively. Far from it. For most of the final 15 minutes in the second half, the Cavs got careless with the ball and lackadaisical with shot selection.
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UNC-Asheville’s 7-foot-6 center, Kenny George blocks a shot on Wednesday. |
UNCA caused problems for much of that time period with its 2-2-1 zone press and 2-3 zone, particularly when 7’6” Kenny George anchored the back line. He wasn’t the game-changer that Shawn Bradley was for BYU against the Hoos back in the 1991 NCAA Tournament, but he did create some problems at times. He blocked 5 shots in all.
The struggles against the press and 2-3 zone were part of the reason the Bulldogs were able to creep back in the game for a brief stretch in the second half.
The Hoos had a handful of turnovers against the press and there was often a lack of shots other than jumpers against the zone. While defenses generally have more success with zone in early season games, the Cavs’ offense must create more than just 3-point looks on ball reversals or tough shots on drives from the guards.
Still, the bigger concern for Leitao came with the players’ approach. In general, Leitao wants more aggressive play on offense and to see players in a more confident attack mode.
“We struggled with our aggression. Whatever they ran, and again no disrespect to Eddie [Biedenbach] and his group, but we were back on our heels with most everything we did,” Leitao said. “It could have been man, zone, three-quarter court, fullcourt pressure. We just played back on our heels.”
Virginia returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Maryland Eastern Shore at 3 p.m. Leitao knows his team must continue to work between now and then.
“Obviously I’m not real pleased with what I saw out there. I just continue to know that we have a lot of work to do and a short time to do it in,” Leitao said. “We continue to let up and allow teams to be the aggressor and as a result we gave up 42 second-half easy points after we came out and tried to establish a defensive mind set. It just continues to let me know that we have a lot of work to do.”
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