Virginia Basketball Notes: Tony Bennett Talks Practice & Team’s Defensive Improvement

By: Chris Horne |
Practice film evaluation has been a useful tool for Virginia basketball head coach Tony Bennett.

Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach Tony Bennett frequently refers to his program as “blue collar.” Therefore, it was no surprise to hear that the three-time National Coach of the Year enjoys the legwork required to build and sustain the program into one of the nation’s best.

“A lot,” Bennett answered when asked by host Dave Koehn on ‘Coach’s Corner’ if he enjoys watching film. “Yeah, I do.”

Of film study, Bennett said: “You can study and figure out. It’s like, at your own pace, unfortunately sometimes your own report card. Okay, is it sticking, is it transferring, or hey that was good. That looked good. I think most coaches probably watch a lot, but I like it. I like watching our practice films. I think it’s helpful. And just, yeah, maybe I do too much, but I’d rather self-scout and be as cued into your own tendencies, your own team, your own strengths and areas of improvement than being over the top with your opponent. You have to have both, but for me that’s important.”

Studying practice film, Coach Bennett recalled, began when he was an unsure young coach. It helped him reflect on the material he was coaching and the drills he was emphasizing, and it helped him organize practice for the next day. Now in his 12th season as UVA’s head man, Bennett feels practice review still plays an important role.

“I’ve been doing that for a while,” the three-time National Coach of the Year said. “We’ve got great, different angles. If you spend the time and the money on the video part, I think it’s important and I think it’s help for our players, and I can speak then a little more with authority or intelligently to our guys, like, ‘I saw this’. You’re looking for a one-percent, two-percent increase. Again, you can overanalyze, there’s some things you don’t have to, but that part’s been engrained in me.”

Recruiting players who welcome challenging practices and feedback is part of UVA’s winning ways. Sam Hauser and Tomas Woldetensae, who led UVA with 14 points apiece in last Saturday’s blowout win over Clemson, each mentioned the importance of practice in the development of this team. Virginia has rattled off five straight wins after a 23-point drubbing at the hands of Gonzaga on December 26. The Hoos applied the lessons of the humbling loss and worked to improve.

“I think, cause of our depth, there is a lot of competition in practice and guys are really going at each other, so you really have to earn your time on the floor,” Hauser said. “Obviously, taking a hard punch to the face from Gonzaga, it’s hard to get up from that, but you learn, you live, move on, and I think we’ve taken some great strides.”

The battle for playing time results in intense practices too. Woldetensae played zero minutes in a win over Notre Dame last Wednesday before chipping in 14 points in 20 minutes against the Tigers.

“It gets more competitive,” Woldetensae said of practice. “People trying to get to be engaged more often, and it’s good for the team, you know, how you have to play against people that are there to win games. Same thing happens in practice when you go head-to-head with first and second team. So, it’s a positive.”

Maintaining the blue-collar mentality and intensity in preparing for games remains key moving forward, Hauser said.

“You take some from it, but you just got to stick to the grind,” Hauser said of the win over Clemson. He added that the coaches challenged the team in practice ahead of Saturday’s matchup. “You don’t look past this because you can take things we did well in this game and you can also take things that we didn’t do as well from this game and learn from it and get better, take strides. We’re going to keep working in practice and stick to the grind.”

Defensive Improvements

Struggling offensively, Virginia basketball’s 2019-20 squad had to rely on defense to pave the way to victory. Led by frontcourt defensive stalwarts Braxton Key and Mamadi Diakite, last year’s Cavalier team held opponents to an average of 52.4 points per game, 37% field goal shooting and 29% shooting from beyond the arc. UVA received enough offense and playmaking to win 11 of its last 12 games of 2019-20, but the defense was the anchor as the Hoos held their final five opponents under 60 points.

Coach Bennett has been pleased with the defensive improvement his team has had recently. ~ Photo courtesy John Quackenbos/ACC pool photographer

Losing Diakite and Key and adding new faces such as Trey Murphy III and Hauser to the lineup, there was sure to be struggles defensively in 2020-21. Gonzaga highlighted those struggles, but while Coach Bennett is still seeking a complete game defensively, he acknowledges the strides UVA has made.

“I think we’re guarding the ball better,” Bennett said on the January 18 ‘Coach’s Corner’. “And I told our guys, you can’t ever assume, but you don’t back up defensively. Defensively, you can be a little more consistent, but you have to keep going after it and going after it in practice and make it your bedrock. I think we’ve been better on the ball. At times when Kihei is locked, he can be stubborn and hard to get around. In a good way. Like, you can’t get around him. He stays in front of the ball. I think Reece has taken good steps. He’s out there. He’s quick. Lot of deflections. He just has that anticipation. Trey, at six-eight or nine, he’s getting better and better, and then Casey. So, on the perimeter, on-ball defense I think has improved. We’re really challenging our guys and certainly the 4s and 5s. So that’s helping, and I think we’re covering for each other better.”

During the five-game winning streak, UVA has held its opponents under 30 points in a half six times. From the second half against Wake Forest (Jan. 6) through the entire Boston College game (Jan. 9) to the first half against Notre Dame (Jan. 13), the Hoos held opponents to under 30 points four straight halves.

Clemson’s 50 points were the second fewest Virginia has allowed all season. The Tigers managed only 17 first-half points. Through 11 games, Virginia is allowing an average of 59.4 points per game as teams are shooting 41% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc.

Scheduling

The NCAA released an updated 2021 NCAA Tournament schedule on Tuesday (January 19).

As for UVA, the NC State game has been postponed, leaving a home game against Georgia Tech (Saturday, Jan. 21, 8 p.m.) as the lone game on the schedule this week, though it is followed by another home game against Syracuse next Monday (Jan. 25). The next game for the Hoos is January 30 at Virginia Tech.

Sabre Editor Kris Wright had a scheduling suggestion for the ACC this week.

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