The Virginia basketball team continues to produce balanced scoring and enough defensive stinginess to stay at the top of the ACC standings. That formula worked again Saturday against Pittsburgh as four Hoos scored in double figures and the Cavaliers held the Panthers to less than 45% shooting to prevail 73-66 at the John Paul Jones Arena.
The Wahoos are 9-1 in the ACC and 13-3 overall. They own an 8-0 record at the JPJ. They’re scheduled to play next at Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
“We didn’t play very well defensively if I want to be real,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said. “That was a poor performance, good action by Pitt, but they were the aggressor. We looked unready at times, and not sharp and again our offense carried us but that’s disappointing. We use our term, you fail better the next time. I thought we battled hard against NC State, but defensively, we did not have the right mindset nor the right execution and it showed defensively and offensively. There’s that saying don’t accept in victory what you wouldn’t in defeat. You’re grateful for the victory but you go to work on those areas. Again, thankful for the win, but a disappointing effort in many areas of the game and then some good effort and good execution and other areas and again, partly that is this team but it’s got to be better in my opinion.”
UVA may not have had its best stuff defensively, but it had plenty of firepower to offset things offensively. To put it in baseball terms, the Hoos had a strikeout pitch. That comes in the form of 3-point shooting that works in a similar way to the high heat from a closer. There were two different surges where that flammability came into play against Pitt.
Late in the first half, Virginia trailed 26-22 when Xavier Johnson got in for a layup but the hosts closed on an 8-1 run. The bulk of that run came courtesy of Tomas Woldetensae, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. On the next trip, Woldetensae got past the aggressive defense that tried to run him off the line and that led to a dunk for Trey Murphy III.
That mini-burst was apparently the warm-up act because the Wahoos had another big run in store. This one came with the game tied at 36-36 early in the second half. Sam Hauser started the run with a pair of free throws, but the 3-point shot again ignited the majority of the run. Jay Huff hit two on back-to-back possessions to grow the lead to eight at 44-36 and moments later Hauser mirrored that with two 3’s in two trips too that made it 52-36. That 16-0 run left Pitt in catch-up mode for the rest of the game.
When the Panthers tried to claw back into it midway through the half, Woldetensae struck again with triples on two straight possessions again to quiet the first attempt at a rally. Virginia ended up shooting 12 of 24 from 3-point range (50%) and 25 of 47 overall (53.2%). The Hoos actually made just 2 of their first 8 attempts (25%) from behind the arc, but finished by making 10 of their final 16. (62.5%)
Hauser led all scorers with 23 points on 8-9 shooting. He added 6 rebounds and an assist. Woldetensae took advantage of his minutes with 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists, while Huff had 13 on 5-6 shooting with 8 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and 1 steal. Kihei Clark chipped in 11 points and 8 assists, while Murphy added 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.
“I think we kind of upped the ante in the energy category and played more together,” Hauser said of the quick run at the start of the second half. “Obviously, the ball was moving really well in that stretch of offense and our defense really, really stepped up, but we weren’t able to maintain that. I think we let our foot off the gas a little bit and that’s an area to improve.”
Woldetensae’s night was a big lift. He had not scored in his previous four games while playing only 21 minutes; that included a one-minute cameo against GT and only 3 minutes at NC State. This game looked a lot more like his last breakout game when he scored 14 points in 20 minutes at Clemson with 4-6 shooting from 3-point range. In fact, his line was nearly identical with 14 points in 20 minutes on 4-5 shooting from 3-point range.
He said after the game that staying confident is tricky, but that he’s been focused on trying to find his role on this year’s team.
“At the beginning of the season, settling into my role was a little bit challenging, a bit unsettling,” Woldetensae said. “But now I’m seeing myself in that type of role for this team [as a shooter] and I’m getting myself ready for this type of action. So, most of it is about mindset and just understanding your role.”
With the hot shooting from Woldetensae and others from downtown, the Cavaliers were able to withstand some shaky moments with turnovers against Pittsburgh pressure and some missed defensively. The hosts appeared to have the game well in hand with a 15-point lead entering the final 8 minutes, but they proceeded to commit 6 turnovers in the final 8 minutes that accounted for half of their 12 total turnovers in the game. That, along with a technical foul for having six players on the floor when UVA didn’t substitute quickly enough, helped spark a comeback attempt from the Panthers, who closed within 7 points six times in the final three minutes.
The inability to take care of the ball bothered Bennett as did what he thought was an inconsistent effort on defense. The Panthers shot 26-60 (43.3%) for the game including 4-14 from 3-point range (28.6%), but Bennett thought UVA was reacting to Pitt’s aggressiveness too much vs. being the pace-setter on that end of the floor. Plus, the visitors got to the line 13 times in the second half (10-15/66.7% for the game).
Still, Virginia did make Pittsburgh’s top two scorers work for points. Justin Champagnie posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but he hit just 8 of 18 shots to get there. Xavier Johnson, meanwhile, tallied 10 points and 7 assists but he made 3 of 12 shots (25%) in the game. He was 4 of 6 from the free throw line, including making the two technical freebies from the substitution issue.
Hauser drew the Champagnie assignment for most of the game and made him work for his statistics. Combined with his near-perfect night shooting, he obviously played a big role in the victory.
“He was really good, and he opened up the game for us just enough,” Bennett said. “We struggled; we really did when they turned up the heat. [We] made some poor decisions offensively, some breakdowns defensively so that was frustrating but because we had stretched it enough, it was good. I thought Sam was really good. He actually guarded well and offensively when you look at his stat line – I mean that’s eight and nine [on field goals] three of four [on 3-pointers]. … He was the difference maker for us. There were stretches of good ball but it I just didn’t like how, I thought, unsound we were and yielded, that is kind of the word we’ve been using, to make that closer after we had built that lead. Also credit to Pittsburgh’s scrap and their ability to put pressure on the rim but we hung in there and certainly grateful for the victory.”
