Even with a roster full of new faces and young players stepping into bigger roles, the first game of the season Monday night still looked a lot like the best versions of Virginia basketball during the Tony Bennett era. The Cavaliers hit a high percentage of 3-pointers, logged assists on most made shots, and played unrelentingly on the defensive end as they blitzed Tarleton State 80-50 at the John Paul Jones Arena.
Obviously, there is a long way to go in the season and one game doesn’t tell the tale for any team, much less a team with a lot of parts to figure out, but for an opener, the Hoos (1-0) really touched on some of the things that can lead to long-term success in this system. The Texans (0-1) left the 30-point drubbing a little bit frustrated, but also a little bit impressed with that type of a performance in a season opener with coach Billy Gillispie noting that his team had not faced that level of play in a buy game opener previously.
“Really, that’s the worst performance that we’ve ever had. We’ve played a lot of really great teams, top 10 teams to the wire,” Gillispie said. “We do have a new group and we’re a little short-handed right now, again not excuses, but we haven’t played a team in a guarantee game that performed as well as Virginia did tonight. They really executed well. We didn’t take anything away from them that we had intended or were going to try to do going into the game. … Again, all credit to them. They just really performed well I thought, especially for an opening night.”
One thing that helped the Hoos jump to 1-0 in such impressive fashion was the play of its returning nucleus.
Senior guard Reece Beekman put together a sterling performance of 16 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block. He did not commit a turnover and made 5 of 9 shot attempts in the game. He also made 6 of 7 free throws which matched a career high for makes at the line. He accomplished that all in 27 minutes as he controlled the game from the lead guard spot in calm fashion when needed and with assertive play when needed.
Highlight plays from Beekman included a steal and dunk combo that is his calling card, a weaving snake dribble into the paint for a bucket, and an end-of-half drive and score to beat the clock. He drove into the paint and whipped passes out for 3-pointers on the team’s first two baskets of the night, finding Ryan Dunn and Andrew Rohde in different spots for the triples. The steal to dunk, the 2 assists for 3’s, and another layup all came in the first 5 minutes as he helped Virginia pull ahead 16-8 by the 15:56 mark.
All in all, it was the type of performance that made it easy to see why he was named to the Naismith Trophy Preseason 50 Watch List earlier in the day.
“It was started by 2, but we knew that going in if you let him catch the ball and run the game,” Gillispie said. “I think he had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, no turnovers, 2 or 3 steals or whatever – that’s a performance. Totally under control, totally dominate the whole game. No disrespect to any of the other ones, but he made it easy for a lot of people.”
UVA also got a big season debut from returning sophomore Isaac McKneely. He too got going early with a pair of 3-pointers in the first four minutes. By the end of the night, McKneely had pumped in 15 points on 4-8 shooting from 3-point range with no hesitation at any moment with those openings. He added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal as well.
The other holdovers from Virginia also chipped in for the win. Dunn had a little bit of foul trouble early, but responded with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. That included a highlight reel rejection at the backboard in the second half. Taine Murray added 5 points in 10 minutes with a 2-2 shooting night.
Then there was the play of Leon Bond III. After redshirting last season, he quickly showed what kind of impact he could make this season in this game. Though he only played 16 minutes, he nearly posted a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds to go with 2 steals. He made 4 of 5 shots and 4 of 6 free throws to get his points, a low volume of shots for efficient production.
Bond also brought the crowd to its feet with a tip dunk in the second half that saw him rise up one-handed and redirect the ball home for a slam that he called a little bit lucky because it came off at the right side for the play to happen.
“I thought he brought a spark off the bench,” Bennett said. “He didn’t practice yesterday, he had some kind of virus, so he was out yesterday. We weren’t sure he was going to play. It gave us a nice lift, obviously you get the crowd with his tip dunk. That was good to see and, again, we have some versatility. And for this being his first game, redshirted last year, it was nice to see him out there, giving us a lift that way. I was really happy for him. I know those guys worked hard last year to get themselves as ready as they can. So that was good that he made the most of his minutes.”
Bond, a potential X Factor for the Hoos, downplayed the production and just showed gratitude for the moment.
“I was really nervous coming in. I’m not going to lie, I had no expectation,” Bond said. “I just went out there and was just hoping to score. So, it was surreal.”
Virginia also received 9 points from Jacob Groves on 3-4 shooting from 3 as he started at the center spot in this game. Blake Buchanan made his first appearance as a freshman and posted 1 point with 4 rebounds. Dante Harris came off the bench for 7 points and 1 assist, while Rohde got the start and ended up with 6 points and 1 assist.
In the end, it was a thorough and dominant performance by the Hoos that looked a lot like fans like Virginia basketball to look. The Hoos shot 48.9% for the game (23-47), which included 45.5% from 3-point range (10-22). On those 23 made buckets, they tallied 15 assists for a rate of 65.2%. On the other end of the floor, they allowed just just 33.3% shooting (16-48) and defended the 3-point line at 23.1% (3-13). The Texans had only 8 assists with 16 turnovers as the hosts showed a lot of activity on defense.
UVA also won the rebounding battle and produced 39 free throw attempts, though allowing 7 offensive rebounds to Tarleton State and converting just 24 of the freebies (61.5%) is enough to file those concerns for matchups against future opponents. The same could be said of some open looks on the back side of defensive post traps. That starts with Florida on Friday night in Charlotte.
Still, as openers go, it was an encouraging start for the Wahoos.
“I expected us to screw up a few times, like we did, and make some inexperienced mistakes,” Bennett said. “I expected us to play really hard and do some of the things that I saw in the scrimmages. Just watching them, they play hard and they’re compliant in terms of they want to try to do the right stuff. I liked how they flew around. Overall, I thought there were some teachable moments, certainly in that. But there were some good things, and again a unique team to play with how aggressive they were. We got some good ones coming up, so we’ll just keep chipping away. It’s a group with so many new guys that you don’t quite know what to expect. I guess there’s that, but hopefully we’ll settle in and keep improving as the season progresses.”
Great opening game. Beekman unchained is all that. No letdown regardless of players on the floor. If everybody keeps working, this should be a fun season.
Thank you Tony