The Tony Bennett era for the Virginia basketball program features some consistent themes and visiting Morgan State got a double dose on Wednesday night at the John Paul Jones Arena. UVA cruised to a 79-44 win to reach 10-2 on the season.
The Hoos rarely lose when giving up fewer than 50 points and they rarely lose when scoring more than 70 points either. This victory pushed the program’s record to 113-2 when allowing fewer than 50 points and 163-11 when scoring more than 70 in the Bennett era.
Wednesday’s performance left Bears coach Kevin Broadus impressed with the Wahoos.
“They have one of the highest IQs that we’ve played against this year and we’ve played against Arizona, who’s really, really good, BYU is really, really good, and some others but I tell you the IQ at the level that they play it is unbelievable,” Broadus said. “They’re going to win a lot of games because they don’t beat their selves. They play within themselves. … Good team. Good teams don’t beat their selves. Good teams like them win a lot of games.”
Broadus may have been referring to Virginia’s ability to handle multiple changes thrown out there by Morgan State. The visitors tried straight-up man-to-man defense, switching man defense, 2-3 zone, and a soft press that Broadus said they backed out of because it’s hard to press a team that isn’t turning over the ball.
In each case, the Hoos seemed to quickly recognize and shift the plan of attack. For example, UVA attacked switches with post-ups or unbothered drives and on the brief possessions against zone, the ball found its way quickly to shooters like Jake Groves on the outside.
In the end, the Cavaliers shot 47.1% (32-68) overall and 43.5% from 3-point range (10-23) with 22 assists fueling a lot of that success. They also gave up just 5 turnovers. Individually, multiple players ended up contributing to those numbers.
Senior guard Reece Beekman continued his strong play by scoring 17 points on 8-12 shooting to go with 7 assists and just 1 turnover. Groves, Andrew Rohde, and Leon Bond III chipped in 10 points each, while Ryan Dunn added 8. Isaac McKneely and Jordan Minor both had 6 points. Dunn also grabbed 10 rebounds, while Bond had 7.
Rohde’s full line jumps out of the box score beyond the balance, though. To go with those 10 points, he recorded 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. He also had just 1 turnover. Rohde had shot 0-10 in the Northeastern and Memphis games so to get back on track with 4-8 shooting while keeping up the assist number was a positive sign. UVA obviously had a major advantage in the matchup, but Rohde’s development is important for this team this year.
“He did a good job. We know he can pass and see things,” Bennett said. “He got in foul trouble against Memphis. None of us had [a great game there] – it was a hard setting. But I thought he responded well and we’re going to need him to use his ability and his feel. He’s continuing to adjust. This is just his second year and first year of playing consistently or will start to be consistently against a Power 5 team so there’s an adjustment period. I think you see the youth and inexperience at times show itself at inopportune times, but we need Andrew’s ability. … When he can bang a three or make a few plays, that’s really good.”
Rohde contributed to a fast start for the Wahoos too as they took control of the contest quickly. Morgan State fell behind 8-2 in the opening minutes and Rohde had a 3-pointer and an assist during that run. A few moments later, Virginia pulled away for good as State trailed by double digits for the final 29:12.
The Hoos dominated the final 10 minutes of the first half in particular. Leading 17-10 with 9:30 to go, the hosts ballooned the lead to 43-16 by halftime with a 26-6 closing surge. The decisive stretch began with a 3-pointer from Beekman and a traditional three-point play from Dunn as he scored an and-one bucket and free throw.
UVA followed that sequence with a parade of rim attacks to really open up the margin as Dunn, Bond, Minor, and Beekman scored 16 points late in the half on either layups or dunks. In fact, the only thing that disrupted that barrage was another 3-pointer from Rohde at the 1:45 mark.
It all added up to 52.9% shooting in the first half and the route was on. By the end of the night, Virginia cooled off a little bit both offensively and defensively but it was a balanced and thorough performance even with a less focused effort after halftime. The Hoos know it will take more consistency when league play restarts on the road at Notre Dame on Saturday, but closing out the non-conference slate with a comfortable win was a good way to set the table for the ACC portion of the schedule ahead.
“Some guys did some good things out there and we’ve got to keep coming together and improving of course,” Bennett said. “Now it’s kind of like your second season, I told them, conference starts. Obviously we’ve played one game in conference, but you’re on the road so we’ll have to keep tightening up.”
Good recovery. And good read, Kris!