The Virginia basketball team wore its home white uniforms on Saturday at Wake Forest. It didn’t change this season’s road woes. UVA had won five straight games in Winston-Salem, but the Demon Deacons delivered a 66-47 setback in the latest trip outside of Charlottesville.
With that result, the Hoos lost their fourth straight road game. All have come since Dec. 19 and all have been by at least 16 points. That’s a tough stretch for a program usually competitive and often successful on the road.
“I said after the game, I said look anybody can have a good culture and good team character and buy-in when you’re successful,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “This is the time when you’re struggling and you’re getting humbled. Will you have a good team culture? Will you show character? Will you show up on Monday and work as hard as you can and we keep figuring out stuff as coaches, as players? Either you’re about what we value in our program, you’re legitimately humbled because we’re getting humbled and you’re going to be passionate and competitive and stay unified and serve each other and then as much as it stinks thankful for what this is teaching you because it’s teaching you valuable stuff. Either you’re about that or you’re not. … And it’s really easy to do it [when you’re winning]. For a number of years, it’s been easy. There might have been a tough loss here or there at a certain time, but this is the time. That’s what I talk about. Don’t grow weary in doing good for in due time, and I don’t know when that due time is – is the next game, is it down the road? – you’ll reap the harvest. This is pouring into all of us what we’re about. Our perspective, how we go about it, are we going to hang our head, are we going to talk, you’ll hear stuff – you just keep plugging. That’s invaluable.”
Notably, the Cavaliers held the home team to less than 70 points for the first time in this set of road losses. Memphis hit 77 on the scoreboard, while Notre Dame and NC State both landed at 76. While Wake had only 66, Virginia had little chance at a win due to a really rough day offensively.
The pending issues showed up immediately. The visitors opened 0-5 from the field, a sputtering start that eventually grew to 1-13. That led the team to produce just 4 points over the first 10:50 of action. Those points came from a Reece Beekman pull-up shot and a pair of Ryan Dunn free throws.
Wake Forest had its own problems getting into a groove so the scoreboard damage was limited to a 12-4 deficit and Virginia actually rallied to tie the game at 14-14 by the 5:50 mark. The Hoos made 5 of 7 shots with a surge that turned out to be just a brief flurry.
In the end, the Cavaliers ended up with less than 55 points in a loss for the for the fourth time this season. It was the second time they scored in the 40’s, the other being the rough 65-41 loss to Wisconsin at the Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament. Overall, the Wahoos shot a season-low 28.1% (16 of 57) and 33.3% from 3-point range (4-12). They did make 73.3% at the free throw line (11-15) or the already low total of 47 could have been lower.
Taine Murray made the only shot he attempted, a triple in the final two minutes with the outcome decided, but no other player cracked 42.9% shooting individually. Simply put, it was a collective struggle.
Beekman led the way with 10 points on 3-12 shooting alongside 4 assists and 1 steal. Jordan Minor made his first start at UVA and posted 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 blocked shot, and 1 steal on 3-8 shooting. Isaac McKneely had 8 points and 5 rebounds on 2-10 shooting, while Andrew Rohde came off the bench for the first time for 6 points and 2 assists on 3-7 shooting.
“I-Mac, they’re always going to be physical and try to take away his looks, make it hard on Reece, sometimes they’re zoning off guys – that’s challenging,” Bennett said. “We looked at some ball screen stuff, some off ball [stuff], trying to get space, and again that’s a challenge. We haven’t been able, at least on the road yet, to have a consistent two halves where we at least score enough and don’t have those stretches where we get gashed, whether it turns from a couple bad offensive plays to defensive breakdowns, all of the sudden it separates quick and that’s hard to overcome.”
That gash or quick separation came early in the second half. After trailing just 27-21 at the break, the Cavaliers saw the Deacs roll out of intermission on a 10-2 run that essentially put the game out of reach. The deficit never fell back to single digits again after that quick burst.
The hosts got two layups with a free throw from Kevin Miller sandwiched around a dunk from Andrew Carr to start the second half surge. Beekman picked up his third foul in that sequence and headed to the bench where he was soon joined by Dunn, who gave up some baskets defensively. Moments later Hunter Sallis drained a 3 and then center Efton Reid made just his second trey of the season too.
The Demon Deacons finished at 50.0% shooting (25-50) for the game with 47.6% shooting (10-21) from 3-point range. Only Wake’s 17 turnovers kept its score suppressed in the 60’s. Sallis led all scorers with 21 points to go with 9 rebounds. Miller added 14 points and 7 assists, while Carr had 12 points and 12 matching rebounds for a double-double. Reid posted 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots. Cameron Hildreth scored 7 points.
That balance proved too much for the Hoos to contain as they continued to struggle with ball screen defense, 3-point closeouts, and keeping dribblers out of the paint. Virginia has given up 10+ 3-pointers in three straight road games. The Cavaliers allowed 28 points in the paint in this loss as well.
“That’s the thing with Wake. They’ve got guys that can use ball screens, roll, they can go inside-outside,” Bennett said. “Really all three of [the guards] are strong and good at getting into the lane. Hildreth’s strong and Sallis is real quick. They put pressure on all three of those positions, all three are capable shooters. Then the size inside. You better be on point or they’re tough to beat.”
This team is horrible
Agreed
So is the coaching.