Virginia Basketball Double Bonus: Wake Forest

Virginia is 2-0 in the ACC.
Sam Hauser squares up for a shot against Wake Forest. ~ Photo courtesy Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

The Virginia basketball team dispatched Wake Forest on Wednesday night, 70-61, at the John Paul Jones Arena. That pushed the Hoos to 2-0 in ACC play for the seventh time in the Tony Bennett era and the sixth time in the last eight seasons. They’ll try to get to 3-0 for the sixth time in those eight seasons as well with a trip to Boston College on the schedule next.

But first, it’s time for a closer look at the victory against the Demon Deacons with the Double Bonus.

Post-Up Possessions

The recent Double Bonus after the win against Notre Dame took a deep dive look at UVA’s 3-man motion offense. The Cavaliers used it heavily again in this game too. It’s clear that the Hoos are using this set, at least in part, to create post touches in the mid-post area just off the blocks. As noted in the recent article, Kihei Clark called that area the “playmaker” spot and it appears from these two recent games that Coach Bennett wants to get the trio of Clark, Sam Hauser, and Jay Huff the ball in the mid-post frequently. The 3-man motion offense with them working the interior gives each player multiple chances to slide into that spot during a possession.

The rise of touches in that area the past two games has been stark. The Synergy Sports data shows just how sharp the increase has been. Through the season’s first five games, Virginia recorded 23 post-up possessions and that accounted for 6.6% of the total possessions on offense. Over the next three games, UVA registered 22 more post-up possessions with 18 of those concentrated in the two ACC games. (Note: in Synergy, these are post-up possessions that don’t include a pass out so a shot, a foul, or a turnover as the result.) Post-up possessions now account for 8.1% of the possessions on the season. If you look at just the last three games, that number grows to 10.8% and if you look at just the two ACC games, it grows to 14.1%.

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