After some shaky performances around the turn of the new year, the Virginia basketball team regrouped and stabilized itself in recent weeks. The Hoos rattled off their fourth straight win this weekend when it cruised to a 69-52 road victory at Louisville. The Double Bonus returns to look at the latest triumph against the Cardinals – the Cavaliers own a 19-2 record in the series during the Tony Bennett era.

Virginia Oldies But Goodies

The Wahoos dominated this meeting out of the gates, flipping the script on some road games from earlier this season. UVA jumped out 11-0 and built that lead to 36-9 by the 2:52 mark of the first half. Any time you see a score like that, you can assume a lot of things were working and that was true for Virginia. Yes, that included some good old fashioned ‘Sides’ motions concepts too.

During this recent run, pocket passes to the baseline have been a frequent part of the offense. On those, the screener opens up with his back to the baseline and receives a bounce pass to then go score. That one got a lot of air time during the Virginia Tech game at home, for example. In this clip, you get the pocket pass in the opposite direction. Reece Beekman runs off the motion screen, but then returns the ball to Isaac McKneely when he doens’t like his options. McKneely passes it back and Beekman attacks off a screen toward the baseline with his dribble. When the defense comes with him, he drops the pocket pass up the lane to Blake Buchanan, who opens up with his back toward halfcourt after setting a screen. That results in a little floater.

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