The Virginia basketball team won its third straight Saturday road game and its sixth straight game overall when it escaped Clemson with a 66-65 victory. The Hoos got strong outings from Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, and Jake Groves for the second time in the week plus some timely buckets from Jordan Minor and Ryan Dunn to get the job done. The Double Bonus is back for a closer look.

Virginia Beat The Cheat

During this season, this space often has discussed two combined defensive techniques that opponents deployed frequently. The strategy combined lock-and-trail coverage on cutters with curl protection on screeners. The general idea, as a reminder, is to chase the cutter in close proximity around UVA’s off-ball screening actions, which triggers a curl read for that cutter. The screener’s defender then plays on the curl side of the screen and waits to protect the basket against that curl. It really seemed to bog down the Hoos’ offense earlier in the year.

This is one area where Jordan Minor’s presence has been felt that hasn’t gotten as much discussion as his post defense. By inserting Minor into the lineup, yes Virginia has improved its post defense, reduced the need for as many double teams, and generally helped the output on that end. However, Minor also has provided a boost on the offensive end because, as a friend put it this weekend, he actually screens somebody vs. just standing there. Plus, he separates and makes himself available for a return pass effectively too. Those pocket passes are a great counter to the curl protection strategy.

You can see it in his numbers in the seven games since he joined the Virginia starting lineup. Minor has scored 9, 16, 11, 10, 4, 5, and 9 points in those games for an average of 9.1 points on 55.6% shooting. That puts enough pressure on a defense for opponents to consider mixing up coverages potentially.

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