Virginia (3-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday night in The Bahamas, a 64-42 defeat to No. 11 Tennessee (5-0) at the Baha Mar Convention Center. UVA will face No. 22 St. John’s (4-1) in the consolation game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship on Friday at 7pm ET.
Here are our five key takeaways from Virginia’s loss to Tennessee.
Despite shooting less than 30% from the floor and turning the ball over nine times in the first half, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing by just one point at halftime thanks to a solid defensive effort and a 7-0 run to end the half. But the Volunteers are ranked No. 11 in the country for a reason and they showed it in the second half, continuing to smother UVA with physical defense and heating up offensively. Chaz Lanier headlined Tennessee’s strong second half, pouring in 18 of his game-high 26 points and knocking down four threes after halftime. Lanier nearly outscored Virginia in the second half by himself. The Cavaliers simply couldn’t keep up.
Though it took until the second half for the game to get out of hand, the signals of the inevitable outcome were there from the beginning, as Virginia struggled against Tennessee’s pressure and physicality both in the half-court and with the full-court press. The Cavaliers had to call a timeout less than four minutes into the game due to not being able to get the ball inbounds under their own basket and more than a few of their 18 turnovers came in the back court (we’ll talk more about turnovers shortly). In the half-court, Tennessee guarded Virginia’s ball-handlers closely, making it hard for UVA to even complete a pass. The Cavaliers struggled to space the floor or gain separation and everything was difficult, even the shots they made. They also had a few jump shots blocked. The Volunteers, meanwhile, were able to more effectively win their individual matchups, leading to more consistent open shots, especially in the second half. Virginia’s lack of ball-handling playmakers was exposed on this night.
Tennessee would have likely won the game anyway, but the Cavaliers did themselves no favors by failing in some critical areas of basketball fundamentals. UVA turned the ball over 18 times in the game and Tennessee scored 30 points off of those turnovers. Some of the turnovers came from Tennessee’s full-court press and on-ball pressure, but only eight of the 18 turnovers were steals. The Cavaliers also made careless mistakes and weren’t strong with the ball. Meanwhile, Tennessee had only one turnover in the second half after turning the ball over six times in the first half. Virginia had multiple droughts of more than five minutes without a field goal. Earlier in the game, the Volunteers didn’t capitalize. But when the Cavaliers went cold again in the second half, they put the game away with an 18-0 run.
Perhaps more concerning was how badly the Cavaliers lost the rebounding battle. Tennessee outrebounded Virginia 43-34 and collected 18 offensive rebounds. The Volunteers capitalized on those opportunities with 19 second-chance points. UVA was getting stops, but not completing the successful defensive possession with a rebound and that’s where the game got out of hand. The combination of the turnovers and rebounding issues led to Tennessee taking 17 more shots than Virginia in the game.
To end with a more positive takeaway, Virginia got solid contributions from Dai Dai Ames, Blake Buchanan, and Andrew Rohde. While UVA’s lack of individual playmaking was exposed in this game, Ames made some excellent plays to get through Tennessee’s stout defense and to the rim for some tough buckets. The Kansas State transfer finished with 12 points and two rebounds and made five of his six free throws, though he did not register an assist on the night. Buchanan made his presence felt on the defensive end early on with a few blocks and also had a few of his hook shots fall, finishing with six points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Most significantly, Rohde had back-to-back solid shooting performances for the first time in a Virginia uniform, following up his strong showing against Villanova with a couple of big threes, finishing with eight points and three assists. This UVA offense can improve if this is the level of shooting Andrew Rohde is providing on a consistent basis.
With that said, Virginia’s three-leading scorers coming in (Isaac McKneely, Elijah Saunders, Jacob Cofie) were a combined 3/19 from the floor with nine total points scored. The good news is that McKneely, Saunders, and Cofie don’t have any time to dwell on their poor showings, as the Cavaliers have just 18 hours between games. Virginia will take on No. 22 St. John’s on Friday at 7pm on CBS Sports Network.
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