The Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team suffered its third loss of the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, falling to the Florida Gators 87-69 in Gainesville. UVA is now 5-3 on the season with their third blowout loss in the last two weeks.
With the loss, we have five takeaways for the Cavaliers ahead of their ACC opener against SMU on Saturday.
Virginia hasn’t gone the distance against good teams
The ‘Hoos started hot against the Gators on Wednesday night, sprinting out to an 18-9 lead after six minutes of action. Their hot shooting kept them competitive through the remainder of the first half as Florida started to score at will. But, like they did against Tennessee in The Bahamas, the Cavaliers unraveled in the second half.
An Elijah Saunders triple cut Virginia’s deficit to just one point in the first minute of the second half. From there on out, Florida took control and did not let up. The Gators scored a whopping 1.548 points per possession in the second half with Walter Clayton and Alex Condon cooking the Cavaliers at every level. Virginia’s defensive rotations were too slow while their on-ball defense couldn’t maintain matchups.
This performance fits a trend for Virginia against the top-tier competition it has faced. Against Tennessee, the ‘Hoos were locked in defensively for the first 30 minutes of the game before the Vols ran away to a 22-point victory.
Part of that is the offense’s steep reliance on three-point shooting. Some of it is simply not having the athletes and the defenders to match up against talents like Clayton and Condon. For the Cavaliers to make a real run at the NCAA Tournament, though, they’re going to have to be more consistent across 40 minutes and avoid unraveling like they did against Tennessee, St. John’s, and Florida.
Virginia’s turnover and defensive rebounding issues are back
Last week’s matchups against Manhattan and Holy Cross provided a momentary relief from the live ball turnover, offensive rebounding bananza that Virginia has been on the wrong side of against quality opponents this season.
The Cavaliers turned the ball over 15 times versus Florida with the Gators scoring 20 points off of them. Florida also nabbed 11 offensive rebounds (for a 37.9% offensive rebound rate) that generated 10 second chance points. That’s a 30-point deficit off turnovers and offensive rebounds alone.
UVA’s live ball turnovers are a symptom of larger offensive problems while their defensive rebounding habits fit into broader defensive trends as well. Virginia does not have enough playmakers who are strong with the ball on offense and can do more than fire away from three. Ron Sanchez’s squad also lacks the raw size in the paint and the attention to detail to be a good defensive rebounding team.
These intangibles that were central to Bennett-ball have been bellwether issues for the ‘Hoos this season. If they can’t clean them up, it’s going to be a long year.
Andrew Rohde comes back down to earth vs athletic competition
Andrew Rohde had strung together a few encouraging performances over the past two weeks. While he turned the ball over too often versus Tennessee and St. John’s, he also put up 19 points in those two games before scoring 14 and 13 against Manhattan and Holy Cross, respectively.
He’s been a more efficient shooter this season than he was last year. Rohde entered Wednesday night’s matchup shooting better than 50% from three. Against Florida’s plus athleticism and switch-heavy defensive scheme, though, he sputtered. Rohde scored four points, notched three assists, and had three turnovers while shooting 1-for-4 from the field.
This result is hardly on Rohde’s shoulders. Rather, his struggles highlight a larger issue for the ‘Hoos. The offense simply doesn’t have enough difference makers against the bigger and quicker major conference opponents. Rohde’s value against the Manhattans and Holy Crosses of the world relative to his impact against the Tennessees and the Floridas suggests how little Virginia’s offense can rely on when it can’t physically dominate its opponent.
UVA should be a better team in ACC play
The SEC’s absolute dominance of the ACC in the SEC-ACC Challenge provides a good news-bad news outlook for Virginia.
On the one hand, the fact that the ACC is evidently mediocre (for now) means, despite all its flaws, UVA has the potential for a solid finish in the conference. Tennessee (#2 on KenPom), Florida (#9 on KenPom), and St. John’s (#20 on KenPom) are rated higher than all but two ACC squads (Duke at #3 and Pitt at #13). The middle of the ACC is not very good, and Virginia could capitalize as a result.
The obvious downside to this fact is that being among or at the top of the middle of the pack in the ACC probably wouldn’t garner UVA an NCAA Tournament bid. Going 11-9 or 12-8 in ACC play – which feels like a stretch – likely wouldn’t be enough given that the conference is going to once again be analytically buried by its non-conference performances.
Saturday’s contest against SMU will provide us with our first look at how the ‘Hoos compare to the pack of mediocrity in the ACC.
