Last night was depressing. The second half saw all of the Virginia deficiencies come back to haunt them as Florida dropped 48 points in the second frame. Oh, and for good measure, the SEC walloped the ACC in the second ACC/SEC challenge. (The SEC thumped the ACC 14 – 2. Yikes.) So we’re going to focus on the first half. Better mental health and all that…
Plus
The first six minutes of the game were as pretty as Virginia has played all year as the Hoos jumped out to an 18-11 lead. How many times in the past decade have we witnessed Virginia get to the 10-minute mark of the half and only have 10 points to show for it?
Plus
First shot of the game: Isaac McKneely drains a three. Second shot: Dai Dai Ames hits from deep. Virginia up 6-0. McKneely would hit a second three, as would Elijah Saunders and Virginia started out 7/10 from the field and 4/6 from beyond the arc.
YES to this whoooole sequence#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/dMXDtkxSnr
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) December 5, 2024
Plus
In a welcome development, coach Ron Sanchez had his bigs hitting the offensive glass and in Virginia’s third possession, Blake Buchanan grabbed an offensive rebound and finished at the rim. Good things happen when you grab offensive boards.
Runnin’ down a three!#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/vEOYFCxDJ0
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) December 5, 2024
Minus
The athleticism thing. Again. Florida was just too strong, too powerful, all across the board. As the Gators were clawing their way back into the game, Walter Clayton Jr. took Ames to the rim and got fouled while scoring. Very next trip down, Alijah Martin took McKneely to the restricted arc and scored. In both cases, Ames and McKneely played great defense. They moved their feet and bodied their opponent and were right in their man’s grill. And they were still powerless to stop the shot. It was kind of like watching the talented kid on JV trying to stop the varsity player from scoring…
Minus
While Virginia was making an attempt to crash the offensive glass – 13 offensive boards on the night is pretty good for the Cavs – they struggled to keep the Gators off their own boards. Florida had eight offensive rebounds in the first half and so many of them just felt… “fortunate.” Virginia had numbers back, Florida players boxed out, and yet the rebound fell to a Gator.
Plus
I’ve often been critical of the sorry state of Virginia’s social media game over the years, but Florida’s is worse. This is what constitutes a highlight clip. Sheesh. Florida would beat Virginia by almost 20 points. They had plenty of highlights. And this is what they tweet?
zel with the three 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9XiHRZBdkJ
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) December 5, 2024
Minus
Speaking of things we’ve seen over the past decade… Virginia went almost six minutes without a score. A 20-14 lead drearily became a 29-20 deficit. And that was the game. The offense just broke down as the team was called for two shot-clock violations and Ames made two very ugly drives to the rim (that were both blocked) late in the shot clock. It didn’t help that Virginia got muscled in the lane trying to defend Florida and they committed two and-one fouls.
Plus
With Virginia up 20-16, Ames went to the bench with two fouls. With five minutes left in the half and Virginia down 29-22, Sanchez brought Ames back in. Virginia needed him on the floor and thankfully Sanchez has more tactical flexibility than did Tony Bennett. Virginia outscored Florida 13-10 those last five minutes and Ames scored on a pair of buckets and had a nice assist to Saunders.
Minus
Containing turnovers is part of the Bennett plan, but Virginia committed eight TOs which Florida turned into eight points. Conversely, Florida had just three TOs and Virginia wasn’t able to convert on any of them.
Plus
Virginia outshot Florida 51% to 43% from the floor for the half, and 42% to 33% from deep. In general, that’s good ball movement and superior shooting against a physical top-20 team.
Minus
And yet, the Cavaliers still entered the break down by four. This team is playing for the NIT this year.
Plus
While Virginia was giving up 48 second half points, UVa alum Sam Hauser was having a night. Starting in place of the injured Jayson Tatum, Hauser scored 20 points on five made threes as the Celtics defeated a surprisingly feisty Detroit Pistons.
Haus do you like them apples? pic.twitter.com/tNiwfYRSxG
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 5, 2024
Next Up: The Cavaliers open the ACC season with a journey to Dallas to take on SMU on Saturday, December 7th. Game time is 2:15pm ET and the game is on The CW.
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