Virginia women’s basketball suffered its first loss of the season, falling on the road 95-51 to No. 10 Oklahoma on Friday night. This game was never close as the Sooners took a large lead early and never looked back. The Hoos will need significant improvement if they hope to compete in March. Let’s look at five takeaways from a tough loss:
Trailing 9-3 early and 25-15 by the end of the first quarter, Coach Mox’s squad never settled into this game. UVA struggled with Oklahoma’s high-tempo play (13th in pace last season), which dictated the game from start to finish. Although Coach Mox’s teams usually play fast, they have struggled to find the balance between quick and out of control. After a difficult first few minutes, the team showed their inexperience as they forced tough passes and allowed too many fast break points to make any attempt at a comeback.
Oklahoma’s center, Raegan Beers, was unstoppable, scoring 26 points on 11/16 shooting, with 24 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Listed at 6’4, no matter who the Hoos put on defense, no one could even contain her presence down low. Taylor Lauterbach, Edessa Noyan, and RyLee Grays all defended Beers throughout the night, but none found success. Beers recorded a double-double just eight minutes into the second quarter, with the game already out of reach. This is a concerning development for this team. With a retooled frontcourt, fans were hopeful that the added height could be beneficial against matchups like Beers, but the Cavaliers looked outmatched in the front court the entire game, being outscored 66-14 in the paint. Beers is an exceptional player, but other teams on UVA’s schedule have formidable centers and it’s going to be very difficult for this team to win games with that extreme of a disparity down low.
Not only did the Hoos struggle to defend the paint, foul trouble reemerged early. Kymora Johnson earned her second foul with 3:20 left in the first quarter, leaving the game with a four-point deficit. Although Coach Mox brought her back with 7:06 in the second quarter, the deficit had already ballooned to 14. Additionally, RyLee Grays fouled out in 12 minutes and Edessa Noyan picked up four fouls in 16 minutes as they both struggled to defend Raegan Beers on the inside. This theme was prevalent last season and Coach Mox is going to have to find a way to keep her best players on the floor as this team does not have enough margin against elite teams like Oklahoma to withstand foul issues.
After the Campbell game, I mentioned that any stat would look favorable for the Cavs. Friday night was quite the opposite. The Hoos only scored 51 points (tied for the fewest in the Mox era) on 19/69 shooting, including 7/26 from three and 6/11 from the free throw line. With just 12 team assists, the offense struggled to create good looks. Throughout the entire game, UVA forced shots, rushed their offensive sets, and made poor decisions. While the team made similar mistakes during stretches last season, it is very rare to see this squad struggle for all four quarters as they did Friday. 21 turnovers, including five from Kymora Johnson, led to 23 points for the Sooners. One bright spot was the first-year Breona Hurd who poured in 15 points (although on an inefficient 17 shots) and five rebounds.
Friday’s game marked arguably the toughest loss in the Coach Mox era. Now, Oklahoma is a very good team. They won the Big 12 last season and returned 98% of their production along with Raegan Beers from the portal. But the Hoos are going to face multiple teams of Oklahoma’s caliber in the ACC with inside threats even more dangerous than Beers and they are going to need to be able to respond better than they did on Friday.
Coach Mox has time to make adjustments as the team faces four straight home games, providing a chance to build momentum before the ACC schedule ramps up. I didn’t pick UVA to win this game in my preseason preview, but a 41-point loss is pretty discouraging. However, ACC women’s basketball is elite and the Hoos will have plenty of opportunities to bolster their resume later this year.
The UVA women’s basketball team will look to bounce back against Radford next Wednesday at 7pm ET for UVA Strong Night.
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