Basketball

The Hoos haven’t won two in a row in a month; the alternating win-loss pattern encompasses nine games. After defeating Boston College on Tuesday, Virginia will look to finally break out of the frustrating pattern with a win over Miami.

Kihei Clark made a floater at the end of the first half to stretch Virginia’s lead to five. Try as Boston College might, the Eagles couldn’t break through that five-point barrier in the second half. Virginia held its opponent at arm’s length and cruised to a 67-55 victory.

This is the year where Virginia basketball streaks go to die. Already this season, the Hoos have seen win streaks against Clemson (11 games), North Carolina (7 games) and Notre Dame (6 games) slip through their fingers. By season’s end, another, more significant streak will almost definitely meet its demise: Virginia’s run of seven made NCAA Tournaments.

A spirited comeback fell just short, and Virginia lost 69-65 to Notre Dame. Here are three takeaways.

Virginia hit the halfway point of its ACC schedule on Monday night. The win over Louisville ended an arduous hike up the first half of the conference slate. But now that the Hoos have crested the summit, they need to pick their way back down. And that is a far more treacherous task.

Hope is a fickle thing. There hasn’t been much of it this season for Virginia. But there it was, suffusing the hearts of Wahoo fans, as Virginia built a 27-8 lead over Louisville in the first 14 minutes. 

Virginia’s been jogging on a treadmill all season. The speed setting has fluctuated wildly, jolting the Hoos and threatening to throw them off. But they’ve clung to the treadmill’s handles with a sweaty grip, strained fingertips keeping them from being sucked off the back. The treadmill’s convulsions have become too much for the tiring Hoos. A loss to NC State sent them tumbling to the floor, effectively eliminated from NCAA Tournament at-large bid contention.  A similar story has unfolded across the border in Kentucky, where Louisville’s season has sunken into disrepair. An air of malaise is setting in around both teams. But one squad will at least find some solace in earning a win.

The Virginia basketball program has had some great teams over the past decade. Teams that have won ACC regular-season championships, ACC Tournament championships and in 2019, the National Championship. Those teams have won against good opponents or bad, in JPJ or Cameron Indoor, on hot shooting nights and cold ones. This is not one of those teams. Not even remotely close, as it turns out. This Virginia team all but cemented its legacy as one of the worst in the Bennett era by losing, 77-63, to North Carolina State. The Hoos were drowned by a torrent of Wolfpack threes. Although Virginia answered with plenty of their own (NC State made 12, Virginia 10), it wasn’t nearly enough to stay in the game. Virginia sank beneath the waves, overwhelmed by an opponent that played what was probably its best game of the season to date. With the loss, Virginia moves to 11-8 on the season and 5-4 in the ACC. The Hoos seem to be falling to pieces at a time when they need to be gluing those pieces back together. Here are three takeaways.

After defeating Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Virginia will journey to NC State for the second half of a two-game road trip.