It was an uphill battle from the very beginning, Virginia starting out with three turnovers in three possessions en route to a 98-75 loss at the hands of top-ranked Gonzaga.
The Zags were in control the whole way, stretching their lead to 33 at one point late in the second half. It was a near flawless performance from a team that is miles above any other, at least at this junction of the season.
Forget about what Virginia did, no team in college basketball at their very best could have matched the show that Gonzaga put on at Dickies Arena on Saturday afternoon. The margin of defeat may be unflattering, but Virginia could have played a perfect game and still lost convincingly.
Corey Kispert led the way for the nation’s best team, scoring 32 points on 9-13 three-point shooting. Kispert was unstoppable, to the point that there was palpable fear coming from the Wahoos every time he went up to shoot.
Drew Timme was no slouch either, scoring 29 of his own off a 9-15 performance from the field and 11 made free throws. Nobody else on the Gonzaga team scored more than eight points—but they hardly needed to. Kispert and Timme were unrelenting in their attack of the overmatched UVA defense.
That defense still has a long way to go to fulfill their potential, but even if they had been at that level it would have been difficult to stop the Zags. This Gonzaga roster is simply too athletic, too skilled, and too well-disciplined for any team to have a hope of stopping it at this point in the season. Add to that the barrage of threes from Kispert, and Malcolm Brogdon and Isaiah Wilkins could have been on the floor for all it mattered.
With the incredible offense that Gonzaga displayed, the 23 points that Virginia ended up losing by isn’t even bad. And it could have been a whole lot worse if the Hoos hadn’t had a pretty solid outing on the offensive end of the court.
There are plenty of problems to still be addressed, but dropping 75 points on KenPom’s 14th-ranked defense (prior to the game) is no mean feat. Trey Murphy III lit it up from deep with four threes, and the Hoos as a team hit 10 triples and shot 40% from beyond the arc.
But despite those good numbers, Virginia still gave away a ton of points on the offensive end. The Hoos ended with a shocking 15 turnovers, resulting in an (unofficial) 25 points off turnovers for Gonzaga. Obviously not all of those are expected to be erased, but it does make you wonder what might have happened if the Hoos had been more careful with the ball.
Kihei Clark was the main culprit in that sense, coughing the ball up six times in his 33 minutes. Aside from those blemishes, however, Clark was easily the best player on the court for Virginia. He’s the only player on the team that can consistently create his own shot, and that showed as he fought his way to 19 points and four assists.
The fight was evident in Kihei even in his worst moments, but it was strangely absent from Jay Huff and Sam Hauser. On paper neither of them played terribly, but for two players that garnered so much praise preseason, it was another lackluster performance. Huff and Hauser are still the best two players on this team, but they have to start upping their production.
The officiating also didn’t help matters, even though it really had no bearing on the end result. It’s tough to get into a rhythm on either side of the ball when fouls are constantly being called against you and missed for you. It’s a minor point in the grand scheme of things, yet managed to make a noticeable difference at times.
Even more noticeable was the pace that the whole game was played at. Virginia teams under Tony Bennett rarely get sped up, but today we saw what happens when they do. Gonzaga was allowed to dictate the pace from the get-go, significantly tilting the odds in their favor.
Controlling the pace is something that comes with time, and we’d like to see that skill develop over the course of the season. It’s one of many aspects of Wahoo basketball that needs to be worked on, and again, it will come with time.
If Virginia was able to achieve what they did last year with that roster, they should certainly be able to reach—and surpass—the same heights in this one. They have all the pieces, but the final ingredient of time has yet to be added to the mixture.
There already have been and will continue to be bumps and bruises along the way, but by no means should anybody consider pushing the panic button. The Hoos now have one quality game under their belt; a lot more are required before Tony Bennett can lead his team to the promised land of easy wins and high rankings.
They’ll continue that journey with a visit to Notre Dame on Wednesday, one of the lesser teams in the ACC this year. Virginia has a chance to grow tremendously from this loss, and that growth will continue as they move forward into conference play.
Image – Virginia Athletics