The 26-point home win over Virginia Tech on January 4th marked the last time Virginia had won by double digits. The last time, that is, before they took down Boston College by 13. The Hoos were wire-to-wire leaders, gaining the lead on their first possession and never relinquishing it. The lead was 12 at halftime, and despite the Eagles cutting it to six at one point in the second half, Virginia held on.
The margin of victory came as a surprise for many, not expecting Virginia to break the 11-game streak in which every game was in single digits. The people that did expect it? The oddsmakers. To everybody’s disbelief, they expected that the Hoos would win by 12.5. Seems like they knew what they were talking about, and Virginia covered in a way that was commonplace last season, but not so much this year.
Not to speak for others, but for me it was an unfamiliar yet extremely welcome feeling, watching a comfortable win. It’s been six weeks since a win of such large proportions. Oh, how much it’s been missed. Being able to watch a game where every possession, foul, rebound, and everything else in between does not elicit a yell or over-the-top reaction is nice.
On the road to the victory, Virginia as a team canned 10 threes, with Woldetensae hitting 4 of them. The Hoos shot an incredible 58% from the field, and a ridiculous 59% from deep. It was as of yet unprecedented shooting from a team that has taken more than its fair share of criticism for its lack of skill in that area. While in no way should this be expected as the new norm, it’s a nod in the right direction, as was the game as a whole.
Game MVP
Take the statlines of Tomas Woldetensae, Kihei Clark, Jay Huff, or Braxton Key and put them in any other game and they could easily be labeled as the top performer. But there’s only one MVP, and against the Eagles it was Kihei Clark. His impact on the game far outweighed that of his teammates, even if he sat for more minutes than usual.
He finished with 17 points and 8 assists, and effectively ended Jay Heath’s career with a move that sent him in the absolute wrong direction. The four minute stretch in which he sat at the end of the first half (foul trouble) showed how different the Hoos are without him on the court. Yes, they had no problem scoring, but did it by hitting threes. As UVA fans know all too well, that’s not normally how it goes, and when they began to cool down, Clark was in there to see the game through.
But let’s just take a minute to look at how far the little dude has come. In December and January, Kihei would regularly commit 4, 5, 6 turnovers in a game, and bore the brunt of criticism during the losing streak. Now, he’s strung together a run in which he’s scored in double digits in six of eight games. He’s averaging almost seven assists per game in that stretch as well. That’s high-level basketball, and Kihei has been playing at a very high level recently.
Other players stepped up big
It’s not just Kihei who put on a performance in JPJ. Virginia’s whole starting lineup scored in double digits. In case you weren’t sure, that’s a first for the season. Their point totals are as follows: Diakite 10, Huff 14, Key 17, Clark 17, Woldetensae 14. That’s pretty incredible for a team that struggled to reach 50 points recently.
Their 78 points was the highest all season, and comes just three games after scoring 73 at Louisville. It very much points in the right direction going forward.
Where do the Hoos stand?
With five remaining regular season games, Virginia is in a relatively comfortable situation as it pertains to the NCAA and ACC Tournaments. At 10-5, Virginia has a stranglehold on fourth in the ACC, and it would come as a shock if they were to lose that spot. With fourth comes the essential double bye in the ACCT. With an NC State loss, Virginia would have a three-game hold on that double bye.
In terms of the big dance, at 18-7 Wahoo fans should be feeling pretty comfortable. A win over Duke or Louisville at home, and two more wins on top of that would almost certainly book a spot in the field of 68.
But right now, don’t worry about that. Just take some time to savor this fantastic performance.