Welcome back to UVA Hoop Thoughts, an ongoing series in which I ramble on about random things concerning Virginia basketball, normally on a weekly basis. There’s plenty to discuss this time out, the Hoos routing Clemson on Saturday in a stunning 35-point victory. The potential displayed in that game was glorious to behold, and it stirred up a lot of excitement for what is to come.
With Wednesday’s matchup against NC State having been postponed, we can only while away the time until Saturday by discussing more Virginia basketball. Here are some thoughts about the current state of Wahoo hoops.
The underappreciated consistency of Trey Murphy
Kihei Clark is one of the top point guards in the ACC, Jay Huff is playing the best basketball of his career, and Sam Hauser has been so impressive that he’s been shortlisted for the Wooden Award. The three of them are the ones most talked about in Virginia basketball circles, and deservedly so.
But there’s a fourth player that is worthy of recognition, a player who has provided a major boost for the Wahoos: Trey Murphy.
Murphy wasn’t officially cleared to play basketball for Virginia this year until the night before the season opener. His arrival on court dressed to play was a surprise for many, as were the game-high 21 points he turned in on six of eight shooting from three. He hasn’t matched that performance in the 10 games that followed (though one can hardly blame him for that), but the Rice transfer has provided a steady supply of quality outings.
In seven of 11 games, Murphy has gone for double figures in scoring, and has now started the last five. He also claims the throne as the team’s best three-point shooter, hitting deep shots at a 42% clip.
With the exception of that first game, the 6-foot-9 swingman rarely stuffs the stat sheet or even gets mentioned as a top performer. But make no mistake, Trey Murphy is an invaluable part of this Virginia offense. He spaces the floor well with his ability to knock down the outside shot, and is more than capable of taking the ball to the rack—the Murphy poster has become a weekly ritual.
His defense has also taken great strides since he stepped onto grounds. Once merely passable, Murphy is approaching ‘lockdown defender’ status, his on-ball defending starting the climb up to the levels of Kihei Clark and Casey Morsell. The versatility that he possesses speaks of immeasurable potential on both sides of the ball, and Trey has not been afraid of showing it thus far.
Offensive improvements
Virginia dropped 85 points on an unsuspecting Clemson team this weekend, marking the third time in 11 games that they have surpassed the 80 point mark. How many times did the national champs do that, you ask? Nine, but that group played 38 games, meaning that this year’s team is technically on pace to exceed that number.
We shouldn’t be getting too far ahead of ourselves here, but when stats like this one start popping up it’s difficult to contain the excitement. Tony Bennett has himself a truly explosive offense this year, in that his Hoos are wildly volatile from beyond the three-point line.
In their three wins of 80+ points, Virginia has shot a combined 42 out of 80 (52.5%) from deep. That’s no coincidence, nor should those three games be thought of as anomalies. Virginia is averaging 40.2% on three-point field goals in conference play, good for second in the ACC behind Florida State. The fact of the matter is that this year’s Wahoos are very proficient three-point shooters.
The newfangled prowess in that aspect of the game opens up other paths to scoring, as we saw against Clemson. Once the visitors from Charlottesville began banging it in from deep, Clemson began stepping further out, opening a sizable gap inside the arc.
Recognizing this, Virginia sent cutters toward the hoop for easy buckets. The result was a Tiger defense that had no idea how to get a stop as their defensive scheme was torn down from inside and out. As it did against Clemson, the large pool of scoring options that the Hoos have developed will continue to confuse opposing defenses.
Different guys can step up in different situations
In addition to the aforementioned quartet of Clark, Hauser, Huff, and Murphy, there are three or four other players on the roster that have delivered at times on the offensive end. Most recently it was Tomas Woldetensae coming off the bench to drill four threes for 14 points against Clemson; prior to that it was Casey Morsell snapping his 10-day quarantine with 15 points on 6-7 shooting.
Reece Beekman has also had his moments, though his role has mostly been to feed others and be a pesky defender. Justin McKoy and Kadin Shedrick have similarly made an impact at times, though McKoy has seen a drop in playing time and Shedrick is out with an unspecified medical issue. Regardless of their status, over the course of the season we’ve seen players that are not normally in the spotlight step up with big performances.
Aside from the clear benefit of another pair of hands adept at scoring the ball, this takes some of the pressure off the leading scorers. Yes, Hauser has been great, but at some point he’s going to have an off night where he shoots the ball poorly. The same goes for the rest of the aforementioned four players.
Players like Morsell and Woldetensae are probably not going to produce a ton of points every game, but if they can each hit double figures in one out of every three it will prove tremendously valuable.
Mark your calendars…
A week ago I would have told you that Florida State was the fourth best team in the ACC behind Clemson, Virginia, and Louisville. Now I will tell you that Virginia and Florida State are easily the best two teams in the conference, and they’re separated from whoever’s third by quite a distance.
Florida State has flown largely under the radar after an early loss to UCF, but they’re playing some really good basketball right now and it’s liable to stay that way. The Noles are led by M.J. Walker, who is followed by a slew of talented players. It’s a traditional Leonard Hamilton team in the sense that FSU has a host of long, athletic players and goes nine deep, all nine of which would have played in every game if not for some COVID-19 problems.
I can also tell you with certainty that Scottie Barnes is the real deal, and he is not remotely close to hitting his ceiling yet. Florida State is the best three-point shooting team in the nation, plays solid defense, and should be a really interesting opponent for Virginia. So when will the two teams meet?
Monday, February 15. Mark your calendars people.
Image – Virginia Athletics