Well, the poor fellow certainly tried.
He had, after all, just committed a turnover. So he reversed and backpedaled, eyes tracking the onrushing Ryan Dunn, body shifting into position. A 170-pound Texas Southern freshman planting himself before a 220-pound Virginia sophomore, the Virginia sophomore steaming forward with the indomitable power of a freight train, the menacing control of a race car.
Perhaps the Texas Southern freshman missed the resolved glint in the Virginia sophomore’s eye.
Because what happened rendered him immortal.
Dunn grabbed the errant pass and churned upcourt. He spared a quick glance left, a quick glance right, then accelerated toward the hole. Toward the poor Texas Southern freshman hastily arranging his feet.
Then Dunn leaped. His arm reached back. His feet dangled off the ground. He punched the ball through the rim, smashing it home so forcefully, so resoundingly, that he redefined the word “dunk.”
He caught, as they say, a body.
John Paul Jones Arena went boom. It exploded, or at least as much as it can for a November game against Texas Southern. The student section went haywire. Reports even circulated that one raptured first year, driven to delirium by the moment’s sheer exhilaration, literally fell over (these reports remain unconfirmed, though the first year can attest that toppling sideways onto a JPJ bleacher is a rather inadvisable activity).
Dunn flexed and roared, the ovation lasted a whole glorious eon, and the Association of Social Media Account Admins declared a national holiday, the better for people to watch the clip and rewatch it again and again.
Oh, and Virginia also proceeded to win the basketball game, 62-33, improving to 4-0 ahead of Monday’s encounter with Wisconsin at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Here are three takeaways.
Disruptive defense
Virginia posted some bamboozling defensive numbers Thursday. Start with this one.
Basketball first arrived at Texas Southern University in 1977. The Tigers have played 47 seasons since that inauguration, 1,388 games. They have played many games, scored many points. Thursday they scored 33, their fewest of any game. Ever.
That sounds like Virginia. Suffocating opponents and delivering records of futility.
It just felt right. Proper. It felt like a game from a decade ago, in the early Bennett years. Hunker down and hope. Outlast. Outwork.
Quite beautiful.
Virginia also, for the first time in program history, reached 10 blocks and 10 steals. It accomplished that by reaching 10 blocks and 13 steals. Those numbers tossed Virginia up the KenPom ladder, to No. 10 in defense, No. 3 in block percentage, No. 4 in steal percentage.
The Hoos have strayed, the last few seasons, from their historic standards. In KenPom’s final defensive rankings the last three seasons, they ranked 25th, 59th and 36th. The seven years before? No final ranking lower than 7th.
So Virginia is, of course, seeking a return to that level. It looks imminent.
The defense has some cracks
The defense has some hairline fractures. They hopefully will mend. They also could spread, spider webbing across the bones.
Virginia’s glossy numbers Thursday concealed some issues.
Many of the blocks resulted from missed assignments, Dunn or Blake Buchanan swatting away shots after Texas Southern players slipped past their defenders. Virginia engineered some of the steals, but Texas Southern also sorta gave the ball away a couple times.
Do not misunderstand. The defense, true, looked excellent. But it exhibited some vulnerable spots.
Interior defense is the looming question mark. Virginia suffers from a size deficiency, the center spot having emerged as a weakness. Bennett has awarded the minutes to Buchanan, a 6-foot-11 freshman who has looked mostly promising but also occasionally disoriented. Improvement will come with time.
But besides Buchanan, Virginia lacks options. Bennett has mostly shelved Jordan Minor, though expect Minor to earn minutes as the season wears on. After Minor, Virginia stares at Dunn, Jake Groves and Leon Bond. Good players. Not exactly tall or hulking enough to rebuff ACC bigs.
This is an unfixable problem, one Bennett certainly will attempt to disguise. The other things likely will come with time. Just remember Thursday’s sturdy defense may not always materialize.
About Isaac McKneely and threes
Isaac McKneely stood at a crosswalk Thursday morning on Grounds, peering down at his phone, a boot encasing his foot. The image provided enough confirmation. McKneely would sit out that night.
The boot remained firmly on the foot through warmups and during the game. McKneely watched from the sideline as his teammates clanked and clanked. The Hoos shot 5/16 on threes (31%), two days after shooting 46%.
A blip.
Every team has an off night.
Virginia, with McKneely, would have knocked down more threes. No doubt. McKneely has shot 14 threes this season and made 8 of them. That is rather extraordinary. He is automatic. It is exciting. He will be back.
It seems premature to bemoan Virginia’s shooting woes, especially without McKneely. The Hoos suffered an off night and played without their best shooter.
McKneely, hopefully, will return soon.
Because tougher games await.