Jayden Gardner grimaced as he peeled himself off the floor, massaging his jaw. The Virginia forward had just been clubbed on the chin, in a play that was later deemed a flagrant. He got up, walked it off and resumed play looking only slightly the worse for wear.
As the game wore on, the blow would be repeated. Loose elbows from Pittsburgh players caught Gardner on the chin on more than a few occasions. But he continued marching stolidly on, even after bearing enough chin-hits to send a pro boxer reeling back to his corner. Gardner kept fighting, weathering the storm on his way to 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Gardner’s performance was part of a rough game that resulted in a 66-61 Virginia victory. The win raised Virginia’s ACC record to 5-3.
But the Hoos played little in the way of inspiring basketball. Virginia continues to be underwhelming offensively, even if the holes in the defensive wall have been shored up. In every win, individuals have stepped up, but the Hoos are still far from playing cohesive offense.
They got the win, though, and at the end of the day that’s what matters. Here are three takeaways.
A confident Beekman is massive for this team
Reece Beekman has been steadily coming into his own throughout the season, and his growth has accelerated over the last couple of weeks. He’s played well in each of Virginia’s last three games, but he really broke out against Pitt.
The second-year tallied 19 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds in the game. His biggest contribution came at the tail end of the first half, when he hit three threes to propel Virginia to a halftime lead.
The most striking part of Beekman’s performance was the confidence with which he played. He stepped into threes without hesitation, drove swiftly to the hoop and even slammed home a dunk.
Virginia needs guys to take initiative the way Beekman did against Pitt. This performance bodes well for the rest of this season, as well as the rest of his career.
The big men are playing better
Foul-outs notwithstanding, Francisco Caffaro and Kadin “Cedric” Shedrick (as he will henceforth be known on this blog) each played solid games. They combined for 16 points, with Shedrick going a perfect 6-6 from the field.
Caffaro played some exceptional defense against John Hugley in his 24 minutes; Shedrick was decent defensively and great offensively in his 16 minutes.
There are sizable kinks to work out in each of their games, but the emergence of a reliable big-man duo is important for this team. Their games complement each other nicely: Caffaro is a stronger defender and less foul-prone, while Shedrick is more dynamic offensively. Both need to continue playing well for Virginia to reach their offensive ceiling
The solution is… more threes?
If there’s any working coach in college basketball that can be trusted to oversee the turnaround Virginia requires, it’s Tony Bennett. The coach has arguably done more with less than most coaches in the history of the sport. But even for Bennett, molding this offense into something better is an extremely difficult task.
Virginia simply doesn’t have the talent. With the three M’s (Murray, McCorkle, Milicic) having been told to keep their warm-ups on, the Hoos are left with a 7-man rotation. Ideally, that rotation expands—especially in light of the forthcoming proposition—but in all likelihood, the rotation will stay the way it is.
One remedy has always remained for teams that lack offensive talent: the three-point shot. In Armaan Franklin and Kody “Strattmann” Stattmann (the name he, like Shedrick, received from the inept commentary crew on the ACCN call), the Hoos have two guys that have been marketed as deep shooters. In Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman, they have a guard duo whose production from beyond the arc has soared.
Barring a radical overhaul of the offensive system that transforms Virginia from middling to magical, the Hoos might have to look to the three-ball as an outlet for points. At 30%, they’ve shot it terribly thus far in ACC play, but no other route of offensive improvement proferrs itself.
To be clear, this is simply an idea, and not a very developed one. It could be that if Virginia tries to shoot more threes, they’ll just accumulate more misses. But at least this would be making an offensive change. Some big ones are certainly required.
There are positives to take away from handling Pitt on the road, but it’s also clear that Virginia needs to start figuring things out in a hurry. The Hoos are back in action with a trip to NC State on Saturday.
Image – Virginia Athletics
5 comments
don’t include Bonner in mispronunciation–he spent the whole second half saying Shedrick and hoped that the PBP lady would learn something. Do yer homework, lady.
I agree, and have seen comments elsewhere that the crew feeding info into headsets should have corrected Angela early and often. It is certainly not the job of the other commentator.
It seemed the majority of the first half the commentary was on the Capel family and there generational giving back. It was too long and drawn out. Coming back from a commercial break all the way through the next time out? I had to mute it. Too much talking and totally ignoring the play on the court.
As always, Michael, spot on!
I seem to recall that in his playing career Coach Bennett was quite the 3-baller himself. So why would it be such a big deal to take huge chunks of practice time raining shots from beyond the arc, to help the whole team get their percentages up? If he could engineer a 10-percent improvement across the team – one additional made shot in 10 – it would be a huge boost and, of course, success builds even more confidence. Am I way off here?
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