It was like going through a recurring nightmare for Virginia fans as the clock wound down inside LJVM Coliseum. Trailing for large portions of the game, the Hoos managed to battle back and take a lead with a few minutes left. But, as has been the case in five of their last six games, they lost it—This time in the waning seconds on a foul on a three point shot. The difference this time was that Virginia actually managed to pull out a victory in the end. And that is thanks to Tomas Woldetensae.
The JUCO transfer was in the midst of a decidedly rough season, shooting about 32% from three. That all changed when he hit three in the loss to Florida State. Today, he was magnificent, going 7 for 14 from deep and scoring 21 points whilst pulling down 6 boards. It would have been impossible for Virginia to win the game if not for Woldetensae’s contributions. He was the only one on the floor with “Virginia” on their uniforms to hit a three, save for Jay Huff’s massive one near the end of regulation.
If Woldetensae can continue to hit shots from downtown, it will be a massive addition to UVA’s offense. Before, Tomas was something of a liability on both ends of the floor, but he’s coming around on the defensive end, and he has the potential–as he showed today–to be a huge asset on the offesnsive end.
That would be an especially welcome change for Mamadi Diakite. He hasn’t been able to do as much inside over the course of the season as he would have liked, given Virginia’s inability to knock down the outside shot. Opponents are able to pack it in to nullify the inside scoring threat because nobody on the Hoos prior to Woldetensae’s coming out was able to take and make threes with consistency. Thus, Diakite would be able to deal much more damage with the ball down low, as we saw today.
Mamadi had 16 points on 7/10 shooting, and 7 rebounds. It was a flash of what he was expected to be before the season started. With 11 ACC games remaining, there’s still hope that the 6′ 9″ Senior is able to live up to expectations. He’s sometimes a little bit passive on the offensive end, often times just standing on the perimeter. Mamadi needs to realize that he is the best player on this team. The ball should be touching his hands on nearly every possession if this team is to make the NCAA Tournament.
Speaking of which, today’s win kept the Hoos from sliding farther down the wrong side of the bubble. A loss today would have meant that Virginia would own losses to two of the worst teams in the conference. However, now that they have emerged (relatively) unscathed, it presents an opportunity to grab a firm foothold on the right side of the bubble.
Fifth-ranked Florida State comes to Charlottesville on Tuesday night. It could be a real resume building win for the Hoos, and one that goes a long way towards making the big dance. But to have any chance of knocking off the Noles, the Hoos are going to have to clean up some simple things that they haven’t exactly doing the best job of.
The simplest of them and the easiest to clean up is free throw shooting. The Hoos shot an atrocious 58% from the charity stripe against Wake. They have to be able to convert the easy points when given to them. The other one–and one that was not an issue for the first time in a while–is turnovers. The Hoos turned it over 14 times today, which is not too bad, especially considering the extra period that took place. Keeping that number down against Florida State and future opponents would be great.
While it was far from a perfect game, Virginia’s game against Wake Forest will go down in the win column. All eyes will be on Charlottesville Tuesday night as the Hoos attempt to gain a leg up in the NCAA Tournament race.