Six observations from Virginia’s win over Pitt

Ryan Murphy caught the ball, looked towards the basket, and prepared to fire a potentially game-tying three pointer.  In fact, he did shoot it, and if not for Braxton Key punching it out through the rim, it would have gone in. Yet as Murphy’s arms moved in his shooting motion, the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game.  Virginia fans could exhale after a nerve-wracking few minutes in which it seemed that the Hoos were going to throw away their 14 point lead.

Throw it away they did not though, and they held on for a vital ACC win. The win meant that the Hoos have won seven of eight, and are certainly playing their best basketball of the season. It’s definitely better than anybody would have dared hope for just a couple of months ago. Despite playing so well, there were both positive and negatives to take away. Here are six observations from the win.

Bennett could have stopped the bleeding

The thing is, none of that stress had to happen.  Had Tony Bennett simply called one of his remaining three timeouts after Pitt had cut the lead to 9, or even when it was 7, none of it would have happened.  Virginia wouldn’t have turned the ball over two times in as many minutes, and wouldn’t have had a shot clock violation. They wouldn’t have gone on to score zero points in their final five offensive possessions.

Alas, Bennett, for reasons known only to himself, decided not to spare Wahoo fans the agony of watching their team nearly throw away a game that would have dealt a severe blow to their NCAA tournament hopes.  

For the faction of Virginia fans that believe that Bennett can do no wrong, this observation may not be to their liking.  Bennett can, in fact, make mistakes.  He’s an incredible coach, as is any coach that has had the fortune to win a national championship.  And the way he’s turned this team around has been nothing short of remarkable. He’s figured out how to get this team to win.

That doesn’t stop him from being at fault for not stopping the implosion that threatened to take down the UVA ship down on its way to the big dance.

Kihei is on top of his game

Kihei Clark was the star of the show, as he was against Boston College.  Totaling 17 points, he was 6-11 from the field with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He did have 6 turnovers, although it’s fair to say that two, maybe three of them, were not his fault.  Regardless, the Sophomore point guard, so often the man held at fault for early-season losses, came to play.  

He looks so confident on the court—as he should be, given his recent play—and craftily found his way to the hoop for baskets.  Yes, he made some mistakes today. Also yes, he’s 19 and in his first year truly running an offense in one of college basketball’s premier conferences.  There were bumps along the road at first, but we’ve reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with Kihei’s recent uptick in production.

Woldo turned in a solid performance

Tomas Woldetensae was in essentially the same boat as Kihei was.  He struggled greatly at first before the floodgates opened a few weeks ago.  Since then, it’s been relatively smooth sailing, and he canned two threes en route to 10 points in the win.  Another interesting note – Woldo played the second-most minutes of any player not named Kihei Clark.

A lot of this has to do with his incredible recent shooting, of course.  But his defense has picked up a lot just over the past couple of games. Granted, he is prone to a mental lapse at times, something we saw when he fouled an off-balance Trey McGowens with 1 second remaining on the shot clock.  But he also played solid defense for most of the rest of his 33 minutes.  

Hoos couldn’t have done it without Key

The only other person besides Clark who played more than 33 minutes was Braxton Key.  The 36 minutes that Bennett decided to give him was perplexing for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, his confidence to shoot the ball appears nonexistent. The one three that he took was wide open, and even then he hesitated before missing it by a good amount.  

This didn’t really matter though, as Key was very effective taking the ball to the rim for layups.  The impact that his driving layups had on the game cannot be understated. On top of this, the fact that he was actually able to finish these drives came as something of a surprise.  His finishing ability—or lack of it—has been bemoaned by many fans ever since he suited up for the Hoos. But it was as if he had been a fantastic finisher all his life as he maneuvered through Pitt defenders for hard lay-ins that helped the Hoos to victory.

Mamadi got on the glass

Mamadi was largely absent for the first half, but ended up with 10 points.  He shot it 8 times, 4 more than he did against BC. He needs to be more assertive and shoot the ball more.  But his biggest impact wasn’t scoring. 10 points was almost an afterthought when compared to his 10 rebounds.  They were big rebounds, as the Hoos struggled throughout on the glass.

The only reason that they managed to win the rebounding battle was due to Diakite’s efforts.  It might be a surprise to many that they did manage to pull down more boards than the Panthers, ending with 33 as opposed to Pitt’s 32.  They did though, and it was mostly thanks to Mamadi, who pulled down three more rebounds than the next closest UVA player.

Virginia is playing better together

There’s no question that this Virginia team is coming together as a cohesive unit. They’re sharing the ball more, and everybody has been able to chip in. In addition, the defense is shaping up better as the whole team works together. And it’s all thanks to Bennett. He’s got his players to play as a team.

He’s managed to do a rare thing, where he’s able to put every player in the best position for his own success, which in turn helps the team. Virginia is playing great hoops right now as the season draws to a close.