Virginia used a 16-0 second half run to take down Pittsburgh 73-66 Saturday afternoon. Four Wahoos reached double figures in the win, Sam Hauser leading the group with 23 points and Tomas Woldetensae adding 14 off the bench.
It was an important win for the Hoos, and one that came with plenty of positives. It also serves to give them breathing room atop the ACC standings with a tough stretch of games approaching.
But one telling stat exposes an underlying problem that has come to the fore in recent games. Virginia was outscored 42-18 in the paint by the visiting Panthers, a stat that parallels those of the past two games. Virginia Tech won the paint battle 24-12 last week, and NC State had 30 points in the paint to Virginia’s 22.
The disparity in paint points highlights two issues with this Virginia team, one on either side of the court.
On offense, the inability to penetrate and score around the hoop is concerning. In the three-game sample size that we are currently examining, only 27.6% of Virginia’s points are coming in the painted area. Virginia’s tendency to resort to the three ball has been widely criticized, and while they’re doing better in the midrange, the Hoos still struggle to get to the rim.
Part of this is an unwillingness to throw the ball into the post. Jay Huff and Sam Hauser once excelled in backing down players in the post; now Huff has found a home outside the arc and Hauser deals damage from the midrange and from deep.
The guards have also been fairly unsuccessful driving to the rim. Casey Morsell is quick and strong but often fails to finish, while Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman are repeatedly turned away by opposing big men.
On the other end of the court, those same big men have been highly successful down low. In the past three games opponents have scored an absurd 51.6% of their points in the paint.
Jay Huff committed 12 fouls in those three games, fouling out against Pitt after just 25 minutes. That the Panthers scored nearly ⅔ of their 66 points in the paint is down to some subpar defense, in addition to the 14 offensive rebounds that Pitt accumulated.
Tony Bennett confessed in his postgame presser that he was unhappy with the defensive performance, and it’s not difficult to see why. Virginia did well to limit Pitt from deep (4-14 from three), but they allowed far too many points on the inside.
On both sides of the floor, what happens around the basket has been Virginia’s bane. They’re allowing far too many paint points on defense while not scoring enough of their own on offense.
It’s an area that needs to improve for the Hoos, especially with their upcoming schedule. Florida State and North Carolina loom just around the corner, and as the two tallest teams in the conference they could easily take advantage if Virginia does not shore up this problem.
Other notes from the win
- With the most pressing concern out of the way, we can talk about how delightful it is to watch Sam Hauser play basketball. His midrange jumper is a glorious thing to behold, and the senior transfer used it to great effect in this win. Hauser was 4-4 from the midrange, 4-4 from the free-throw line, 3-4 from three, and 1-1 in the paint. Nearly every time the ball left his hands it found the net, propelling him to his career high in a Virginia uniform. Hauser has been the definition of consistency this season, reaching double figures scoring in all but one game. The ACC POY award may already be stamped with Justin Champagnie’s name, but Hauser outperformed him today to carry Virginia to the win.
- Kihei Clark has long been a hotly-contested topic among UVA basketball fans. That debate disappeared after Kihei put the team on his back in the latter portion of last season, but it’s returned in full force after some recent struggles. We shouldn’t be overreacting to a few bad games, but the season stats don’t lie: Kihei averages 30% from three, has a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio, and has the second-worst field goal percentage of the five guys that have played every game this season. It has not been a good season for Clark, and this bad stretch warrants criticism. Hopefully Kihei can turn it around, but the truth is that his recent play has not been up to scratch.
- It was another impressive performance for Jay Huff against Pitt, scoring 13 points and hitting three triples to help the Hoos to victory. I’ve been advocating over the past few weeks for Huff to get the ball in the post more, but after this game it’s time to admit that Huff simply isn’t a post player. The last couple of weeks have made clear that that’s just not his game. Huff much prefers to stand on the three-point line or finish off lobs. He’s not one to set up camp down low, so as much as it pains me to say it, it’s time to give up on Huff dominating in the post.
- Tomas Woldetensae had a great game, tying his season high with 14 points on 4-5 three-point shooting. It’s been a wildly inconsistent season for Woldo, who in his last nine games has two 14-point outings and seven zero-point performances. He’s a player that needs to be playing a lot of minutes to really produce anything. He fits into the streaky shooter mold, a guy that is unstoppable when hot but produces very little when cold. Unfortunately he’s been in a refrigerator for most of the season, but it’s nice to see that he’s still capable of busting out hot performances like this one.
All things considered, it was a solid win for Virginia to kick off a difficult stretch. Three of their next four are Quad 1 games, with one Quad 2 game separating them. It’s a crucial stretch for the Hoos as we move towards March and NCAA Tournament seeding becomes more and more of a priority.
Image – Virginia Athletics
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Good read.
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