There’s no doubt that Virginia’s non-conference–or shall we say 2019, what with the early season conference games–provided some interesting statistics. Here are the most noteworthy of them:
55.2 ppg is definitely not something to be proud of. Even with the notorious snails pace that the Hoos play at 55.2 is a very low number. Nobody expected this year’s team to come close to last year’s, but it’s impossible to ignore that the 2019-20 version of Virginia is averaging about 16 points less than its predecessor.
12.3 turnovers per game is not noteworthy by itself. However when you’re the slowest team in Divison-1 and only possess the ball 61 times per game, it becomes much bigger. Throwing away 20% of your possessions is not acceptable.
It’s not unexpected that Virginia is allowing its opponents a mere 47.5 ppg. The trademark defense has been fantastic as expected. The presence of two quick guards in Casey Morsell and Kihei Clark makes it tough for opponents to do much in the backcourt while the big men give opponents a hard time inside. As expected, the Hoos have played good defense.
Virginia’s 40.9% field goal percentage and 27.5% three-point percentage rank 303rd and 336th in D-1, respectively. Unlike the points per game stats, this cannot be attributed to lack of possessions. Shooting needs to be better. Luckily, the Hoos have looked at least competent recently, shooting 53.2% from the field and 42.1% from three against Navy.
As bad as Virginia has been shooting, their opponents have been even worse. The Hoos have held their opposition to 35% shooting. Again, this was expected preseason, but it’s good to see that we can count on the defense playing well even while the offense stalls.