The Virginia Cavaliers unceremoniously bowed out of the NCAA Event of their First 4 matchup with Colorado State, because the Rams jumped out to an early lead due to an ice chilly UVA begin and by no means let the ‘Hoos again into the sport. The sport wasn’t as shut because the 67-42 closing rating indicated, with primarily quarter-hour of rubbish time to shut out a miserable blowout loss which ended Virginia’s season one win away from the Spherical of 64. The crew’s ice chilly offense was the story all night time lengthy: Virginia went 52 minutes with out a made shot from 9:48 EST to 10:40 EST and shot a putrid 25 p.c from the ground.
Listed below are our closing 5 takeaways of the season following UVA’s closing blowout loss in a season of blowout losses, a irritating finish to an uneven and finally disappointing season:
An ice-cold first half doomed Virginia inside the first 20 minutes
In a season filled with unhealthy offensive halves, the Cavaliers laid maybe their largest egg of the complete yr within the first half towards Colorado State. The ‘Hoos completed the half with simply 14 factors on a completely depressing 5-for-29 from the sphere, their lowest scoring half of the season. They didn’t rating a single level within the closing 9:20 and didn’t make a subject purpose after the ten:30 mark. Eleven of their photographs got here from the midrange and only one went down.
The ‘Hoos dug themselves a 13-point lead despite their very strong defensive efficiency. Aided partially by a number of completely unforced turnovers by the Rams, UVA held Colorado State to only 27 factors within the first half — considered one of their least environment friendly scoring halves of the yr. Star guard Isaiah Stevens scored simply three factors, and the Rams took difficult photographs mainly all half. And Virginia received the possession battle, turning it over simply as soon as to CSU’s six and limiting the Rams to solely two offensive rebounds. Nevertheless it simply didn’t matter.
UVA’s “core three” all struggled to discover a rhythm
In what in all probability would be the closing sport of his profession on the College of Virginia, Reece Beekman will definitely want he’d been in a position to do extra. Defensively, Reece was his typical shutdown self and locked down Isaiah Stevens. However on offense, he merely couldn’t purchase a basket. These typical midrange push photographs Beekman often knocks down at a latest clip all didn’t go. He missed some makes an attempt on the rim early and couldn’t function with restricted house. And the three-pointer simply wasn’t falling. He completed with 15 factors on 4-16 from the ground and 4 assists to 1 turnover. On a irritating night time for everybody on the roster, Beekman will most likely be probably the most disillusioned with the best way this sport performed out. This isn’t the best way he wished an unbelievable profession to finish.
Virginia’s different two “core” gamers — Ryan Dunn and Isaac McKneely, who’ve began each obtainable sport this season — didn’t precisely decide up the slack. Dunn scored the primary 4 factors of the sport for the Cavaliers and began very sturdy defensively however then disappeared on the offensive finish, and early foul hassle within the second half nearly completely negated his impression on the sport. Isaac McKneely began chilly and simply couldn’t get something going all sport. Early within the second half, he bricked a completely vast open 14-footer on a damaged play that IMac most likely makes in his sleep at an 80 p.c clip. He completed with six factors on simply 2-13 from the sphere.
Function gamers weren’t in a position to step up and shoulder the load
When the Cavaliers have performed their greatest basketball this season, it’s been due to sturdy role-player performances. Early within the yr, Blake Buchanan’s breakout sport off the bench gave UVA their greatest win of the season over Florida. Then, a Jake Groves scorching sizzling taking pictures run propelled the Cavaliers to their eight-game midseason ACC successful streak. Even because the ‘Hoos stumbled down the stretch, Taine Murray began to emerge as a reputable bench scorer; he labored his manner into the beginning lineup at this time.
None of that shone by in Dayton. Jake Groves was most likely the poster boy for giant role-player misses for the ‘Hoos: he bricked a large open wing three late within the first half after which air-balled a nook three within the second which possible would have been UVA’s closing shot to begin a run and work their manner again into the sport. Groves even missed two free throws! However in no way is it truthful to pin issues on him solely — a complete group of gamers whose minor contributions had been so essential for a UVA crew ravenous for any kind of offense collectively disappeared towards Colorado State. Andrew Rohde, Taine Murray, Jake Groves and Dante Harris mixed to go 0-10 from the ground within the first half-hour of the sport. On an evening the place UVA desperately wanted somebody to choose up the slack, nobody (outdoors of a terrific Jordan Minor spurt for about 5 second-half minutes) rose to the event.
UVA must rethink its offensive philosophy
That is the kind of sport that ought to power a reevaluation of Virginia’s offensive philosophy, full cease. Coaches can’t go on the market and put the ball within the basket for the gamers, however they will put the crew in a greater spot to attain than the present mover-blocker system does. Individuals like to selectively overlook how environment friendly the Bennett offenses of the mid-2010s had been, but it surely’s a system that’s outlived its usefulness. As basketball on the highest degree continues to maneuver in direction of elevated spacing and heavy ball-screen offenses to get gamers transferring downhill in direction of the basket, Virginia simply spends too lengthy each possession working off curls within the midrange or anemic ball rotations across the perimeter.
It’s okay to play sluggish and never push in transition as a stylistic alternative, but it surely’s not okay to not look to attain for giant chunks of the shot clock each possession. Virginia doesn’t have the offensive expertise to be an excellent crew on that finish of the court docket, however there’s completely no cause they need to be this unhealthy — by the point KenPom updates to mirror this putrid outing, UVA might be outdoors of the highest 200 in offensive effectivity. Tony Bennett’s philosophy has ushered Virginia into this system’s golden age, and so a lot of its tenets — his pack line protection and perspective in direction of basketball extra typically — can nonetheless maintain up. However the offensive scheme wants innovation to create extra motion transferring downhill and get the ball into prime, non-midrange areas of the court docket.
One more Virginia Cavaliers basketball season ends in disappointment
Nicely, it was enjoyable whereas it lasted. The Cavaliers snuck into the NCAA Event towards in style consensus and had the great fortune to earn one final shot on the Huge Dance earlier than their season ended regardless of predictive metrics properly under these of a typical at-large. No matter whether or not the ‘Hoos deserved their spot, that they had an opportunity to wipe away the bitter style their implosion towards NC State left in everybody’s mouth with a win. Nonetheless, this was simply concerning the worst doable final result for yet one more one-game NCAA Event run.
Since that unbelievable 85-77 time beyond regulation victory in 2019, the Cavaliers haven’t received as soon as in March Insanity. That is most likely the least disappointing lack of the three since then — this yr’s UVA crew most likely wasn’t fairly pretty much as good as Colorado State, whereas Virginia definitely ought to’ve received as a 4-seed in 2021 and 2023 towards Ohio and Furman, respectively — but it surely is perhaps probably the most embarrassing. A depressing 14-point half, Virginia’s worst in over 50 video games because the 2022 ACC Event towards North Carolina, turned the Cavaliers right into a nationwide joke because the nation tuned in to observe the crew go ice chilly primarily all sport.
A program doesn’t want a nationwide title yearly to achieve success — there are steps to success. However for the fifth straight season since that magical 2019 run, UVA basketball’s season ended on a bitter observe.