For weeks, Virginia couldn’t get out of its way on the defensive end. Even in double-digit victories over current #1 Villanova and ACC rival Notre Dame, it was offensive efficiency, not the Pack-Line, that keyed the Cavs.
And then something changed. Still not sure what, but some sort of bell went off in a bunch of heads between coach Tony Bennett having his team go zone for a few minutes at Wake Forest and the next game at Louisville.
Over the past four games, including a 67-49 win over Virginia Tech on Tuesday, the Cavs have held three opponents under 50, and one, Pitt, got exactly 50.
Virginia Tech scored seemingly at will in a 70-68 win over UVA in Blacksburg on Jan. 4, pouring in 44 points in the second half, scoring at a rate of 1.11 points per possession for the game.
Tuesday night was night and day from that one. Tech shot 35.6 percent for the game, turning the ball over 15 times, and ended up at .806 points per possession for the night.
Zach LeDay had 22 points on Jan. 4 on 8-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-4 on threes. LeDay had seven Tuesday on 1-of-7 shooting in just 17 minutes, saddled with foul trouble most of the night.
Justin Bibbs had 16 a month ago, including shooting a torrid 4-of-5 on threes. Bibbs had four points on Tuesday, 2-of-6 from the field, 0-of-2 from three.
Seth Allen had 13 in the win in Blacksburg, and six on Tuesday, shooting 3-of-9 from the field and getting sent to the bench late after shooting a wild airball wide right from the top of the key.
The Virginia offense was coolly efficient as always, shooting 49 percent from the field and scoring 1.081 points per possession, below season averages in both areas, but not much.
It wasn’t the offense that did the job Tuesday. More Pack-Line.
Minutes Watch
With Virginia up 12 at the half and up as much as 22 in the second half, Bennett was able to cut minutes a bit for the Big Three. London Perrantes got 32 minutes, Malcolm Brogdon 31, and Anthony Gill played 29 with only one foul.
Devon Hall got 29 as well. Isaiah Wilkins got 23, and would have gotten a few more, if not for foul trouble.
Darius Thompson got 17 minutes off the bench, with Evan Nolte getting 12, and Marial Shayok and Mike Tobey playing 11 each.
Jarred Reuter got two minutes of mop-up time late.
Big night for Wilkins, Tobey
Wilkins had a nice night on the stat sheet, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, with four rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.
Mike Tobey stole some of his minutes when Wilkins saddled himself with foul trouble, and the big guy poured in 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in his 11 minutes of PT.
Evan Nolte!
You gotta like the minutes that senior Evan Nolte has been giving the Cavs of late. He had four points on 2-of-3 shooting Tuesday night, along with two rebounds, a block and a steal.
His plus-minus was nice for a guy playing 15 minutes – +14.
KenPom update
Virginia holds at #3 in the KenPom.com rankings. The Cavs are 10th in offensive efficiency (1.176 points per possession) and 13th nationally in defensive efficiency (.926 points per possession).
Remember the low times when UVA was back in the mid-40s nationally on defense?
That was, like, only two weeks ago.
– Story by Chris Graham
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