Virginia’s best defense: Foul, foul, foul
Wake Forest went 7-for-14 at the foul line in the final 1:05, and had a turnover in that stretch. Do the math, that’s seven points on eight possessions for the Deacs.
To that stage in the second half, Wake had scored 39 points in 29 possessions.
That’s 1.345 points per possession.
And yeah, that’s a lot.
(Virginia still somehow won this game.)
All the sudden, they started missing
Wake was 12-for-15 at the line in the first 38:55, and then, as mentioned, 7-for-14 thereafter.
Bryant Crawford, who was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor in the second half, 3-of-3 from three, went 3-of-6 from the line in the final 1:05.
Devin Thomas, 5-of-7 from the line in the first 38:55, went 2-of-4 down the stretch.
Dinos Mitiglou, a 78.0 percent free-throw shooter, was also 2-of-4.
All the sudden, they started hitting
Virginia made eight of its first 20 shots in the second half, then finished on an 8-of-9 stretch.
UVA was 1-of-13 from three-point range, then made its last four.
The Cavs scored 52 points on its first 54 possessions, .962 points per possession, then scored 22 on its final 11 possessions, 2.000 points per possession.
The hand of God came down from heaven, and said, Virginia.
Malcolm the Man
When Malcolm Brogdon was fouled on a drive to the basket with 9:05 left, Virginia down 11, 45-34, he had 10 points.
The two free-throw makes did something to ignite Brogs, who went for 18 in that final 9:05, going 5-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 at the line.
Lead
Virginia had the lead, officially, for one second in the second half. That’s generous.
For the game, Virginia led for 45 seconds. Wake led for 35:28.
Plus-minus: Makes no sense
Darius Thompson played eight minutes, and they were a good eight minutes.
Thompson had a +18 rating, somehow. OK, he made the game-winning three, on his only shot of the night, which banked in from the corner.
He also had an assist, a turnover and two fouls.
There you go.
Marial Shayok was +11. Shayok scored 10 on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor, 2-of-2 from three-point range, to go with two assists, a steal, a rebound, and two turnovers, in 17 minutes.
Thompson: One-shot pony
Thompson went for double-digits in six of Virginia’s first 10 games. And then … he stopped shooting the ball.
In his last six games, Thompson has put up eight shots, making four.
Economical, he is.
Not a lot else
London Perrantes had eight points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field, 0-of-3 from three, with five assists, four rebounds and two turnovers.
Evan Nolte had four, which is actually quite productive for EN, who had scored two points total since Dec. 5.
Thompson had the oft-mentioned three at the buzzer. Mike Tobey had two in 12 minutes.
Jack Salt started, played four minutes, didn’t score.
Isaiah Wilkins didn’t score in 15 minutes off the bench. Jarred Reuter got his first playing time since Jan. 19, didn’t score.
Devon Hall didn’t score, was 0-of-4 from the field, 0-of-3 on threes, in an unproductive 23:59, but it was his dish to Thompson on the final play that won the game, so we’ll even forgive his -12 plus-minus, worst on the team.
Analytics
Virginia dropped to 11th in KenPom.com, but whatever, it’s a win.
The offense is scoring 1.183 points per possession on the season, ninth nationally. The defense continues to slide, to 50th nationally, giving up .966 points per possession.
Whatever. It’s a win.
– Column by Chris Graham
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