Dislike: The grabbing and clutching of Woldetensae is getting ridiculous
You look at Tomas Woldetensae’s line – 1-of-8 from the floor, 1-of-6 from three – and you assume he had just an off-night.
You’d have an off-night, too, if you were getting grabbed, clutched, basically wrestled trying to run off screens.
More maddening was that Woldetensae actually got called for an offensive foul late in the second half when he tried to free himself, and the defender flopped, Premier League-style, to the floor.
For all the talk about freedom of movement for offensive players, Woldetensae has been getting the hockey treatment of late, and you can’t blame coaches for giving it a try.
Seriously, the scouting report on checking Woldetensae should be, grab him to keep him from running to the screener, and if they call a foul, OK, make them call another one, and if they don’t call a foul, great, keep grabbing until they do.
This has been the formula for the past couple of games, and it needs to goddamn stop.
We’ll never know this, but assume that somebody from the Office of Tony Bennett makes contact with the folks in Greensboro with a videotape spliced to highlight the nonsense that Woldetensae is having to fight through to get open.
Like: Mamadi Diakite has a YUGE!!!! game
Diakite was everything for Virginia Wednesday night: 19 points, 9-of-13 shooting, six rebounds, two blocks.
The only thing he wasn’t was … more.
Like: Braxton knocked ‘em down
Braxton Key, 58 percent from the line coming in, faced a couple of free-bacon situations in the second half.
You know the deal, because we do it in JPJ, too – when an opponent misses two free throws in a row in the second half there at Cassell, the kids get free bacon.
Key missed the front end of one two-shot foul, and the crowd went bonkers, tasting the bacon, it was so close.
He sank the second.
Second time, he took the drama away early, swishing the first, then banging home the second.
No bacon for you!
Key had a Braxton Key statline: 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, one block, one steal.
Like: Casey at the bat
OK, so, Casey Morsell was officially just 3-of-10 from the floor, and 1-of-5 from three.
He made the three before the other three, a left-corner jumper that put Virginia up 53-51 with two minutes left, on a nice dish from a dribble-penetrating Kody Stattmann.
Morsell has enough trust from Tony Bennett that he got 34 minutes of floor time Wednesday night.
Another step forward for the young buck.
Dislike: Jay, come on, man
Jay Huff got the start, which, considering he only logged 12 minutes in the win over Virginia Tech last month in Charlottesville, was a bit of a surprise, considering how Tech goes four-guard so much.
He ended up only getting 13 minutes Wednesday night.
Final statline: two points, on 1-of-2 shooting, and two rebounds.
He did block two shots.
But on offense, he was lost.
Story by Chris Graham
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