Is the move to start Ben Vander Plas permanent?
Tony Bennett was noncommittal after Virginia’s 67-58 win at Florida State on Saturday on the matter of 6’8” grad transfer Ben Vander Plas being the starter at the five going forward.
He told reporters after the game that he didn’t make the final call to go with BVP over 6’11” redshirt junior Kadin Shedrick, who had started Virginia’s first 15 games at center, until he saw the starting lineup that FSU coach Leonard Hamilton was rolling out.
He was still thinking about going with Shedrick if Hamilton had started 7’4” sophomore Naheem McLeod, but when he saw that Hamilton had decided to go with 6’10” freshman Cameron Cohren at center, that settled it for Bennett.
Things worked out for Bennett and the Cavaliers with Vander Plas in the starting lineup. Vander Plas hit three early threes on his way to a big afternoon – 15 points (on 6-of-11 shooting), seven rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes.
“The way they were switching and pressuring us, his sureness in catching, and his decision-making with his passing and threatening from three, it just pulls some people out, so then there might be some more driving opportunities,” Bennett said.
Even when McLeod was eventually inserted into the game by Hamilton, Bennett stuck with BVP because he liked the matchups he had with Vander Plas on the floor.
“You know, the second half of the Carolina game, we went small, and we did that at times today, played Armaan (Franklin) at the four. Sometimes we’ve gone big. There’s different opportunities,” Bennett said.
Bennett echoed what he’s been saying for the past couple of weeks, that he’s trying to “find the right chemistry.”
But then, as he finished his thought on chemistry, it sounded like he realizes he may have found it.
“I liked the defensive side of things, too,” said Bennett, whose team held Florida State to 39.6 percent shooting on the afternoon.
“That was a smarter defensive game today than we’ve had, perhaps, we’re trending in the right direction that way, but you’ve got to keep working at it,” Bennett said.
What’s been behind the recent run of good play from Armaan Franklin?
Armaan Franklin put up a goose egg in Virginia’s 66-64 loss at Miami on Dec. 22, and at that point, he’d been averaging 6.2 points per game over his past seven games, on 32.0 percent shooting from the field and 30.8 percent shooting from three.
He’s been in double-digits in the six games since, with 20 points in the win over FSU – on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor overall, and 4-of-7 from three.
His numbers over the past six: 15.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 43.2 percent shooting from the floor overall, 41.0 percent shooting from three.
A reporter asked Bennett postgame what the difference has been for Franklin.
“You know, he’s freed up, you know, some of the things we’re trying to do, just some of the things we’re running offensively, there’s just, I think, it fits him better, and he’s got a freedom about it,” Bennett said. “When the shot’s there, he’s been aggressive and hunting the catches, the shots, and just, you know, doing well, and then he’s rebounding for us, too. That’s what I like.
“He’s just, he’s come back since the Miami game, and I think he’s really taken a step and helped us out. So again, I like the opportunities he’s getting in terms of being assertive offensively, and you know, it’s kind of coming together for him.”
Freshman Ryan Dunn gets Bennett out of his chair
A sequence at the 5:30 mark of the first half involving 6’8” freshman Ryan Dunn got Bennett to yell so hard, “I almost passed out,” he said.
Dunn snared an offensive rebound of a Kihei Clark miss, had a stickback blocked, rebounded that one, had another blocked, rebounded that one, and finally got the ball in the bucket.
“I joked with him, I said are you padding your offensive rebounding stats?” Bennett said.
“But that was great, because as I said, he has not played in the last, maybe, three games, ran what are meaningful minutes,” Bennett said. “So, to see him go on there and stay continuous, and his athleticism is real, and I thought he did a good job of, you know, a block here, there, and just his length, so it’s, real happy for him.
Dunn finished with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 1-of-2 from three, and also contributed four rebounds and three blocked shots.
Dunn’s minutes, as Bennett suggested, haven’t been consistent – he got a minute in the win over North Carolina on Tuesday, a DNP in the 73-66 win over Syracuse last weekend, and five minutes in the 68-65 loss at Pitt on Jan. 3.
At 6’8”, and with the ability to hit the three – he’s 3-of-8 from long-range in his limited minutes this season – Dunn can do similar things as what Vander Plas does in terms of helping providing spacing on the offensive end.
As long as he can hold his own defensively – according to Synergy, his opponents are shooting 35.7 percent and scoring 0.857 points per possession, the extra bit there in the PPP reflecting that he’s played some minutes in the backcourt, and had to defend guys who put up more threes as a result – we should see him getting more minutes.
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Chris Graham
