It began on opening night with a 30-point win over an opponent, Tarleton State, that many fans couldn’t find on a map.
And the pastry buffet for Virginia Basketball officially began.
North Carolina A&T, Texas Southern, North Carolina Central and Morgan State all brought the goodies to John Paul Jones Arena.
The other cupcake, Northeastern, had other intentions than being devoured and took the Cavaliers to the wire, losing 56-54.
Competitive game or not, Northeastern still would not show up on any Weight Watchers diet.
The Bears of Morgan State, like the other assorted pastries, offered minimal competition, losing 79-44 Wednesday evening in John Paul Jones Arena.
What did Morgan State share with the other victims?
They were all blown out by halftime.
Aside from Northeastern, the other treats were trailing by an average of 31 points at intermission. Morgan State followed the script Wednesday, trailing UVA 43-16 at the break.
So, what exactly did Virginia gain by such a lightweight early-season slate?
Hard to dissect, but here goes.
I guess, if nothing else, Virginia did not suffer an upset in any of the rent-a-victim contests.
Northeastern came close, but close doesn’t count. It might make you concerned, but it still was a win.
The Cavaliers are 10-2 on the season, 1-0 in the ACC.
The troubling fact is that, in the two losses, the Cavaliers were completely manhandled, losing by 20+ to Wisconsin and Memphis.
Virginia also has quality wins over Texas A&M and Florida.
If you look at Virginia’s next two games, at Notre Dame and back home with Louisville, you could say the pastry feast continues.
The ACC is bad this season.
How bad?
Notre Dame lost at home to The Citadel, 65-45, and Louisville lost home games to Chattanooga and Arkansas State.
That bad.
Wednesday, against Morgan State’s porous defense, Virginia was able to get a few of its key offensive weapons back on track.
Andrew Rohde, who entered the game with back-to-back nothings in the scoring column, had 10 points, while Jacob Groves had 10 points, making three of his four three-point attempts.
The concerning issues with Virginia after the first two months of the season are now starting to become a trend.
UVA is still struggling in the paint; they just can’t seem to finish at the rim with consistency or authority.
Wednesday, against an obviously overmatched foe, Virginia’s big men, Ryan Dunn and Blake Buchannan, were a combined 3-of-12 from the floor.
The first 12 games of the slate have highlighted UVA’s lack of an inside scoring threat.
Even in a weak ACC, that will become problematic if not corrected. You can’t have an offense that night-after-night relies on guards to create scoring opportunities.
The one constant for the Cavaliers has been the play of Reece Beekman.
As expected, Beekman has been Mr. Consistent.
The unexpected is the strong offensive threat Beekman has become, which has not been a strength for Beekman until this season.
Beekman has created scoring opportunities for himself in diverse ways other than simply weaving and twisting his way to the rim.
He’s become a threat from the midrange and perimeter as well.
The problem, moving forward, is that, in ACC play, nothing is a secret.
Other league teams will become aware of Beekman’s offensive prowess, and defensively scheme to stop that.
That’s what a 20-game ACC regular season will do. Every school quickly becomes aware of the strengths and weaknesses of one another.
So, Virgina must give Beekman help.
If not, it could become a long season for the Cavaliers.
The pastry shop has closed.
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