Virginia (23-10) faces Colorado State (24-10) in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, with a scheduled 9:10 p.m. ET opening tip.
The game is being broadcast on truTV, which is an actual cable channel, though you only watch it the first week of March Madness, unless you’re a fan of “Impractical Jokers.”
Here is how you can catch up on AFP’s pregame coverage (keep in mind: this game was announced 50 hours ago):
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Colorado State
- Podcast: AFP editor Chris Graham is in Dayton with Virginia in the First Four
- Virginia on short turnaround for First Four: ‘It was a crazy 48 hours for us’
- Scott German: Virginia clearly didn’t deserve an NCAA Tournament bid
- Virginia most certainly earned its NCAA Tournament bid: But what does it do with it?
- Tony Bennett on NC State loss: ‘I believe I made a mistake at the end of the game’
Travel blog
It’s been a planes, trains and automobiles past eight days (and counting?) for me with last week’s ACC Tournament, and now the trip to Dayton for the First Four.
Took the train from Charlottesville to DC last week; rode back in a car with Scott German (on a spare tire); then flew out from Charlottesville for Dayton, via Charlotte, for this one.
The Charlotte connector could make it easy for me if Virginia gets the W tonight; the winner of this one gets Texas in Charlotte on Thursday.
What won’t make it easy: I took a bit of a tumble leaving the Dayton International Airport/Tire & Lube Center last night.
Which happens when you’re looking at your phone trying to arrange for an Uber, and you miss the sidewalk.
The right knee and left ribs bore the brunt of it.
I’m a gamer, though.
Actual basketball reporting
Virginia’s starting lineup: Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Minor.
The departure from the norm: Murray starting in place of Andrew Rohde.
Rohde will get early minutes, as will Jake Groves.
The other guy I expect to see for around 10-12 minutes: Dante Harris.
Tonight’s officials
The crew: Keith Kimble, Kelly Pfeifer, Ed Corliss.
In the KenPom Ref Ratings, Kimble is ranked fifth nationally, Pfeifer is 40th, and Corliss is 96th.
Behind the scenes
The hotel I’m staying in is also the team hotel for Howard (playing Wagner tonight) and Boise State (playing Colorado tomorrow night).
Lots of tall young men, coach types, cheer team members.
And hanging out in the lobby an awful lot today – I know because I hung out in the lobby a bit myself, as opposed to seeing what Dayton doesn’t have to offer to visitors – was Nolan Smith, the former Duke and Louisville assistant.
It took me a second to figure out what Smith was doing there. Then it hit me: Kenny Blakeney, a former Duke teammate, is the head coach at Howard.
Smith is out of a job now with Louisville cutting ties with Kenny Payne after a brief two-year stint.
Exciting finish to Game 1
Wagner led by as many as 17 in the first half, and was up 13 inside of 3:15 to go in the game, but Howard made it interesting, cutting the margin to one in the final seconds with a 14-2 run.
A pair of Wagner free throws made it a three-point game, and Howard missed on three attempts from three in the final six seconds, and Wagner held on for the 71-68 win.
A little ragged
Virginia, defensively, is keeping up with Colorado State’s endless motion: CSU is 1-of-6 from the floor.
On the other side, though, UVA is 2-of-7 with a shot-clock violation.
Ryan Dunn has the two makes – an end-of-shot-clock fadeaway and a runner in front of the basket.
Rams rolling on offense
Colorado State has made its last seven shots – two threes, a short jumper, and four shots at the rim.
The issue on D: Rohde can’t guard, and Blake Buchanan can’t guard.
It’s 18-12 CSU at the under-12 timeout.
Dunn, Murray back in: D improves
With Dunn and Murray back on the floor, the holes on defense have been plugged.
CSU has missed its last four shots.
Virginia isn’t getting any help from the zebras: a missed goaltend call, two missed fouls on what should have been Beekman two-shot fouls.
Here we go again
That latest miss by McKneely has Virginia 5-of-22 from the floor.
Hate to say it …
We’re not far from this getting away from us here.
Colorado State is shooting 50 percent, Virginia is 5-of-24, and it doesn’t look like Tony has anything up his sleeve.
It’s 25-14 CSU at the 2:29 mark.
Can UVA get to 20 before the half?
Halftime: Colorado State 27, Virginia 14
Virginia went 9:20 without a point, and its last made bucket from the floor came at the 10:30 mark.
That make, by McKneely, a three, made it 18-14 CSU, and at that moment, Virginia was 5-of-14 from the floor.
The ‘Hoos missed their last 15 shots of the first half.
Five-of-29.
That’s hard to overcome.
Inside the numbers
Too many midrange jumpers.
Virginia only attempted four shots at the rim, and only made one.
Other numbers: 2-of-9 from three, 2-of-16 on midrange twos.
You’re not going to win a lot of games shooting a lot of midrange twos.
For comparison: CSU was 7-of-12 at the rim, 3-of-7 from three, and 2-of-5 on midrange twos.
Lots of shots at the rim, decent shooting from three. That’s how you win games.
The positives, such as there can be positives: the game is being played at Virginia’s tempo (28 possessions in the first half/56 game pace), UVA had just one turnover, and CSU had no points off turnovers.
Focal points for the second half
- Stop settling for midrange twos.
- Too many times, a guy with a good look earlier in the shot clock pulled it down and kept the offense running, and a possession would end with a forced shot with the clock running down. Don’t, you know, keep doing that.
- Attack the rim. Maybe that will create trips to the line.
- Buchanan and Rohde need to stay glued to the bench. They were defensive liabilities in the first half.
Not sure what to say
Virginia is 2-of-7 to start the second half, and its shooting percentage has improved from halftime.
The D has regressed: CSU has made 4-of-6 this half.
The guys could at least pretend like they should be here.
No sense in two things
The airballs on wide-open threes by McKneely and Groves.
It was like the door was open and the wind was blowing when they shot.
I swear, Groves’ three changed direction.
Those two guys are 45 percent-plus three-point shooters.
Different (and better) philosophy
Colorado State coach Niko Medved gets the ball to his three bigs – Joel Scott, Patrick Cartier and Nique Clifford – in space, with room to operate.
The effect is to negate the best attributes of the Pack Line. They don’t try to high screen or slip screen; just feed the ball to a big and let them create.
Virginia, Tony Bennett, runs everything off screens in the mover-blocker and his middle-third triangle.
The effect is to clog things up, especially when the opponent switches on screens, as CSU is doing often.
Postgame coverage
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