Aside from a couple of first-half stretches, Virginia was simply not in contact with Wake Forest in the 66-47 loss on Saturday down in Winston-Salem.
Wake (12-4, 4-1 ACC) led 12-4 more than 10 minutes in – Virginia (11-5, 2-3 ACC) missed 13 of its first 14 shots from the field.
The next four went through the net, and UVA was able to tie the game, once, at 14-14, on an Andrew Rohde jumper with 5:50 to go in the half.
An 11-1 Wake run got the lead to 10.
Virginia’s other run was a modest 6-0 mini-burst that got it to 25-21, but the Deacs got an Andrew Carr layup with five seconds left to make it 27-21 at the half.
So, a 10-2 run to tie it, a 6-0 run to get back to four.
That was it.
Wake opened the second half with a 10-2 run to go up 14, and Virginia never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Virginia shot 24.2 percent in the second half and 28.1 percent for the game.
Wake was 53.8 percent from the floor in the second half, 5-of-10 from three, and finished at even 50 percent for the game.
It’s amazing this one was just a 19-point blowout.
Those aren’t among my five observations, incidentally.
Minor looks … fine … in his first start at center
In my preview, I wrote that I assumed Tony Bennett would go big with Blake Buchanan at center and Jake Groves at the four, with 6’8” Ryan Dunn at the really big guard spot, to try to counter Wake’s size in the post.
Turns out, Bennett went with Jordan Minor, the grad transfer that hadn’t started all year, and had averaged 7.1 minutes per game coming in.
Minor did decently well in his first extensive action of the season, scoring nine points and pulling down five rebounds in 22 minutes.
And per Synergy Sports deep-dive numbers, Minor was a stone wall on defense – not giving up a point, on 0-of-2 shooting by the guys he was guarding in his time on the floor.
The TV announcers said they were told (not sure by whom, but somebody who knew) that Bennett went with Minor because Minor’d had a good week of practice.
Groves, starting at the four spot, only got 17 minutes, and was a non-factor – three points on 1-of-4 shooting, four rebounds.
Buchanan, who’d started and put up four points and four boards in Virginia’s last game, a 76-60 loss at NC State a week ago, barely got off the bench – going eight minutes, contributing a single rebound and a block, and three misses from the floor.
Leon Bond III, a 6’5” guard, got minutes in the post. I didn’t chart it to the point of measuring how many of his 21 minutes were at the four and how many were at the three, but he was used down low.
LB3’s counting numbers – four points on 2-of-7 shooting, with four rebounds.
I’ll say again: Bond’s game is that of a 6’7”, 6’8” guy. Too bad he’s 6’5”.
Dunn struggles again on the defensive end
Ryan Dunn is a lottery pick in the next NBA Draft, we’re told, because of his defense.
So, what’s been up with his defense of late?
I’d noted in my preview for this one that Dunn had given up seven points on 2-of-4 shooting in the 76-54 loss at Notre Dame on Dec. 30, and nine points on 3-of-5 shooting in the loss at State last weekend.
On Saturday, Dunn, per Synergy Sports data, Dunn gave up 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Which isn’t good. And was compounded by Dunn being a ghost on the offensive end in the loss at Wake.
He took all of four shots in 23 minutes, making one, and hitting every spot on the rim on a pair of free throws, to go with his one – one, 1! – rebound.
This is first round pick headed straight to the G League territory here.
Rohde comes off the bench, kinda, sorta
Andrew Rohde was on the bench at the opening tip for the first time this season, but never fear – the to this point underwhelming St. Thomas transfer still played 31 minutes.
Coming in, he’d averaged 29.1 minutes per game, so, you know.
Rohde had six points on 3-of-7 shooting, a rebound and two assists.
A 17.1-point-per-game scorer as a freshman, we’ve gotten three double-digit games in 16 outings from Rohde this season – the season-high being the 13 he scored in the 59-47 win over Texas A&M back on Nov. 29.
Since that one, Rohde has averaged 4.9 points and 3.4 assists per game, shooting 30 percent (18-of-60) from the floor and 22.9 percent (8-of-35) from three.
iMac, dear, sweet iMac
Isaac McKneely has been talking a bit this season about wanting to show that he’s more than a three-point shooter.
He’s trying; it’s just that, maybe he’s not, yet, more than a three-point shooter.
McKneely was 2-of-10 from the floor on Saturday, 0-of-2 from three.
On the season, he’s now 38-of-79 (48.1 percent) from three; that rate ties him for sixth nationally.
Inside the arc, though, whoa: iMac is a ghastly 20-of-60 (33.3 percent).
Take your pick at what he’s not doing well there: 3-of-12 on shots at the rim, 1-of-5 on runners, 12-of-41 on dribble jumpers.
This is the phase of his game that will need to develop for McKneely to be more than a gimmick on the offensive end.
It’s hard to be Reece Beekman right now
Reece Beekman had a quiet (though also team-high) 10 points, but was just 3-of-12 from the field.
No misses, and no makes, at the rim – all jumpers, 2-of-5 from three, 1-of-7 inside the arc.
And, just four assists, which ties his season-low.
It’s hard to be Beekman, trying to touch the paint and create offense, when the guys you dish the ball to aren’t hitting.
Too many of those missed jumpers were the result of Beekman trying to do something toward the end of a shot clock because nobody else was chipping in.
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Chris Graham
