Home Four Observations: What I saw from UVA Basketball in the loss to SMU
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Four Observations: What I saw from UVA Basketball in the loss to SMU

Chris Graham

Isaac McKneely: Jekyll and Hyde


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UVA Basketball guard Isaac McKneely. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Isaac McKneely is a feast-or-famine guy for UVA Basketball – capable of shooting the lights out one night, hoisting up airballs literally the next.

We first saw that earlier in the year, after his 23-point performance in the 70-60 win over Villanova in November, in which McKneely was 8-of-9 from the floor, 6-of-6 from three, which he followed up, next time out, with four points, on 1-of-6 shooting, 1-of-3 from three, 1-of-3 at the line, in the 64-42 loss to Tennessee.

In his last three, McKneely has gone for three points (1-of-8 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 0-of-1 FT) in the 75-61 loss to Cal, 22 points (7-of-14 FG, 5-of-11 3FG, 3-of-4 FT) in the 88-65 loss to Stanford, and then, Wednesday night, six points (1-of-9 FG, 0-of-6 3FG, 4-of-4 FT) in the 54-52 loss to SMU.

What’s up, you ask?

McKneely wasn’t made available to the media after the SMU game, so we have to rely on the assessment of interim coach Ron Sanchez.

“I’ll watch the film. We’ll see how what our screen quality was,” Sanchez started.

He loves telling reporters that he’ll watch the film.

“I thought some of the shots were really open shots that he makes,” Sanchez said. “You know, some of them, you know, were off. You know, maybe he was a little tired. Maybe I played him too long. I’ll take a look at that. But overall, I think he got some decent looks. I mean, we’re encouraging him to shoot the ball more and to be aggressive.”

Will the real Blake Buchanan please stand up?


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UVA Basketball forward Blake Buchanan. Photo: UVA Athletics

Blake Buchanan teased us in his second game as a collegian, with 18 points and seven rebounds in a win over Florida last season.

The four-star 6’11” power forward didn’t have another double-digit game the rest of his freshman season.

What we saw from him Wednesday night – 11 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 27 minutes – was that just another tease?

“My hopes are that that’s who Blake is, you know, from here on out,” Sanchez said.

“If we can continue to get that effort from Blake, I think Blake will enjoy, you know, his second year, and I’m hoping that this is the turn for him. I want to encourage him to continue to do that, for sure.”

Buchanan just missed a double-double in the second half, in which he had nine points and 10 boards in 16 minutes, with offensive rebounds that led to a bucket by Andrew Rohde and a pair of free throws by Ishan Sharma, and a blocked shot preceding a transition three by Sharma, fueling the 12-0 run that turned a seven-point UVA deficit into a five-point lead in the final minute.

“We’re in a rough stretch. It’s been a lot,” Buchanan said after the game. “It’s not, hasn’t been easy on anyone, but I think every day just starts in practice, like attacking the day, right? Get better each day. You know, like Coach always says, we’re all we got, we’re all we need, and we kind of just live by that. Like, at some point, you know, we’re gonna have that turnaround game, we’re gonna get that momentum, but we’ve got to keep attacking the day and staying positive and leading each other. You know, that’s been a big part with everything. But just each and every day, just attack it like it’s our last.”

Dai Dai on the yo-yo


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UVA Basketball point guard Dai Dai Ames. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Dai Dai Ames was, like McKneely, not made available postgame, but Ames did get the start for the first time in a couple of weeks, after being relegated to the bench mid-game in the 70-67 win over NC State back on New Year’s Eve.

Over his last four, Ames, who had started 11 games coming into Wednesday’s game with SMU, had averaged just 9.3 minutes per game.

He got 28 minutes Wednesday night, scoring six points (3-of-6 FG, 0-of-2 3FG), with two assists and a turnover.

Sanchez, essentially, had Ames replacing Taine Murray, who’d gotten 20.0 minutes per game over the last four, and got just seven Wednesday night.

Why the change?

Warning: word salad.

“I think Dai Dai did a really good job,” Sanchez said. “You know, as coaches, our responsibility is to try to put the right groups together on the floor, and sometimes you make a decision to either pull somebody out of a starting lineup, put somebody else in who was playing well, and then that individual doesn’t perform as well as he did off the bench. The hopes are that you can get that level of contribution as a starter. It doesn’t always happen. So, we didn’t get that with the change, so we went right back, you know, to the original lineup that we had. It had nothing more to do than, the production wasn’t what we expected in the change.”

A follow-up question for Sanchez was an effort from a reporter to give him some leeway, to put words into the interim’s mouth about how, well, you know, you’re still just experimenting, trying to find the right lineups, right?

“No, there’s no experimenting,” said Sanchez, after he’d just … never mind.

“This is, you know, energy and effort. In my opinion, energy trumps any strategy. So, as we start our games, you know, we’re going to play guys and, man, if the energy isn’t there, then we got to put the guys on the floor that can carry the load of that. I thought today’s energy was really, really good from for most of the guys,” Sanchez said.

“I think we’ve settled in to what we want to do. You know, we got some young guys that, depending on some matchups, will have to help us. I think Anthony Robinson was an example of that today. I think he did a good job. You know, we’re going to keep, you know, kind of keeping it tight, and, you know, playing guys that bring bring a lot of energy, encouraging guys to do that.”

Ish Sharma: Oozing machismo


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UVA Basketball guard Ishan Sharma. Photo: UVA Athletics

Ishan Sharma started and played 32 minutes in the loss at Stanford on Saturday, then was back on the bench for the SMU game.

In 18 minutes, the freshman put up 10 points (2-of-7 FG, 2-of-7 3FG, 4-of-4 FT).

His three with 2:52 on the clock tied the score at 45-45, and his free throws – a pair with 31 seconds left, another pair with 18 seconds to go – kept Virginia on schedule with the game in the balance.

“Ish is one of those guys who has a tremendous amount of, you know, competitive juice in him, you know. I think he wants those moments,” Sanchez said. “He’s earned the opportunity to be out there via his practice efforts, you know, in his in his commitment to his craft. He’s worked so hard. I was thrilled, you know, to see him out there.”

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].