Taine Murray, it feels like a long time ago, had a big second half in a comeback against Iowa, hit a bucket to give Virginia the lead late in what turned into a one-point UVA loss.
It wasn’t as far back as you think – November 2021, Murray’s freshman season.
OK, so, in a sense, that is forever ago.
Murray finished that night with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 4-of-6 from three.
That one seemed to be his coming-out party.
But as would be the case for Murray, his leash from coach Tony Bennett would prove to be shorter than it would be for other guys.
From fueling a near-comeback over a pretty damn good Iowa team, which that year went on to win 26 games, Murray would find himself glued to the bench much of the rest of the way – he got just 54 minutes of floor time after Jan. 1 that first year, then averaged just 7.2 minutes per game in 13 appearances as a sophomore.
Frustrating thing for fans has to be, when you see Murray get minutes, which for whatever reason isn’t often, he produces, like he did in Saturday’s must-win with Georgia Tech.
In a career-high 28 minutes, Murray scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 2-of-5 from three, in the 72-57 win.
It was his third double-digit game of the season – Murray had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, in 18 minutes in the win over Louisville on Jan. 3, and 11, on 3-of-4 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, in the OT win over NC State on Jan. 24.
Each time, for no reason apparent to those of us on the outside, Murray, after a big game, finds his way back to the bench, as Bennett continues to try to find productivity at the second off-guard spot that has been largely missing this season.
Curiously, the leash that Bennett has given Andrew Rohde, a sophomore transfer from St. Thomas, where he averaged 17.1 points per game last season, has been seemingly endless, even as Rohde has obviously struggled to adapt to the ACC from the Summit League.
Rohde has been given every opportunity, and then some, to earn the minutes that he has been given, in the face of reason – averaging 4.4 points on 29.9 percent shooting in 25.7 minutes per game on the season, and over his last 14 games, seeing even those anemic numbers dip to 2.9 points per game on 22.8 percent shooting.
And so it is, again, that I’m declaring it to now be Taine Time, which I notice I do every time he has one of these breakout games – kid has had three double-digit games this season, despite his limited playing time; Rohde has also had three, getting more than double the minutes.
Maybe this time will finally be the time?
“Here’s a young man who, you know, hasn’t played much. It’s been a little bit more this year, but up and down,” Bennett told reporters after the Georgia Tech game, before adding, it seemed to me in the manner of offering a backhanded compliment, that Murray “has been trending in the right direction,” then going back to that familiar Bennett trope about how Murray had been “practicing well.”
Makes you wonder how dead-eye Rohde has had to be in practice to keep getting huge minutes despite doing zilch when the lights come on.
I hate to keep harping on Rohde, but if the Virginia side would ever get its hands on a copy of an opponent scouting report left behind in a locker room after a game, it would shock me if it didn’t say, in reference to Rohde, basically, if he gets the ball on the perimeter, give him five feet, the worst that can happen is, he’ll make one out of four from out there.
Per Synergy Sports data, Rohde is shooting 28.3 percent on jumpers this season, and 28.0 percent – 14-of-50 – on unguarded jumpers.
And he’s not a threat to get into the lane and finish, either – Synergy’s data has him connecting on just 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) on shots at the rim.
Defenders can, and do, sag off from Rohde to give extra attention to Virginia’s two leading scorers, Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely, cheating toward those guys off dribble drives and screens, knowing that Rohde isn’t going to make them pay.
Murray, though, can make them pay – he’s shooting 45.5 percent from three this season, 41.9 percent on all jumpers, 50.0 percent on unguarded jumpers, and is 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) on shots at the rim.
The scouting report on Murray would be – stay in contact with him.
Which, for Beekman and McKneely, opens up driving lanes and means there’s one less defender to account for coming off screens.
Go figure, then, that with Murray knocking down shots Saturday night, Beekman found himself unshackled (21 points, 8-of-10 FG, 3-of-4 3FG, eight assists), and McKneely able to get good looks (16 points, 6-of-12 FG, 4-of-8 3FG).
Basketball doesn’t need to be theoretical physics; simply replace a shooting guard who can’t shoot with one who can, and things open up.
Here’s where I give credit to Murray for not doing what would seem to be the logical thing to do, and enter the transfer portal.
I almost don’t want to give him credit for that; he hasn’t been handled well by Bennett and the UVA staff.
The allure of that University of Virginia degree must have some sway here.
Not that Murray, when given the opportunity throw them under the bus publicly, would ever take the bait.
“The coaching staff, like you said, has a lot of experience with, you know, they obviously know who to play and when to play,” he answered a reporter’s question after the Georgia Tech game. “So yeah, just trying to trust in them and obviously, you know, just trying to go as hard as I can in practice and just try and learn all the things I can from all the coaching staff, and yeah, just obviously grateful that my teammates, when I do have the opportunity, can help me play well.”
I just looked it up – he’s a commerce major.
He might be better suited for international relations.
I could see sending him to a hotspot as a special envoy and getting people to come to an agreement.
Kid has the patience of Job.
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Chris Graham
