Home UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos get 21 from McKneely, dominate Boston College, 74-56
Basketball, Sports

UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos get 21 from McKneely, dominate Boston College, 74-56

Chris Graham
uva basketball
Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

UVA Basketball, with Boston College in town on Tuesday, faces a must-win, get this, just to get an invite to the 2025 ACC Tournament.

Yes, this season sucks.

The ‘Hoos, who have lost four of their last five, and are 1-6 in the ACC, get the Eagles, who have lost their last four, and are 1-6 in the ACC.

The only reason this one is on TV – ACC Network, 7 p.m. ET – is because every game is on TV in this day and age.

True story: my wife gave up her season tickets this season (we might have anticipated … something), so she buys single-games each time out.

The gamble: that she’d get ‘em cheaper than what we’d pay for the season tickets plus VAF donation.

The price for her tickets in the 300s for this one: 80 cents each.

Even with fees, she’s out eight bucks for two tickets.

My, how the mighty have fallen.

Forecast


  • KenPom: Virginia 66-59
  • BartTorvik: Virginia 65-58
  • EvanMiya: Virginia 68-61
  • Haslametrics: Virginia 66-58
  • ESPN BPI: Virginia +7.2

How they match up


St. Bonaventure transfer Chad Venning, a 6’9”, 270-pound senior, is the guy in the Quentin Post role in the frontcourt.

uva basketball jacob cofie
UVA Basketball freshman Jacob Cofie. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Venning (12.7 ppg, 3.9 rebounds/g, 56.1% FG, 0-of-5 on threes) is not nearly as versatile as Post (17.0 ppg, 8.1 rebounds/g, 2.9 assists/g, 51.4% FG, 43.1% 3FG last season).

Still, he’s a load at 270.

Ron Sanchez has been using Jacob Cofie, who’s 6’10”, 232, at the five spot of late.

Cofie seems to be in some sort of limbo – I’m not calling it doghouse quite yet – with Sanchez right now.

Sanchez gave him 10 minutes with just one foul on his ledger in the loss to Louisville on Saturday, and Cofie got just 18 minutes with three fouls in the SMU loss earlier in the week.

It’s either going to be Cofie, Blake Buchanan (6’11”, 227) or Elijah Saunders (6’8”, 240).

Saunders is the logical option, but Sanchez is loathe to force Saunders into the tough post matchups just because he means so much on the offensive end (12.1 ppg, 5.4 rebounds/g, 45.4% FG, 38.5% 3FG).

The other tough matchup will be Donald Hand Jr. (14.7 ppg, 6.8 rebounds/g, 38.1% FG, 36.7% 3FG), a 6’5” junior (and, yes, the son of the former Virginia great Donald Hand, just to close that circle).

So, yes, we lack a defensive stopper in the post; we don’t have a guy who is anything near being a stopper in the backcourt, either.

The stakes


ron sanchez uva basketball
UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

This is a lost season, with Virginia at 8-10, 1-6 in the ACC, in terms of the usual postseason goals, but don’t overlook the fact that we may not even get into the ACC Tournament, if things continue down the current path.

The expansion to 18 teams means three are going to be left out come tournament time.

Our next four are: BC and Notre Dame at home, at Miami, Virginia Tech at home.

Then it’s at Pitt, which we can go ahead and chalk up, you know.

And then: Georgia Tech at home, and at Virginia Tech.

We’d better get at least four of those seven, which – my, how the mighty have fallen – has us at 5-9 going into the closing stretch, which starts with Duke at home on Feb. 17.

The magic number to get to a Tuesday game in Charlotte is looking like seven.

It’s already not looking good, is what I’m getting at.

Starting lineup


Sanchez is back to a starting lineup with Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde in the backcourt, and Elijah Saunders and Jacob Cofie in the frontcourt.

First half


First media timeout: UVA 10, Boston College 4, 15:34/1st

I like what I’m seeing early: 4-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-4 from three.

Good ball movement, dribble penetration for a corner three by Rohde, assist by Ames.

One basket was a post feed to Saunders, who backed his guy down and got a paint jumper.

Good stuff.


Second media timeout: UVA 22, Boston College 11, 10:51/1st

There’s more tempo within the halfcourt offense. Not just pounding the ball into the floor at the top of the key waiting for somebody to get open off a screen to then pass the ball to somebody else coming off a screen 25 feet from the basket.


BC timeout: UVA 30, Boston College 11, 8:12/1st

Virginia is 12-of-18 from the floor and 6-of-10 from three.


UVA timeout: UVA 35, Boston College 17, 3:56/1st

BC is putting more ball pressure on, which is to say, they started actually trying some ball pressure, because they weren’t doing anything on that end.

Halftime: UVA 41, Boston College 23


I wrote above that it felt like there was more tempo for Virginia within the halfcourt offense.

The stats tell us that Virginia had 28 possessions, so it wasn’t a faster pace in that sense, but it did feel like the offense was attacking more, and getting better looks as a result.

The shooting seems to indicate that: 16-of-29 from the floor, 9-of-15 from three.

We’re getting the good McKneely tonight: 4-of-5 from three.

Rohde has 10 points (4-of-4 FG, 2-of-2 3FG) and four assists vs. zero turnovers.

Saunders has 10 points (4-of-7 FG, 2-of-2 3FG) and five rebounds.

BC is 10-of-23 from the floor, 1-of-7 from three.

I don’t like that they’re 8-of-10 at the rim.

Second half


First media timeout: UVA 45, Boston College 28, 16:31/2nd

Cofie was benched early again, after only getting seven minutes in the first half.

What I notice about him: he’s reluctant with the ball in the paint.

Update: Donald Hand Jr. was ejected for a Flagrant 2. Lengthy review. The replay didn’t seem to me to even indicate Flagrant 1, but I’ll say, Jason Williford jumped up off the bench right away.

Update: Now Elijah Saunders has been ejected for a Flagrant 2, for what was an obvious elbow to the face on a rebound.


Second media timeout: UVA 53, Boston College 34, 10:56/2nd

Virginia is 4-of-12 from the floor in the second half. It feels to me that the guards are being a little tentative relative to how they played and attacked in the first half.


Third media timeout: UVA 65, Boston College 42, 6:26/2nd

We’re about to get extended garbage time in a positive way for the first time in for-damn-ever.

Final: UVA 74, Boston College 56


That was the longest, most uneventful second half ever.

Hard to glean too much from the last 20 minutes.

Game eval: ran good offense (26-of-50 FG, 11-of-20 3FG), rebounded well (defensive rebound percentage: 85.2%).

We had the good iMac (21 points, 7-of-10 FG, 6-of-9 3FG).

Rohde had 16 points (5-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3FG) and six assists vs. zero turnovers.

Still concerned about Cofie: just two points (1-of-4 FG) in 17 minutes.

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].