The UVA Basketball team (4-2) hosts Holy Cross (4-3) on Friday at 4 p.m. at JPJ. It’s the final tuneup for the ‘Hoos before a week of games with Florida (7-0), in the ACC-SEC Challenge, and SMU (6-2), in the ACC opener for the 2024-2025 season.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: Andrew Rohde has an old man, Ty Jerome-type game
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos are a work in progress, and we’re going to need to see more progress
- Fair or not, Ron Sanchez doesn’t have a lot of time to figure things out
Pregame
The starting lineup is, again, three guards, two forwards: Dai Dai Ames, Andrew Rohde and Isaac McKneely in the backcourt, Blake Buchanan and Elijah Saunders in the post.
Holy Cross is small: just one rotation guy over 6’6″.
The talk in the media room pregame is that the issue with this UVA roster in the here and now is: lack of chemistry. Understandable, in a way, in that the rotation has five new guys – three transfers and two freshmen.
The weird thing: they’ve had since the summer to get over the awkwardness.
First half
First media timeout: UVA 4, Holy Cross 2, 15:49/1st.
Not a lot to write about. Ron Sanchez went to the bench early, lifting Blake Buchanan about a minute in to get Jacob Cofie in, and subbing in Taine Murray early for Andrew Rohde.
Second media timeout: UVA 16, Holy Cross 7, 10:45/1st.
Virginia is 2-of-7 from three, but they’re getting good looks, just not getting them to go down.
The 3-of-4 at the rim is good.
Only two midrange jumpers so far out of 13 attempts.
Third media timeout: UVA 24, Holy Cross 11, 6:00/1st.
Elijah Saunders is letting himself get taken off his driving lines by smaller defenders. This isn’t good.
Dai Dai Ames is 3-of-3 from the floor – two layups and a midrange jumper.
Fourth media timeout: UVA 30, Holy Cross 11, 3:45/1st.
This game is being played at a snail’s pace, even for a UVA game: 22 possessions in 16:15, which translates to a 54-possession pace.
Paint dries faster.
Half: UVA 34, Holy Cross 21
Halftime thoughts
Max Green (Holy Cross) had 11 points (4-of-6 FG, 3-of-4 3FG).
Good coaching late in the first half with him. Green picked up his second foul with 2:47 to go in the half. Sanchez put Rohde in the post the next three possessions, and Rohde hit a short turnaround jumper and spun the ball out of double-teams for two other easy jumpers.
Virginia shooting:
- 4-of-6 at the rim
- 5-of-15 from three
- 4-of-7 jumpers (two of the makes in the paint)
Second half
First media timeout: UVA 44, Holy Cross 26, 15:32/2nd.
Man, I hope Dai Dai Ames is back in the second semester.
Today: 14 points, 6-of-7 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, three layups.
Second media timeout: UVA 46, Holy Cross 32, 12:32/2nd.
The offense isn’t near the same when Dai Dai Ames goes to the bench.
Elijah Saunders is having a rough night: 3-of-9 from the floor, and he’s missing point-blank shots against tiny defenders.
That Max Green kid (16 points, 6-of-11 FG, 4-of-6 3FG) is a freshman who was the leading scorer in Kentucky high school ball next year. He is making himself some NIL money here today.
Third media timeout: UVA 56, Holy Cross 39, 7:15/2nd.
Virginia is 9-of-21 from three (4-of-6 in the second half), 9-of-14 at the rim (5-of-8 in the second half).
Midrange: 0-of-5.
At least not taking as many of those.
Final media timeout of the matinee: UVA 59, Holy Cross 41, 3:57/2nd.
Six turnovers today. It’s Holy Cross and Manhattan (eight turnovers), but, big improvement over last week (34 total turnovers in the losses to Tennessee and St. John’s).
Final: UVA 67, Holy Cross 41.
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Chris Graham
