Breakdown on offense: After the game, the attention was on Duke’s torrid scoring in the final five minutes, but it didn’t help the UVA cause that the Cavs went scoreless for the final 2:59.
Virginia in the closing stretch went 0-for-4 with a turnover and a missed free throw, the front end of a one-and-one by Mike Tobey, after Tobey was fouled on a play called during a timeout for him by coach Tony Bennett with UVA down three in the final minute.
“There were a few possessions where I thought we were a little stagnant and didn’t get the looks we wanted against their zone. Still, we got to the rim and got some rhythm shots at the mid-post,” Bennett told reporters afterwards.
Yeah, Virginia did indeed get to the rim. Looking at the official play-by-play, the misses included an Anthony Gill missed layup with 1:34 to go, and two missed layups by Tobey, who ended up with the long offensive rebound after his missed free throw.
Virginia had gone 15-for-26 from the floor to the 2:59 mark of the second half, scoring 17 times on its first 26 possessions of the half.
On the defensive end, Virginia limited Duke to scores on 10 of its first 23 possessions of the half, before that eight scores in eight possessions stretch to end it.
Yes, ouch, babe, it hurts to lose a game with abysmal play on both ends when you play that well for that long.
Cue up the quote from Coach Bennett.
“I’m frustrated right now because this game was within our grasp and we couldn’t finish it.”
Another nice effort from Wilkins: Isaiah Wilkins played 14 minutes, getting minutes that Gill left on the floor due to more foul trouble, and scored seven points and pulled down five rebounds.
Wilkins had a nice run midway through the second half filling Gill’s role in the high post when Duke went zone, hitting back-to-back 12-foot jumpers in the soft spot of the zone.
Another tough night for the post: Darion Atkins had nine points and four rebounds in a solid first half, but didn’t score or record a rebound in 14 minutes in the second half.
Even with the general offensive efficiency for Virginia in the first 17:01 of the second half, the post was largely absent from the mix. Aside from Wilkins’ four points on 2-of-3 shooting as a stretch four spelling Gill, the rotation of fours and fives (Atkins, Gill and Mike Tobey) was a combined 2-of-8 from the field with six points and three rebounds in 34 minutes.
In the final 2:59, Gill missed a driving layup, and Tobey missed the front end of a one-and-one and two layups on offensive rebounds.
Anderson’s struggles continue: Remember when Justin Anderson was flirting with 60 percent from three-point range? Seems so long ago, doesn’t it?
Anderson was 1-for-6 from long-range on Saturday, and is now 4-for-17 (23.5 percent) from three in his last four games.
Overall Anderson is 10-of-33 (33 percent) from the field in his last four, and is averaging 9.5 points per game in the stretch.
For the season, Anderson is averaging a team-leading 13.9 points per game, shooting 50 percent from the field, 51.9 percent from three-point range and 81 percent from the foul line.
– Column by Chris Graham
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