The UVA Basketball team needs some game reps after suffering back-to-back smackdowns in the Bahamas last week.
The first chance at moving forward comes Tuesday night with a return to JPJ to host Manhattan (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network).
The Jaspers (3-2) are playing their second and final guarantee game. Maryland handed Manhattan a 79-49 defeat in the teams’ Nov. 4 season opener.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: The analytics of how bad that trip to the Bahamas was
- Fair or not, Ron Sanchez doesn’t have a lot of time to figure things out
Since, the squad has won three of four, with a non-D1 win in that mix, and an 85-82 loss at Farleigh Dickinson, which is 349th in KenPom.
Second-year coach John Gallagher (7-23 in 2023-2024 at Manhattan) goes with an eight-man rotation, and they’re young – three freshmen and two sophomores, with the three older guys all being JUCO transfers.
Will Sydnor, a 6’8” freshman, is the leading scorer (15.4 points per game) and rebounder (6.6 rebounds per game).
Shaquil Bender, a 6’2” senior, and one of the former JUCOs, averages 14.6 points, but on high volume (15.0 shots per game) and not great shooting (38.7% FG, 24.1% 3FG).
Devin Dinkins, a 5’10” sophomore who transferred in from George Mason, is scoring 11.2 points per game off the bench, with good shooting numbers (52.6% 3FG).
Jaden Winston, a 6’0” sophomore, averages 10.0 points and 4.4 assists.
The Jaspers aren’t big – two rotation guys are 6’8”, two others are 6’7”.
UVA coach Ron Sanchez should start a three-guard lineup in this one – I’d go with Dai Dai Ames at the point, obviously, and then Andrew Rohde and Isaac McKneely at the off-guard spots, with Blake Buchanan and Elijah Saunders in the frontcourt.
If Sanchez goes two-guard, and sticks with 6’9” Duke transfer TJ Power at the three spot, Power will find himself chasing around a much smaller guy on the perimeter.
This is one that calls for less TJ Power, more Elijah Saunders and Jacob Cofie, and minutes off the bench in the backcourt for Taine Murray and Ishan Sharma.
Forecast
- BartTorvik: Virginia 76-55, 96% win probability
- ESPN BPI: Virginia +20.3, 96.3% win probability
- KenPom: Virginia 73-58, 91% win probability
- EvanMiya: Virginia 74-60, 89.6% win probability
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Chris Graham
