After scoring 42 points in 40 minutes in an uglier-than-sin blowout loss to #11 Tennessee on Thursday, the UVA Basketball team gets St. John’s, which lost 99-98 in two OTs to Baylor.
This should go well.
The Johnnies (4-1) led by as many as 18 in the first half before letting Baylor claw its way back into the game.
If they could just have made free throws: St. John’s was 16-of-28 at the line, including two misses by Zuby Ejiofor with 4.1 seconds left in the second OT that opened the door for the buzzer-beater from Jeremy Roach – yes, that Jeremy Roach.
St. John’s shot 54.8 percent from the floor and was 14-of-24 from three in the loss.
The other big factor in the loss: rebounding.
First glance, it was 41-41 on the boards, but slightly deep dive, Baylor had a 16-7 advantage in offensive rebounds, and a 22-8 gap in second-chance points.
Rotation
Rick Pitino, the slimy one, used nine guys, but two of them got single-digit minutes, so it’s basically a seven-man rotation.
Aside from his point guard, 6’0” senior Deivon Smith, they’re largely interchangeable guys between 6’4” and 6’9”.
Ejiofor is the only one without a perimeter game, and he’s rugged – 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 10 rebounds, but 6-of-12 from the line.
Everybody else can shoot threes.
The issue will be, legs.
Three Johnnies went 40+ minutes, and two others went 35+.
Details
The game tips at 7 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
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Chris Graham
