Notre Dame got out to an early 13-0 lead in the opening minutes, and the game never got closer than eight thereafter, in the 76-54 win over Virginia back on Dec. 30.
That was the second of Virginia’s string of four straight ugly road losses, all by double-digits.
The two are set for the back end of a home-and-home in JPJ on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
For UVA (15-5, 6-3 ACC), the game is a chance to make a move toward the top of the ACC standings.
After a frustrating 2-3 start in conference play, the Cavaliers have won four straight to move into a tie for third with Florida State, a game back of second-place Duke.
Notre Dame (7-12, 2-7 ACC) has lost six of seven since the blowout win in South Bend a month ago, five of those losses at home.
How this one plays out
Notre Dame got big afternoons in the Dec. 30 game from 6’7” sophomore JR Konieczny (9.9 ppg, 5.8 rebs/g, 40.9% FG, 32.5% 3FG), who had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-5 shooting from three; 6’10” freshman Carey Booth (6.0 ppg, 4.6 rebs/g, 38.9% FG, 28.4% 3FG), who had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 2-of-5 from three; and 5’11” freshman point guard Markus Burton (16.0 ppg, 4.1 assists/g, 40.9% FG, 29.9% 3FG), who had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, and eight assists.
The Irish’s other big, 6’10” sophomore Kebbia Njie (4.3 ppg, 6.0 rebs/g, 33.3% FG, 16.7% 3FG), also had an impact game in the win (10 points, 3-of-5 FG, 4-of-4 FT, six rebounds).
This was back when Tony Bennett was still trying to force 6’9” stretch four Jake Groves (6.8 ppg, 2.4 rebs/g, 47.1% FG, 44.4% 3FG) into playing the five spot, which meant defending the post with doubles that opened up driving and passing lanes for opponents to exploit.
The results: Notre Dame shot 51.0 percent from the floor and connected on 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from three.
What stands out there is the shooting from three. The Irish, on the season, are shooting just 29.8 percent from three.
Give anybody enough open looks, of course, and some will go down.
The insertion of 6’8” grad senior Jordan Minor (10.0 ppg, 5.0 rebs/g in five starts) has stabilized things in the post on both ends, but particularly on D, where Minor doesn’t need help from doubles to be able to defend the paint.
That, in turn, has made everybody better on the defensive end – in the four-game winning streak, Virginia is allowing just 0.880 points per possession.
In their opening five ACC games, the ‘Hoos had allowed 1.042 points per possession on D.
Minor is averaging 22.4 minutes per game since being inserted into the starting lineup on Jan. 13. Which means there’s still a big role for 6’11” freshman Blake Buchanan (3.8 ppg, 3.3 rebs/g, 42.9% FG) to play as the primary backup at the five.
Buchanan, as Minor’s backup in the last four, has averaged 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game.
Groves, who got a season-high 34 minutes in the 77-53 win over Louisville on Jan. 3, has seen his minutes diminished since Minor was inserted into the starting lineup, but Grove has still been effective.
Over the last four games, Grove has averaged 5.0 points in 12.5 minutes per game, shooting 7-of-16 (46.7 percent) from the field and 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from three.
Virginia will need to get better defensive games this time out from Reece Beekman (12.9 ppg, 6.1 assists/g, 2.4 steals/g, 44.9% FG, 29.3% 3FG) and Ryan Dunn (10.2 ppg, 7.3 rebs/g, 2.3 blocks/g, 58.7% FG, 24.0% 3FG).
Both had good counting-numbers game in the loss in South Bend (Beekman had 15 points and four assists; Dunn had 13 points and five rebounds).
But the two were the primary defenders on Burton and Konieczny, who had the big games on the Notre Dame side.
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Chris Graham
