Memphis had the Virginia Cavaliers right where they wanted them after the first 20 minutes of play. At the break, the Tigers trailed by nine, 30-21.
Strong second halves have been the trademark for Memphis this season.
The Tigers (9-2) got another one Wednesday evening in JPJ to escape with a 64-62 win over Virginia.
It’s Memphis’ third true road win of the season, and the win completed a two-game sweep of the ACC in five days after the Tigers beat Clemson Saturday in overtime.
The Tigers entered Wednesday averaging 44.8 second-half points per game and scored 43 in the second half to beat Virginia, who dropped their first home game this season.
Memphis, a veteran-laden team of mercenaries for coach Penny Hardaway, has been a strong second-half team this season. This stands to reason, as the Tigers started four seniors with 12 new players.
Meanwhile, Virginia, which starts no seniors, has struggled mightily in the second half of games this season.
The Cavaliers (6-5) have either held the lead or been within four points in four of the five losses.
Wednesday, Memphis trailed from the outset until the 12:31 mark in the second half, when Dain Dainja made a layup to put the Tigers on top, 39-37.
The Tigers’ big surge (a 14-2 run) started with just over 13 minutes remaining. During the Memphis run, the Tigers connected on all four field goal attempts and scored 6-of-8 from the foul line.
No doubt, Virginia had Memphis on the ropes for most of the game Wednesday, but as in each of the five losses, careless mistakes allowed the Tigers to escape Charlottesville with the win.
The Cavaliers’ lack of offensive indemnity continued again against Memphis.
Without a career game from Taine Murray, this likely would have been another double-digit loss.
Murray, who entered the game having scored 23 points this season, finished with 14 points and was Virginia’s main offensive threat.
Murray’s offensive explosion surprised everyone, including Hardaway, who said in the postgame press conference that the Tigers had not even scouted Murray.
Indeed, Murray’s effort was heroic, but Virginia can’t count on Murray to surprise opposing teams moving forward, and the Cavaliers, now 11 games into the season, still have no offensive identity.
Virginia coach Ron Sanchez could not spring shooting guard Isaac McKneely loose from the Memphis defense.
Worse than scoring five points, McKneely had only six shot attempts, four of which came from behind the line.
If Sanchez is unable to design an offensive scheme that gives McKneely more than seven shot attempts a game, this season will only get worse.
And how about the turnover machine, Andrew Rohde?
At times, against the Tigers, Rohde appeared overmatched, more like a high-schooler thrown into a D1 game.
In Virginia’s five losses, Rohde has 12 assists and 19 turnovers.
The bright spot in the evening for UVA was a strong defensive performance.
Memphis entered the game as the second-best three-point shooting team in the nation. Memphis was just 2-of-14 in the first half from behind the line and a season-low 21 points.
The veteran Tigers began to wear down the Cavaliers in the second half and were able to go to the free-throw line 18 times over the final 20 minutes of play.
In the second half, Memphis turned up the defensive intensity, and Virginia struggled to adapt. The Cavaliers struggled against the Memphis full-court press and often were unable to get a good look at the basket before the shot clock expired.
The bottom line Wednesday is that while Virginia played better against a ranked opponent and “battled for all 40 minutes,” according to Sanchez, the Cavaliers are running low on quality win opportunities.
With a weak ACC schedule looming, Virginia may have only one Quad 1 game left this year against Duke.
Moral victories won’t get you into the NCAA Tournament.
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