The part to the UVA Basketball is playing better of late story that you probably haven’t thought about: the team’s second-leading scorer, Elijah Saunders, hasn’t been part of the recent surge.
Virginia has won three of its last four, the loss being a one-point setback at home to Virginia Tech, with Saunders either on the sidelines with a lower-leg injury, or getting limited minutes – limited being 11 – off the bench in the double-digit win over Georgia Tech over the weekend.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos, on Tony Bennett Day, dispatch Georgia Tech, 75-61
- UVA Basketball Notebook: Thoughts and observations from the win over Georgia Tech
- UVA Basketball: The ‘Hoos seem to finally be getting it, maybe too late, but still
Saunders was scoreless, 0-of-3 from the floor – all three-point attempts – with five rebounds in his return on Saturday.
Notably, he wasn’t the first big off the bench for interim coach Ron Sanchez – Sanchez, who started sophomore Blake Buchanan and freshman Jacob Cofie as his bigs, went first off the bench to redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson, who gave him 15 productive minutes in the win.
Also notable: Saunders got just three minutes in the second half, and didn’t sub in until the 7:25 mark, with the ‘Hoos up 14, and the game about to head into garbage time.
I asked Sanchez about how he plans to use Saunders going forward on today’s ACC coaches Zoom call, leading to this one other item of note here: Saunders, per Sanchez, wasn’t on a minutes restriction on Saturday.
The 11 minutes were a coach’s decision.
Hmmm.
This is where coaches earn their money
I’d already been planning to write a column on what I view is the conundrum regarding Saunders, who is averaging 11.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, after what we saw on Saturday.
The Zoom gave me a chance to talk with Sanchez to get his thoughts directly.
Before we get to what the coach had to say, the backstory on this is: this Virginia team is playing pretty good basketball right now, easily the best sustained stretch of the season – yes, it’s just four games, but still, and it’s been without Saunders, the team’s second-leading scorer being a part of the success.
I did some digging, and found that Saunders’s stats might be padded a bit by his production in games with Quad 4 opponents – the guarantee games in November and December and the January home win over Boston College.
The data breakdown comes courtesy CBB Analytics.
In those seven games, Saunders averaged 12.7 points per game, dominating around the rim (20-of-29, 69.0% FG, averaging 5.7 ppg on shots at the rim) and jumpers in the paint (8-of-13, 61.5% FG, 2.3 ppg on those shots).
Flip side, in the six games against Quad 1 opponents (Tennessee, St. John’s, Florida, at SMU, home-and-home with Louisville) that Saunders has played in, Saunders is averaging 11.3 points, which looks fine, but drilling down, it’s not been a particularly efficient 11.3 points per.
His best shooting zone against Quad 1s has been threes (8-of-22, 36.4% FG, 54.5% EFG).
At the rim, Saunders has just six makes on 11 attempts (54.5% FG) in the Quad 1 games, and he’s 7-of-17 (41.2% FG) on paint twos.
From 8.0 points per game on 66.7 percent shooting in the paint against Quad 4s, Saunders is averaging 4.5 points on 46.4 percent shooting in the paint against Quad 1s.
Against the better-quality teams, Saunders has been reduced, by and large, to being a post guy who has trouble scoring in the paint, and needs to do his damage as a spot-up stretch four.
I’m not suggesting it’s all Saunders’s fault, but Virginia is 0-6 in those games.
UVA’s other Quad 1 game was the Pitt game last Monday – the 73-57 win on the road, in which the ‘Hoos shot 56.0 percent from the floor, was 10-of-22 from three, 10-of-15 on shots at the rim, and 13-of-20 on shots in the paint.
Nobody pays me any bucks to analyze this, but the numbers back up what my eyes had been telling me – that the offense has a better rhythm with the bigs doing what bigs in the mover/blocker are supposed to do, setting screens for the guards and rolling and popping off those screens, than it is when Saunders is out there as a stretch four spotting up on the three-point line.
The defense has also been a touch better – in last week’s wins, Virginia gave up 1.00 points per possession, which isn’t something to write home about when you’re Virginia, but it’s below the season rate of 1.041 points per, which has been dreadful to have to endure, given what we’re used to.
Notably, in the six Quad 1 games in which Saunders played, the PPP surrendered was 1.177.
Dreadful ain’t the word.
So, whaddya do?
Here’s the hard part: Saunders is a guy who can put the ball in the bucket, he’s a good defensive rebounder.
Not particularly stout as a defender, not a rim protector.
The team has been playing well without him.
How do you work him back in and not mess up the mojo that you have working right now?
“You know, incorporating a guy who’s been out back in is one of the biggest challenges,” Sanchez conceded today when I asked him about Saunders on the Zoom call. “You know, for us, it’s about people, and the one thing is, Elijah wants this team to be successful. That’s the one thing I will tell you, you know, unbelievably unselfish. He wants to see the group succeed.
“So, for us it’s, you know, we have a little rhythm going. Instead of kind of throwing a wrench in there that impacts that rhythm and fluidity that we have, it’s more like, you know, how does Elijah catch up to the group, as opposed to the group trying to catch, you know, trying to get him in?”
This is where the coach has to be a chemist, and again, where they make the big bucks.
I can deep dive into stats until the cows come home, but I’ve got a job when the season is over either way.
Sanchez has an interim tag because he may, or may not.
ICYMI
Where do you lean here?
“What Elijah brings to the group is different than the others,” Sanchez said. “You know, he’s not Blake, he’s not Anthony, he’s not Jacob, but those guys aren’t him either, you know. So, he does bring an element that can change what we do for the better, and once he finds the rhythm of that, I think you’re going to see him, you know, really impact what we’re doing in a very positive way.”
Sounds to me that Sanchez is leaning toward going with Buchanan and Cofie as his starters, maybe moving Saunders up to be the first big off the bench, with Robinson still getting good minutes – 10-12 – and seeing what happens.
Share
Chris Graham
