Tony Bennett on freshman Blake Buchanan: ‘He’ll continue to get better’

Virginia freshman center Blake Buchanan got his first start since before Thanksgiving in the 76-60 loss at NC State last week, but don’t necessarily read a lot into that, to hear UVA coach Tony Bennett tell it.

“We were going against DJ (Burns), and we just thought, you know, we needed some size and length, and tried to do it that way,” said Bennett, who got 23 borderline good minutes out of the 6’11” Buchanan, who had four points and four rebounds, in the road loss.

“I thought he battled,” Bennett said. “He’s, you know, obviously last year, I don’t think he was playing against anybody quite like DJ Burns with the guys he’s playing at the same time.”

Burns, listed at 6’9”, 275, giving him 50 pounds on the lithe, 225-pound Buchanan, had a relatively low-key game for State in the Pack’s win, with six points, on 3-of-6 shooting, two rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes, so, plus there for Buchanan and the job that he was able to do on the defensive end.

Buchanan had played his way into the starting lineup with what at the time seemed to be a breakout game in the 73-70 win over Florida on Nov. 10.

In that one, B-Dub (no idea if this is his nickname; let this be my nomination) had 18 points and seven boards in 27 minutes off the bench against Florida’s skyscraper-sized frontcourt, which goes 6’9”, 6’10”, 6’11” and 7’1”.

That one, to date, is Buchanan’s only double-digit scoring game.

The kid is averaging a very modest 4.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game this season, and shooting just 40.4 percent from the floor, with a particular issue finishing at the rim – Buchanan is shooting 54.5 percent at the rim, 12-of-22.

For context there, the team is shooting 59.0 percent at the rim this season.

Buchanan’s mark ranks seventh among Virginia’s regulars.

It’s clear that he will need to focus in the offseason on getting stronger, most notably in his hands, which is where he’s had his biggest issue with finishing.

“There are certainly some young mistakes he makes, and he gives up a lot on the weight, but as he continues to get stronger, I just think he brought some toughness and scrap that, you know, he did some good things, and he’ll continue to get better, in terms of catching, finishing and all that,” Bennett said.