I’d been hearing all spring and summer from the people who tell me how things are going on the inside of the UVA Basketball program that Andrew Rohde was making big strides in his game after his just plain awful sophomore season.
As is often the case, I wrote about what I was hearing, got a few eye rolls from the readers via email, which I expected, and then we all saw Rohde go for one point with four turnovers in the season opener with Campbell, which got me more of the eye roll emails, which were the ones that were kind.
Rohde missed the win over Coppin State on Nov. 11 with back spasms, and whatever the training staff did to fix the issues with the back, they need to keep it up with that.
Rohde, since the injury, is averaging 11.5 points on 58.6 percent shooting from the field and 53.8 percent shooting from three, and he’s finally starting to look like the kid that Tony Bennett landed off the transfer portal from St. Thomas, who scored 17.1 points per game as a freshman in 2022-2023, and was the Summit League freshman of the year.
The issue last year was what you’d expect for a kid making the leap from the Summit League to the ACC.
“The level of play, you know, was a lot different from what I was used to, and, you know, it was definitely an adjustment,” said Rohde, who never did get comfortable last year, averaging 4.3 points on 29.3 percent shooting from the floor and 25.7 percent shooting from three.
Oddly, he couldn’t even make free throws – Rohde was 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) at the line, after shooting 81.5 percent from the line, on decent volume (3.8 attempts per game) as a freshman at St. Thomas.
He got to work as soon as the 2023-2024 season came to an end, working on his strength and conditioning, and then, his game.
“Andrew’s offseason was a lot on his shooting, ball handling and some physical development things,” UVA coach Ron Sanchez said after UVA’s 74-65 win over Manhattan on Monday, in which Rohde went for 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 36 minutes, with a variety of floaters reminding you of the older guy at the YMCA who scores at will with his wits and guile.
“That floater is a part of his game,” Sanchez said. “You know, we want to, we want guys to be who they are, and if it’s a shot that he can make, and it’s a shot that he really works on, then, you know, we’ll allow him to shoot it.”
It shouldn’t be about just allowing Rohde to shoot those kinds of shots. The kid is 6’6”, and that floater as the staple of his old man game will also remind you of another big guard who used to touch the paint in the orange and blue with regularity, guy who goes by the name Ty Jerome, who is the talk of the NBA right now with his nice comeback season for the 17-2 Cleveland Cavaliers.
What Jerome’s Cavs teammates are saying about his resurgence – that Jerome is playing with a supreme level of confidence – is what Rohde’s teammates are saying about him.
“He’s way more confident this year,” said junior guard Isaac McKneely, who had a game-high 18 points for Virginia in the win over Manhattan on Monday. “You know, last year he didn’t shoot the ball great. I think he was in his head a little bit. But this year, he’s coming out firing, coming out really confident.”
Rohde’s old man game is also evident in his ability to control the floor.
“I’ve always said that about Rohde, he controls the game so well, and he’s one of the best passers I’ve ever played with,” McKneely said. “It’s a pleasure to play with him, but he needs to continue to play with that confidence, because when he does, it really helps us.”
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Chris Graham
