Home UVA Basketball: Boston College not much of an obstacle in 74-56 ‘Hoos win
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UVA Basketball: Boston College not much of an obstacle in 74-56 ‘Hoos win

Chris Graham
UVA Basketball Andrew Rohde
UVA Basketball guard Andrew Rohde. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

The UVA Basketball team is facing down the very real possibility that it won’t even get a chance to play in the 2025 ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

The 74-56 win over Boston College on Tuesday in front of a supposed 13,481 at JPJ – no, it wasn’t close to that – is a big help, toward that low-bar end goal.

The way the ‘Hoos took care of business, leading by double-digits for the final 31:49, is a good sign, considering.

“Every streak starts with one,” UVA coach Ron Sanchez said after the win, which snapped a five-game losing streak for Virginia (9-10, 2-6 ACC).

Little resistance from BC


uva basketball isaac mckneely
UVA Basketball guard Isaac McKneely. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Before we get too excited, BC (9-10, 1-7 ACC) is ranked 231st in adjusted defensive efficiency nationally, per KenPom, and certainly played down to that ranking in this one – Virginia shot 52.0 percent (26-of-50) from the floor and was 11-of-20 (55.0 percent) from three.

UVA was playing downhill on the offensive end for most of this one, not at a faster tempo so much (Virginia had 58 possessions, according to StatBroadcast, three fewer than its slowest-in-the-nation average of 60.8) as, the ‘Hoos were just more aggressive in the halfcourt.

Better dribble penetration, rhythm with ball movement – it all led to open shots on the perimeter for, in particular, Isaac McKneely (21 points, 7-of-10 FG, 6-of-9 3FG), who had a nice bounceback from a rough couple of games last week (16 points total in the losses to SMU and Stanford, on 5-of-18 shooting from the field, and 1-of-11 from three).

“We haven’t shot the ball particularly well the past couple games, so it’s nice to see, you know, our first few shots go down,” McKneely told reporters after the game. “I know for me, in particular, as a shooter, you like to see your first couple go down, and then you start hunting your shot more. So, it was definitely good to get a few shots to go down. And I think it just kind of catapulted our offense for the rest of the game. We were flowing, moving the ball well. I think we just played really well on offensive end.”

Andrew Rohde had a nice night as well – 16 points (5-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 4-of-4 FT) and six assists vs. zero turnovers in 30 minutes.

Back-to-back ejections


UVA Basketball Elijah Saunders
UVA Basketball forward Elijah Saunders. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

One other guy put up double-digits – forward Elijah Saunders, who had 10 points (4-of-7 FG, 2-of-2 3FG) and six rebounds in 20 minutes.

Saunders had his night cut short – he was ejected after being assessed with a Flagrant 2 foul on a rebound attempt with 15:43 on the clock and Virginia up 19.

The Saunders ejection came moments after BC’s leading scorer coming in, Donald Hand Jr., the son of former Virginia star Donald Hand, was ejected for a foul on Rohde at the 16:31 mark.

Hand, averaging 14.7 points per game coming in, had just five, on 1-of-2 shooting, both attempts threes, in 22 minutes.

“I did not see Elijah’s. I’m going to assume that because they ejected one player, even if the other one was close, they were going to, you know, kind of make the same call, which I respect,” Sanchez said. “You know, if it was, I haven’t seen it, but if it’s the right call, I think all coaches just want things to be called the same way, both sides, and if Elijah did something that required that level of a foul, then, you know, then that’s what that’s what we’ll watch, and what we’ll see.”

Saunders wasn’t made available to the media after the game.

Owning the boards


UVA Basketball Jacob Cofie
UVA Basketball forward Jacob Cofie. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Saunders was one of three ‘Hoos with six boards – freshman Jacob Cofie and sophomore Blake Buchanan also had six rebounds, as UVA had a 30-23 advantage on the rebounding ledger, with a solid 85.2 percent defensive-rebound rate (23 defensive rebounds, four offensive rebounds for BC).

After a rough four-game stretch that had Virginia post a not-good-at-all 59.7 percent defensive-rebound rate, the last three have the Cavaliers pulling down 76.8 percent of their opponents’ misses, which is in line with what good UVA teams of the past have been able to do.

“I think that Blake, Jacob and Elijah today really kind of had a presence,” Sanchez said. “If I just look at their rebounds, Elijah had six, and he, you know, only played 19 minutes. Jacob had six, and, you know, Blake had six. So, you know, that’s what we want from those guys collectively. You know, the task is for them to have over 20 rebounds every single game. Then Anthony (Robinson) had four. So, you know that right there puts us at, you know, 22, so I’m definitely pleased with their effort on the glass.”

Going forward


uva basketball
Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Next up for Virginia: Notre Dame (8-10, 2-5 ACC) on Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET).

Here’s another must-win, in terms of the ACC Tournament quest.

(Such a low bar there.)

Then it’s at Miami, Virginia Tech at home.

At Pitt, which we can go ahead and chalk up, you know.

And then: Georgia Tech at home, and at Virginia Tech.

Going to need at least three of those six, which – my, how the mighty have fallen – would get us to 5-9 going into the closing stretch, which starts with Duke at home on Feb. 17.

The magic number to get to a Tuesday game in Charlotte is looking like seven.

Video: UVA gets much-needed W


Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].