UVA Basketball: Chance Mallory doesn’t start, but he’s the point guard

I wonder how long it’s going to take UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom to realize that Chance Mallory needs to be the starting point guard?

Odom loves him some Dallin Hall the same way Tony Bennett and Ron Sanchez loved them some Andrew Rohde, but it’s getting ridiculous already.

Mallory outplayed Hall again in Virginia’s 94-69 win over Queens on Friday – 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one turnover in 24 minutes for Mallory; no points, two rebounds, five assists and two turnovers in 21 minutes for Hall.

The most noticeable difference was in the plus/minus line item – Mallory was +28 tonight; Hall, -11.

This isn’t a one-night thing, either.

Per numbers from Bart Torvik, Mallory leads the regulars and is 10th in the ACC with a box plus/minus of 10.5; Hall is the only regular who is underwater, at -0.2.

The defense, in a word, sucks

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Queens put up 69 points on 63 offensive possessions. That’s four games in a row that an opponent averaged more than a point per possession.

“It’s not, not where we want it to be totally. We’ve got to get better,” Odom acknowledged in the Queens postgame. “Too many times, we’re getting beat off the bounce, getting caught in some communication errors. The defensive rebounding was not where it needed to be in this particular game. We had it going in spurts, but it wasn’t a consistent effort overall. And the guys understand that. They understood that at halftime, when we met with them, too many 50/50, balls that we didn’t get tonight, we’ve got to play harder, and it’s got to mean a little bit more.”

Per KenPom, UVA ranks 86th nationally, 15th in the ACC, in defensive efficiency (1.026 points per possession), and while the ‘Hoos lead the country in offensive-rebounding percentage (46.8%), they’re just 202nd nationally in defensive rebounding (68.1%).

Queens rebounded 40.0 percent of its misses (18-of-45), and converted those opportunities into 20 second-chance points.

Good thing Queens was missing shots – the Royals shot 38.0 percent and were just 9-of-29 from three and 8-of-18 at the rim.

With the schedule ramping up next week – Virginia travels to Austin for a game with Texas (6-2) on Wednesday, then faces Dayton (6-1) in Charlotte next Saturday – the margin for error will be trending downward.

Quick hits

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  Whoever in the NBA told Thijs de Ridder (21 points, 8-of-10 FG, 2-of-3 3FG tonight; 18.0 ppg, 5.6 rebounds/g, 56.6% FG, 44.4% 3FG) that he needed to play American college guys for a year, thanks.

• Nice bounceback night for Johann Grunloh – 13 points (4-of-5 FG, 2-of-2 3FG), 10 boards, two blocks, two steals. Grunloh was left off the floor for the final 14:52 of the 80-73 loss to Butler on Sunday because he wasn’t producing (just two points on 1-of-3 shooting in 16 minutes).
• It was nice seeing Devin Tillis (13 points, 3-of-4 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 5-of-5 FT, five rebounds in 18 minutes) getting good minutes. Odom said afterward that he’s still trying to figure out how Tillis, a 6’7” power forward, fits in lineup-wise.