UVA Basketball held its annual Blue-White scrimmage Saturday afternoon in John Paul Jones Arena. For those fans that attended the last regular season contest of the 2021-2022 season, a loss in the quarterfinals of the NIT to St. Bonaventure, that game may have seemed like 50 years ago.
For starters, these guys can shoot. For the game, UVA combined to connect on 15-of-32 from the three-point line, a significant distinctive look than last year’s squad that finished at 32.3 percent from bonus land.
The first-year Cavaliers made an instant impact. Freshmen Isaac McKneely and Isaac Trout combined for 7-of-12 from beyond-the arc, while transfer Ben Vander Plas was 3-of-4.
From the returning players, Armaan Franklin has been doing a lot of off-season shooting. Franklin connected on 4-of-6 from three, a significant improvement from his first year as a Cavalier.
Franklin spent some of his offseason shooting with former Cavalier Justin Anderson working on shooting technique, including the catch-shoot technique. It didn’t take long in the scrimmage to see the benefit of the Franklin’s extra work, draining a three from the left corner on a perfect catch-and-shoot attempt.
Traudt and McKneely displayed some impressive catch and shoot skills as well. McKneely, the highly-touted shooter from West Virginia, appeared extremely comfortable on both ends of the floor for UVA. Not much of a surprise on defense as his high school team played a version of the Pack-Line defense.
McKneely didn’t need much time to warm up, canning two early three-pointers, displaying his marksmanship. But as importantly to earning significant playing time, McKneely was extremely poised handling the ball, running the offense smoothly and efficiently.
Traudt, meanwhile, was an offensive machine, knocking down four of his five attempts from behind the arc, finishing with 12 points. A hush came upon the crowd when Traudt exited the game in the final quarter with a foot injury. He momentarily left the floor, but then reappeared and sat with the Virginia trainer, and appeared to be OK.
Another newcomer, Leon Bond, had 10 points, and appeared exceptionally smooth in the open-floor game. Bond connected on some nice midrange jump shots, and as expected had some unforced turnovers as well. It’s going to be interesting to watch his development on both ends of the floor.
Kadin Shedrick had a sneaky 15 points, leading both teams in scoring. Initially, I thought Shedrick appeared to be much the same player as last season, however, looking at his stat line and taking into consideration he was playing against defenders that see him every day, my opinion changed.
Shedrick’s 15 points came on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor, and 5-of-7 from the foul line. He looked poised in the post and had some nice finishes at the basket. Defensively, Shedrick is a huge asset under the basket as a shot-swatter. Being able to play under control, limiting fouls, will be vital. If Shedrick can manage to stay on the floor more, Virginia will become extremely dangerous.
After the contest, Virginia coach Tony Bennent addressed the crowd, estimated at 6,000, and thanked fans for making JPJ such a great environment. Bennett also gave his squad an early-season compliment, saying, “We have a much better shooting squad than last season.” But in typical Coach Bennett style, he did say that the team still has a lot of work to do.
Share
