How much is Dai Dai Ames in UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez’s doghouse? Andrew Rohde, who replaced Ames as the starting point guard, was battling the flu ahead of Saturday’s game at Stanford, and Sanchez still started Rohde over Ames.
“He really battled in the first half, and, you know, really tried in the second half. Just didn’t have his level of competitiveness and energy. Kind of battling some flu-like symptoms. He was throwing up at halftime. Give him a lot of credit for even trying. Some toughness there,” Sanchez said of Rohde, who had five points (2-of-4 FG, 1-of-2 3FG) with five assists vs. two turnovers in 21 minutes in the 88-65 loss.
Rohde got 16 minutes in the first half, then started the second half after throwing up in the locker room at halftime, before checking out at the 18:43 mark to head back to the locker room.
Sanchez subbed him back in at the 12:45 mark, then sitting him for good at 8:45.
Ames subbed in for Rohde at the 12:10 mark of the first half and logged three minutes, then provided a spark when he replaced Rohde at the 18:43 mark of the second half, scoring a second-chance three and a driving layup on back-to-back possessions.
Sanchez subbed Ames back out at 15:29, went back to him at 7:49, and Ames finished out the game on the floor.
Ames’s final counting numbers: five points (2-of-5 FG, 1-of-1 3FG) in 14 minutes.
Freshman Ishan Sharma got his first career start, and hit a pair of threes and had an assist in his first eight-minute stint, but from there, Sharma was pretty quiet – finishing with the six points (2-of-4 FG, 2-of-4 3FG) with three assists vs. two turnovers in 32 minutes.
Taine Murray, who had started the previous two games with Sanchez trying to figure out what to do with his move to bench Ames, got 10 minutes off the bench on Saturday, scoring one point (0-of-1 FG, 0-of-1 3FG, 1-of-2 FT) with a rebound and a turnover.
Finishing out the reporting on the guards from Saturday: Isaac McKneely had a nice bounceback game from his rough outing vs. Cal, finishing with 22 points (7-of-14 FG, 5-of-11 3FG) with three assists vs. one turnover in 36 minutes.
Trends
Over the past four games, the period covering Ames’s demotion:
- Isaac McKneely has averaged 13.0 points (18-of-46 FG, 13-of-31 3FG) in 36.3 minutes per game with 11 assists vs. five turnovers.
- Andrew Rohde has averaged 11.5 points (18-of-37 FG, 5-of-13 3FG) in 30.5 minutes per game with 21 assists vs. five turnovers.
- Ishan Sharma has averaged 5.8 points (8-of-18 FG, 7-of-16 3FG) in 22.3 minutes per game with seven assists vs. two turnovers.
- Taine Murray has averaged 2.5 points (3-of-14 FG, 1-of-6 3FG) in 20.0 minutes per game with eight assists vs. five turnovers over that stretch.
- Dai Dai Ames has averaged 1.8 points (3-of-11 FG, 1-of-4 3FG) in 9.3 minutes per game with zero assists vs. one turnover.
Going forward
The productivity from McKneely and Rohde is more than adequate for those two spots.
I like the idea of Sharma starting and getting 25-30 minutes per night in the three-guard backcourt, because he brings the potential of scoring punch from the perimeter, if he can be convinced to be a little greedier with his shot.
I’d go with Ames as the first guard off the bench, for 15-20 minutes a night, because he can also consistently hit the three (44.4% 3FG this season), and he’s the only guy in this backcourt rotation who can create his own shots.
Murray would be my fill-in guy, 8-10 minutes a night, accounting for foul trouble, basically.
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Chris Graham
