UVA Basketball: Still counts, but Boston College made that one ugly

I wrote in my pregame about how Boston College likes to ugly things up, and that’s what they did.

The Virginia side might want to burn the tape from today’s 73-66 win in Chestnut Hill.

That’s how ugly.

Looking at the Odom Ball stats, I don’t know how the good guys were able to pull out the win in this one.

To wit:

• Points off turnovers: Virginia +2 (8-6)
• Second-chance points: push (9-9)
• Points off threes: Virginia +3 (UVA: 4-of-23; BC: 3-of-13)
• Free throws: BC +2 (BC: 15-of-26: UVA: 13-of-18)

UVA (18-3, 7-2 ACC) trailed by as many as seven early, and didn’t get its first lead until the 15:30 mark of the second half.

The issue: 2-of-16 shooting from three in the first 20 minutes.

There are times when good shots from three just aren’t falling; that 2-of-16 wasn’t that.

Too many settles for contested threes was what was going on.

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ICYMI

• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos shrug off sluggish first half, beat BC, 73-66

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‘Hoos coach Ryan Odom obviously emphasized in his halftime reset: get the ball into the paint.

In the second half, just seven of the 31 shot attempts were threes.

The ‘Hoos missed some easy ones in the paint – second half paint shooting: 13-of-23 – but the pressure on the interior got them to the free-throw line, where they were 12-of-14 in the final 20.

I can sense the emails and texts getting fired up to come my way: this one was supposed to be easy.

I feel ya.

And I’ll also point out: this Virginia team is 7-2 in the ACC with six of the first nine on the road.

Both KenPom and BartTorvik have our guys favored in eight of the last nine.

There are things to fix, but it’s better from the fan standpoint when your coaches are fixing things when you’re 7-2 in the conference.

Player notes

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• Thijs de Ridder had the quietest 17 points (7-of-10 FG, 3-of-4 FT) I can remember. He spent too much time standing on the three-point line in today’s sets. Not his decision to do that.
• Malik Thomas had 14 points (5-of-12 FG, 0-of-5 3FG, 4-of-4 FT). Two makes at the rim, two inside the circle, one in the paint just outside the circle, got to the line. Good afternoon for him.
• Chance Mallory had 11 points (4-of-11 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 2-of-4 FT) and six boards. Worrisome trend: he’s 6-of-12 at the line over the past two. Prior: he was 64-of-77 (83.1%).
• Ugonna Onyenso had the best plus/minus, at +16. Counting numbers: seven points (3-of-6 FG, 1-of-1 FT), seven rebounds, two blocked shots.
• Jacari White looked to be in rhythm for the first time since returning from the broken left wrist: eight points, 3-of-5 FG, 2-of-3 3FG, 17 minutes.

Team notes

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Shooting
UVA: 28-of-64
BC: 24-of-51

Paint
UVA: 23-of-39
BC: 19-of-33

At the Rim
UVA: 18-of-27
BC: 9-of-14

Midrange
UVA: 1-of-2
BC: 2-of-5

Three
UVA: 4-of-23
BC: 3-of-13

Free throws
UVA: 13-of-18
BC: 15-of-26

Odom Ball

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Offensive rebounding: 35.9% offensive rebound rate
Defensive rebounding: 75.8% defensive rebound rate
Points in the paint: Virginia 46-38
Points off turnovers: Boston College 10-7
Second-chance points: 9-9
Points off made threes: Virginia 12-9

Box Score

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Highlights

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