Often, winning in basketball is as simple as making shots. As in making as many, or more than, you miss.
I’ve written that several times this season after both Virginia wins and losses.
Saturday, the positive side of making shots propelled the Cavaliers to an impressive 72-57 season-finale win over Georgia Tech in John Paul Jones Arena.
On Jan. 20, UVA won its first ACC road game of the season in Atlanta against the Yellow Jackets.
That win was the second of what became an eight-game winning streak.
Virginia, again, hopes to ride the momentum of a win over GT.
The Cavalier locked in the three-seed in the ACC Tournament, earning a coveted double-bye.
Virginia will play in the 9:30 (ish) game Thursday evening at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
First-half shooting sets the tone for UVA
In the first half Virginia made seven of its 14 three-point shots.
Defensively the Cavaliers limited GT to just 1-of-8 from behind the arc.
Virginia started slowly and trailed 8-7 with 14:37 left in the first half.
A Jake Groves three put UVA up 10-8 just seconds later. Georgia Tech held a 12-10 advantage just over two minutes later.
Taine Murray, hum, heard that name somewhere a few times this season, then scored five straight points to propel the Cavaliers to a 15-12 lead with 9:36 left in the opening half.
Virginia would never trail in the game from that point, closing the half with a 23-9 run to lead at the break, 38-24.
UVA connected on four three-pointers during the run.
UVA finished the game 12-of-26 from three-point land.
Someone has been saying that Murray should be seeing more court time
My memory fails sometimes, and for the life of me I can’t seem to remember who has been clamoring to the point that Taine Murray should be getting significantly more playing time.
Oh, well, it doesn’t matter who it was, Murray indeed saw more time Saturday, and he made it count.
That individual who campaigned for more PT for Murray did so at Andrew Rohde’s expense.
Someone was listening.
Looking back, Rohde has been regulated further down the Virginia bench, chair by chair.
A couple of weeks ago, Rohde was replaced in the starting lineup by Groves, but still played significant minutes in games against Boston College and Duke.
Saturday night, Rohde moved down the bench a bit further, from backup to being replaced by Murray and Dante Harris, who subbed in for Beekman and Isaac McKneely.
Murray, (there’s that name again) continues to just deliver when called upon.
Don’t look for Murray to make any of the sports network Top 10 clips.
That’s not who he is.
That’s not what Tony Bennett needs him to be.
What is Murray?
Steady and efficient.
A Tony Bennett-like player, which makes his absence in games even more a mystery.
Murray has shot 45.5 percent behind the arc this season, and as important, doesn’t seem tentative to take the shot when it’s available.
There’s nothing complicated about Murray’s game.
He’s a calm shooter, and a capable and determined driver to the basket.
Murray scored seven in the first half, to give the Cavaliers a refreshing look of a confident offensive team.
Georgia Tech had a mini-rally in the second half that whittled a 15-point lead down to nine.
Murray then promptly drilled an open three to push the lead back to a dozen.
The Yellow Jackets could get no closer.
Murray has indeed stepped up when Rohde continued to struggle.
That’s what big-boy basketball is about.
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