Did you notice the lineup tweak that Tony Bennett made for tonight’s game with Louisville?
Yeah, yeah, Virginia (11-3, 2-1 ACC) shot well – 51.7 percent from the floor, 10 made threes – and scored a lot in the 77-53 win.
Pretty good offensive efficiency – 77 points on 54 possessions, 1.426 points per possession.
But the story of the game, to me, was Bennett going big – 6’10” Blake Buchanan, 6’9” Jake Groves and 6’8” Ryan Dunn – for long stretches.
And it worked. Buchanan, in 19 minutes, his most run in four weeks, had a modest six points and five rebounds, but was adequate defensively.
Groves, in a season-high 34 minutes, had seven points and nine rebounds.
Dunn was sublime – 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 10 rebounds, three blocks and a steal in 31 minutes.
Buchanan and Groves had been splitting the minutes at the five spot, with Dunn, nominally a guard, getting his minutes as a lithe four.
You can see the results from the rebound numbers – Virginia had a 34-27 edge over Louisville in this one – and from the defense numbers.
Louisville (5-8, 0-2 ACC) shot 40.4 percent from the field, and was 6-of-25 from three.
More than half the Cardinals’ shots from the field were threes; coming in, UL had averaged 18.2 shots from three per game, the game plan being to try to pound the ball inside.
Didn’t see much of that tonight, with Bennett going big.
And going big certainly didn’t sacrifice the offensive production, as noted above.
Good shooting overall, solid from three (10-of-26, 38.5 percent), good work attacking the rim (11-of-14, 78.6 percent).
Isaac McKneely, in 19 minutes, limited by foul trouble, finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 4-of-7 from three.
iMac had 13 points in a 6:02 stretch of the second half – three threes and two mid-range jumpers – to help salt the game away.
Taine Murray, in 18 minutes off the bench, contributed 12 points (5-of-6 FG, 2-of-3 3FG) and two assists.
Reece Beekman had 11 points (4-of-7 FG) and eight assists.
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Chris Graham
