On Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Cavaliers endured a second consecutive scare from a lower-tier ACC team, surviving Boston College’s best efforts with a 73-66 road victory. Upon trailing at the break, the ‘Hoos scored 46 second-half points, taking the lead for the first time at the 15:31 mark, and maintaining offensive pressure, despite not being able to ultimately pull away to a comfortable margin. Thijs De Ridder led the way with 17 points, while Malik Thomas (14 points) and Chance Mallory (11 points) joined him in double figures.
Virginia is fortunate to escape the roadtrip unscathed
First and foremost, it is a lot easier to critique UVA’s performance in an underwhelming victory, than after a detrimental loss. In that sense, no harm, no foul.
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Of course, the hope was for the ’Hoos to quickly bounce back after the North Carolina collapse with get-right games against a pair of squads in the bottom third of the ACC standings. However, given that a rut was bound to happen at some point, they timed it well, all things considered.
The resume-boosting wins at Louisville and SMU are already in Virginia’s back pocket. Now, it is just time for the players to get their act together, gain some confidence back, and play to their full potential once again.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
Another uniquely-built team exploits a flaw in UVA’s half-court defense
As discussed previously, the Wahoo defense is at its best when the guards are running shooters off the three-point line, and the shot blockers — namely Johann Gruenloh and Ugo Onyenso — are able to sit back and protect the rim. For a while, that was working at a high level.
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Then, Notre Dame offered a unique schematic approach, going five-out to pull Gruenloh and Onyenso from the basket, and torching the ‘Hoos with ball screen action and deep shot-making.
Boston College had offensive success too, but in a completely different way. A notably poor shooting team, the Eagles attacked Virginia’s front court with their own bigs. The Cavaliers were outclassed physically by 6-foot-11, 256-pound Boden Kapke and 6-foot-9, 240-pound Jayden Hastings. Combined, the two Boston College forwards scored 26 points on 9-of-12 from the field.
This kind of interior play had not been previously thrown at the ‘Hoos in conference play, and they were clearly caught off guard. While Gruenloh and Onyenso are athletic and lengthy, neither has the strongest presence inside and that was problematic. Meanwhile, Devin Tillis continued to struggle one-on-one against skilled bigs, and was torched a couple of times by interior passes.
The one silver lining is Thijs De Ridder, who has the ideal prototype to defend against this type of offense, and is slowly learning to stay more disciplined and avoid unnecessary fouls. More on him later.
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The Cavaliers struggle to play with pace
Virginia struggled in transition on both ends in this game.
In the first half, Boston College ended up with two uncontested breakaway layups. These were not the result of sloppy turnovers, but rather the inability to get back on defense after shot attempts.
Yes, this is the clear risk of heavily pursing the offensive glass with guards, and pressing in the backcourt. But this aggressiveness can work (and has worked) in spite of that. Boston College was not cherry picking in these circumstances; they were just able to beat UVA up the court once they gained possession. That is something that can be fixed.
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Virginia’s offensive transition opportunities were few and far between in this contest, but even when they did arise, it did not typically end well either. In one instance late in the second half, a two-on-one involving Malik Thomas and Dallin Hall turned into a loose ball that trickled into the corner. These scenarios are another thing that Odom and staff need to put an emphasis on cleaning up.
The fact that Virginia ultimately won this game is poetic in a way, though. The passing of the torch from Tony Bennett to Ryan Odom came with a faster style of play, and it was something completely foreign to much of the fanbase. However, when push came to shove in this one, Virginia pulled it out by doing it the way we have all come to appreciate — slowing things down and suffocating the opponent.
UVA’s guards resort to alternative ways of scoring when the shots do not fall
On that note, we cannot ignore the glaring positives that came out of this game as well. Despite shooting just 4-of-23 from deep, the Cavaliers eventually ditched their identity en route to their strong second-half offensive effort.
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Mallory has been a godsend to this team, and he is always the place to start in this conversation. The freshman guard’s quickness allowed him to get to the rim and draw contact and/or finish on several occasions.
Thomas, who has completely cooled down from his shooting barrage, had more spurts of the three-level scorer he was at San Francisco. After his own flurry of beating opposing guards off the bounce for layups, Thomas drained a tough midrange late in the shot clock with about six minutes remaining to keep UVA in front. That is the type of controlled assertiveness that Virginia needs from him a whole lot more often.
Among Mallory, Thomas, and the occasional contribution from Dallin Hall and Sam Lewis, the Cavaliers can still have modest success from slashing, in spite of their offensive identity residing around the three ball.
It is time to appreciate what Thijs De Ridder brings to this team
While De Ridder is slowly coming into his own defensively, he has fully figured it out on the offensive end. His 17 points came on 7-of-10 shooting, with all his makes coming from around the basket.
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The first-year from Belgium was the focal point of Virginia’s offense on Saturday. While Boston College’s aforementioned bigs are strong and physical, De Ridder is even bigger and badder, continuing to show the ability to will his way to the basket and finish. The ‘Hoos continuously spaced out to give him opportunities to go to work in the high post, and Eagles coach Earl Grant refused to double team him.
De Ridder’s shooting touch certainly adds to his package as well. While he only attempted one three-pointer in this one, his 37% season average makes his perimeter pump fake awfully tempting, which ultimately helped him gain leverage downhill. At the line, De Ridder is now 36-for-42 (86%) in his last six games, including a 3-for-4 mark in this one.
Up Next: The Wahoos return to JPJ to take on another struggling team in Pitt. Opening tip is scheduled for Tuesday, February 3 at 9 pm.
