Virginia 74, VCU 57
The Cavaliers improved to 9-0 for the first time since 2001-02 Saturday with a huge road win against the Rams. They avenged a 59-56 defeat to VCU in Charlottesville last year and snapped the Rams' 22-game home winning streak. The Rams last lost on Jan. 26, 2013 at the Siegel Center to La Salle before Saturday.
Justin Anderson led the way for UVa with 21 points. Anthony Gill had 18 and Malcolm Brogdon added 15.
Virginia played a very solid game overall. It did turn the ball over 16 times against VCU's famed "Havoc" press, but a lot of those came in the first half. I was surprised at how porous VCU's defense was after it got into the half court. The Wahoos routinely carved it up for dunks and easy shots at the rim. Virginia also outrebounded VCU, 35-21, with Anderson, Mike Tobey, and Gill grabbing eight each. In the end, the Cavs shot an incredible 68.3 percent, the second-best field goal percentage for a game in UVa history. In the second half, UVa made 14 of 19 shots (73.7 percent). By comparison, VCU attempted 26 shots in the second half, but made just 11. Virginia outscored VCU 38-28 in the first half and then 36-29 in the second half.
Something Virginia has been getting better at doing as it has ascended in the college basketball ranks over the past couple seasons has been answering the runs of teams. UVa did a good job of that at Maryland last week in the 76-65 win. The same thing occurred on Saturday. This is not an exhaustive list during the game, and it focuses mostly on the second half, but these snippets provide an example of what I mean.
- Near the end of the first half, VCU was down 36-28. The pressure got to Anderson and he turned the ball over near midcourt. VCU's Briante Weber got a hold of the ball and headed toward the Rams' offensive end with about a minute left. Out from nowhere, the unlikeliest of players, Evan Nolte, dove and knocked the ball away from Weber's hand from behind, giving the ball back to UVa, which went on to score on the ensuing possession on a Brogdon jumper. Virginia then also stole the inbounds pass but could not score at the buzzer. Nolte's all-out steal was incredible and really mattered in the final result. Had he not made that play, VCU might have made a 2- or 3-pointer going into the locker room and would have been down six or five points instead of the 10 down they ended up being at halftime. Nolte is not known as the most athletic Wahoo, so the play makes me appreciate the effort that went into it all the more.
- At the beginning of the second half, VCU immediately made a basket to cut UVa's lead to eight. Unfazed, Virginia went right down and Anderson made one of several thunderous dunks for the 'Hoos. It was a great answer to VCU's quick opening bucket of the second half and showed that VCU was going to have to really earn its way back into the ballgame.
- Not every answer was necessarily because of UVa's effort. With 16 minutes left, VCU cut UVa's lead to 44-36. On Virginia's ensuing possession, London Perrantes missed a 3-pointer and then tried to knock the ball away from Jordan Burgess when Burgess started to bring the ball up the court off the rebound. Whether Perrantes fouled him or not, Burgess went to the floor but VCU retained possession. Burgess created a wet spot on the court. VCU made a shot on the other end to cut the lead to 44-38. Brogdon was then dribbling up the court for UVa in traffic and went down, slipping on the wet spot. VCU had a 3-on-1 fastbreak with only Perrantes back to defend and I would put the probability pretty high that VCU would have made it 44-41 or 44-40 had play not been stopped. The refs whistled the play dead because of the wet spot on the floor. VCU kept the ball, though, but did not get the fastbreak opportunity and subsequently did not score in its half-court look. Even worse for the Rams, the 'Hoos then scored four straight points to build the lead back up to 10. From possibly 44-41 or 44-40 to 48-38 is a big difference. UVa played a great game as I have said, but also fortune did smile its way from time to time Saturday.
-With about 10 minutes left, VCU stole the ball from Devon Hall and made a layup. But back down the floor, Tobey calmly made an elbow jumper, building Virginia's lead back to 11.
- Shortly after that, Mo Alie-Cox made a dunk for VCU to cut the lead to nine and get the crowd hopping once again. Down on the other end, Perrantes put a shot up that missed, but Tobey tipped the shot back and missed but got the rebound again and finally put it back in for two. Virginia has done an increasingly great job over the past year dating back to last season of keeping its poise and being unfazed by what's going on around them (crowd) and what just happened (whether that be a great dunk by the other team or a patented steal and fastbreak layup by VCU). It would have been really interesting to see this team face last year's Duke team at Duke. Virginia was very close to beating the Blue Devils in Durham last year but did just not really realize it could win until too late. Now, this year's team facing this year's Duke squad at Duke could be a different story, as Duke looks very good this year. But UVa does not travel to Duke this year. Instead, the Blue Devils come to JPJ for a Jan. 31 meeting.
- With 7:18 left and Virginia nursing a five-point lead, Gill made a sweet baby hook after backing down his man that stemmed the tide a little bit. Treveon Graham would make his third of three 3s after this, but still, the Gill shot helped put a slight brake on things for UVa before they got really out of control.
- Then, of course, there was the ultimate response after Graham's final 3. The lead was precarious at 59-55 and there was plenty of time left in the game. With the shot clock winding down for UVa, Perrantes sunk a clutch floating runner from the right side of the lane. I could not even see him because of the tall VCU players who were in the way. The shot went in with 5:49 left and the rest of the game went UVa's way, as the Cavs went on a 15-0 run before VCU tallied another point, the final basket of the game.
- I would be disingenuous if I also didn't look at another moment UVa got lucky, though. Before the Perrantes shot that started the "Cavalanche," Brogdon took an out-of-control shot on the possession prior, and the Rams got the ball back. But coming down the court, backup point guard JeQuan Lewis, a freshman, carried the ball. Virginia was fortunate because that is hardly ever called in a game and also because Weber was out of the game getting his ankle taped. Hard to know if he would have palmed the ball. After the turnover, UVa got things going as I mentioned before.
Something that was amazing to me is after UVa started its final run, Graham never shot another 3. He only took one more shot, actually. As a team, VCU made seven 3s, but Graham made five of them. The Rams should have kept feeding him down the stretch. I am sure Tony Bennett made an adjustment, though.
After the great win, UVa is on exam break until Dec. 18 when it hosts Cleveland State.
The Cavaliers improved to 9-0 for the first time since 2001-02 Saturday with a huge road win against the Rams. They avenged a 59-56 defeat to VCU in Charlottesville last year and snapped the Rams' 22-game home winning streak. The Rams last lost on Jan. 26, 2013 at the Siegel Center to La Salle before Saturday.
Justin Anderson led the way for UVa with 21 points. Anthony Gill had 18 and Malcolm Brogdon added 15.
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| Justin Anderson |
Something Virginia has been getting better at doing as it has ascended in the college basketball ranks over the past couple seasons has been answering the runs of teams. UVa did a good job of that at Maryland last week in the 76-65 win. The same thing occurred on Saturday. This is not an exhaustive list during the game, and it focuses mostly on the second half, but these snippets provide an example of what I mean.
 |
| Anthony Gill |
- At the beginning of the second half, VCU immediately made a basket to cut UVa's lead to eight. Unfazed, Virginia went right down and Anderson made one of several thunderous dunks for the 'Hoos. It was a great answer to VCU's quick opening bucket of the second half and showed that VCU was going to have to really earn its way back into the ballgame.
 |
| Malcolm Brogdon |
-With about 10 minutes left, VCU stole the ball from Devon Hall and made a layup. But back down the floor, Tobey calmly made an elbow jumper, building Virginia's lead back to 11.
- Shortly after that, Mo Alie-Cox made a dunk for VCU to cut the lead to nine and get the crowd hopping once again. Down on the other end, Perrantes put a shot up that missed, but Tobey tipped the shot back and missed but got the rebound again and finally put it back in for two. Virginia has done an increasingly great job over the past year dating back to last season of keeping its poise and being unfazed by what's going on around them (crowd) and what just happened (whether that be a great dunk by the other team or a patented steal and fastbreak layup by VCU). It would have been really interesting to see this team face last year's Duke team at Duke. Virginia was very close to beating the Blue Devils in Durham last year but did just not really realize it could win until too late. Now, this year's team facing this year's Duke squad at Duke could be a different story, as Duke looks very good this year. But UVa does not travel to Duke this year. Instead, the Blue Devils come to JPJ for a Jan. 31 meeting.
- With 7:18 left and Virginia nursing a five-point lead, Gill made a sweet baby hook after backing down his man that stemmed the tide a little bit. Treveon Graham would make his third of three 3s after this, but still, the Gill shot helped put a slight brake on things for UVa before they got really out of control.
- Then, of course, there was the ultimate response after Graham's final 3. The lead was precarious at 59-55 and there was plenty of time left in the game. With the shot clock winding down for UVa, Perrantes sunk a clutch floating runner from the right side of the lane. I could not even see him because of the tall VCU players who were in the way. The shot went in with 5:49 left and the rest of the game went UVa's way, as the Cavs went on a 15-0 run before VCU tallied another point, the final basket of the game.
- I would be disingenuous if I also didn't look at another moment UVa got lucky, though. Before the Perrantes shot that started the "Cavalanche," Brogdon took an out-of-control shot on the possession prior, and the Rams got the ball back. But coming down the court, backup point guard JeQuan Lewis, a freshman, carried the ball. Virginia was fortunate because that is hardly ever called in a game and also because Weber was out of the game getting his ankle taped. Hard to know if he would have palmed the ball. After the turnover, UVa got things going as I mentioned before.
Something that was amazing to me is after UVa started its final run, Graham never shot another 3. He only took one more shot, actually. As a team, VCU made seven 3s, but Graham made five of them. The Rams should have kept feeding him down the stretch. I am sure Tony Bennett made an adjustment, though.
After the great win, UVa is on exam break until Dec. 18 when it hosts Cleveland State.
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