Wisconsin at No. 18 Virginia, 9 p.m. ESPN2
UVa has yet to lose a game and returns to JPJ tonight to take on Wisconsin in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Voters inserted the Cavaliers into the AP Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday at No 18. Since my last update, the Wahoos have taken down VCU on the road, 76-67, Monmouth at home, 73-53, and then won the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn by beating Vanderbilt, 68-42 and then Rhode Island, 70-55.
The best thing about the team so far is that there have been four leading scorers in the six games. Kyle Guy will likely lead the team in scoring most games, as he did against VCU when he poured in 29 points and made 5 of 9 3-pointers, but having other guys able to take over is a great thing to have and something that was missing at times last season. London Perrantes was, of course, the leading scorer in 2016-17, and Guy showed that ability to be the second guy, but was too young/inconsistent to keep it up and also ran into some trouble when he rode the bench for his lack of defensive effort.
Against Austin Peay in the season's second game, Devon Hall scored a career-high 19 points. Hall is up to 11.2 ppg (8.4 last year). Also in that game, redshirt freshman Jay Huff showed some of what he might be capable of, scoring 16 points while making 7 of 8 shots, including one 3-pointer. He hasn't played much otherwise, as coach Tony Bennett has preferred to bring him along slowly and use him in matchups where he thinks Huff's unique skill set can benefit the offense. Against Monmouth, redshirt freshman De'Andre Hunter exploded for 23 points. He made jumpers, drove to the rim, and made a 3. It was a very encouraging sign since he had only scored 15 points in the first three games of the season, with 13 of those coming mostly in garbage time against terrible Austin Peay. And then Isaiah Wilkins paced the team with 19 against Rhode Island, a career high for him. It is easy to tell that Wilkins, Mamadi Diakite, and Jack Salt have worked hard on their post moves. It's early, obviously, but Diakite's scoring average is up to 6.7 points from 3.8 last season, and his shooting percentage has increased to 70.8 from 54.3. His free throw shooting is up, as well, to 75 percent from 54.5. Salt's improvement hasn't shown in the box score yet, but he seems more fluid around the basket. It's worth noting, though, that the big New Zealander is up to 83.3 percent on his free throws, a huge improvement so far -- he was below 35 percent as a freshman and up to almost 49 percent last season. Wilkins has increased his points and field goal percentage each season, and this year, the senior is up to 8.8 ppg and 67.7 percent. Last year, he was at 6.8 and 55.6. His free throw shooting is also now up to 73.3 percent (70.2, 58.3, 54.5 junior through freshman seasons).
On the whole, the team's free throw shooting has improved from last season as it sits at 81.4 percent. It finished at 70.9 percent last year.
Guy is the team's leading scorer at 15.8 ppg. The good thing about him this year as opposed to Perrantes last year is that Guy is more of a pure scorer. There was much discussion over Perrantes' role last season. He was going to be the team's clear go-to scorer after the dismissal of Austin Nichols. I think that changed the team's roles, development, and Bennett's main plan for the offense. Perrantes had the capability, but was at his best, and the team was at his best in his first three years, when he was guiding the offense and distributing the ball, but not leading the offense in scoring. Guy, however, loves hunting his shot and definitely has more of a scorer's mentality. That bodes well for the team, and the fact that other scorers appear capable of solid numbers on other nights is only a plus. Hall and Wilkins are a year older and more ready to take over, Hunter is promising as a freshman, and a guy like Diakite is getting better and still only scraping the surface of what he could maybe do. And I didn't even mention Ty Jerome yet, who is now the team's starting point guard. He's up to 8.3 ppg from 4.3. And transfer Nigel Johnson is contributing 7.3 ppg as the backup point guard and brings a good pace to the offense it doesn't usually have.
The Badgers are 3-3 but have played three ranked teams, while UVa hasn't played any despite strong wins for the Wahoos over VCU and Rhode Island. Wisconsin lost to No. 15 Xavier, 80-70, No. 22
Baylor, 70-65, and No. 23 UCLA, 72-70.
Wisconsin and UVa have met in the Challenge two other times. The Cavaliers won in Madison, 60-54, in the 2012-13 season, and the next year, the Badgers prevailed in Charlottesville in an ugly game, 48-38. The teams have changed a lot since then, of course, but another relatively low-scoring game should be in store.
Wisconsin is led by junior big man Ethan Happ, who is averaging 18.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 57.7 percent. All of those numbers lead the team. He's not a good free throw shooter, though, at just 55.9 percent. He will be a load for Salt, Wilkins, and/or Diakite down low. Wisconsin features two other scorers in double figures. Freshman guard Brad Davison, at 11.8 ppg, is shooting 48.3 percent on 3s, and sophomore guard D'Mitrik Price, at 10.5 ppg, is shooting 41.7 percent on 3s. Sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl is one of the most improved players on the team, averaging 9.2 points after tallying just 1.9 per game last season. Junior guard Khalil Iverson is averaging 8.3 points and 5 rebounds.
The Badgers lost some key pieces off last season's team which went 27-10 and lost in the Sweet 16 to Florida in overtime, 84-83, inlcuding Bronson Koenig (14.5 ppg), Nigel Hayes (14 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Zak Showalter (8.3 ppg), and Vitto Brown (6.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg).
I think it will be a good game, but I like the 'Hoos to pull out a close one at home.
UVa has yet to lose a game and returns to JPJ tonight to take on Wisconsin in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Voters inserted the Cavaliers into the AP Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday at No 18. Since my last update, the Wahoos have taken down VCU on the road, 76-67, Monmouth at home, 73-53, and then won the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn by beating Vanderbilt, 68-42 and then Rhode Island, 70-55.
The best thing about the team so far is that there have been four leading scorers in the six games. Kyle Guy will likely lead the team in scoring most games, as he did against VCU when he poured in 29 points and made 5 of 9 3-pointers, but having other guys able to take over is a great thing to have and something that was missing at times last season. London Perrantes was, of course, the leading scorer in 2016-17, and Guy showed that ability to be the second guy, but was too young/inconsistent to keep it up and also ran into some trouble when he rode the bench for his lack of defensive effort.
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| Redshirt freshman De'Andre Hunter broke out for 23 points in Virginia's 73-53 victory over Monmouth. |
Against Austin Peay in the season's second game, Devon Hall scored a career-high 19 points. Hall is up to 11.2 ppg (8.4 last year). Also in that game, redshirt freshman Jay Huff showed some of what he might be capable of, scoring 16 points while making 7 of 8 shots, including one 3-pointer. He hasn't played much otherwise, as coach Tony Bennett has preferred to bring him along slowly and use him in matchups where he thinks Huff's unique skill set can benefit the offense. Against Monmouth, redshirt freshman De'Andre Hunter exploded for 23 points. He made jumpers, drove to the rim, and made a 3. It was a very encouraging sign since he had only scored 15 points in the first three games of the season, with 13 of those coming mostly in garbage time against terrible Austin Peay. And then Isaiah Wilkins paced the team with 19 against Rhode Island, a career high for him. It is easy to tell that Wilkins, Mamadi Diakite, and Jack Salt have worked hard on their post moves. It's early, obviously, but Diakite's scoring average is up to 6.7 points from 3.8 last season, and his shooting percentage has increased to 70.8 from 54.3. His free throw shooting is up, as well, to 75 percent from 54.5. Salt's improvement hasn't shown in the box score yet, but he seems more fluid around the basket. It's worth noting, though, that the big New Zealander is up to 83.3 percent on his free throws, a huge improvement so far -- he was below 35 percent as a freshman and up to almost 49 percent last season. Wilkins has increased his points and field goal percentage each season, and this year, the senior is up to 8.8 ppg and 67.7 percent. Last year, he was at 6.8 and 55.6. His free throw shooting is also now up to 73.3 percent (70.2, 58.3, 54.5 junior through freshman seasons).
On the whole, the team's free throw shooting has improved from last season as it sits at 81.4 percent. It finished at 70.9 percent last year.
Guy is the team's leading scorer at 15.8 ppg. The good thing about him this year as opposed to Perrantes last year is that Guy is more of a pure scorer. There was much discussion over Perrantes' role last season. He was going to be the team's clear go-to scorer after the dismissal of Austin Nichols. I think that changed the team's roles, development, and Bennett's main plan for the offense. Perrantes had the capability, but was at his best, and the team was at his best in his first three years, when he was guiding the offense and distributing the ball, but not leading the offense in scoring. Guy, however, loves hunting his shot and definitely has more of a scorer's mentality. That bodes well for the team, and the fact that other scorers appear capable of solid numbers on other nights is only a plus. Hall and Wilkins are a year older and more ready to take over, Hunter is promising as a freshman, and a guy like Diakite is getting better and still only scraping the surface of what he could maybe do. And I didn't even mention Ty Jerome yet, who is now the team's starting point guard. He's up to 8.3 ppg from 4.3. And transfer Nigel Johnson is contributing 7.3 ppg as the backup point guard and brings a good pace to the offense it doesn't usually have.
The Badgers are 3-3 but have played three ranked teams, while UVa hasn't played any despite strong wins for the Wahoos over VCU and Rhode Island. Wisconsin lost to No. 15 Xavier, 80-70, No. 22
Wisconsin and UVa have met in the Challenge two other times. The Cavaliers won in Madison, 60-54, in the 2012-13 season, and the next year, the Badgers prevailed in Charlottesville in an ugly game, 48-38. The teams have changed a lot since then, of course, but another relatively low-scoring game should be in store.
Wisconsin is led by junior big man Ethan Happ, who is averaging 18.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 57.7 percent. All of those numbers lead the team. He's not a good free throw shooter, though, at just 55.9 percent. He will be a load for Salt, Wilkins, and/or Diakite down low. Wisconsin features two other scorers in double figures. Freshman guard Brad Davison, at 11.8 ppg, is shooting 48.3 percent on 3s, and sophomore guard D'Mitrik Price, at 10.5 ppg, is shooting 41.7 percent on 3s. Sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl is one of the most improved players on the team, averaging 9.2 points after tallying just 1.9 per game last season. Junior guard Khalil Iverson is averaging 8.3 points and 5 rebounds.
The Badgers lost some key pieces off last season's team which went 27-10 and lost in the Sweet 16 to Florida in overtime, 84-83, inlcuding Bronson Koenig (14.5 ppg), Nigel Hayes (14 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Zak Showalter (8.3 ppg), and Vitto Brown (6.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg).
I think it will be a good game, but I like the 'Hoos to pull out a close one at home.
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