Virginia Basketball Blows Out Pitt: 3 Takeaways

Virginia basketball won its second consecutive road game Monday night, beating Pitt 73-57. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Takeaway #1: Pitt suffers a bad loss

The Panthers entered Monday’s game in the “Last Four Byes” section of Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology. However, a 16-point loss at home to a subpar Virginia team classifies as a Quad 3 loss, which hurts Pitt’s resume and put it in the “Last Four In” of the Bracketology that was released Tuesday morning. So, while the Panthers could still make it, the loss really hurt their chances.

The Panthers didn’t play well. They shot 42% from the field and 30% from behind the 3-point line. Pitt committed 10 turnovers. And against a UVa team that struggles to secure defensive rebounds, Pitt only had four offensive boards.

The Panthers need to win the majority of their games left in order to stay on the right side of the bubble. They’ve already played Duke — a 76-47 Blue Devils win back in early January — and only have three more games against teams with a winning ACC record. Monday’s loss made Pitt’s road to the NCAA Tournament much more perilous.

Takeaway #2: Dai Dai Ames leads a complete performance

Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames entered Monday’s game averaging less than seven points per game. He’d been in and out of the starting lineup as interim head coach Ron Sanchez struggled to find the five-man combination that worked the best. With junior forward Elijah Saunders still out due to injury, the Cavaliers needed somebody else to step up.

Monday, it was Ames. He scored a career-high 27 points, the most any Cav has had this season. He was getting buckets off the dribble and also hitting spot-up threes. When he committed to UVa, it was reported that the Cavs were getting an offense-focused guard, and Virginia saw that for the first time.

It wasn’t just Ames — it seemed like everybody had their moment to shine for Virginia. Sophomore forward Blake Buchanan had 10 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double Junior guard Andrew Rohde threatened to get a triple-double, scoring nine points, dishing nine assists and grabbing seven rebounds. The Cavaliers shot 56% from the field and assisted on 20 of their 28 made buckets.

Defensively, the Cavs controlled the Panthers. Virginia switched all ball screens, which is not a usual trait of the packline defense and occasionally resulted in Ames getting posted up by a big man and Buchanan and freshman forward Anthony Robinson getting blown past by guards, but it largely worked for the Cavaliers. Pitt struggled to win in isolation, getting just five assists on 18 made baskets. Whether Virginia does that in the future remains to be seen.

Takeaway #3: The Cavs just continue to fight

When Tony Bennett suddenly retired in October, the air seemed to be sucked out of the program and fanbase. What hope was there for this team that had just lost the leader of its most successful era? It would’ve been easy for this team to just roll over and quit, especially when the Cavs lost five straight — four by double digits — in January.

But Virginia has continued to fight. The Cavaliers bullied Boston College, knocked around lifeless Miami in Coral Gables last week and rallied from 13 down to give themselves a chance to win at the end against Virginia Tech. This is still a team that hasn’t folded despite the awful hand it was dealt just before the season.

Virginia will almost certainly be looking for a new head coach in less than two months and a new era will be ushered in, but this Cavaliers team seems determined to not go out with a whimper.

Next up for Virginia basketball (11-12, 4-8 ACC): vs. Georgia Tech (10-12, 4-7 ACC) – Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. EST

Next up for Pitt (14-8, 5-6 ACC): at North Carolina (13-10, 6-5 ACC) – Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. EST