Virginia basketball was blown out by a Tobacco Road team for the second time this week, falling 81-66 to North Carolina on Saturday. The Cavs have now lost double-digit conference games for the first time since 2009-10, Tony Bennett’s first season in Charlottesville.
After giving up 80 just 12 times in Tony Bennett’s 15 years at the helm, the Cavaliers have given up 80 six times this season. Here are three takeaways from the game.
Takeaway #1: Slow starts doom Cavaliers
Before some Virginia fans probably had a chance to settle down and watch the game, the Cavaliers were already down double-digits. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 21-2 lead, as the Cavs made just one of its first 10 baskets. The Cavaliers were lucky that were only down 12 entering halftime.
Unfortunately, the second half started the same way. Virginia made one of its first seven attempts, and a 12-point deficit quickly became a 17-point gap, which swelled to as much as 20 in the final minutes. It was the Cavs’ second straight offensive dud, as they were swarmed by Duke’s elite defense Monday.
It seems that Virginia’s strong few offensive weeks can be chalked up to playing some bad teams. Sure, the Pitt win was good, but the other wins have been over not particularly impressive opponents.
Takeaway #2: UNC destroys UVA’s defensive switching
For the past few weeks, Virginia has been switching on all screens rather than the hard hedge that is usually done in the packline defense. Virginia’s defensive rotations haven’t been great this year, so it was a recent switch made to try to help the Cavs retain some of the defensive identity that’s been lacking this year.
However, to be effective with a switch-heavy scheme, big men have to be able to effectively defend guards, and Virginia’s forwards aren’t great at doing that. Multiple times sophomore Blake Buchanan, redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson and freshman Jacob Cofie were blown by, leading to open layups and three-pointers. The Tar Heels had 11 offensive rebounds and went 9-16 (56.1%) from behind the 3-point line, allowing them to counteract every Virginia comeback attempt.
The other issue is that the guards have to be capable of boxing out opposing big men and grabbing defensive rebounds. Unfortunately, as with the Duke game, the Cavs really struggled in that department. Senior forward Jae’Lyn Withers led the Tar Heels with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
It was an interesting experiment, but it’s clear that this switch-heavy defense isn’t effective against teams that can kill the Cavs on the glass.
Takeaway #3: Confusing rotation decisions
Over the past couple of weeks, Robinson has been Virginia’s best big man. He’s seen a big increase in minutes since sophomore forward T.J. Power has been all but eliminated from the main rotation. Robinson had a career-high 15 points and seven rebounds in the Cavaliers’ victory over Virginia Tech, and accounted for the best highlight of Virginia’s season, blocking a Cooper Flagg dunk attempt earlier this week.
Which is why it was confusing that Robinson wasn’t the first or second Cav off the bench against the Tar Heels. He didn’t check in until the 12:58 mark of the first half, at which point it was already 15-2 North Carolina. He then checked out barely two minutes later. While Robinson finished with 17 minutes, right in line with what he’s been getting of late, it seemed strange that he wasn’t seeing the court as North Carolina destroyed Virginia on the glass.
It wasn’t the only odd rotation decision by interim head coach Ron Sanchez – which has been a running theme throughout this season. Junior guard Isaac McKneely was seemingly keeping Virginia in the game singlehandedly in the first half, but was taken out just over a minute after converting a four-point play to cut the deficit to eight.
Part of Virginia’s struggles this year can be chalked up to an inconsistent rotation. McKneely is the only player to have started every game for the Cavs. It’s extremely difficult to find a balance and a rhythm on both ends of the court when the five players on the court are constantly being changed.
With just four games left in the regular season, it’ll be interesting to see if Virginia can get some semblance of a steady group and clinch a spot in the ACC Tournament.
Up next for Virginia basketball (13-14, 6-10): vs. Wake Forest (19-8, 11-5) – Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. EST
Up next for North Carolina (17-11, 10-6): vs. Florida State (16-11, 7-9) – Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. EST