The Virginia Cavaliers weren’t able to get right at home after a miserable 34-point loss to Virginia Tech earlier in the week, as UVA basketball fell 54-44 to the North Carolina Tar Heels thanks to their all-too-common offensive struggles and a big night for guard Cormac Ryan. Only two players reached double figures for the ‘Hoos, who shot below 28 percent from the field and made just two three-pointers. A late comeback effort cut the lead to five in the final minutes, but the Tar Heels regained their composure and salted away the game at the line to hand Virginia their third loss in four games.
Five takeaways following yet another loss for UVA basketball:
A nightmare first-half shooting performance doomed the ‘Hoos
You’d be hard-pressed to find an uglier half of offense than Virginia’s performance through the first 20 minutes at JPJ. Despite Armando Bacot’s early foul trouble limiting him to just seven minutes, the ‘Hoos found themselves unable to get to the basket and finish around the rim. And their ability to shoot from any distance beyond the free-throw line was totally nonexistent.
The Cavaliers made just five shots from the field: a pick-six Reece Beekman dunk, a Beekman layup, a Beekman jumper in the lane, a Buchanan dunk off Beekman’s assist, and a Jordan Minor putback layup. None of those shots came from any further away than a few feet from the hoop. Virginia shot 17 percent from the floor, 13 percent on layups, seven percent from the midrange, and zero percent from three. Virginia continued their recent trend of creating bad looks and totally lacked the shotmaking to bail themselves out.
Virginia didn’t finish the game much better. They ended up at 28 percent from the field, 14 percent (2-14) from beyond the arc and an underwhelming 67 percent from the line which included a big Jordan Minor miss late on the front end of a one-and-one which would’ve cut North Carolina’s lead to one possession. Minor led the team in scoring — partially a testament to his tenacious work on the offensive glass, but mostly a reflection of the inability of UVA’s typical offensive threats to get anything going. Reece Beekman scored just 10 points on 4-14 shooting and Isaac McKneely contributed just seven on his nine shots. That’s not a winning formula for this team.
Virginia’s starting five once again fell into a scoring slump
There are plenty of reasons for UVA’s recent offensive malaise, but the most obvious is that Virginia’s starting five is way too easy for opponents to defend. Right now, they’re essentially playing three non-shooters with Andrew Rohde’s lack of confidence outside and Ryan Dunn’s inability to develop a jump shot this season. It’s way too easy for opponents to pass off every screen on the perimeter, take away Reece Beekman’s driving lanes, and stay attached to Isaac McKneely without worrying about UVA’s other players hurting them.
