Huff Looking to Make Up for Lost Time
June 19, 2018
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CHARLOTTESVILLE — When the first University of Virginia men’s basketball practice of the summer ended Tuesday morning, most of the team headed to the locker room. Jay Huff stayed on the court at John Paul Jones Arena, putting up soft six-foot shots from the lane and testing his right shoulder.
There was some tightness and soreness, but after three months on the sideline, that was a wonderful feeling for the right-handed Huff. He was thrilled to be back playing the game for which he’s gained a new appreciation.
“It’s been a pretty quick recovery,” Huff said. “Hopefully by the end of this summer I’ll be back to 100 percent.”
A 7-1, 230-pound forward with 3-point range, Huff tore the labrum in his right shoulder during practice on March 14, two nights before the Cavaliers’ NCAA tournament opener in Charlotte, N.C.
“It was just one of those freak things that happens,” Huff said, but the injury required surgery and forced him to miss Virginia’s spring workouts.
He’s rehabbed diligently, and UVA’s medical staff cleared Huff on Monday to participate in practice on a limited basis. In drills Tuesday morning, Huff did not attempt any right-handed shots, but he dunked with his left hand several times and was able to work up a healthy sweat.
“It was great to see him back out there,” associate head coach Jason Williford said. “I’m glad he’s got clearance. He’s slowly working that shoulder back into form. He needs this. This is a big summer for him.”
A graduate of Voyager Academy in his hometown of Durham, N.C., Huff redshirted for the Wahoos in 2016-17, as did classmate De’Andre Hunter. Last season, however, their roles diverged.
Hunter, a 6-7 forward from Philadelphia, played in 33 games and was named the ACC’s sixth man of the year before an injury ended his season prematurely, too.
On a team that swept the ACC’s regular-season and tournament titles, Huff played in only 12 games, eight of them against non-conference opponents.
His UVA debut made him an immediate fan favorite — Huff hit 7 of 8 shots, scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked five shots in a Nov. 13 rout of Austin Peay at JPJ — and he has an impressive array of offensive skills. Ultimately, though, his defensive flaws and lack of strength kept him out of head coach Tony Bennett’s frontcourt rotation.
Even so, Huff said, the season “was a lot of fun. I knew that I still had a lot that I could improve on. Yeah, I would have liked to play more, obviously, but I don’t think anybody could argue with how Coach was putting people in the game, because we were winning. We played really well and we won games and we won the ACC championship.”
“So I think he did the right thing, and I think he knows — we both know — that I have a lot of growing to do before I get more minutes.”
His injury made him re-assess his basketball priorities, said Huff, who’s in the Youth & Social Innovation program in UVA’s Curry School of Education.
“You don’t really know that you’ll miss it until you can’t do it,” Huff said. “I was spoiled. I could shoot every day, and I didn’t. I didn’t take advantage of it as much as I wish I had.
“Now, as soon as my arm gets better, I’m going to be getting as many shots up as I can, because I couldn’t for a long time.”
Huff said he plans to use extra film study with the coaching staff to improve his understanding of the game and the Cavaliers’ system.
“Physically, I’m going to have to catch up too,” Huff said. “Even doing defensive slide drills [Tuesday morning], I realized I hadn’t moved in three months. So it’ll take a little catching up.”
From a UVA team that finished 31-3 in 2017-18, three rotation players are gone — forward Isaiah Wilkins and guards Devon Hall and Nigel Johnson — as well as former walk-ons Justice Bartley and Trevon Gross Jr.
Nine players return: Huff, Hunter, Jack Salt, Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, Mamadi Diakite, Marco Anthony, walk-on Austin Katstra and Francesco Badocchi, a 6-7 forward who redshirted last season.
The Cavaliers lacked a full complement of players at their first summer practice. The 6-10, 250-pound Salt, who’ll be a fifth-year senior in 2018-19, was back in New Zealand, where he’s been trying out for the national team, the Tall Blacks. Incoming freshman Francisco Caffaro, a 7-0, 233-pound center, won’t enroll at UVA until next month.
Caffaro starred this month for Argentina at the FIBA Americas U18 men’s tournament in Ontario. He averaged 16.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in six games and was named to the all-tournament team.
In Argentina’s semifinal loss to the United States, which defeated Canada for the gold medal Saturday night, Caffaro made 6 of 9 shots from the floor and 10 of 12 from the line. He finished with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and no turnovers.
Caffaro, who spent two years at the NBA Global Academy in Australia, will be one of five newcomers on the UVA roster in 2018-19, along with classmates Kihei Clark, Kody Stattmann and Jayden Nixon, who’s a walk-on, plus Braxton Key, a transfer from Alabama.
“I hadn’t even seen any of the new guys play until today,” Huff said. “I was really excited to see Kihei, Kody and Braxton play, and I’ve heard good things about Francisco.”
Badocchi, a native of Italy, goes by Frankie, not Francesco, around his teammates. What the other Cavaliers will call the team’s Francisco, Huff said, is still to be determined.
“We’re trying to come up with something,” Huff said, smiling. “We’re going to have to figure that out. Otherwise we’re just going to be confused all the time.”
The smallest player on the team, Clark, a 5-9 point guard from Los Angeles, was among the most vocal players during practice Tuesday.
“That’s beautiful,” Clark shouted after Key made a 3-pointer.
“You got the next one,” Clark shouted after a Key miss.
Williford said: “It was good to see Kihei and Kody and Braxton get after it. We’re waiting on the big guy” — Caffaro — “but just from the little bit we saw, Kihei is really good with the ball, and his quickness is something that will be a big asset.”
Bennett is heading into his 10th season with the Cavaliers, and Williford has been on his staff from the start. But this is their first year at UVA without Ron Sanchez, who left in March to become head coach at UNC Charlotte.
Williford succeeded Sanchez, who also worked with Bennett at Washington State, as associate head coach. To not see — or hear — his friend at practice Tuesday was strange, Williford admitted.
“I kind of miss him barking at the guys and talking fast, where we don’t understand everything he’s saying,” Williford said, smiling. “But I know he’s doing well down there.”