Hoos Learning Hard Lessons in Homestretch

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — For the University of Virginia men’s basketball team, a grueling stretch ended Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. In a span of two weeks the Cavaliers faced four opponents that have a combined record of 57-15 in ACC play: No. 2 Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and No. 13 Clemson.

Virginia went 1-3 in those games to fall to 14-15 overall and 7-11 in the ACC. Still, junior guard Andrew Rohde said, he believes the Wahoos will benefit from “playing those type of teams and being in those environments, especially for some of our younger players.”

Of the Hoos’ scholarship players, only swingman Taine Murray is a senior. UVA’s post players include 6-foot-10 freshman Jacob Cofie, 6-foot-11 sophomore Blake Buchanan and 6-foot-10 redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson, and they’ve often struggled against more experienced opponents this season.

“They have some youth down there,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said of the Cavaliers’ frontcourt.

Virginia won at Wake late Wednesday night despite allowing 52 points in the paint. The Hoos weren’t so fortunate Saturday. Clemson made only one 3-pointer but scored 48 points in the paint in a 71-58 win over Virginia.

Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior, imposed his will around the basket, posting game highs in points (21) and rebounds (13).

“He just out-physicaled us,” UVA junior guard Isaac McKneely said.

Clemson’s center, Viktor Lahkin, is a 6-foot-11, 245-pound senior, and he finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. In all, the Tigers outrebounded the Cavaliers 38-28. Virginia collected no offensive rebounds in the second half.

“One through five, they all out-physicaled us, really,” McKneely said, “and they got on the glass. They got where they wanted to go. And if we want to win, we can’t let that happen.”

Ron Sanchez, Virginia’s interim head coach, pointed to his team’s inexperience in the frontcourt.

“We don’t have older guys in there trying to get the job done,” he said. “Ian Schieffelin has been doing this for four years in this league. It’s not a first-year guy that’s going to go in there and stop him from doing that. He’s done that against some of the best bigs in this conference.”

For more than a half Saturday, an upset seemed possible. Virginia led 32-27 at the break and scored the first five points of the second half, on a trey by McKneely and layup by Rohde, to go up 37-27 with 17:36 to play.

“I think we were just playing free on offense and with confidence,” McKneely said. “We were shooting the ball with confidence, taking it to the rim with confidence, and then [the Tigers] turned up the pressure a little bit. They’re a super physical team.”

When the Hoos went ahead by 10, the home fans roared, but the Tigers (24-5, 16-2) never panicked. They lean heavily on upperclassmen, and “there’s no question that that’s part of why we’re doing so well on the road,” Brownell said. “Our guys are excited about these challenges. They’ve been in these types of buildings, and today it was hopping in here.”

Clemson regained the lead during a 20-2 run that silenced the crowd. Virginia helped the Tigers’ cause by giving up second-chance points and turning the ball over.

“Those are little incisions that make a lead go away quickly,” Sanchez said. “Now, I give Clemson of a lot of credit. You’re not the 13^th-ranked team in the country by mistake. They’ve been in adverse moments and they’re upperclassmen.”

McKneely said the Hoos “can’t have those lapses where we don’t score for three, four minutes. That’s what happens. They go on a little run, and the game flips just like that.”

The Cavaliers stayed connected for a while. They cut their deficit to two with back-to-back treys, and it was only a three-point game with 8:30 to play. From there, however, the Tigers dominated at both ends of the court.

“Our defense was elite for 30 minutes,” Brownell said. “It was about as good as it can be against a team that had been averaging 10 made 3s, and they just scored [83] at Wake. They’ve played very, very well the last 10 games offensively, for sure.”

McKneely led Virginia with 16 points, but Clemson’s defense wore him down in the second half. He scored only five points after intermission. Rohde and sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames contributed 12 points apiece, and junior forward Elijah Saunders added nine points and a team-high six rebounds.

In the second half, Virginia made only 11 of 28 shots from the floor, including 3 for 9 from 3-point range.

The Hoos missed some shots at the rim, but the Tigers “are really good defensively,” Sanchez said. They made it hard. They put pressure on the ball. We needed a little more ball-handling. We didn’t score in the paint. We didn’t get any really production from in there from the post play. We leaned on jump shots. And sometimes when your shot isn’t dropping you’ve got to find a different way to score.”

Honored in a Senior Day ceremony before the game were two players—Murray and Bryce Walker—and student-managers Christian Shiels and Isaiah Stanfield. Murray belongs to a vanishing breed in college basketball. He’s a player who spent four years at the same school.

A native of New Zealand, Murray will graduate this spring with a degree from UVA’s prestigious McIntire School of Commerce.

“I can’t articulate my appreciation for the person that Taine Murray is,” Sanchez said. “He’s literally just an every-day guy. You never get a different person. When Taine walks into the building, he’s the same exact person every day, whether he’s played 20 minutes, scored 20 points, didn’t play, didn’t score any points. It’s an amazing characteristic that he has as an individual. And you see it. Taine’s gonna have a tremendous future, regardless of what he decides to do in life, because he’s an amazing person.”

McKneely echoed those comments, noting that Murray embodies the program’s pillars: humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.

“We love Taine,” McKneely said. “We love what he’s brought to this program.”

Murray played little early in his UVA career, but he persevered. “In college basketball today, you see people just transferring as soon as they don’t get what they want,” McKneely said, “but Taine’s really stuck to the grind. He’s made it work. Now he’s playing a super big role on our team right now. And he’s a great teammate, but he’s even a better friend and roommate. I’ve enjoyed living with him the past two years and just being around him. He just brings a smile to your face. I’m definitely going to miss him next year when he’s gone.”

Murray’s college career isn’t over.  “We still have some basketball left to play,” Rohde said.

Virginia has two more regular-season games and then at least one in the ACC tournament. The Hoos have won four of their past seven games, and Sanchez wants them build on the good things they did against Clemson.

“I think that we played a fantastic first half, both on defense and offense,” Sanchez said. “I think that we played with a purpose. I think we played with energy. If we can take those 20 and convert it into 40, that’s gonna be great. So for us, it’s just continuing to use that. It’s in there. When you’re playing against the best, you gotta be sharp, everything has to click. And we did get it up to 10, and then we turned the ball over, we hurt ourselves. We hurt ourselves today in some areas, and we just gotta continue improving those. You just gotta be mentally tougher, sometimes physically tougher, and not allow fatigue to play a role in what you do.”

LATE SHOW: Virginia’s final home game of the regular season is Tuesday night. At 9 o’clock, UVA hosts Florida State (16-13, 7-11) at JPJ. The game will air on ACC Network.

FSU lost 100-65 at No. 2 Duke on Saturday night. The Cavaliers have won three straight over the Seminoles and lead the series 29-28.

Virginia closes the regular season next Saturday night at Syracuse. The Orange (12-17, 6-12) plays SMU in Dallas on Tuesday night.

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