Last night’s 83-61 blowout loss for the Virginia men’s basketball team against North Carolina certainly wasn’t a surprise — but the game was a lot closer than it seemed.
After starting 0-2 in the ACC, you had to know that the Heels were going to come out with a little extra fuel. So, like any game against a better team — but particularly when that better team is angry — the question was, can the Cavs hang around to the first media timeout?
Well, at the 15:58 mark of the first half, the score was 10-2. Virginia’s shooters weren’t hitting and their guards were turning it over to perhaps the best running team in the nation. That certainly didn’t bode well for the Wahoos in attendance.
“We got down 10-2 because we couldn’t make a shot,” coach Dave Leitao said. “As a result, I thought we were a little tentative.”
But then, enter: “Muuuuustapha Farrakhan!” He’s been written about for the last three weeks because he’s been exactly the surprise offensive boost that Leitao needed. And again, Farrakhan lifted Virginia out of a dry spell — two knock-down threes from Farrakhan, and Virginia was right back in it.
The sophomore has exuded the confidence that eluded him all of last season and that continues to plague several of his teammates to this point. When Farrakhan came in as the first player off the Cavalier bench at the 18:03 mark of the first, he came out firing — I counted five instant shots on six touches. On the sixth, he drove to the hole and looked to create.
That is exactly how you’ve got to do it against Carolina; you’ve got to be borderline cocky. When you’re a shooter and you’re open, the shot better be up, because that look might not come again in the 30 or fewer seconds remaining on the shot clock.
Alas, however, Farrakhan was missing more often then he wasn’t, even though, as he put it, the shots “felt good.” When you miss those threes against a team like North Carolina, it becomes a domino effect. Long misses turn into long rebounds, which turn into fast breaks, which — particularly for the Tar Heels — turn into layups and in-rhythm open threes. That’s why Virginia trailed by 14 at halftime — a missed three wasn’t just a 3-point swing, but often five or six. If Farrakhan goes 4-of-7 instead of 2-of-7 in the first half and if Landesberg hits a couple more shots in the opening period instead of going 1-of-9, then it’s a close ball-game, then made buckets put the Tar Heels back in their half-court set, and that 14-point lead shrinks, perhaps even to nothing.
“Coach made a specific point about that,” junior forward Jamil Tucker said. “Just knowing that those shots weren’t going down, it made it that much easier for them to get an outlet and go.”
So, pretend now that the score was tied at halftime — as previously stated, not such a hard situation to visualize. Instead of a 17-point game with 6:05 remaining in the second, the Cavs trail by just 2, and who knows how it plays out from there.
The point is, don’t get down on Farrakhan — or any confident shooter, for that matter — for not having a conscience. He was getting good looks — the same kind of looks he was getting against Virginia Tech Sunday, when he drained four triples in a row as the Cavs nearly overcame a late 15-point deficit.
Though Leitao noted that he would have to review the tape to see if Farrakhan’s shots were indeed desirable, the coach with one of the quickest triggers around let Farrakhan keep playing. He even had Farrakhan, who is an underrated ball-handler, running point and guarding Carolina point guard Ty Lawson, one of the fastest and most able point guards in the country.
And, against Carolina of all teams, the ever-struggling sophomore Jeff Jones got it going. He hit his first shot just over two minutes after leaving the scorer’s table; all of a sudden Virginia was running Jones off screens just as they have done the last few games for Farrakhan, and just over a minute later, he hit his second jumper.
That, in itself, is even more good news; all season, Leitao and his players have talked about Jones and Farrakhan being lights-out shooters in practice. Why they couldn’t figure out how to translate that to games had teammates scratching their heads.
If Farrakhan can keep on stroking and Jones can start doing what all his teammates say he is capable of, Virginia can run an offense that Leitao surely envisioned when he recruited these two players, both of whom poured in the points in high school: a who’s hot, who’s not dynamic.
“I know Jeff’s a great shooter,” Farrakhan said. “He’s just gotta get over that hump. I’ll try to help him through it and tell him to keep his head up and keep shooting.”
Throw in the 20 or so a game that Landesberg has shown the ability to produce, a near double-digit rebounder in sophomore power forward Mike Scott, a shot-blocker and shot-changer in freshman center Assane Sene and a solid young point guard in redshirt freshman Sammy Zeglinski, and Virginia — in theory, anyway — has the pieces to compete with anyone. And that’s just this season; none of these players, in case you didn’t notice, are upperclassmen.
The bottom line? I like the direction in which this team is heading. The Cavs have some young scorers and they are going to have off nights more often than fans would like. But even as Virginia gets blown out at home, its upset potential is rising. I like the Cavs giving any team a run for its money — even in a rematch with the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill Feb. 7.
And, even beyond that, I love this team next season. Give the Cavs two years, and they are in the NCAA Tournament.
Read More
Cavaliers collapse, lose 3-2 in walkoff to North Carolina
By Xander Tilock | YesterdayVirginia will head to the loser's bracket Sunday after a disappointing loss to North Carolina.
Gertrude out for season after scooter accident
By Michael Liebermann | YesterdayThe hype around his second season will have to wait.
Tony Bennett’s contract extended to 2030
By Xander Tilock | YesterdayWith the legendary coach secured in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers can focus on returning to a standard of postseason success.
