After a heartbreaking loss to No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth on a buzzer beater, No. 25 Virginia men’s basketball will travel to Charlotte, N.C. and look to bounce back against Davidson.
For the Cavaliers (1-1), the VCU game served as a gut check, and the matchup against the reeling Wildcats (0-2) presents an opportunity to develop much-needed offensive rhythm. Against VCU, the Virginia offense was at times stagnant, attributable to the strength of the defense they played against. Even so, Virginia still grinded its way to 33 free throw attempts — but only converted 19.
“Coach [Tony] Bennett has been emphasizing free throws every day at practice,” junior forward Darion Atkins said. “But even the best free throw shooters miss free throws.”
The Cavaliers will have the opportunity to execute the lessons they learned Tuesday against a Davidson defense ranking No. 208 in the country in adjusted defense, which takes into account the pace of play. To put that into perspective, the Cavaliers so far trail only defending national champion Louisville in the same statistical category.
“It’s good to get a loss early in the season because we get to learn from it,” sophomore Malcolm Brogdon said. “Now we have that feeling in our stomach and we don’t want that again. We need to bounce back and get ready for Davidson on Saturday.”
In their two losses this season, the Wildcats gave up 111 points to No. 4 Duke and 81 points to a Milwaukee offense ranked No. 221 in the nation.
One of the adjustments that Virginia will have to make against Davidson — as well as for the rest of the season — is to the new emphasis the NCAA is placing on enforcing the hand check ban. The enforcement of this rule put the Cavaliers at a disadvantage against VCU when personal fouls on the defensive side of the ball put key players like sophomore Mike Tobey and senior Akil Mitchell into foul trouble early in the game.
“The officials have points of emphasis and they are doing their jobs,” Bennett said. “It is hard, especially when there is contact. There are a lot of stoppages with the new emphasis on the rules.”
When the pack-line defense Virginia plays was first developed by Dick Bennett, Tony Bennett’s father, the defense was meant to be an “athletic-equalizer” — a way for teams to compete with other squads featuring superior talent by pressuring the ball handlers on the perimeter and swarming the dribble penetration.
One of the tenants of the defense is to bother the offensive players with hand checks and putting hands in the face of opposing players. The NCAA’s recent emphasis on restricting the use of hands by defensive players somewhat reduces the packline’s efficacy, a reality the Cavaliers have accepted and will be forced to adjust to moving forward — starting, Brogdon says, with the road opener Saturday.
“It’s [loss to VCU] definitely going to help us,” Brogdon said. “I think this loss is going to end up being a blessing. Even though we started the year ranked, we need to not get too high on ourselves, take it down a notch, and work harder in practice.”
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