Blake Buchanan started strong and the team finished well at the free throw line down the stretch as Virginia holds off Manhattan 74-65.
Virginia posted a 74-65 victory over Manhattan on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their win.returned home after a bruising pair of games in the Bahamas to face the much-less-intimidating Manhattan Jaspers, KenPom’s #306 ranked team.
I think Buchanan recognizes that this is an important year for him. He put on some muscle over the summer, and Virginia needs to find points in the paint. He’s handling the ball much more above the free throw line and he’s proven dangerous from there. But in a year and a half on Grounds, he hasn’t learned how to shoot. He’s 45% career from the charity stripe and in the paint, he doesn’t shoot as much as push the ball off his hand.
For all the pre-season chatter about Virginia trying to play faster, we have six games worth of data to show that Virginia is decidedly not playing any faster. Tonight the Hoos had 59 possessions, and on the season they are averaging 59.3 possessions per game. That’s actually slower than last year when Virginia averaged 60.1 possessions.
Virginia opened up leads of 27-12, 47-31, and 60-46. Each time they allowed Manhattan to claw back to within five and seven points. Furthermore, each time the Jaspers had the ball and with a made three, would have been within three or four points of the Cavaliers. Virginia was simply incapable of putting away a low major team. At home. On a night when UVa shot 42% from deep. That’s worrisome.While not necessarily pacy, Virginia nevertheless scored 25 points off of 14 Manhattan turnovers.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Takes Down Campbell 65-56Breaking down the UVA basketball season-opening victory over Campbell.
Read more »
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women's Basketball Gets Run Over by OklahomaThe Cavaliers get a lesson in how to run the fast break at Oklahoma, falling 95-51.
Read more »
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Throttles Coppin StateJacob Cofie put on a show for the second straight game, and Dai Dai Ames took advantage of his start, leading Virginia to a 62-45 win over Coppin State.
Read more »
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women's Basketball Pounds RadfordYonta Vaughn returned to action and sparked the second unit as Virginia cruised past Radford 83-41.
Read more »
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Lights Up VillanovaIsaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde led a hot-shooting Virginia team to a 70-60 win over Villanova.
Read more »
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women's Basketball Overwhelms La SalleYonta Vaughn keyed a 26-point third quarter and Virginia cruised to a 76-47 win over visiting La Salle.
Read more »