For just the third time since Joe Harris trekked over to Casa Bennett in his little red truck (eight seasons if you’re counting,) Virginia is mired in a three-game losing streak.  The only hope for this team may be the shooting of Tomas Woldetensae, who is most charitably described as streaky.  I love Tomas, but this hope is not particularly reassuring to this Wahoo.

NC State        68
Virginia         61

Positive

Free throw shooting.  I need to start with a positive today, and with both Jay Huff and Kihei Clark leading the way by converting each of their six free throws, Virginia was a perfect 14 – 14 from the line.  The downside, of course, because this entire game was a downside, is that NC State went 23 – 28.  Yikes.

Negative

This offense is broken.  A now typical offensive set begins with Huff and Sam Hauser setting up at both elbows, ostensibly to act as screeners, though it is only Huff who actually screens.  One of the two wing men runs around the screen and the other is basically standing on the far side.  No one runs particularly hard around the screen (unless we’ve caught Woldetensae on an engaged night), and I guess I’ve been spoiled by the ghost of Kyle Guy.  There is an old soccer adage:  when you are near, go far and when you are far, go near.  In this inside triangle offense we’re running, the far wing is just standing, the screeners are standing (and their defenders are clogging the lane), and Clark is dribbling at the top of the key.  This is a recipe for disaster, and we saw it on this night.

Positive

Huff and Francisco Caffaro on the floor together.  I will give Bennett some credit here as he unleashed his own Twin Towers as the bulk of Caffaro’s 15 minutes came with Huff on the floor.  It was largely successful as Virginia closed a 25 – 15 deficit (4 minutes left in the first half) to 29 – 23.  And in the second half came out strong and tied the game at 31 with Caffaro playing.  And then Caffaro sat down for the remainder of the game.

Negative

Finishing at the rim.  Virginia had briefly taken the lead before a Braxton Beverly 3 gave the Wolfpack they would not relinquish.  On subsequent plays as Virginia was desperately trying to score, Caffaro missed a bunny and Justin McKoy failed to convert at the rim on a rare fast break opportunity.  Two minutes later, Huff made the aggressive drive to the rim that we’ve been wanting him to take for years, only he was met at the rim by DJ Funderburke and Manny Bates.  Reese Beekman had a nice drive that was blocked at the rim.  It was like the entire team was channeling the worst traits of Kihei Clark.

Negative

The ghost of Jack Salt.  Beekman has scored three points in the last four games. Trey Murphy scored two fewer points in this game than he did versus Duke.  These are Jack Salt numbers, and we’re not going to win any games if these two guys continue to put up these kinds of numbers.

Positive

The ghost of Jack Salt.  One tweak Bennett tried was bringing back the high hedge and for the most part, Huff and Caffaro were successful.  On one play, Shakeel Moore tried to get around Caffaro, but Papi is a load, and Moore hit Caffaro and just collapsed to the floor.  The problem was that the off-ball help was slow in the lane and the Wolfpack were frequently able to make easy strolls to the bucket after the hedge.

Positive

The efficiency of Sam Hauser.  I know it’s hard in the midst of this dumpster fire, but take a moment to appreciate Hauser.  He had a rough first half going 0-4 from three and 1 – 7 overall, but in the second half he went 5 – 7 from three and 6 – 9 overall.  He is a beautiful shooter.

Negative

Inability to exploit the switch.  Jay Huff and Sam Hauser have spent lots of time this season being defended down low by guards.  We are simply not getting the ball to them when they have such a mismatch.  Clark, Beekman, Murphy, Casey Morsell.  Someone has to figure out how to get the ball into the post because if we can’t punish the switch, we’re going to see even more of it.

Negative

Covid.  Duh.  Woldetensae is out due to contact tracing protocols and this team needs his shooting.  It’s really the only remedy I can see.

Positive

An opportunity to excel.  This team is broke.  SeattleHoo, in our podcast, described it as other teams have discovered the fault line in the UVa offense.  Bennett’s got his biggest coaching challenge since picking this team up after the UMBC Debacle.  Tony Bennett has risen to the challenge before.  I personally am excited to see how he responds to the disarray the team finds itself in right now.