On a night when Steve Swanson and the Virginia women were showing how a Number 1 seed should handle a 16 seed, Tony Bennett and his charges were struggling more than maybe they ought en route to a win that will serve as Rorschach test to the Virginia fandom’s hive mind.  Sure, we looked better against Radford than we did against Navy, and maybe if Virginia played in the Big South it would be more heartening.  Looking good against Radford for the last 14 minutes of the first half is a pretty low bar.

Radford         52
Virginia          73

Positive

This is the big one:  Armaan Franklin shook off his disastrous night vs Navy to go 5 – 8 from three point range.  That was one 3-pointer more than the entire team recorded in the Navy loss.  Franklin scored 21 points on the night and Virginia would collectively shoot 9 – 19 from deep.  Amazing how everything works better when you have some success from long range.

Positive

Free throws.  The scouting report on Jaydin Gardner was that he would get to the line and that he was good free throw shooter.  Yes, and yes.  Gardner was 8 – 10 from the line and he has a very comfortable stroke.  As a most-welcome bonus, Kadin Shedrick went a perfect 10 – 10 from the line.  That volume from the line covers a multitude of sins.

Positive

Bennett reads this column!  Here’s what I wrote following the Navy loss:

Bennett’s roster management.  McCorkle got a minute.  Taine Murray got a minute.  While there is potential for better outings from the starting five, I’ve seen enough to know that any team that brings out Caffaro and Kodi Stattmann as the only two bench players to get any minutes is going to have a long year…. This team is going to have a very long preseason to get ready for the ACC.  But Murray and McCorkle won’t develop if they don’t get court time.  Those two guys have to play in the next nine games, Tony.

McCorkle played 17 minutes against Radford.  For comparison purposes, McCorkle saw action for a grand total of 22 minutes all last season.  More importantly, McCorkle was allowed to shoot and stay on the floor.  While the stats will say that Carson went 1 – 4 from three, he made a second shot that looked and felt like a three at the time; it was later re-adjusted down to a 2.  I’m going to say he went 2 – 5, which is, again, more than he shot all of last season.  We are going to need what Carson can bring off the bench.  McCorkle being able to miss 4 shots is the most important stat on the night.  And when was the last time you read that?

Taine Murray also played much more, logging 15 minutes and sweetly hitting his one three-point attempt.

Negative

Virginia is still vulnerable, extremely so, to dribble penetration.  Virginia had won the game by the end of the first half, and most of the success Radford had in the second half was from Radford getting into the lane too easily.

Positive

Despite the frailty defending the drive, Francisco Caffaro and Shedrick did a much better job hedging the primary ballhandler.  Bigs have to be able to hedge to see the floor and they were both much better on the night.

Positive

Kihei Clark delivering the game changing play.  Franklin had hit his second three of the night to give Virginia an 11 – 10 lead when Clark stole the ball at half court and went in for the layup.  Virginia 13, Radford 10.  The Cavs then scored the next 10 points and effectively sealed the win.

Positive

Radford’s spirit.  Some Radford coach was wearing a Captain America shield on the sideline all game long.  I don’t know what it means, but it was awesome.

Negative

Rebounding.  We’re still not winning the boards against smaller teams, what’s it going to look like when we’re matched up against someone our own size?  Navy’s tallest player was 6’8”.  Radford had one guy with some size, 6’10” Lewis Djonkam, but he got a cut over his eye in the first minute of the game and then only played 7 minutes in the second half.  Every other Highlander logs in at the 6’7” – 6’8” range.  Gardner fights hard on the offensive end especially, but overall we held just a 32 – 30 edge on the glass.

Positive

Up next, our marquee matchup for the out-of-conference slate, #15 Houston.  At Houston.  Houston was beating up on Rice at the moment that Bennett was asked about the upcoming matchup:  “Forty-four to 15, they’re up, I just looked. These games always seem like a good idea scheduling-wise in the comforts of summer and spring.”