Last season, Virginia was similarly swamped by Gonzaga, the best team in the land. On this night, the Cavaliers were bullied by Houston, who put on a display of unbridled athleticism. Every cut, every chase down, every board, every possession: the Cougars wanted this game more.
Virginia        47
Houston    67
Positive
There is going to be a lot of game film to show Bennett’s Boys just what a hungry team plays like. We’ve all seen our favorite teams at times mail it in, and for the record, I don’t think Virginia gave up or ever stopped battling. But Houston put on a clinic on how to play with maximum effort, on both sides of the ball. This game was over in the first five minutes. Virginia has a good idea now of what great ball movement looks like.
Negative
In his return to the American Athletic Conference, Jayden Gardner was simply bullied. When Gardner hit the transfer portal and Virginia was showing interest, his last performance against this same Houston team was touted as evidence that he belonged at this level: 21 points and 15 rebounds. That Gardner was not in the house tonight as he put up a 4-point, 2-rebound night. He didn’t stop fighting, but in the second half he certainly looked like he stopped trying to score.
Negative
Opponent’s three-point shooting. Bennett may have learned something about his team, but maybe he needs to look at another scheme for defending the three point line. Virginia always seems to invite the best 3-point shooting performance from our opponents. Three years ago a Duke team that shot 31% from 3 on the season, lit us up, hitting 62% from deep. Carsen Edwards, who can admittedly get hot, but was nevertheless a career 35% gunner from deep, torched the Cavs on a 10 – 19 night. This year, already, Navy’s John Carter and Sean Yoder combined to go 8 – 11 against us. But in the two subsequent games, the pair combined to go 0 – 10 against Virginia Tech and then 1 – 11 versus Louisville. 8 – 11 against us, 1 – 21 against two other ACC opponents. In the first 15 minutes, Houston connected on 7 of their first 10 three-point attempts.
Positive
Despite getting torched from deep, and playing a Houston team that was simply faster to the ball, the defense wasn’t bad. I went back and looked at my log, but five times I wrote “Great D, but better shot.” Three of those shots came from deep, after strong defensive shifts put in by the Cavaliers, even as the shot clock buzzer was sounding. Houston converted all three. Of course.
Negative
Free-throw shooting. Perhaps it’s natural that in a game as hard fought as this one, the performance would suffer at the line, but Virginia went 13 – 21 while Houston was only 8 for 15. Worryingly, Kadin Shedrick, who went a perfect 10 – 10 from the line against Radford, missed all three of his free throws this game.
Negative
Reece Beekman channeling his inner Kihei Clark, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Beekman had four turnovers – though it felt like more – and had four forays into the lane that were as ill-advised as some of Clark’s very worst.
Negative
Bennett retreating from his bench. A game after it looked like Carson McCorkle had made real progress and justified his playing more, Bennett kept him glued to the bench and gave him just 7 minutes. Similarly, Taine Murray logged just 7 minutes as well.
Positive
Kody Stattmann showed his usefulness. He made a pair of threes on the night, finished with 8 points and had three rebounds. He pretty much stayed in front of his man all night, which is more than any other Wahoo can say. He ought to be the 8th or 9th man. Not the sixth.