The same ailment visited Virginia during both its games in the Bahamas. The Cavaliers (5-2, 0-0 ACC) could not, for the life of them, hold onto the ball.
They turned it over 16 times against Tennessee. Then they coughed it up 15 times against St. John’s.
Virginia then returned to Charlottesville and, Tuesday against Manhattan, committed eight turnovers. The Cavaliers improved again Friday evening, allowing only six turnovers against Holy Cross. But that was not the only refinement Virginia exhibited in its 67-41 victory over the Crusaders (4-4, 0-0 Patriot).
It did represent the bedrock of the team’s approach right now — keeping it simple. Virginia returned from the Bahamas and, in practice this week, focused on the little things. Passing and catching, setting quality screens, taking care of the ball and, perhaps most importantly, playing to their strengths. Interim Coach Ron Sanchez cares about developing his team for the long haul, of course. But he is most focused on doing the simple things now.
“Tomorrow has enough problems of its own,” Sanchez said. “We’re gonna focus on today. How can we compete today? If we have something in our arsenal that’s gonna help us win today, we’re gonna use it.”
Virginia is simply taking it one game at a time. The improvement in ball security corresponds, true, with a decrease in quality of opponent. But the mandate is steady progression, and Virginia found it against Holy Cross.
It started with the three-guard lineup that, Sanchez seemed to confirm, has started to calcify into the team’s preferred offensive approach. The lineup features junior guard Isaac McKneely, junior guard Andrew Rohde and sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames.
Those three accounted for more than 60 percent of the team’s scoring Friday. Ames scored 16 points, and Rohde and McKneely each added 13, with three assists.
“There’s a much better flow to the offense with the three-guard lineup,” Holy Cross Coach Dave Paulsen said. “They flow from one action to the next much more seamlessly.”
And so the Rohde renaissance continues. Rohde struggled in his first game, drawing fans’ ire, but he has since emerged as one of the team’s most effective scorers. His three-point shooting, too, has upgraded — he made three three-point shots Friday.
Sanchez pulled him aside at one point during the game, asking Rohde if he knew why he coached him so hard.
“Because you want me to be a really good player,” Rohde said, according to Sanchez’s recounting.
Rohde said those two Bahamas games helped a lot. They may, by the end of this season, go down as a transformative experience for this team, a pair of thunderous punches leaving big bruises that, once healed, will leave impermeable callouses.
Rohde has worked better as a complement to Ames, the team’s most dynamic scorer. Ames made six of nine field goal attempts Friday and made both of his three-point attempts. He also brought energy, great loads of it — with a sharp edge.
Sanchez wants Ames to “syringe some guys with some of that nastiness,” and to “become infectious in the team with that behavior.”
Ames, with his explosiveness, his more artful shots, brings something new. He does not exactly fit the point-guard mold that this program has baked over the past decade or so. But Sanchez wants him to stay that way.
“I’m encouraging him to continue to be that guy,” Sanchez said. “You don’t have to conform to us. You be you, and we’re just gonna put you in space to continue that.”
Ames functioned more as a pass-first player last season at Kansas State. Now, he said, he hunts his shot more often. He also defends with unshakable tenacity.
“I get mad at myself when people score on me,” Ames said. “So defense is really my favorite part of the game.”
Virginia did a pretty good job of defending Friday, in general. The Cavaliers held the Crusaders scoreless for the game’s final six minutes and 29 seconds, the foundation of a 10-0 run that grew an already comfortable lead to chasmic proportions.
Virginia ripped off runs of 11-0 and 19-4 in the first half. Ames penetrated the Holy Cross defense easily, and the Cavaliers uncorked long three-point shots, sticking to their nascent identity of relying on the deep ball.
The Crusaders did embark on a 9-0 run at one point, but Virginia eventually snapped the three-minute scoring drought and left the halftime score at 34-21. That just about did it.
Virginia has now made six or more three-point shots in all seven of its games. The biggest overall contribution, beyond the guard play, came from junior forward Elijah Saunders, who scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds. Sophomore forward Blake Buchanan and freshman forward Jacob Cofie essentially split time, scoring six points each.
They did it all against Holy Cross senior forward Caleb Kenney, who was a notable contributor and scored 10 points, plus freshman guard Max Green who added 16. The Crusaders shot 33 percent on three-point shots and 23 percent from the field, and they lost the rebounding battle 37-30. Those discrepancies proved fatal against the Cavaliers.
“That resonated more with the Virginia way of basketball,” Sanchez said.
Virginia will hope that strong play continues in its next game, a showdown Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. on the road against No. 18 Florida — where a significant challenge awaits against an SEC powerhouse.
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