No team had scored more than 64 points against Virginia entering Friday night. No. 22 St. John’s scored its 65th point of the game with over 10 minutes left on the clock.
The Cavaliers (3-2, 0-0 ACC), who fell 80-55 to the Red Storm (5-1, 0-0 Big East), are leaving the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in Nassau, Bahamas as the only winless team. They were blown out on back-to-back nights, the front half coming Thursday against No. 11 Tennessee. Virginia will return to Charlottesville with a long list of unanswered questions.
“It’s a long season,” Interim Coach Ron Sanchez said postgame. “The one thing that we did here is we learned a lot about ourselves. The question is how we’re going to use that knowledge — are we going to grow? Or are we going to wallow in it?”
A lot went wrong for the Cavaliers Friday. St. John’s played well on both ends, clearly trying to right the ship after a difficult double-overtime loss to No. 13 Baylor the night before.
And they did. Led in scoring and steals by junior guard RJ Luis Jr., the Red Storm shot 10-for-23 from three and also scored with efficiency in the interior.
Turnovers yet again prevented the Cavaliers from getting any momentum, as Sanchez’s bunch tallied 15 in the game after committing 18 against the Volunteers. A few bursts of scoring, particularly from beyond the arc, held the game to a closer margin than it might otherwise have reached.
The first half was ugly for the Cavaliers, the only highlight coming from some success from behind the arc, which included a thrilling four-point play by junior guard Isaac McKneely at the very end of the period. Beyond that, nothing seemed to work in Virginia’s favor. The Red Storm scored 14 points off 11 turnovers in the half, with the Cavaliers failing to string together any consistent play.
“We’ve got to take care of the basketball a lot better,” Sanchez said. “That’s the one thing that was exposed in this tournament to me.”
The second half was not much better. As Virginia began playing even more frantically in hopes of getting more shots off than in the previous half, the St. John’s lead only grew. Fewer turnovers certainly helped, but the last 10 minutes of the game saw the Red Storm removing their starters, comfortable that a win was coming.
Defensively, the Cavaliers were not quite themselves. The success from three-point range enjoyed by St. John’s was only exacerbated by the amount of open shots they were taking — the team as a whole attempted 61 field goals, making over 52 percent of them. Virginia only attempted 45 and shot a mere 40 percent from the field.
Junior forward Elijah Saunders and junior guard Andrew Rohde were the top performers for the Cavaliers. Both scored double-digit points on decent efficiency after failing to reach the 10-point mark the night prior.
Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames put together what was possibly his worst showing of the season so far. The transfer from Kansas State scored three points on 1-for-6 shooting and turned the ball over three times. Despite his big half-ending shot, McKneely also left much to be desired — he did not attempt a single two-point shot all game and logged four turnovers.
Two losses by a combined 47 points in under 24 hours is not a great look for Virginia, but both of its opponents were ranked. There are still three games scheduled before conference play begins, the next two coming at home against Manhattan and Holy Cross — great opportunities for bounce back performances.
Limiting mistakes, attacking the glass and capitalizing better off of strong shooting performances will all be on the list of things the team needs to address before they next hit the floor.
“This [tournament] is a great test,” Sanchez said. “You go up against two of the top teams in the country, so some of your warts are going to show … we’re a young group — and that’s OK.”
Still without a clear identity, the Cavaliers will return to action Tuesday in a home matchup against Manhattan (3-2, 0-0 MAAC). The game will be broadcasted on ACC Network, with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
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