The post-Tony Bennett era for Virginia men’s basketball started on the right foot with a victory Wednesday night. The Cavaliers (1-0, 0-0 ACC) defeated Campbell 65-56 at John Paul Jones Arena thanks to strong debut performances from freshman forward Jacob Cofie and junior forward Elijah Saunders, who scored 16 and 11 points, respectively, to lead the hosts to a win over the Fighting Camels (0-1, 0-0 CAA). Junior guard Isaac McKneely added 11 points and sophomore forward Blake Buchanan tallied 10 points in the first victory of Interim Coach Ron Sanchez’s tenure.
Despite a strong performance in his first outing, Sanchez emphasized several areas where Virginia will need to improve in the future.
“Obviously we had some possessions where we didn't have great rhythm,” Sanchez said. I think we should have grabbed a few more offensive rebounds, something we'll address. We'll celebrate what we did well, and we'll get to work on the things that need improvement.”
As expected, the vaunted Virginia defense took precedence. The Cavaliers forced two shot clock violations, both in the second half, and held individual scorers at bay, allowing no Camel to score more than nine points. The visitors attempted 29 three-pointers in the game, an indication of the Cavaliers’ dominance in the paint. Cofie, Buchanan and sophomore forward TJ Power played lockdown defense on the inside, forcing Campbell to score exclusively beyond the arc.
With Virginia struggling to open up a significant lead and about six minutes remaining in the half, the new Cavaliers took control. Cofie hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to four points. The teams traded baskets before an emphatic run punctuated by a twisting midrange basket by junior guard Isaac McKneely, a Buchanan dunk and Cofie’s second three-pointer of the night.
Freshman guard Ishan Sharma added another three-pointer to extend the lead to 12 with under a minute remaining in the half — Sharma’s three-pointer was one of two, as he totalled six points in his collegiate debut. The Fighting Camels added a three-pointer right before the buzzer, and the Cavaliers entered the half with a nine-point lead.
The offensive focus shifted for Virginia in the second half. The Cavaliers attempted just three three-pointers after halftime, instead leaning on their forwards to carry the load. Saunders fouled out late in the second half but tallied 11 points, equal to McKneely’s total in just over half the minutes. Buchanan’s 10 points marked the second double-digit scoring performance of his career.
Virginia had no trouble scoring in the paint, outscoring the Fighting Camels 28-12 from that spot. In a stark departure from previous seasons, several strong performances by the Cavaliers’ forwards powered the offense — Cofie, Buchanan and Saunders combined for 37 of Virginia’s 65 points. Cofie also drilled two three-pointers, flashing tantalizing versatility and limitless potential. His performance was the biggest surprise of the night, as he played over 28 minutes in a far more major role than expected early in the season.
Sanchez praised Cofie and expressed optimism for future performances.
“He wanted to get on the floor,” Sanchez said. “He played well. But I'm hoping that this is just the beginning for him, and he can springboard into better performances than this one. I think he's definitely capable of doing it.”
Despite their relative inexperience, the many new Cavaliers on the roster all played solid defense and appeared to slot into the pack-line comfortably. Outside of Saunders’ five fouls, no Virginia player recorded more than two personal fouls, suggesting a disciplined defensive performance all around.
Most reminiscent of last year, however, was the free-throw shooting. The Cavaliers shot just 61 percent from the free-throw line on 18 attempts. Buchanan was responsible for nine of these, making just four. The rest of the team did not get many chances Wednesday, but Virginia fans are understandably anxious to see improvement at the line.
Notably quiet amid the scoring frenzy were two guards, junior Andrew Rohde and sophomore Dai Dai Ames. Rohde started the game and played 33 minutes but tallied just one point, while Ames played only 10 minutes in his Virginia debut, notching two free throws of his own. According to Sanchez, starting Rohde was the result of an offseason competition for the role, in addition to Rohde’s defensive ability. Sanchez also praised Rohde’s growth and noted that the stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Rohde’s responsibility is to be an extension, you know, almost like a bridge between the other four guys on the floor and myself,” Sanchez said. “His responsibility is to make sure that the guys that are supposed to shoot, get those shots. And I think that he's really growing into that role. I know that people only look at the stat line, [but] a lot of other factors that go into guys impacting the game.”
The Cavaliers are back in action Monday at JPJ against Coppin State. Coverage will be available on ACCNX starting at 7 p.m.
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