Virginia traveled to Norman, Okla., Friday to face No. 10 Oklahoma in its second matchup of the season. The Cavaliers (1-1, 0-0 ACC) could not match the lengthy runs the Sooners (2-0, 0-0 SEC) had throughout the game and were defeated 95-51. The team's offense had a pedestrian performance, but horrendous defense left even more to be desired. Despite an ugly loss, facing a top-10 opponent this early in the season was a helpful litmus test for Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton’s squad.
A few weak spots were exposed within Virginia’s team, notably allowing 23 points off of turnovers and 16 points on second-chance opportunities. It became clear that the Cavaliers’ offense will need to learn how to run tighter plays that lead to less turnovers, and improving team rebounding must be a priority moving forward.
The opening quarter began with Oklahoma winning the tipoff, and a Sooner layup gave them the first two points of the game. For Virginia, freshman forward Breona Hurd quickly responded with a shot behind the three-point line to take a 3-2 lead
Oklahoma took that as an invitation, though, and hit the ground running. Three layups and a three-point shot gave the Sooners an eight-point lead in less than four minutes of the first quarter. They never relinquished their early lead. A free throw by junior guard Paris Clark ended the uncontested scoring run, but Virginia was still far behind.
With less than four minutes left in the quarter, the Cavaliers hoped to keep the score close after cutting the Oklahoma lead to less than 10 points, However, the Sooners began to pull ahead once again and widen the lead even more than before. A fast break layup started Oklahoma’s 12-6 run, and at the end of the first period, the Sooners were leading 25-15.
The second quarter started on a positive note, with sophomore forward Edessa Noyan scoring a three-point shot to start closing the gap, but the Sooners were not fazed and scored a layup and two jumpshots to lead by 14 points. A media timeout gave Virginia a chance to figure out how to slow down Oklahoma, and a successful fastbreak layup from Hurd showed promise.
However, the Sooners kept pushing. Turnovers and rebounds gave Oklahoma the opportunity to jack up the score, even though its field goal shooting accuracy was under 35 percent in the second quarter. The Cavaliers were behind by as many as 21 points during the second period — every time they managed to score and begin to close the gap, the Sooners responded.
The second quarter ended with Oklahoma leading 44-27. The Cavaliers rebounded 10 times less than the Sooners had in the first half and also had fewer shooting attempts plus a lower shooting success rate. 13 turnovers in the first half also gave Oklahoma multiple opportunities to go back on offense.
Virginia returned to the court after halftime knowing that it had room for improvement in various areas and was ready to work on them in the second half. However, the Sooners also had a chance to strategize and knew that they just needed to hold onto the lead to take the victory.
The third quarter started with each team scoring a layup, making the competition seem closer — but the Cavaliers struggled to get an opportunity to start a run and pull back up closer to the lead. Oklahoma slowly widened the gap in the third period, continuing to out-rebound Virginia and force turnovers.
Hurd fought admirably to help the Cavaliers try to close the gap, scoring seven points in just the third quarter. Sophomore guard Kymora Johnson did the same, scoring two out of her three attempted three-point shots to put Virginia six points closer towards a lead.
The Sooners continued to attack in the third quarter, not letting up to ensure that the game was theirs. They outscored the Cavaliers 35-16 and closed out the second-to-last period 79-43. Oklahoma’s shooting percentage was also the best in the third period, at a field goal accuracy of 62.5 percent, contributing to its success.
The fourth and final quarter was more mild compared to the rest of the matchup. The scoring had slowed down some, but the Sooners were making sure they didn’t claim victory too early. A successful layup started the final period with an Oklahoma lead of 38 points, so it did not have to do too much to ensure a win.
Clark scored a layup and attempted to score a second close after, but the second layup was blocked. Sophomore forward Rylee Grays had a successful layup and free throw to contribute to the score — similar to the earlier periods though, these attempts failed to spur an uncontested run that would help make the game closer.
In the end, the Cavaliers took their first loss of the season, and by 44 points at that. However, this is only their second official game of 2024-25 and it came against one of the top teams in the country, so alarms should not yet sound regarding this Virginia team.
The Cavaliers will be returning to John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday when they face Radford at 7 p.m. This game will be a part of U.Va. Strong Night, commemorating the Virginia football players that were victims of the November 2022 shooting.
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