Junior guard Isaac McKneely hit a moving three-point shot with about seven minutes left, and a couple of possessions later freshman forward Jacob Cofie beat his man off the dribble for an easy layup. Shortly thereafter senior guard Taine Murray scored a contested layup off a slick Cofie bounce pass. For a Virginia team that had no answers for American’s offense to start the second half Sunday afternoon, this quick run — lasting barely over a minute — lifted the Cavaliers (7-5, 0-1 ACC) to an eventual 63-58 win.
Coming off a competitive loss Wednesday to No. 21 Memphis, Virginia entered its game against the Eagles (6-6, 0-0 Patriot) hoping for a win. American, coming off a 27-point loss to St. Joseph’s and five weeks away from a 52-point loss to North Carolina, looked to be the kind of team Interim Coach Ron Sanchez’s squad could comfortably beat before returning to John Paul Jones Arena Dec. 31 for a conference matchup against North Carolina State.
But the win was far from comfortable — the Cavaliers continued their recent trend of tidying up on offense, logging only eight turnovers, but they still took only 50 shots, making 23 of them. Junior forward Elijah Saunders put together his best performance of his college career, scoring 21 points on 7-9 shooting. He accounted for eight of the team's 14 free throw attempts and made seven. Murray and McKneely were the other two Cavaliers to eclipse 10 points, scoring 13 and 11, respectively.
The first half was closer than expected. The Cavaliers played more disciplined and active basketball than they had in recent games, but stellar offensive production by American, including a 5-11 mark from three-point range and a perfect 5-5 on free throws, kept the Eagles in the game. Virginia led 32-28 at halftime, with Saunders tallying 10 first-half points on five shots.
Virginia may have limited its mistakes on offense, but what kept the Eagles in the game, and got them a five-point lead with only seven minutes on the clock, was their ability to get hot from range. American attempted 31 three-pointers in the game and hit 11. Sophomore forward Matt Mayock led the team in scoring, making four of his five shots from distance, and senior guard Colin Smalls was electric to start the second half, though he quickly cooled down when the Cavaliers run started.
“I think our defense was actually solid again today,” Sanchez said. “They hit a couple of shots down the stretch, but I think overall we defended the three-point line decently.”
He added that a few defensive lapses, caused by miscommunications, were mostly due to the team’s youth and inexperience, saying that while young players like Cofie and freshman guard Ishan Sharma continue to grow as players, it is important that they maintain the effort they are currently showing.
“We have to continue to have tremendous effort,” Sanchez said. “We’re not going to play with our hair on fire defensively, it’s just not going to work. We can’t coach effort. We can only coach execution.”
The defense as a whole was quite strong, holding the Eagles’ leading scorer, senior forward Matt Rogers, to 4-13 from the field. The two Cavaliers bigs — Cofie and sophomore forward Blake Buchanan — played great interior defense, with Cofie also impressing as a passer and screener in his second career start.
“[Cofie] has a pretty good feel with everything in the game,” Saunders said. “He has good hands, he’s a good rebounder.”
The Cavalier offense struggled, stifled in part by a lackluster performance from junior guard Andrew Rohde. Rohde made only two of his nine shots but did clean up his act as a passer, making this his first game of the season with zero turnovers. A polarizing player, Rohde has proven his mettle as a scorer this season, so while this outing was his worst shooting performance since Virginia beat Campbell, his positive strides as a handler and connective piece Sunday bodes well for his offensive role moving forward.
After closing out non-conference play with a win, the Cavaliers will take a break before returning to action in a home matchup against the Wolfpack (8-4, 1-0 ACC) on New Year’s Eve. Tipoff is scheduled for noon, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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