Chants of “SEC! SEC! SEC!” rained down at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., Wednesday night as No. 13 Florida handed Virginia an 87-69 loss. The Gators (9-0, 0-0 SEC) continued the SEC’s run of dominance in the SEC/ACC Challenge — by the conclusion of Wednesday’s slate, the SEC led the challenge 14-2 — while the Cavaliers (5-3, 0-0 ACC) once again played uncompetitive basketball against a ranked opponent. Each of their three losses on the season have come by 18 or more points.
Surprisingly, the first half looked promising for Virginia — the Cavaliers used four quick three-pointers to build an early nine-point lead, leading 16-7 after junior forward Elijah Saunders connected from long range with 15 minutes remaining in the opening period.
But Virginia’s advantage slowly disappeared after that, as the Cavaliers endured a scoring drought lasting over seven minutes, during which Florida ascended to a 29-22 lead. The score was 39-35 in favor of the Gators as the teams headed for halftime.
While another three-pointer from Saunders brought Virginia within one point to start the second half, that was the closest the Cavaliers would get. Florida outscored Coach Ron Sanchez’s team by 14 points after halftime en route to a dominant win. Still, Sanchez struck a hopeful tone postgame.
“Overall, I think we played a really good first half of basketball,” Sanchez said. “This group is on its way [to] becoming who they’re going to be.”
There were certainly positives about Virginia’s first-half performance, but over all 40 minutes, Sanchez’s group was outplayed. The Cavalier offense seemed to lack the distributed scoring ability it has displayed in recent games. Saunders led the Cavaliers in scoring with 19 points, good for a career-high, but only he and junior guard Isaac McKneely scored in double digits.
Behind them, Virginia’s key offensive pieces struggled to score. Sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames played over 26 minutes but tallied just seven points, while sophomore guard Andrew Rohde played a similar amount, managing just four points.
Sanchez addressed the lopsided scoring numbers, showing confidence in Saunders but noting that the rest of the lineup needs to match his production.
“For [Saunders] to perform like this is definitely something that we expected,” Sanchez said. “Elijah’s a good player. We just need other guys to kind of pick up their play.”
The offensive performance was, in a negative sense, a return to form. Wins over Manhattan and Holy Cross featured high-scoring performances from several players and a significant reduction in turnovers compared to blowout losses against No. 11 Tennessee and No. 22 St. John’s the week prior. Against the Volunteers and the Red Storm, the Cavaliers turned the ball over a combined 34 times.
Virginia committed 15 more turnovers Wednesday evening, yielding 20 points off turnovers to the Gators. Yet another offensive stumble heightened doubts about Sanchez’s offensive scheme, which has not shown promise against ranked opponents.
The three-guard lineup crafted by Sanchez appeared to be relatively ineffective against Florida’s defensive scheme. McKneely played a critical role in keeping the offense afloat, sinking key three-pointers to bring the Cavaliers back within striking distance. But simultaneously, he committed three turnovers. Rohde recorded three turnovers of his own, and Ames notched two.
On the other end of the floor, Florida ripped the Cavalier defense apart, finding equal success behind the three-point line and in the paint. Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the charge, knocking down five three-pointers to the tune of 27 points. Three other Gators tallied 12 or more points, including a 19-point showing from sophomore forward Alex Condon.
The pack-line defense withered under Florida’s assault, giving up layup after layup and forcing just seven turnovers.
“We didn’t keep the ball out of the paint,” Sanchez said. “They executed their offense at a high level and we did not respond in the second half.”
Maybe this is just part of the process. Sanchez certainly seems to think so.
“This is the beauty of these games in December and November where you get some legit exposure to high-level talent that allows you to grow,” Sanchez said. “It’s painful growth, but you grow nonetheless.”
Virginia will get a chance to refresh the narrative at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, when the Cavaliers will hit the road for their ACC opener against Southern Methodist, with coverage available on The CW Network.
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