Virginia wore its throwback uniforms in a home matchup Saturday afternoon against Notre Dame. The homage to the program’s storied history was accompanied by a single fact shown on the jumbotron pregame — Virginia had never lost at home to the Fighting Irish.
It has been a season of firsts, however, and Notre Dame (9-10, 3-5 ACC) proved to be a willing party in adding to that growing list. Fans began to exit John Paul Jones Arena for the parking lot with over 10 minutes left in the game, as the Cavaliers (9-11, 2-7 ACC) went on to lose 74-59 to their conference opponents from South Bend, Ind.
Notre Dame, coming off a loss to Syracuse, entered the game 2-24 in its last 26 ACC road games. That did not stop it from hitting the ground running, picking up a 10-point lead barely six minutes into the game, before junior guard Isaac McKneely scored six points to cut the margin to five.
The Fighting Irish worked their way back to a double-digit lead again a few minutes later, and again Virginia pulled it back to a two-possession game. But after another scoring run, Notre Dame led by 12 at halftime, out-rebounding, out-passing and out-shooting the stagnant-looking Cavaliers.
Individual Virginia players certainly had strong outings — including McKneely, freshman forward Jacob Cofie and junior forward Elijah Saunders. But when an opponent shoots 11-22 from three-point range and gets to the paint seemingly at will — and the Cavalier offense fails to string together any legitimate runs — the 15-point loss begins to make more sense.
“We scored enough points tonight to win the game,” McKneely said. “We’ve just got to get stuff figured out defensively.”
The Fighting Irish offense was disciplined, mobile and effective. Led in scoring by sophomore guard Markus Burton and junior forward Tae Davis, who scored 21 and 16 points, the team consistently attacked the interior, often making multiple passes to find open or near-open shots from behind the arc.
Notre Dame’s ability to get shooters open, Sanchez said, is what propelled its scoring runs. Fighting Irish Coach Micah Shrewsberry said a lot of that came from drawing defenders and finding an extra pass to an open man, and Sanchez pointed to how the Fighting Irish’s off-ball screening placed shooters in positions to take quick, barely-contested shots.
“I think that they just set really good screens for their shooters,” Sanchez said. “We hit too many screens. We can't be screen magnets. We have to be able to navigate those, and we [have to] stay step for step.”
After an impressive 16-point, six-assist outing in Virginia’s last game, against Boston College, junior guard Andrew Rohde failed to make a significant offensive impact, shooting only 1-8. Sanchez said the player missed the last two days of practice, and that he was still not feeling great on the floor.
“Even though he wasn't feeling great, he still came out on the floor and laid it out on the line for a sellout crowd on our home court,” Sanchez said.
Freshman guard Ishan Sharma’s missing the game due to illness forced Sanchez to play around with rotations a little, especially with Sharma’s occasional utility as a ball-handler this season.
Still with 11 conference games to play and currently sitting outside the ACC’s top 15 and a spot in the conference tournament, Sanchez said the Cavaliers will have to show more energy and intensity in future games, which he said comes down to his ability to get the team motivated to show effort in rebounding and other parts of the game.
“I always like to say that energy trumps strategy,” Sanchez said. “I have got to do a better job of getting the guys revved up, ready to come out and grab it, to compete harder. That’s on me.”
Virginia will return to action Wednesday away against Miami. The Hurricanes (4-14, 0-8 ACC) have had a nightmarish start to their season, including seeing the surprise retirement of longtime coach Jim Larrañaga in December.
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