Virginia
No. 22 Virginia faces another test at Memphis
Two teams coming off nail-biting victories meet Tuesday night when No. 22 Virginia visits Memphis.
Reece Beekman scored the final four points of the game Saturday as the Cavaliers (9-1) edged Northeastern 56-54 and stretched their winning streak to five games.
Jaykwon Walton made two free throws with 13 seconds left and the Tigers (8-2) held on for a 79-77 win to hand No. 13 Clemson its first loss of the season Saturday.
Virginia and Memphis both took advantage of opponents’ mistakes and kept the miscues to a minimum.
The Cavaliers scored 19 points off 17 turnovers by the Huskies and only turned the ball over five times. Beekman finished with 21 points, banking in a short jumper with 5.1 seconds left for the winning basket.
Memphis scored 17 points off 15 Clemson turnovers while turning the ball over just six times to win its third straight game. David Jones led four Memphis players in double figures with 22 points.
Tuesday’s meeting in Memphis is just the second between the two programs. Virginia defeated the Tigers 78-60 in Raleigh, N.C., in the Round of 32 at the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
It will be a clash of contrasting philosophies, with the Cavaliers averaging 66.8 points per game and giving up 53.3 per game, second best in Division I. The Tigers average 79.6 points and allow 74.4 per game.
“Great opportunity,” Beekman said. “Kind of different styles. We’re going up against their fast pace … so it’s just gonna be a battle.”
Beekman leads Virginia at 12.5 points per game, while Isaac McKneely is scoring at a 12.3 clip and is shooting 55 percent from 3-point range. Beekman leads the team in assists (5.7) and steals (2.7).
The Cavaliers trailed Northeastern by six points at the break and fell behind by 13 early in the second half. McKneely made two 3-pointers to help fuel the comeback.
“They had that game,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We had it for a stretch. That’s just one of those kind of smash-mouth games that (came down to the) last man standing, and plays had to be made.”
Memphis endured a similar slugfest against Clemson to pick up its third win in as many tries this season against ranked opponents. The Tigers beat then-No. 20 Arkansas on Nov. 23 in the Battle 4 Atlantis and defeated then-No. 21 Texas A&M 81-75 on the road on Dec. 10.
Jones leads Memphis with 20.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and Jahvon Quinerly averages 13.7 points and a team-high 4.9 assists per game.
Coach Anfernee Hardaway’s Tigers are 11-2 against Power 5 opponents over the past two seasons heading into this meeting with Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Memphis attempts 60.7 field goals per game, compared to 52.8 for Virginia. The Tigers will likely deploy the same strategy that worked against Clemson.
“We worked all week on getting the ball up and down the court as fast as we could, and it worked,” Hardaway said after Saturday’s win. “At the end of the game, (the Clemson players) were exhausted.”
Virginia’s style may be deliberate, but the Cavaliers have actually enjoyed tremendous success under Bennett when they get out and run. Virginia is 162-11 in his tenure when scoring 70-plus points, including 5-0 this season.
—Field Level Media
Virginia
Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways
Virginia (4-2) got back in the win column with a 74-65 victory over Manhattan (3-3) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five quick takeaways from the Cavaliers’ win over the Jaspers.
Virginia was in serious need of a win after suffering those two humbling losses to Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. But a convincing and comfortable victory would have been even better and for a while, it seemed like the Cavaliers were on their way to doing just that. UVA led by as many as 15 points in the first half and opened up a 16-point advantage midway through the second half. But rather than putting the game away, Virginia let Manhattan hang around and the visiting Jaspers were in a situation where they were fouling to stop the clock in the final minutes, narrowing the deficit to as little as six points. A win is a win, but this was far from a confidence-boosting performance.
Virginia went with a new starting lineup on Tuesday night, as Andrew Rohde replaced TJ Power. Rohde has been playing very well recently, particularly with his resurgent outside shot, while Power came into this game shooting 25% from beyond the arc this season.
Power initially responded well to the benching, swishing a corner three shortly after he first entered the game, hitting the deck for a loose ball, and coming up with a steal to stop a Manhattan fastbreak. But he wound up playing only six minutes, fewest among Cavaliers who saw the floor in the game. That does not bode well for the Duke transfer.
Read Val’s Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.
Rohde, on the other hand, had another solid game and was perhaps the top performer for the Hoos on Tuesday night. Though he missed his only three-pointer, which was a desperation off-balanced heave at the end of the shot clock, Rohde finished with a season-high 14 points, two assists (with one turnover), two rebounds, and four steals. Rohde showed excellent feel for the game, getting exactly where he wanted to go and exhibiting some nice touch on a couple of floaters plus a short jumper off the glass. If Rohde is playing like this and his three-point shot continues to be there, this could be a big season for the former St. Thomas transfer.
The main reason why this game continued to be close deep into the second half is because UVA’s defense frequently broke down and gave up open shots to Manhattan, particularly from the perimeter. The Jaspers shot 11/26 (42.3%) from beyond the arc and and seven different players knocked down a three. A couple of those Manhattan triples were well-contested, but the vast majority of them were wide-open. That’s very concerning and shows that this Virginia defense, with its many new faces, is still very much a work in progress.
Virginia’s offense was pretty well neutralized by Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. Tuesday night against Manhattan was a small step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
Let’s start with the good. Five different Cavaliers scored in double figures, including a game-high 18 points from Isaac McKneely, who hit three of his four three-point attempts and went 5/6 from the free throw line. We still think McKneely needs to shoot way more, but we’ll leave that alone for now. Dai Dai Ames scored 10 points and dished out five assists, but fouled out of the game. Blake Buchanan made his first four shots and finished with 11 points and five boards. Cofie made five of his seven shots and finished with 10 points and five boards. The best part of the game was that Virginia had 15 assists on 29 made baskets and turned the ball over only eight times, a vast improvement over the team’s turnover issues in The Bahamas.
Virginia outscored Manhattan 42-22 in the paint. That looks like a good stat, but it’s also an inevitable stat because of UVA’s size advantage over the Jaspers, whose tallest player in the rotation is 6’8″. Still, Manhattan snared 10 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points. In The Bahamas, UVA was dominated on the glass and was simply outmatched from a physicality and athleticism standpoint. Nothing we saw from the Cavaliers on Tuesday night did anything to alleviate those concerns.
Up next, Virginia remains at home for another (supposed) tune-up game against Holy Cross on Friday at 4pm at John Paul Jones Arena.
Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball
UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas
Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John’s 80-55 | Key Takeaways
Virginia
Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball
Virginia (3-2) is set to host Manhattan (3-2) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. Follow along with score updates, play-by-play, and live analysis for the game in the thread below. Updates will be posted at each timeout in reverse chronological order with the most recent updates at the top of the article. Refresh the page for updates.
As we await our 7pm tip between Virginia and Manhattan on the ACC Network, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. Manhattan Game Preview, Score Prediction
Virginia has posted its starting five for tonight’s game:
– Dai Dai Ames
– Isaac McKneely
– Andrew Rohde
– Elijah Saunders
– Blake Buchanan
Notably, TJ Power has been replaced by Andrew Rohde in the starting lineup after starting the first five games of the season. Power is shooting 25% from three (4/16), while Rohde is currently shooting 50% from beyond the arc (7/14).
- Virginia and Manhattan will meet on Tuesday night for just the second time ever and first time since March 19th, 1993, when the Cavaliers defeated the Jaspers 78-66 in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
- UVA is 9-0 against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
- Virginia’s last game against a MAAC team was back in 2012, when the Cavaliers defeated Fairfield 54-45 at John Paul Jones Arena.
- UVA is 2-0 at John Paul Jones Arena this season and 3-0 against unranked opponents this season.
Read more Virginia men’s basketball news and content in the links below:
UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas
Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John’s 80-55 | Key Takeaways
The Plus/Minus: Virginia Gets Skunked by Tennessee in The Bahamas
Virginia Basketball Falls to Tennessee 64-42 | Key Takeaways
Virginia
Suspect steals property from store, assaults employee in Virginia
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. – A man has been arrested after entering a store in McLean, stealing merchandise and assaulting an employee.
The suspect has been identified as Calvin Hughes Jr, of Washington D.C.
Leesburg Pike robbery suspect
Police responded to the 8300 block of Leesburg Pike in McLean for a commercial robbery on November 21 around 11:00 a.m. According to police, the suspect entered the store, stole merchandise, and assaulted an employee.
Hughes Jr. was identified and arrested nearby for robbery and is being held without bond.
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