Five takeaways from Virginia Basketball’s 75-61 loss to Cal

On By Littum

Virginia (8-7, 1-3 ACC) found itself on the losing end of the first ACC win for Cal (8-7, 1-3) as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference when the Cavaliers were run off the floor by Andrej Stojakovic and the Golden Bears in the second half en route to a 75-61 loss Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. Here are our five takeaways from the game.

Of the many concerning trends that have defined this UVA basketball season thus far, the Cavaliers’ tendency to follow up competitive first halves with lackluster or downright miserable second-half performances is the most problematic. Tennessee, Florida, SMU, Memphis, Louisville and now Cal — all games where the Cavaliers were very much in it with a good chance to be competitive or even win it until the wheels came off in the second half. This time, a three-point halftime play turned into a lead as large as 17 for Cal as the Golden Bears outscored the Hoos 40-29 after halftime. Virginia shot 29% from the floor and sent Cal to the free throw line 25 times in the second half. That pretty much sums it up, but the numbers don’t quite convey how out of sorts the Cavaliers looked on both ends of the floor for long stretches of the second half.

Andrej Stojakovic once had Virginia in his top six schools during his high school recruiting process. The son of three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic ended up committing to Stanford and then transferring to Cal after Stanford fired Jerod Haase, who happened to be on the ESPN broadcast as a color commentator for the Virginia-Cal game late Wednesday. . Stojakovic ranks in the top 20 nationally in scoring and is the second leading scorer in the ACC with just under 20 points per game. match. Still, the Cavaliers did an admirable job of forcing Stojakovic to be a passer rather than a scorer in the first half. Stojakovic didn’t score his first points until less than four minutes remained in the first half and had just four points at halftime.

Then came the second half and Stojakovic switched.

Cal made a concerted effort to play for Stojakovic coming out of the break, starting with a backdoor cut on the first possession of the second half that resulted in a three-point play. Stojakovic was ultra-aggressive and the Cavaliers had no answer for him other than fouling him and putting him at the foul line where he was lethal. He finished with 23 points and went 11/13 from the free throw line. Cal beat Virginia in many ways in the second half, but being unable to contain Stojakovic caused the Hoos to scramble on defense right out of the gate and they never recovered.

In addition to their inability to stop Stojakovic, the Cavaliers couldn’t really stay in front of anyone, and that was a common thread throughout the game. UVA’s bigs struggled to handle Mady Sissoko in the paint, and although both teams had 11 offensive rebounds in the game, Cal felt more consistent as they extended some of Virginia’s otherwise good defensive possessions; these other chances usually led to fouls and free kicks. The Cavaliers fouled three-point shooters more often and were slow to close more often and took bad angles, causing them to commit more fouls. For the game, Virginia committed 23 fouls (UVA entered this game averaging less than 14 team fouls per night) and sent the Golden Bears to the charity stripe 33 times, converting 27 free throws. The Hoos were pretty good at the foul line themselves, knocking down 16/18 free throw attempts, but the 11 points was a pretty big difference in box score, and more significantly, the fact that Virginia couldn’t string together stops without fouling. undeniably demoralizing.

On the other end of the floor, Virginia should have been able to run an efficient offense against a Cal defense that ranked 249th on the season in adjusted defensive efficiency per. KenPom, averaged 76.9 points per game. game (312th), and allowed opponents to shoot 37.6% from beyond the arc on the season, worst in the ACC and 347th in the nation. UVA got it going early, with McKneely, Murray and Sharma all burying threes in the first 12 minutes as Virginia built an 11-3 lead and then a 17-13 lead. But as has been the case with the Cavaliers all season, they couldn’t sustain it. UVA ended up shooting 32.8% from the floor and a dismal 7/23 from three. A few guys deserve some credit for playing hard to the bitter end – Rohde, Cofie, Saunders and Sharma in particular – but the overall team effort was spotty throughout and the offensive execution was non-existent as Cal pulled away in the other. half.

Any chance Virginia had to turn this season around and make what would have been a semi-miraculous run to the NCAA Tournament would have required the Cavaliers to win both of those games at Cal and Stanford this week. Instead, UVA will come away from Cali with at best its worst loss of the season to date. Some optimistic Virginia fans might have had some faith that there was a turn of the tables, but if those same loyal fans stayed up until 6 p.m. Virginia is 8-7 and 1-3 in ACC play, and even staying around .500 overall for the season might be setting the bar too high.

Next, Virginia stays in the San Francisco Bay Area to finish its West Coast tour, taking on Stanford on Saturday at 4:00 PM ET on ESPNU.

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