Cavaliers drop their ACC opener 63-51 at SMU. Isaac McKneely led Virginia with 17 points. SMU was up by as many as nine in the first half. Virginia got it down to two by halftime. The Cavaliers would be up by 7 in the second half.
Paint Points: SMU dominated Virginia in the paint. The Mustangs outscored the Cavaliers 30-10 in the paint. SMU big man Samet Yigitoglu finished the day with 16 points and 6 rebounds. 6’7″ Matt Cross had 10 rebounds. SMU outrebounded Virginia 36-25. On offense, when Yigitoglu was out, and Virginia ran its 4-out, 1-high sets, they had success getting two feet in the paint.
Saunders Lack of Impact: Elijah Saunders has to be a bigger factor on both ends, and that can’t happen if he’s in foul trouble. He picked up two fouls in the first half and his fourth foul with 11:49 left in the game. He finished the game 0-6 from the field.
Scoring Drought: Virginia’s last points of the game came with 2:44 left on Elijah Saunders’ free throws. Three turnovers in the last 2:14. SMU ended the game on a 9-0 run. With 10:19 left in the game, Virginia had 45 points. They finished the game with 51.
Final Thoughts:
SMU can’t beat you from the three-point line, and Virginia couldn’t force them to play out of character. The offense couldn’t execute for the final 10 minutes of the game. Yesterday’s issue was the lack of effectiveness from the point guard position after Dai Dai Ames left with an ankle injury.
We are only in December, but the Cavaliers lack the ability to put together 40 minutes. There are just too many lapses for a team that has struggled with long, athletic teams like Tennessee and Florida and physical paint teams like SMU.
