Even in a sport known for madness, the 2020-21 men’s college basketball season was nuts. The pandemic brought the cancellation of thousands of games, including the entire Ivy League season, and posed unprecedented challenges for teams that did play. Powerhouses like Duke and Kentucky plummeted to historic lows, yielding the first NCAA tournament without either team since Gerald Ford was president.
Here in Charlottesville, the UVA’s women’s team abandoned its season midstream. The men’s team paused its season three times due to positive COVID tests, including last weekend when a confirmed case forced the Hoos to forfeit their ACC tournament semifinal against Georgia Tech.
None of that, however, covers the most unthinkable part of this Cavaliers’ season: The team’s offense carried it to success.
Pandemic or not, the program that Coach Tony Bennett built on defense finished with its worst defensive efficiency rating since his second season (2010-11). COVID-19 surely didn’t help. While Bennett’s signature pack-line defense can take years to grasp, a UVA team that relied heavily on three newcomers had to learn it on the fly, all while a pandemic disrupted preparation and the team’s schedule.
And yet, as the defense struggled, Virginia’s offense thrived. While the team’s defensive efficiency ranking fell from No. 1 in the country last season to No. 33 this season, its offense jumped from No. 256 to No. 12, becoming Bennett’s first team to have four players average at least 9.5 points per game. A trio of sharp-shooting big men led the way, with 6′ 8″ transfer Sam Hauser (16.0 points per game) earning all-ACC honors, 7′ 1″ senior Jay Huff (13.1 ppg) making second-team all-ACC, and 6′ 9″ transfer Trey Murphy (11.3 ppg) finishing third on the team in scoring. The glue was third-year point guard Kihei Clark (9.5 ppg). Entering the season, Clark had started 50 games for Virginia. UVA’s other four starters entered the year with zero UVA starts combined.
Put it all together, and through some ups and downs, the Hoos (18-6) won their fifth regular season ACC title in eight years, ending the season ranked 15th in the country. And then COVID-19 struck again. Hours after a thrilling win over Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament last Thursday, a player tested positive for the virus, forcing the Cavs to withdraw from the tournament and begin quarantining.
At press time, UVA plans on competing in the NCAA tournament (though if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s to expect the unexpected). Assuming the team can clear COVID-19 protocols before the tournament begins this weekend, the question is how far can it go. After sitting through three double-digit losses this season, fans still have a nagging sense that, despite the team’s success, it has still not quite put it all together. Nevertheless, the numbers suggest that the sky is the limit for this team: Though there is no precedent for the pandemic, there is one for a UVA team whose offense is ranked higher than its defense. That has happened once in Bennett’s tenure, in 2019, when the Hoos became national champions.—Simon Davidson
Tournament tests
The Cavaliers are the fourth seed in the Western region of the NCAA tournament bracket. The scouting report below looks at what may be ahead for the Hoos.
No. 13: Ohio
UVA will open its tournament run against the 13-seeded Ohio Bobcats. High off their first Mid-Atlantic Conference title in nine years, the Bobcats will roll into the NCAA first round on the back of conference tournament MVP Jason Preston. The NBA-hopeful point guard recorded his 1,000th career point as one of 22 he contributed during the MAC championship game.
But Preston’s shooting isn’t what should worry the Cavaliers most about this matchup. He ranked sixth-best in the NCAA with 7.2 assists per game through 2020-21, so his playmaking may be the biggest threat to UVA’s hopes of advancing to the second round.
The Bobcats finished red-hot. They won six of their last seven regular-season games before surging through the MAC tournament, while the Hoos will be cooling their heels in Charlottesville for over a week before they play again. The Bobcats have become a trendy first-round upset pick for national pundits; the Cavs shouldn’t take the mid-major squad for granted.
No. 5: Creighton
Should the Cavaliers get past Ohio, they could face Creighton in the round of 32. The Bluejays enter the NCAA tournament still reeling from a stunning loss in the Big East championship. Underdog Georgetown dominated from tip-off to final buzzer, at one point going on a 46-8 run as they crushed Creighton to claim the title.
But the Bluejays are more than they may have appeared in a disappointing final. One of the most balanced teams in the Big East, all five Creighton starters averaged double-digit scoring this year. Guard Marcus Zegarowski is a consistent leader, but forward Denzel Mahoney, forward Damien Jefferson, forward Christian Bishop, and guard Mitch Ballock are all threats as well. Both Bishop and Jefferson averaged more than five rebounds per game in 2020-21, while Ballock led the conference with 72 field goals. The Bluejays’ balanced offense put up 77 points per game in 2020-21, nine more than the Cavs’ average of 68.6.
Would UVA be able to keep Creighton at bay should the two teams meet? It depends on the Hoos’ success in keeping the Bluejays shooters from heating up.
No. 12: UC-Santa Barbara
UC-Santa Barbara burst into its first NCAA tournament since 2011 by winning 15 of its 16 final regular-season games on the way to a Big West title. The run feels like an inevitable step forward for a program that made the biggest single-season improvement in NCAA history back when head coach Joe Pasternak brought the 2017-18 Gauchos from six to 23 wins during his first year with the team. The Gauchos are legitimate contenders to upset Creighton, which could set up a second-round matchup with UVA.
Led by one of the NCAA’s best rebounders in JaQuori McLaughlin, UC-Santa Barbara ranked second in the Big West with an average of 76.5 points per game, even as it held opponents to just 62.8 points. The 13-point scoring margin ranks 11th-best in the NCAA and makes the team a definite obstacle to the Cavaliers’ championship hopes.
The Cavs’ methodical offense would have to be at the top of their game in this matchup—Devearl Ramsey, the Big West’s leading stealer, lurks, ready to gum up the works.—Julia Stumbaugh
By the numbers
162: Blocks by Jay Huff in his career at UVA
Huff notched the second-most blocks by a player in program history—Ralph Sampson had 462.
81.7: UVA’s team free-throw percentage this season
That’s just a hair short of the all-time single-season record—Harvard’s 1984 squad hit 82.2 percent from the stripe.
42.8: Sam Hauser’s season three-point percentage
UVA’s sharpshooter posted the best mark in the ACC.
5: ACC regular season titles for Tony Bennett
This year’s conference title was the Hoos’ fifth in the last eight years.
23: career points scored by graduating forward Austin Katstra
Hey, it’s 23 more than most of us!
1,097: Days since UVA last lost an NCAA tournament game
Remember that one? Me neither.
—Ben Hitchcock