UVA Bounces Back and the Ghost of Taine Murray Podcast

Virginia finally put an end to their slide, beating Clemson on Tuesday night.

After back-to-back losses, the Virginia Cavaliers got back in the win column on Tuesday against Clemson. Perhaps most importantly, the win came after several adjustments from Coach Bennett and some stellar play from our youth. Going into the postseason, both things seem like huge developments.

Coach Bennett, after missing seven shots in a row to start the game, went back to UVA’s traditional offense (Sides). He also went deeper into his bench early on, giving meaningful minutes to rarely-used Francisco Caffaro and Taine Murray. Ryan Dunn lit the match emotionally, though, finishing an alley-oop and-one when they were down 5-0 to Clemson. It led to a 17-2 run for Virginia and they never trailed again.

Coach Bennett moving away from things that haven’t been as effective is good news, as you never know what you’ll encounter in the NCAA Tournament. So many different styles, matchups, etc. And the development of Dunn, and Isaac McKneely for that matter, make them more dynamic. The ceiling is raised for this team when the role players are playing well. Some of it can be chalked up to playing at home, but from here on out its either home or a neutral site, and that’s good a good thing.

The 64-57 win over Clemson was a Quad 2 victory for Virginia, putting a nice patch on a tournament resume that was leaking. Now all that’s left is Senior Night at JPJ on Saturday against Louisville before the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.