2024-01-03 11:30:00
CHARLOTTESVILLE – As he considered transferring to Virginia’s basketball program this offseason, forward Jake Groves had two ways of thinking regarding fitting into the Cavaliers’ pack-line defense and patient-but-efficient offense.
“In my mind, I was thinking, ‘OK, this might be really good,’” Groves, a former Oklahoma player, said. “But in my mind, I’m also sitting there like, ‘Holy cow. I’ve got a long way to go and this doesn’t look easy.’”
UVa (9-3, 1-1 ACC) brought in four transfers to this year’s roster and has been playing two true freshmen, as well, creating – for all intents and purposes – an all-new team.
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Groves and St. Thomas (Minnesota) guard Andrew Rohde have been regulars in the starting lineup, Groves starting nine times and Rohde starting all 13 games to this point.
Georgetown transfer guard Dante Harris, a mid-year enrollee who sat out last season, played well off the bench in the first six games but has missed the past seven with an ankle injury.
Freshmen Blake Buchanan and Elijah Gertrude have given the Cavaliers valuable minutes at the center and guard positions, respectively. Merrimack transfer Jordan Minor, however, has been slow to pick up the pack line.
Gertrude was expected to redshirt following missing his senior year of high school ball with a knee injury. But Gertrude’s rapid recovery coupled with Harris’s injury prompted UVa to burn his redshirt and play him now.
Those new pieces have formed a team that has looked good at some points – see wins over Texas A&M and Syracuse – and awful at others, including blowout losses once morest Wisconsin, Memphis and Saturday at Notre Dame.
“Obviously still pretty early in the season, but just being able to feel everybody out, learn our strengths and weaknesses as a group and individually seeing how my teammates play, it’s been great,” Rohde said. “I think we’re really coming together as a group.”
Rohde is averaging 5.9 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds going into Wednesday night’s home game once morest Louisville. He’s played mostly shooting guard, though his ball-handling and play-making ability effectively give UVa a two-point guard look when he’s on the floor with senior Reece Beekman or even Gertrude.
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Groves is averaging 8 points and 2.2 rebounds while shooting 45.7% from 3-point range. He’s played more center for the Cavaliers due to the struggles of a fourth transfer, center Jordan Minor.
Minor, a 6-foot-8, 242-pound Merrimack graduate transfer, has been slow to adjust to the pack-line following four years playing zone defense. That’s seemed to throw off his offensive game, where he’s looked, at times, lost in the offense and has struggled to catch entry passes, handle the ball and finish at the rim.
But Minor’s teammates and coaches said he’s continued to work hard and stay positive. His past two games have been encouraging. Minor had six points, two rebounds, a steal and an assist playing 11 minutes in the Cavaliers’ win over Morgan State on Dec. 27 and logged eight minutes, scoring a basket and grabbing two rebounds in the blowout loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.
“There is an adjustment,” Bennett said. “When you’re coming to this level or just a new system, ours or anyone else’s, it takes time. Especially with Jordan, he played all zone for those years … that’s a little bit of a challenge.”
Chemistry between the newcomers and the team’s returners – including Beekman, junior Taine Murray, sophomores Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn and redshirt freshman Leon Bond III – has been strong from the onset, players and coaches said, which has expedited the group’s learning curve.
Still, the team has been plagued by a frequent problem for rebuilt squads – inconsistency. In its wins, it’s shared and protected the ball, knocked down 3-pointers and locked down in its half-court defense. In its three lopsided losses, it’s struggled in all those areas.
In its wins, Virginia shoots 38.7% from 3, averages 16.9 assists and commits just 7.7 turnovers. Opponents shoot 35.1% from the floor once morest it.
In its three losses, UVa is shooting 22.7% from beyond the arc, is averaging 11.3 assists and 12.3 turnovers per game and allowing the other team to connect on 45.8% of its shots.
“Just a lot of breakdowns,” Bennett said following the Notre Dame loss. “You can point at everything. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to be harder to score once morest than we are or this will continually happen to us.”
It’s still early, but the Cavaliers can ill afford another loss to a bottom-rung conference opponent on Wednesday once morest Louisville. The good news for Bennett’s bunch? It’s responded to the past two double-digit defeats with victories.
Oklahoma transfer Jake Groves eager to forge his own identity as a leader at UVa
Mike Barber (804) 649-6546
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