After dominating in the paint and on the offensive glass in their season opener, the Virginia Cavaliers found their shooting stroke versus NC Central in Game 2 of the Odom era. The ‘Hoos shot 38.9% (14-for-36)
from deep, far improved from their 26.7% mark versus Rider.
Their 14 makes came from six different players with Sam Lewis (3-for-6), Thijs de Ridder (3-for-4), and Jacari White (3-for-5) doing the most damage. Seeing Lewis and White, in particular, start to hit from the outside is an encouraging sign as those two project to be important complementary shooters around playmakers like De Ridder, Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall and Chance Mallory.
UVA assisted 22 of its 28 made baskets. Hall (seven assists), Thomas (six), and Mallory (four) were all effective passers who did well touching the paint and finding teammates on the perimeter. Mallory and Hall played together in a two-point guard lineup for eight minutes on Friday as the freshman continued to impress. His final stat line featured nine points, those four assists, five rebounds, two steals, and just one turnover.
Curiously, Thomas has been surprisingly inefficient from deep through two games at JPJ. He was better as an all-around scorer against NC Central (12 points, 3-for-4 shooting inside the arc) and showcased an ability to drive and kick with a career-high six assists. Virginia will expect that he can improve on his 21.4% success rate from deep through two games.
The free throw line continues to be a bit of a head-scratcher for the ‘Hoos. They knocked down 19-of-34 (55.9%) of their chances versus Rider and followed that up by making 11-of-19 (57.9%) against NC Central. De Ridder made 5-of-6 (83.3%) at the charity stripe while the rest of the team shot 6-for-13 (46.2%). A team that has so many capable three-point shooters should be trusted to figure things out when they find themselves at the stripe.
Virginia has two solid wins against two bad teams to start the Odom era. Neither suggests too much about this team’s outlook this season beyond confirming that the pieces are there, as we thought, for this to be a top-four ACC team this winter. The Cavaliers have won in different ways and, in early November, that’s all anyone can ask for.
