The Wahoos caught their bye week at the perfect time, as their added days off come not only ahead of the rematch with No. 2 Duke but also too at the midway point in the conference season with their starting point guard nursing a sore back.

With No. 3 UVa sitting at 8-1 in league action here at the halfway mark, we thought we'd borrow our Take Two format and break down five things that matter for UVa from ACC play thus far and give you five takeaways across the league.

1. Virginia has largely handled its business thus far.

The Hoos wrapped up the first half of their ACC slate over the weekend with a 56-46 win over Miami. They enter the second half of their league schedule in first place and outside of the loss to the Blue Devils and the overtime win at NC State, they have been dominant in ACC play. Virginia has won the other seven games by an average margin of 20 points and none by less than 10. The two close games both came on the road against then-ranked opponents, with the Hoos splitting a pair of one-possession games. According to KenPom, Virginia is projected to win each of its remaining nine games of the regular season, though some of those projections, particularly games at UNC and Virginia Tech, are closer to toss-ups than sure things.

2. UVa leads the ACC in offensive and defensive efficiency in conference games.

Despite not being quite as sharp in their last two games, the Wahoos have still been quite impressive on both ends of the floor since conference play began. Virginia ranks first in the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency and is currently top five nationally in both categories when looking at the entire body of work going back to November. UVa is third behind Virginia Tech and Louisville in effective field-goal percentage and second in the ACC to Notre Dame in fewest turnovers on a per-possession basis. Virginia’s 3-point shooting has been a catalyst towards improved play on the offensive end, as the Cavaliers have made a league-best 40 percent of their 3-point attempts in ACC games, which has helped them break 80 points in three conference games despite playing at the slowest pace of any team in the league.

3. The Wahoos have struggled with turnovers in its last two outings.

We mentioned above that Virginia is second to Notre Dame in turnovers per possession among ACC teams and the only reason UVa isn’t first is the sudden outburst of turnovers in the last week. The 16 turnovers in Raleigh helped keep NC State in the game and forced Virginia to pull out the win in overtime. The Hoos were able to overcome more sloppy play on Saturday without Ty Jerome in the lineup, giving the ball away 14 times in the Miami win that would’ve been much more comfortable otherwise. Those 30 turnovers in the past two games is surprising if not alarming but is more likely to be an aberration than a trend. Still, against athletic defenses—especially those that will pick up pressure in the backcourt—UVa will need to get back on track in this area if the Hoos are going to remain as efficient as they were early in conference play.

4. The eight-man rotation seems pretty set.

Tony Bennett has often used non-conference play as a testing ground for his minute allocation, with UVa holding comfortable leads in many of those games. This year, Bennett often said that his rotation was seven players, maybe eight if Jay Huff is included. And while he hasn’t started receiving starter's minutes, Huff has played his way into a rotation that now goes eight deep. He has appeared in every ACC game thus far after playing just 13 total minutes across four conference games last year. Huff has two double-digit scoring efforts among those outings, with 11 points in 10 minutes against Clemson and 12 points in 13 minutes against Wake Forest. He also played valuable minutes at Duke and was trusted to play in overtime against NC State. His contribution, along with fellow reserves Braxton Key and Kihei Clark give Virginia playable depth off the bench, something that many teams, even those in the ACC, do not have.

5. Virginia is relatively healthy but needs Jerome back in the lineup.

Clark seems to have recovered from his wrist fracture suffered in December, and he is clearly more comfortable shooting the basketball with a smaller wrap on his hand rather than the cast he wore for a time. Clark’s wrist injury was the only significant one UVa has had until Jerome missed the Miami game with a back sprain. At this point there doesn’t seem to be much fear about him missing an extended period of time but with one of the biggest games of the season on the horizon, Jerome getting back on the court for practice this week and back in the starting lineup on Saturday will be vital for the Cavaliers. Clark did some good things filling in for Jerome against the Hurricanes but it was clear at times that the Hoos were missing their floor general.