UVa is far from having a dream 2024-25 season, but they’ve clearly upped their game of late, and have started to see better results. After dropping five straight games to start the new year and reaching a low point at 8-10 overall and 1-6 in ACC play, the Hoos have won four of their last six. Last week, the Hoos beat Pitt and Georgia Tech by a combined 30 points and probably played their best basketball in those two games of the entire season to date.
While the Cavaliers have steadily improved across the board of late, and the coaching staff has started to find rotations that work better, there have been a few obvious trends in Virginia’s recent uptick. So how have the Hoos gone from 1-6 in ACC play to 5-8, with seven games to go?
Improved Three Point Shooting
UVa’s offense has picked it up significantly since their five-game losing streak. In those five losses, UVa averaged 59 points per game and lost by an average of 14.6 points per game. In the six games since, the Wahoos have scored 72.8 per contest, and only fell short of 70 once in that stretch, scoring 59 in the loss to Notre Dame.
Granted, playing a weaker stretch of opponents is certainly a factor in Virginia’s offensive improvement, but the most-obvious area of improvement is three-point shooting. In the five-game losing streak, UVa made 34 of 117 threes, or 29 percent. UVa made 10 threes in just one of those games. In the six games since, UVa has gone 61 of 139 from beyond the arc, or 43.9 percent. They made 10+ threes in every game during that stretch except for the Virginia Tech loss, where they made eight of 23, and came up one or two threes short in a one-point loss.
It would be difficult for any team to sustain 43.9 percent from deep over a long stretch, but hitting those shots has become the main driver of UVa’s offensive improvement of late.
Creating Early Leads
In UVa’s four wins over the past six games, the Cavaliers didn’t have to rally, but instead, got out of the blocks in strong fashion. In the win over BC, UVa led by 18 at half, and led by as many as 26 in a very comfortable home win. In UVa’s victory at Miami, the Hoos led by as many as 15 before halftime, and started strong in that one as well, despite being down two starters. Virginia’s start at Pitt was downright shocking, and they led 18-4 after 10 minutes of play. And on Saturday, UVa was up 9-0 within a couple of minutes of play. Georgia Tech hung around, but by halftime the Cavaliers had extended it back to eight points before the Jackets closed the gap at the buzzer.
It’s worth noting, in UVa’s two losses in this six-game stretch, there was no early lead, but in fact, the Hoos dug early deficits. UVa hung around with Notre Dame for a while, but by halftime the Irish led 39-27. UVa ended up down as much as 27 in the second half and never made it competitive. Against Virginia Tech the Hoos were able to rally from 13 down and lost by one, and had a good shot to win it, but they also trailed by seven at the half and had trouble getting stops.
Andrew Rohde’s All-Around Impact
Virginia has seen improved play across the board, and while he was already a key player throughout the season, Andrew Rohde’s consistency and playmaking of late has helped the Hoos get back to .500. Rohde played through an injury in UVa’s loss to Notre Dame, and that was his only bad game in the stretch, going 1-for-8 from the field and scoring 3 points. Rohde rested up against Miami, but the Hoos were able to get it done without him. In UVa’s other three wins of late, however, Rodhe was critical. He scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting against Boston College, went for 12 in the loss to Virginia Tech, and scored 11 against Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Rohde’s playmaking for others has been more notable though, as he has dished out 33 assists in his last five games, and has had six or more in four of them, including two nine-assist games last week. While Rohde has dished it out, he’s hardly turned it over, too. Rohde has just one turnover since the January 18th loss to Louisville, giving him a 33:1 assist to turnover ratio over nearly a month. Compare that to his play early in the season, and his ball security is noteworthy. In the first 18 games of the season, Rohde turned it over at least once in all but one game, at least twice in 10 times, and 4+ turnovers in four contests.
Dai Dai Ames Scoring Punch
This last key for the Hoos improvements is probably the most surprising. Dai Dai Ames has had an up-and-down sophomore season with the Cavaliers, and has seen his role change dramatically throughout, sometimes game to game. But it’s clear that Ames is playing his best basketball of the season, the question is whether its a flash in the pan or a sign of things to come. Ames has scored 11+ points in three straight games, including a 27-point outburst at Pitt last week, followed up by 18 points in Saturday’s home win over Georgia Tech. Ames is 7-for-12 from three in his last two games, which is an obvious improvement, but he’s also 11-for-16 from two, showcasing his playmaking ability. Ames is probably UVa’s best player when it comes to getting downhill and creating points at the rim, and he was able to do that more in last week’s wins.
While it’s probably too late for UVa to suddenly turn their season around and play meaningful postseason basketball, Ames has a chance to change how he’s viewed as a player, either by whoever is leading the UVa staff or other staffs should he choose to leave.
