UVa's regular season is now over, as the Hoos transition into the postseason, and this week's ACC Tournament. Perhaps the Cavaliers will go on a surprising run to a conference title, but there's a good chance the season will end this week in Charlotte. With that said, we're taking a look back at the regular season, and handing out some superlatives for players and moments that stood out in what turned out to be a trying season.
Team MVP: Isaac McKneely
We also strongly considered Andrew Rohde for this one, given his great all-around play down the stretch, but when looking at the statistics, it has to go to McKneely. The junior guard had his best season to date, scoring 14 points per contest, shooting 41 percent from three, and dishing out 2.9 assists per game. McKneely had a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and had seven 20+ point games this year. McKneely’s scoring wasn’t as consistent as he probably hoped; for example, after going for a season-high 27 at Wake Forest, he scored 16 against Clemson and then failed to reach double digits in the final two games of the regular season.
McKneely hasn’t been talked about quite as much this year, and it feels like that has a lot more to do with the team’s performance than his. McKneely had the season that most people hoped he would have, it was everything that happened around him that led to a losing record. But the junior showed this year that he is capable of being a team’s leading scorer and having some big scoring efforts. Hopefully next year, whether he’s at Virginia or elsewhere, he’ll have more help around him that can compliment his scoring ability.
Most-Improved Player: Andrew Rohde
While McKneely’s impact can be felt simply by looking at points per game, Andrew Rohde impacted the game in a number of ways in his second year with the program. The 6-foot-6 junior took a big step forward this year, going from a player that didn’t even play a minute in last year’s regular-season finale to one that rarely could leave the floor this year. Rohde more than doubled his scoring average from a year ago, from 4.3 per game to 9.4 per game. He also increased his assist count significantly, from 2.7 to 4.3, leading the team this season in helpers. Rohde struggled mightily to shoot last year, and that’s probably the area where he showed the most growth year-over-year. In 2023-24, Rohde shot just 29.3 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from three; this year, he went for 43.4 percent on all shots and 41.2 percent from three.
Rohde’s improvement was one of the highlights of UVa’s season. It was tough to watch him struggle last year and he seemed to be down on himself at times, but this year he looked like the player UVa thought they were getting when he transferred in from St. Thomas. With one year of eligibility left, most UVa fans would be happy if he returned for his final season, something we probably couldn’t say at the beginning of this season.
Best Newcomer: Dai Dai Ames
This award could easily go to Elijah Saunders, but we’ll go with Ames, who had a bigger impact down the stretch, and certainly exceeded his expectations. Ames ended up fourth on the team in scoring at 8.9 points per game, playing nearly 26 minutes per contest, and starting 25 games. Ames had a few games here and there where he was buried on the bench and didn’t play much, but he also had a few where his scoring punch helped deliver the Hoos a win. Ames had just four double-figure scoring efforts in his first 20 games, including two games where he didn’t score at all. But Ames scored in double figures in each of the final 10 games of the season, including scoring 27 at Pitt, 18 against Georgia Tech and 18 more against Florida State. Ames’ improved scoring punch was a big part of UVa’s win/loss improvement down the stretch, and after being somewhat streaky as a freshman at K-State, Ames was actually pretty efficient, shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from three.
It’s worth remembering that Ames was a top-100 player coming out of high school, and there’s clearly scoring talent here. He still has two more years of college eligibility in front of him, and has the potential to become a very solid veteran scoring guard.
The Five Pillars Award: Ron Sanchez
We had to find a way to pay homage to Sanchez for taking on a difficult situation this year and trying to make the best of it. UVa had a disappointing season, and while Sanchez didn’t exactly go out and force Carla Williams to hand him a long-term deal, some of the issues this team had were baked in before Tony Bennett retired in October. Sanchez dealt with some difficult moments throughout a disappointing season that surely didn’t go as he hoped, but did so with dignity. Sanchez has been a big part of the golden era of UVa basketball, and while his time as interim coach wasn’t a massive success, he deserves credit for taking the reins and trying to keep this team together, and he never seemed to make it about himself.
Best Game: 70-60 win over Villanova on November 15th
UVa’s first two games of the year were wins, but not exactly convincing ones, over Campbell and Coppin State. Nobody really knew what to expect against a Villanova team that had already lost twice, including a very disappointing setback against Columbia. From the start, UVa was engaged, and took a five-point lead into halftime. The game was back-and-forth in the second half, but UVa eventually took command, leading by as many as 18 en route to a double-digit victory. Even then, we all knew it wasn’t a vintage Villanova team, but that win gave fans some hope that the Hoos could have a good season, heading into a brutal stretch of games that followed. Isaac McKneely led all scorers with 23 points, and Rohde added 13 off the bench.
Worst Game: 74-59 loss to Notre Dame on January 25th
There were a few too many options to choose from here, but we have to go with UVa’s flat loss to Notre Dame at home in January. A few days earlier, UVa had finally snapped a five-game losing skid with a win at Boston College, and with the struggling Irish in town, there was hope that the Hoos could keep it rolling. They didn’t. Notre Dame led by as many as 27 in the second half in front of a grumbling crowd at JPJ, and while UVa eventually cut the Notre Dame lead down a bit, the Irish still cruised to a 15-point win. It was one of only two wins away from home in ACC play for the Irish, who also beat BC in 2OT. Luckily for UVa they had last-place Miami next and were able to quickly forget about this one.
Best Play: Andrew Rohde’s corner three vs Florida State
Andrew Rohde's corner three to give UVa a lead late against Florida State last week is our play of the season. UVa didn't have a ton of buzzer-beater type moments this year, but Rohde gets the award for this one because of the stakes of the shot, and it's difficulty, fading away into the corner at the shot-clock buzzer in a tie game late.
The High Point: The 3-0 start to the season
We could have went with the 5-2 stretch in ACC play that took UVa from 2-6 to 6-8 in the conference, but by then, Virginia fans already knew where the season was headed. When UVa started 3-0, after that win against Villanova, it felt like they might actually be decent this year, despite all the last-minute changes. Reality quickly set in with blowout losses to Tennessee and St. John’s, but for that moment in mid-November, it sort of felt like UVa basketball, even without Tony Bennett.
The Low Point: The 0-5 stretch in January
On the other end of the spectrum, this was as bad as it got for this season. UVa lost to Louisville by 20 on January 4th to begin the year. They then embarked on their now infamous west coast trip that resulted in a 14-point loss to a very mediocre Cal team, and a 23-point loss at Stanford. By the time January 18th rolled around, Uva was 8-10 overall and 1-6 in league play, a hole they would never really recover from. UVa never got above .500 again on the season, and despite putting together some wins down the stretch, finished four games under .500 in conference play.
Surprise Statistic: Higher offensive efficiency than defensive efficiency
This was the first season since 2021 where UVa was better on the offense than defense, but that year was very different, as the Hoos were top-40 nationally on both ends of the floor. When UVa struggled under Bennett, it usually happened on the offensive end, with long scoring droughts and 52-49 slugfests. This year, UVa’s offense wasn’t great by any means, ranking 99th in efficiency, but the defense was worse, finishing 142nd in efficiency. Perhaps this is where Bennett’s influence was missed most, as this was UVa’s first defense outside the top-100 nationally since 2008, under Dave Leitao. UVa’s offense was a little more free-flowing this year, and the Cavaliers shot the ball well, making 37.6 percent of their threes and 75.1 percent at the line. They also shared the ball pretty well, finishing fourth nationally in assist to field goal ratio.
The Lasting Memory: Tony Bennett’s retirement
There’s no other way to put this, really. Unless there’s an incredible run in Charlotte this week, this will always be remembered as ‘the year Tony retired.’ And assuming UVa doesn’t retain Sanchez and brings someone else in, this will be seen as a bridge year between eras of UVa basketball. That’s disappointing, because it takes so much effort from so many people to run a major-conference basketball program, but unfortunately this year simply didn’t deliver many indelible moments. Tony’s retirement press conference will probably be what sticks with us most, and the 2024-25 season is both a reaction to what happened in October, but the team’s struggles were probably also a symptom that led to his decision, as this team was never going to compete for a conference or national as it was constructed.
