When he entered Saturday’s game for the first time at the under-4 media timeout, there was 3:57 left on the clock and the Hoos were trailing by a point.

By halftime, Tomas Woldetensae had made the only two shots he had attempted. The two 3s were the first points he had scored for UVa in more than four games.

The senior guard ended up playing 20 minutes and putting up 14 points—which, coincidentally enough, mirrored his output and time on the floor the last time he scored, in the win at Clemson—on 4-for-6 shooting (4-for-5 from deep) in the 73-66 win over Pitt.

“Yes, it’s hard to stay confident and ready to go once your name is called,” he said. “But I’m always happy for the guys to produce and win games because at the end of the day, it’s about the team and winning.”

After starting 22 of Virginia’s 29 games and averaging 27.1 minutes per game last season, he’s now started just four times this year and is averaging 14.1 minutes per game.

“At the beginning of the season,” Woldetensae explained, “settling into my role was a little bit [of a struggle] I would say, a little unsettling. But now I’m seeing myself in that type of role for this team [as a shooter] and I’m getting myself ready to be ready this type of actions. Most of it is about mindset and just understanding your role.”

“Tomas has a very good attitude,” coach Tony Bennett said. “He works hard and he had a good practice [Friday]. We thought, the way they guarded Reece (Beekman) and Kihei (Clark) early in the game—they really sagged way off, went under ball screens and jammed and congested everything and that’s hard when they do that to two guys. We made some adjustments and I think the guys made some really good decisions in the second half to attack a little more and play off their penetration. That opened it up.

“We needed another shooter,” he added, “and Tomas was hitting them today. He really did a good job with his moving and just his work to stay ready. That was a prime example of needing all of those baskets that he gave us.”

Only twice this season has Woldetensae played more than he did against the Panthers and in those two games combined—wins over Saint Francis and Kent State—the Italian southpaw scored less than he did against Pitt.

So, it’s been a different kind of season for the 6-foot-5 guard. That much is clear.

“I’ve been thinking about my role and again, it’s a puzzle,” he said. “Just trying to figure out where you stand and how to help the team.”

Instead of trying to be perfect, Woldetensae does his best to be as ready as possible to do what’s asked. That’s the life of a “streaky” shooter coming off the bench.

“That’s a good question,” he said with a smile when asked if he was streaky. “I have no idea. Confidence, it’s tremendous. It’s seriously all about mindset and motivation to help the team. Every time I go in or if I’m on the bench, I’m just thinking of being ready to go help the team, not finding my shot personally. It’s always about winning the game, as I said. So, yes, in these cases, I guess I’m a streaky shooter.”

Anybody who is going to play for Bennett has to play to a certain level defensively, which is something Woldetensae has worked on since arriving on Grounds in the summer of 2019 following two years at Indian Hills Community College.

“Today we didn’t look so ready and united,” he said of Saturday’s game. “They were ready to compete and go hard but we, at the end of the day, actually did work things out and most of it was about rebounding and finishing the defensive play. The guys came at the end and it worked out.”

“We needed his offense,” Bennett said of Woldetensae. “I don’t think we won it with our defense today or even our soundness with the ball with some of the turnovers or our rebounding defensively. Those areas, they weren’t good enough. But Tomas hitting some shots, some good decision making, Jay (Huff) hitting some 3s and then Sam (Hauser) just playing a heck of a game, was the difference. You got to find different ways to win but you have to sure up those areas that cost us.”

The next time his number is called, it’s probably because shots aren’t falling elsewhere and Bennett needs Woldetensae to do what he does best.

That’s the role he has on this team this year.

“They just didn’t go down,” Woldetensae said of UVa’s early shots before he got into the game. “We were running what we wanted to run…Like a boxing game, you’ve just got to read your opponent first and see how they played us and then decide what to play and how to go about it.”

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