The Plus/Minus: Virginia Rebounds, Crushes UNC

Virginia celebrated 50 years of women's basketball with a performance fitting the occasion, defeating No. 20 North Carolina 81-66 in front of a packed crowd at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday afternoon. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down this big win for the Cavaliers. 

Plus

A win is a win is a win, but then again, some wins are better than others. After laying an egg against Pitt mid-week, and then falling behind 25-16 at the end of one quarter, Virginia stormed back, outscoring UNC 64-41. The crowd of 5,690 was in full throat as the team played off the crowd’s energy and vice versa.

Minus

Camryn Taylor, who picked up a knee injury against Pitt, did not play.

Plus

Virginia beat the No. 20 Tar Heels without Taylor. By 15 points.

But this is why the games must be played. Surely UNC looked over and saw Taylor standing in street clothes and felt that the game had just gotten a little easier for them. How wrong they were. The games are always hard and in a league like the ACC every game must be contested. Look at Virginia. Coming off a huge win against Florida State, the women failed to capitalize against Pitt, only the worst team in the ACC.

Plus

The return of Sam Brunelle. It’s been a hard season for Brunelle. She’s battled injuries since before the season started and she’s clearly lost a step. Against Pitt, Jala Jordan beat her repeatedly in the paint and Sam played just seven minutes. Against UNC, Brunelle looked to be in full flight and she frequently drew the assignment of stopping Alyssa Ustby (for my money, UNC’s most important player) and she harried Ustby without fouling – Ustby had just one trip to the line – and ultimately fouled her out.

Brunelle has also been struggling from beyond the arc, connecting on just 32% of her threes entering the game. Brunelle went 4/5 from deep, and to be frank, it should have been 5/6 except that the refs called the, well, I don’t know it was they called against Paris Clark away from the ball, but suffice it to say that Brunelle was robbed. Overall, the team went 11/19 from deep (57.9%) and the game is just a little easier when you’re connecting at that rate.

Plus

This team is hitting its stride from deep. Since the twin disasters against Duke and Georgia Tech, when the women shot a combined 3/26 from beyond the arc, Virginia has recorded 6/23. 8/19, 7/23, 8/17, 7/27 and now 11/19 rates. That is 37%. That’s a far cry from the 24% the team was averaging following the Duke loss. This team can win a lot of games shooting 37%. Coach Agugua-Hamilton has stressed patience all season, saying that the team is connecting in practice. Now the team is connecting in games.

Life gets a little easier when you're able to make threes like this:

Plus

The freshmen put on a show. Kymora Johnson led all scorers with 25 points as she was 4/5 from deep and 5/6 from the charity stripe. For good measure she grabbed six boards. 

For her part, UNC’s Reniya Kelly led the Tar Heels with 20 points, doubling her career high. Kelly was 4/6 from deep and it was a trio of treys that sparked UNC to their short-lived lead. Kelly’s emergence should have freed teammate Deja Kelly to wreak more havoc than usual, but…

Plus

Paris Clark shut her down. Most of the headlines about this game are going to refer to Brunelle and Johnson both going 4/5 from deep, but Clark was the player of the game. She is a stopper, she has great hands – five steals – and she harried Deja Kelly into going just 2/13 from the floor. Kelly is a high-volume gunner who has already had seven 20-point games, but in the face of Clark’s withering pressure, Kelly scored an even 10 points.

Minus

It’s a minor quibble, but games are won and lost on the margins. Virginia struggles to secure the ball on opponents’ missed free throws. Four times UNC’s second free throw clanged off the rim. Only once did Virginia win the battle. Part of this was personnel. Off the three best free-throw rebounders on the team, Taylor was out, Olivia McGhee played just 11 minutes and Kaydan Lawson got just a 5-second cameo.

Plus

The Shirt.

My buddy, Mike, Official Friend of Cavaliers Now^© wore his UVA bowling shirt. Now, this shirt has an illustrious history. After the men were knocked out of the ACC Tournament in 2019 by Florida State, Mike was bequeathed The Shirt. He wore it for every game of the NCAA Tournament as the men rode the shirt’s karma all the way to a national championship. I, and several fellow alums were at this game, and Mike baptized the shirt for the women. They get the karma now.

Plus

With the game winding down and Virginia holding an 8-point lead, Coach Mox showed why she’s coaching this team and not me. It’s no secret, Mox wants this team to run. All. The. Time. Sometimes to the detriment of good ball playing, but it is the foundational blueprint for a Coach-Mox team. But at the 3:30 mark, Virginia suddenly started taking the air out of the ball, holding it, playing as much four corners as the shot clock will allow. The change of pace caught the Tar Heels off guard, Alyssa Ustby collected her fourth and fifth fouls, and the Cavaliers shut out the Tar Heels down the stretch and ballooned the lead to 15 points.

Next Up: Virginia travels to Blacksburg on Thursday.to take on Virginia Tech. This could be season defining. Wins against UNC and Florida State are nice, but the shine has come off the FSU win a bit because the Seminoles just received a 40-point beat down from Duke. Virginia deflated at home against Pitt following that FSU win, and now the women get a second chance to build some consistency. Tech is the ACC team most likely to make it to the Final Four this year, and in Liz Kitley and Georgia Amoore have the two best players in the ACC over the past three years. Should be a great game. Note: game time is 6:00pm and will be shown on the ACC Network.

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