This game for me comes down to three guys on the defensive end- Joel, Kenny and Theo. They will most likely start off matched up with Jerome, Guy and Hall who are their top 3 scorers and very effective from 3, I believe around 45% on the year combined.
If we can totally take one of these guys out of his rythmn and I would love for it to be “man bunny bun” I say we are able to win this one. I would think that Kenny is the guy to do this and I think he is up for the test, but you know what I would love to see this be the game that Theo breaks out on the defensive end and becomes that lockdown defender that Roy has been saying he can be. Matchups wise, we definitely are better off this year than other years and I think that by going small we may be able to really make things difficult on them on both ends. Up to this point they have defended the 3 very well, so I really believe that our movement off the ball and our ball movement are going to need to be at a high level in order to really find a good shot and that's where Cam and Luke are going to come up big for us. If we are able to space the floor effectively and get into the lane (which is what they do a good job at preventing a lot of penetration), hopefully they will try to trap which will open up opportunities from 3 for these two. Another good thing is that UVA tends to trap bigs a lot and Luke is a good passer, so if he is able to stay composed he will be able to find one of our guys open out on the perimeter ready to cash in. We just need to be Patient and not rush things, we will be able to find openings to cut into and open shooters too.
Most years UVA worries me, I don't enjoy their pace at all and how they like to put us into the half-court taking us out of transition, but you know what this year we have had to operate a lot out of the half-court and been able do so successfully. I really expect our guys to go in there with the right mindset and focus, ready to play our game and get the job done coming back home with a big W!