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How Do We Beat Virginia?

What Would Jesus Do?

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Nov 28, 2010
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We struggled against Wake at home.

We lost a tough one at FSU.

UVa lost to the only likely tournament team they have played (WVa). They look strong, but without tougher competition, how strong are they really?

By contrast, we have lost to 2 likely tournament teams while beating 3 more. It's a little clearer what kind of team we are, warts and all.

Bottom line, both teams should be plenty worried.

So . . . how do we beat them?
 
Score more points than they do....

I would also say that all 3 of our losses are to NCAA Tourney teams
 
Score more points than they do....

I would also say that all 3 of our losses are to NCAA Tourney teams

Considering there are at least 64+ tournament teams in the NCAA tourney the teams you win or lose against is not as important WHO you win or lose against .. losing against FSU in Tallahassee is nothing like losing to Wofford in Chapel Hill.

I think we have the advantage going in to hooville but then again the UVA zone aint like most and if we don't attack the zone and hit the kick outs from 3 .. as well as the 10-15 chip shots, we will struggle. This will be a good test of how good our offensive rebounding and offensive execution can be against a good zone defense. jmho
 
Knock down perimeter shots consistently and don't panic when the big-to-big double comes. Buckets via a drive are going to be tough to come by with the positioning of help defenders. UVa's defense is the best in the country. Can't waste many possessions considering the likely tempo of the game as well.

Need to keep their guards in check on the other end. While their offense is improved, keeping Guy, Jerome and Hall from clean looks would make it pretty hard for UVa to have consistent offense of their own.
 
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Play with intensity on the defensive side. We have shown all year that when we play quick, smart, and aggressive defense we are hard to stop. Sadly, we have trouble doing that the entire game. But if we do then there is no doubt we would beat UVA. If only we do that in spurts or in one half we don't come out on top. It is really pretty easy to see.
 
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Wishin' and Hopin' ...

Remember the 7 Ps ...

Play hard et al ...
and rough em up!!!

Hoos are pussies!!!
 
Well we aint gonna run on em. We’ll be damn lucky to break 60.
Well, none of their opponents has scored more than 67 points to date. Not getting off to a slow start, something that has plagued us, is crucial. The way to beat UVA is to get out to a double digit lead and force them to play at a faster pace than they prefer.

And as stated above, the way to do that is to play smothering defense and take/make quality shots. Can't afford to keep missing all those chippies from point blank range. You don't get as many possessions against UVA so you have to shoot well and defend well deep into the shot clock.
 
Well, none of their opponents has scored more than 67 points to date. Not getting off to a slow start, something that has plagued us, is crucial. The way to beat UVA is to get out to a double digit lead and force them to play at a faster pace than they prefer.

And as stated above, the way to do that is to play smothering defense and take/make quality shots. Can't afford to keep missing all those chippies from point blank range. You don't get as many possessions against UVA so you have to shoot well and defend well deep into the shot clock.
I'm particularly worried about their outside shooting. Three starters shooting over 40%. With Cam in our lineup (depending on who sits) so do we. So do we play a lot of small ball?

We have more inside depth, but can we afford to use it?
 
Hit your dadgum layups!!!!! Be freakin strong with the ball and stop with the silly unforced turnovers. Play the smothering, hustling D we have shown in spurts for an entire game. Make their shooters take contested shots and play physical with man bun! Get some production from our bigs collectively on the boards and enough O to keep the D honest!

Put the ball in JB's hands to close out the half and game!

For the season: Lather, rinse, repeat!


Go Tar Heels!
 
defense-differences.jpg


Harder to get penetration but quality treys are available.
 
1. Defend like the 2nd half at FSU
2. Run on offence - don’t give them time to set their defense
3. Move in the half court - both ball and bodies
4. Cut hard
5. Make extra passes
 
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Let Cam shoot 10+ threes. He's going to get open 3s from the wing all game long. He has a good shot; let em fly.

Ironically we might be better against UVA this year than any year before. UVA's defense is fantastic at shutting down post/interior scoring. Jokes on them, we don't have any.
 
We struggled against Wake at home.

We lost a tough one at FSU.

UVa lost to the only likely tournament team they have played (WVa). They look strong, but without tougher competition, how strong are they really?

By contrast, we have lost to 2 likely tournament teams while beating 3 more. It's a little clearer what kind of team we are, warts and all.

Bottom line, both teams should be plenty worried.

So . . . how do we beat them?
D-up on the perimeter and make shots.
 
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!
 
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defense-differences.jpg


Harder to get penetration but quality treys are available.
Boy, was I wrong! They sure didn't pack it in yesterday, the contested every shot we took. That was as good a game plan execution as I've seen all year. They sure look like a team that can make a deep NCAAT run, providing they don't do their late season swoon as they've been wont to do under Bennett.

As for the Heels, not surprised at all with the results, against FSU or UVA. We have a lot to learn about playing with focus and intensity. You don't see many UNC teams that are so careless with the ball. Again, much like the FSU game, watch the tape and learn from it. Then move on.

As Theo said, there's no time to sulk. And as one of the upperclassmen, he said the younger players are looking at them for guidance. We simply can't have bad games from 2 of our core four and win against good comp. Kenny was the only one who played very well yesterday. Joel shot poorly, but played pretty well otherwise. Luke and Theo stunk it up.

ETA: I switched to a Luke avatar before the FSU game and it appears to have jinxed him so I'm going to have to switch it again. My apologies for my part in the losses.
 
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