Like William and Mary (2-3), our “rival” Virginia (4-1) — the reigning NCAA champion (2018–19), currently ranked No. 16 nationwide — has experienced its fair share of disruptions because of COVID-19. After a series of positive tests within their program, the Cavaliers paused all men’s basketball activities Wednesday, Dec. 9, postponing games against No. 12 Michigan State (6-1) and Wake Forest (2-0), and canceling a game against No. 5 Villanova (7-1). However, in addition to these disruptions, Virginia also had to reschedule its long-awaited “rivalry” game against our College — coming off a 16-day quarantine slump — from its original date to today.
Today marked the first game that Virginia had played in 18 days, since it went into quarantine after narrowly defeating Kent State 71-64 at home in overtime Friday, Dec. 4. It was a good, energizing home win for the Cavaliers coming off of illness, and it was a tough, to-be-expected loss for us, when we were given only 2.5 percent odds of pulling off an upset as 19.8-point underdogs. This defeat wasn’t as bitter as the High Point loss (71-49) three days ago — because we weren’t expected to beat the Cavaliers, unlike the Panthers — but it still stung to lose on the road. And it was disheartening to see, yet again, very few bright spots from our performance today.
Final score: Virginia 76, William and Mary 40
- Despite not having played in 18 days, the Cavaliers showed no signs of rust as they dominated our Tribe on defense. Playing coach Tony Bennett’s patented, Virginia-strong, man-to-man defense with plenty of switches and rotations, the Cavaliers boxed us out of the paint and forced us to take bad shot after bad shot after bad shot, often with little to no time left. Not only did we miss dozens of shots from the floor — we shot 14-of-50 total, including 3-of-17 from three — but we also had numerous shot clock violations as guards Luke Loewe and Connor Kochera tried to put up last-second shots in vain.
- From Brendan and John — if you watched the game, here are two fun stats that are totally fake (don’t cite these!) but sound real: William and Mary missed its first 17 shots! And our Tribe had six shot clock violations in the first two minutes!
- In all seriousness, honesty and truth, Loewe had a particularly rough game as the Cavaliers’ defense succeeded in containing him on the offensive end. Not only did the lone scholarship senior (and talented bass fisherman) shoot 0-of-4 from behind the three-point arc, but Loewe was also held to only five points scoring, by far his lowest finish of the season to this point.
- Side note: Shoutout to the ACC Network for airing clips from Loewe’s YouTube channel, “Bass and Buckets.” Luke, if you’re ever back in Wisconsin and want to go fishing, drink beer and talk about life, let me know. I know little about fishing, but much about life: “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.” (Other country songs are available — meaning, we are not sponsored.)
- To be fair to Loewe, Kochera and his teammates also had a rough game. Despite attempting as many as 13 shots — by far the most on the team — Kochera scored only eight points and shot 0-of-5 from three. While he did manage to grab six rebounds (three on each end), putting him in second behind redshirt freshman Ben Wight, who had seven boards, Kochera struggled on offense in the face of a stifling Virginia defense. But at least, unlike some of his teammates — freshman point guard Yuri Covington in particular — Kochera didn’t turn the ball over. Whereas Covington had seven turnovers to two assists (yikes!), Kochera was a blank in both categories. Hopefully, neither of the two freshmen are too discouraged by this loss and are able to recover and redouble their strengths as we enter Colonial Athletic Association play next month.
- Despite his turnovers and his woeful assist-to-turnover ratio (2-to-7), Covington led us in scoring with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three. He also sank all four of his free throws and grabbed four boards. While I’m not happy with Covington’s turnovers, I still respect Covington’s game, and I was thoroughly impressed by the way Covington tried to penetrate through Virginia’s rock-solid defense and by the way he challenged Virginia’s top defenders. Plus, I think — or maybe, I hope — he’s getting better at putting up his shots over and above his frequently taller defenders.
- Junior forward Mekhel Harvey played a quiet 11 minutes as our fifth starter, scoring just four points on 2-of-4 shooting. Lacking presence on both ends of the floor — despite what his height, strength and wingspan might suggest — Harvey had another lackluster showing on offense and defense. He needs to be more aggressive on both ends of the floor and impose himself physically and not get boxed out by some of the smaller, weaker guys on the opposing team. While I’ve been a big fan of Harvey’s since the start of the season, and I’m still rooting for him to become the talented starter that I know he can be with his physicality, I’m not going to accept zero rebounds and zero blocks from him on a regular basis. I’ll raise hell if I keep seeing him get boxed out when I know he should be on the inside grabbing rebounds and scoring put-back jumpers in the paint.
- In all, Virginia outrebounded us 35-29 and outscored us 19-11 in second-chance points. In addition, the Cavaliers outscored us 34-18 in the paint. Given these numbers and the unstoppable way Virginia played throughout the game, victory was all but inevitable for the Cavaliers against us. Not only did the Cavaliers shoot an impressive 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the floor, but they also buried us with a decent 34.6 percent (9-of-26) shooting from three.
- While we did show a little life at the start of the second half, reducing a 22-point deficit (36-14) to 17 (38-21) — thanks to a three-pointer by Covington and a layup by Kochera — there was no surmounting that insurmountable Virginia defense. Holding us to just 14 points in the first half and 26 in the second, Virginia outscored us by 36 to win the game.
William and Mary is now done with its non-conference schedule — at least as of now. We’ll see if the Tribe schedules anything else, but I’d imagine not.
No podcast this week. Have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate the holiday. Otherwise, have a wonderful four-day weekend.