The first game of the ACC vs B1G 10 Challenge kicked off with Iowa visiting the JPJ.  Iowa is the highest scoring team in the country at 97+ points per game.  After getting soundly smacked around by the Hawkeyes in the first half, the Cavaliers stormed back and even took the lead late.  On a Kihei Clark 3, if you can believe it.  And they had a couple of good looks in the last couple of seconds.  Despite the loss, this was not a woulda, coulda, shoulda kind of loss.  This is a loss that can be built on.

Iowa              75
Virginia         74

Negative

Let’s just get the first half out of the way.  Iowa rung up 44 first-half points, the most Tony Bennett has ever given up at home.  Iowa was controlling the tempo and shooting lights out from three-point range.  Heck, they were lights out all across the hardwood.  Kadin Shedrick quickly picked up a pair of fouls and played maybe 5 minutes in the half.  Taine Murray was the whipping boy on defense as Iowa simply targeted him all game.  Virginia missed their first five 3-point attempts while Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon was 4 – 4 all by himself over that time span.  If I didn’t have to write this column, I would have turned the game off with Virginia down 14 points.

Positive

Well, the second half.  As is almost always the case, great defense is easier to play when you are making buckets.  Missing buckets just gives too many opportunities for the opposition to get out and run in transition.  That’s a basketball truism.  It is even more apropos when one has to beat down Virginia’s PackLine.   Virginia made more buckets in the second half, shooting 78% from three and 63% overall.  Virginia was much stronger on the boards and that largely came from the addition of Igor Milicic and the return of Shedrick.

Positive

Taine Murray!  After being simply posterized in the first half, Murray literally grew up before our eyes in the second half. He went 3 – 5  from three, had a couple of big boards, and played much better defense.  In the middle of Virginia’s second-half surge, Murray stood up Iowa’s Chris Murray – one of his first half tormentors – and forced a travel.  He would have been a hero had he converted his free throws late in the game, but no matter.  This game should be a huge confidence boost and get him meaningful playing time.

Positive

3-point shooting.  Virginia shot an eye-popping 7 – 9 from three en route to a 50% night.  Murray was 4 – 6 and Clark was 3 – 4.  But the most remarkable were the pair of threes that Jayden Gardner hit from the wing just 50 seconds apart.  Remember, Virginia surrendered 44 first half points.  Sometimes, before you can start whittling down the lead, you just have to be able to match the other team.  And Gardner’s pair did just that.

Negative

Rebounding is always going to be a struggle.  UVa is just small.  With 5:51 left in the game, Virginia played the PackLine to perfection, forcing a poor shot out of  Iowa.  But 6’4” Armaan Franklin, having to defend 6’8” Kris Murray, fouled him.  Giving up four inches, like we do at almost every position means you can lose the ball/rebound, even when you have position.

Positive

Reece Beekman.  For the first time in his UVa career, I would say that Beekman was hunting his shot and attacking the rim.  He’s going up stronger and his misses are looking better.  He’s getting better picking his spots.

Poignant

Malachi Poindexter.  He got in again.  He’s a local boy who had his heart set on playing at Virginia.  He made his own highlight reel, and as SeattleHoo recounted in our relaunched podcast, he even sent HoosPlace a copy.  He missed his three.  But you know what?  He was supposed to take that three.  I like the bravado.

Positive

The Kihei Clark – Kadin Shedrick two-man game.  One of the big mysteries of Bennett’s tenure at Virginia is why we don’t utilize the pick and roll more when we have some very athletic bigs.  Yet on this night, on two of Clark’s made threes, he played off Shedrick’s screens to get himself open.  And on maybe the prettiest play of the night, Clark delivered an over-the-shoulder alley oop to Shedrick that he slammed down, a la Jay Huff, to bring the game within 3 points, 61 – 64.  The JPJ was jumping…

Negative

Carson McCorkle is buried.  And I suspect he’ll transfer out next spring.  Jordan Bohannon was carving Virginia from three and every Hawkeye who drove the lane, pretty much straight to the rim, was having success.  Virginia gave up 44 first half points.  And still McCorkle, who’s defense is probably still suspect in Tony Bennett’s eyes, cannot get any burn.

Positive

Virginia didn’t give up. If I weren’t writing this column, I most assuredly would have turned off the game at halftime and moved over to Netflix.  It would have been my loss.  Sometimes there are moral victories in defeat.  This was one of those times.