I knew we had this one won when we cut the deficit to four by halftime. That’s the confidence that Tony Bennett has instilled in me: a knowledge that we almost always will leave the locker room at halftime with a tactical edge, and the knowledge that a less-talented opponent must keep the pedal mashed down to pull the upset. When we strung together eight free throws and an Uncle Malcolm layup to go on a 10-2 run and cut a 12-point Davidson lead to four, I knew that we were in good shape. It felt like a lock when Justin (who hit four of them in the game after being called a “borderline shooter” by Cory Alexander) hit back-t0-back threes (the second a definitive heat check) to break a 55-all tie and put us up six.
It was ugly for a while, though. Davidson played small (though not really by choice, their players are small), spread us out, and attacked down the middle of the lane when we hedged on pick and rolls. The results? Good looks from three, and a surprising number of layups — even for a team that boasts one of the better offenses in the country. Our guys were lax closing out on shooters in the first half (and by “guys,” I mean Malcolm), which is a sin that is pardonable against teams where guys blink before shooting, but Davidson has a roster-wide green light, and we paid the price: the Wildcats racked up an EFG% of 58.0 and an offensive efficiency mark of 116.5 (both season highs for UVa opponents), and their 11 threes were also the most we’ve allowed to anyone. Jack Gibbs continued his season-long efficiency rampage (21 points on 10 shots) and Tyler Kalinoski was slippery and dead-eye (20, 3-5 on threes).
The offense spent the first half in one of those funks where we get frustrated that shots aren’t falling, stop running our sets to completion, and end up choosing a less-than-optimal shot (we took 10 first-half threes despite our choice of mismatch awaiting us in the lane). CTB got it together at the break, and the trio of Anthony Gill, Darion Atkins, and Mike Tobey scored 32 of our 51 second half points. Gill was unstoppable: 19 points and six boards against a legion of Davidson defenders in the second half en route to career-highs of 25 and 13 for the game, and Darion chipped in a double-double of his own (13 and 10) in just 18 minutes, looking like himself for the first time since hurting his buttocks against Maryland.
On the guard side, Malcolm’s shot wasn’t dropping (2-10), but he did that thing he did last year where he’d plow into the lane, draw contact, and pile up points at the line (he went 12-12), London Perrantes continued to struggle with his shot (but at least he took seven), but had seven assists (including two or three of the highlight no-look variety) and went much of the game without a turnover before finishing with two, and Justin scored 14 and hammered down the dunk of his year so far on top of the aforementioned four threes.
I’ve believed this since last year, but this team plays better when Anthony Gill gets touches. He’s skilled (one of his second half buckets came after he dribbled out of the post to create space and blew by his defender off the dribble, as you have to respect him from 20 feet in), unselfish (he had two assists, including one of Justin’s big threes), and versatile (he can blow by bigger fours and overpower smaller ones). There’s a legit chance he leads this team in scoring in conference play.
We destroyed Davidson as expected on the glass (47.2% of offensive boards, 79.2% of defensive), with Gill (six), Atkins (six) and Tobey (four) doing almost all of the damage on the offensive side. We’ve been hovering around the 40% mark on the offensive boards all year, but this was our second-best effort of the season on that side (just behind the 51.5% mark against Tennessee State).
Some will say that Davidson exposed our weaknesses tonight and has established the blueprint of how to beat us for the entire ACC, but the best ACC teams (Louisville, Duke) don’t need no stinkin’ blueprint, and there aren’t many among the rest with a wizardly offensive mind like McKillop (who I sort of hope gets a BCS conference opportunity someday, and sort of hope stays at Davidson forever) calling the shots or his array of shooters orbiting the three-point line. I welcome the idea of a team that doesn’t typically play this way trying to force it into their game plan — that’s the recipe for a 5-27 mark from three, donations from everyone to the One Love Foundation, and a long bus ride home from Charlottesville.
I’m glad we saw a little adversity, especially since we outscored Davidson by 23 over the last 25 minutes of the game and won by double-digits. The non-con schedule is over, the ‘Hoos are undefeated, and we should all be pretty happy. Now, throw it all out. The real season starts Saturday.
