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#6 Virginia @ #22 Miami (UVA -2.5) 12/20, 8:30PM EST, ACCN/ESPN+

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Great write up and you are right we can def play better as a whole which is exciting. Hopefully avoid the slow hangover game vs Vermont

But I have a feeling we are due for that game where everyone goes off and we play a near perfect game. Every team has 1-2 per year. I think we are due for one where from the opening tip everyone is hitting, we are playing d, other teams shots arent falling, and every rebound and loose ball just seems to go our way. A 20-30pt win over a legit ACC team. I know as a fan I could go for one of those soon.
 
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NC_Canes_11 said:
Miller needs to be the guy he was at the end of last year. With him and Omier on the boards we can be that good.
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That's asking a lot of Miller. He does so many good things out there for us.

Being a major presence on the glass against teams with multiple physical big men is likely a bridge too far in terms of expectations. He's only 6'7, 190.
 
Notsince1985 said:
Miller has had back to back "off nights" or "quiet games" but he still gave us 10 and 5 and then 11 and 5, and had some key plays tonight. Omier only had 10 and 8, but he also only played 27 minutes because of foul trouble. He did have at least 4 blocks.
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Considering who we were playing and the flow of the game, these were strong performances. Pack contributed his usual 10 points. Wong, though, was on another level!
 
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Mklein13 said:
We need Joseph to start over Poplar. This is why I wish L would play Casey more during non conference games because we needed him tonight and he looked like a true freshmen.
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Only negative is we're already small, and Joseph for Poplar makes us even smaller. On merit, though, like the thinking.
 
Some of y’all need to calm yo ****! We just pulled off the upset and beat the #6 team in the country that has had our number for the last 7 games. Co Le Ho Con take it easy!

Sure, the team had to hold on for dear life at the end of the game after dominating all night but a win is a win is a win!

Most of the mistakes the team made down the stretch can be fixed and I’m confident coach L will get those little thing taken care of.

Great win tonight!! Coach L got him something special cooking and it’s early in the season. If this team stay healthy, they can beat anyone come tourney time!
 
Memnon said:
Spectacular team win!!!!

It cannot be understated that we just upset the #6 ranked team in the Nation & even if by inexact ranking standards UVA is clearly not the 6th best team in the Nation, they’re still a very very good team.

Another great Herculean effort by Wong putting the team on his back & displaying his top notch leadership, lead us in points like he normally does & had some really timely buckets when we needed him. Shooting 7-13 from the floor, 2-3 from 3 & 8-9 from the FT line, he was the primary reason why we won.

At one point in the game we had as large as a 17pt lead on UVA, but in classic UVA fashion, they lull you to sleep & slow down the game & start making shots to turn everything in their favor. The score might indicate the game might’ve looked closer than it really was, but from the tipoff we started out early & jumped to a quick 8 point lead & then went into halftime with a 10pt lead. We had a 17 & 15pt lead at stretches during the beginning of the 2nd half, but as time winded down UVA caught back up as Ben Vander Plas got hot from 3, but in actuality we lead the entirety of the game, & that is what’s most telling about this squad IMO. Of course people will say we almost lost, but the fact we controlled the game until a late run by UVA is actually a major credit to how good we really are & can be.

One of the biggest things I give props to Larra for is the fact he mixed up the rotations quite a bit throughout the game; he played 11 different guys in the 1st half, which kept UVA off balance throwing so many looks at them & disrupting their methodical rhythm on Offense in the first half. We actually played very good Defense in the 1st half forcing turnovers & bad shots & even finished the game with 7 blocks most of which occurred in the 1st half.

We didn’t have a great shooting night, only shot 39% from the floor which is our lowest shooting output we’ve had all season, but what does that say about this team that we shot 39% & still won a huge game like this against a really strong opponent? To me is says we’re actually better than we realize.

Ben Joseph had another very good game Defensively & making 2 good corner 3’s & had a really nice timely bucket on a step back jumper from the foul line when UVA was surging. His play has stepped up significantly & he’s been a reliable 6th man for us this season. He was also the only bench scorer for us, which is really crazy when you think about it...

Pack had a deep 3 with about a 1:40 left & clutch jumper when UVA had cut the lead down to 3.

Omier had a very good Defensive game with 8 rebounds 4blks & 2stls, he would’ve definitely had more rebs if didn’t foul out, but there were at least 2 questionable offensive foul calls that went against him that were bad calls IMO & he also got mugged pretty much the whole game in the paint by Caffaro & Shedrick.

But what this game overall solidified is that Miami & VA Tech are the top of the fckin food chain in the ACC, (Pitt is a sneaky good too lol), but the traditional powers of Duke & UNC are deeply flawed teams that while still having very good talent do not have the cornerstone coaching of Coach K & Roy Williams that used to be able to hide their deficiencies & coach them out of their mistakes. Duke & UNC this season, are regular good teams, meaning, they don’t have the Coaching advantages that they used to have, which makes them vulnerable & beatable.

It hasn’t been perfect by any standard, but being 12-1 at this point in the season cannot be deconstructed as simple luck or playing a weak schedule, we’re a legitimate top 10-15 team in the country right now & it stands within reason that by the time we hit the bulk of our toughest ACC opponents next month we’ll likely be ranked as such.

This team has shown the entire season that they can continuously weather the storm & get themselves out of nearly any adverse situation they find themselves in & that is a testament to the veteran leadership of guys like Wong & Miller & shows the poise this group has even when in multiple scenarios they’re supposed to crumble & lose, but yet they just won’t.

Winning these types of battles early in the season will pay dividends for us come tourney time, because the more this team can build up it’s backbone to withstand adversity, the tougher they’ll become in the long run with the ability to rise up to the occasion when it matters & win.

This might be the best team that Jim Larra has coached since 05 George Mason or 2012-13 Miami & the crazy part is, they’ve still haven’t played their best basketball yet... This feels like a team of destiny tbh.
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Terrific post. Thanks for your insight.
 
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Memnon said:
Spectacular team win!!!!

It cannot be understated that we just upset the #6 ranked team in the Nation & even if by inexact ranking standards UVA is clearly not the 6th best team in the Nation, they’re still a very very good team.

Another great Herculean effort by Wong putting the team on his back & displaying his top notch leadership, lead us in points like he normally does & had some really timely buckets when we needed him. Shooting 7-13 from the floor, 2-3 from 3 & 8-9 from the FT line, he was the primary reason why we won.

At one point in the game we had as large as a 17pt lead on UVA, but in classic UVA fashion, they lull you to sleep & slow down the game & start making shots to turn everything in their favor. The score might indicate the game might’ve looked closer than it really was, but from the tipoff we started out early & jumped to a quick 8 point lead & then went into halftime with a 10pt lead. We had a 17 & 15pt lead at stretches during the beginning of the 2nd half, but as time winded down UVA caught back up as Ben Vander Plas got hot from 3, but in actuality we lead the entirety of the game, & that is what’s most telling about this squad IMO. Of course people will say we almost lost, but the fact we controlled the game until a late run by UVA is actually a major credit to how good we really are & can be.

One of the biggest things I give props to Larra for is the fact he mixed up the rotations quite a bit throughout the game; he played 11 different guys in the 1st half, which kept UVA off balance throwing so many looks at them & disrupting their methodical rhythm on Offense in the first half. We actually played very good Defense in the 1st half forcing turnovers & bad shots & even finished the game with 7 blocks most of which occurred in the 1st half.

We didn’t have a great shooting night, only shot 39% from the floor which is our lowest shooting output we’ve had all season, but what does that say about this team that we shot 39% & still won a huge game like this against a really strong opponent? To me is says we’re actually better than we realize.

Ben Joseph had another very good game Defensively & making 2 good corner 3’s & had a really nice timely bucket on a step back jumper from the foul line when UVA was surging. His play has stepped up significantly & he’s been a reliable 6th man for us this season. He was also the only bench scorer for us, which is really crazy when you think about it...

Pack had a deep 3 with about a 1:40 left & clutch jumper when UVA had cut the lead down to 3.

Omier had a very good Defensive game with 8 rebounds 4blks & 2stls, he would’ve definitely had more rebs if didn’t foul out, but there were at least 2 questionable offensive foul calls that went against him that were bad calls IMO & he also got mugged pretty much the whole game in the paint by Caffaro & Shedrick.

But what this game overall solidified is that Miami & VA Tech are the top of the fckin food chain in the ACC, (Pitt is a sneaky good too lol), but the traditional powers of Duke & UNC are deeply flawed teams that while still having very good talent do not have the cornerstone coaching of Coach K & Roy Williams that used to be able to hide their deficiencies & coach them out of their mistakes. Duke & UNC this season, are regular good teams, meaning, they don’t have the Coaching advantages that they used to have, which makes them vulnerable & beatable.

It hasn’t been perfect by any standard, but being 12-1 at this point in the season cannot be deconstructed as simple luck or playing a weak schedule, we’re a legitimate top 10-15 team in the country right now & it stands within reason that by the time we hit the bulk of our toughest ACC opponents next month we’ll likely be ranked as such.

This team has shown the entire season that they can continuously weather the storm & get themselves out of nearly any adverse situation they find themselves in & that is a testament to the veteran leadership of guys like Wong & Miller & shows the poise this group has even when in multiple scenarios they’re supposed to crumble & lose, but yet they just won’t.

Winning these types of battles early in the season will pay dividends for us come tourney time, because the more this team can build up it’s backbone to withstand adversity, the tougher they’ll become in the long run with the ability to rise up to the occasion when it matters & win.

This might be the best team that Jim Larra has coached since 05 George Mason or 2012-13 Miami & the crazy part is, they’ve still haven’t played their best basketball yet... This feels like a team of destiny tbh.
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This is a love letter to the ampersand & I am here for it.
 
hotshot said:
At this point, I'd say maybe he is playing to his ability. There are a lot of capable scorers on this team and looks like he is the 3rd option, at best, at this point.
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I agree. However, he was 1st Team All Big 12 last year and he looks uncomfortable and tentative at times.

I was expecting him to be playing at the level Wong's at right now. Wong has elevated his game in his parameter shootings and assists. He's definitely improved his draft stock.
 
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Number1CanesFan said:
I agree. However, he was 1st Team All Big 12 last year and he looks uncomfortable and tentative at times.

I was expecting him to be playing at the level Wong's at right now. Wong has elevated his game in his parameter shootings and assists. He's definitely improved his draft stock.
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Seems to me he defers to Wong and Miller (only so many outside shots available in a game). And i get that. It's really their team.

If Wong had not come back for this season, my guess is Pack would be averaging at least 16-17 ppg, if not more.
 
Apologies if already discussed.

For anyone there last nite: How was the attendance -- % of Watsco filled, and how involved were fans. TV can be misleading, both ways, for good and bad impressions.
 
Jordan Miller really disappeared I thought last night against UVA. I hope we can get more consistent production from him moving forward against good competition. That will make the difference if we can really take the next step in the tournament or not.
 
CANEFAN83 said:
Jordan Miller really disappeared I thought last night against UVA. I hope we can get more consistent production from him moving forward against good competition. That will make the difference if we can really take the next step in the tournament or not.
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Yea he didn't have a very good game but hit two big free throws at the end. What ****ed me off is when he fell asleep off the missed free throw and Vander ***** got an easy putback. We need more offense from him, Pack, and Poplar going forward. Can't rely on Wong and Omier every game.
 
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