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Late inning rallies lead to 5-4 UVA win over Wichita State

Wichita State was ahead 3-2 after 7 innings, but Virginia tied the score in the bottom of the 8th. Wichita State scored in the top of the 10th to lead 4-3, but the Hoos came back in the bottom of the inning on a single by Stephon; Anderson was hit b a pitch, and Ford followed with a 2 RBi double to win the game. Ford and Whalen each had 3 hits, and Saucke and Godbout had 2.
Blanco started and pitched 4.1 innings and gave up the first 3 runs. Hungate got the final out in the 5th inning. Moore pitched 2.2 innings, and Barker pitched .2 innings. These three gave up 0 hits and runs. Teel came on to pitch the final two innings and allowed 1 hit and run in the 10th while striking out 5 Shockers and was the winning pitcher.

Hoo Women take down Miami

The ladies played probably their best game of the year Thursday, taking down a Miami team the announcers were touting as locks for the tournament. Uva has won one less game than Miami (5-10 vs 6-10 for Miami in ACC), but have three tough ones in a row to end the season. If their out of conference was as solid as last year, I would think they would be contention for a spot. Coach Mox shortened the bench last night and it seemed to help. Great guard play from Johnson, Clarke, and Brown (and Cam Taylor hit some key shots), but they need more height and a couple forwards who can drive and hit threes too. I would love to see the place packed for the last game against VT at JPJ, come on out (and pray Amore and Kitley are out sick with a 24 hours bug ;)).

BB Lineup

I would love to see CTB have Beekman, McNeely, Dunn, Groves and Minor in our starting lineup. We need to have at least one additional person looking for their shot in addition to Beekman and McNeely. That would be Groves. He could play the 3 on offense and 4 on defense, while Dunn has the skillset to play the 3 defensively and 4 offensively. My next substitutions would be Buchanan for Minor and Bond. Would also need to mix in Rhode and Harris/Gertrude to give Beekman and McNeely a blow.

I just don't think we have enough players capable and willing to take shots with our current starting lineup and rotations.
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Checking in on several notable 2025 prospects

UVa has a number of irons in the fire in 2025 and today @Dylan Callaghan-Croley takes a look at several notable targets and where things stand at this stage in their recruitments.

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Three-star G Henry talks recruiting, UVa, decision timeline

Three-star guard Isaiah Henry talked to @HoustonWilson about the latest in his recruitment, where things stand with UVa, and when he’d like to make his decision.

Preview: Hoos head to Blacksburg tonight for a rivalry rematch

Preview: The Hoos head to Blacksburg tonight for a rivalry rematch against the Hokies. @justin ferber breaks down the matchup between UVa and Virginia Tech.

We get so close in the ladies game; missing 4 wide open layups and losing by 6 points sums up yet another close game that could have been won.

So many blown opportunities including two wide open layups blown with a total of 4 layups blown.

So thoughts going into the off season for next year and future. The staff has to work on improving Defensive footwork and over pursuing/poor defensive coverage out at the 3pt line. We were toasted over and over on ladies, specifically Clark, McGhee, Brown, and Smith would leave their person and drift back in to triple team and leave Woodley and Fair out their to shoot easy 3pt shots.

This has been a defensive failure all year with not picking your person up and allowing them to stand flat footed and shoot easy 3pt shots. Today it burned us.

When I see Clark and McGhee especially on D, don't know why on full court run and gun D, they both look like they are doing a lite jog down the court being left behind, then as seen several times Clark will come slow out to 3pt shooter and completely runs by with a hand up and continues to keep running like she's trying to run up in the stands to just have the shooter fake, hold until she runs by and out of defensive danger and shoot an easy take your time 3pt shot.

To have girls that thin and tall and be so slow on guarding out at the 3pt line or in open court both McGhee and Clark look like they lose the person they are guarding like a child chasing a butterfly in a field.

Also need to work on the number of bad, really bad forced passes into Clarkson and Taylor that are turned over right to Clemson defenders; not even close. Need to work on overthrows to a team mate out of bounds today and all year when it was not forced.

I like what Coach MOX is doing, and Positives is we do have ladies not afraid to drive all the way, but we rarely have our big girls crashing when outside shots are taken. You would see a miss 3pt shot in the corner and not one UVA lady under the rim for a rebound.

The big thing is footwork and not drifting too far back and leaving the opponents out at the 3 wide open.

Hopefully this offseason we can find some productive 6'3 or taller ladies that can actually shot and defend under the basket after several players leave this year as seniors and graduate students.

Virginia completes sweep of Hofstra with 11 - 9 win

Virginia belted out 15 hits with seven players (O'Ferrall, Stephon, Anderson, Ford, Saucke, Didawick, and Godbout) each having 2 hits. Ford had the only home run for the Cavs, and he and Saucke had a team leading 3 RBI. It seemed to me that our hitters have a good lead on our pitchers based on a very small sample size. I was most impressed with three new Cavalier pitchers - Barker, Moore, and Teel. Woolfolk started and gave up 5 runs on just two hits in the first two innings. He walked the first batter in the third; who later scored so Woolfolk had 6 earned runs. The bull pen pitchers only allowed 3 more runs in the 7th inning. Virginia scored 3 runs in the 1st and 6th innings, 2 runs in the 2nd and 5th innings and 1 run in the 3rd.

RIp "Lefty" Driesell

I graduated from Newport News High School in 1957 and watched Bill Chambers lead our basketball team to state championships in 1955-56 and 1956-57. Chambers was hired to be the head coach at William and Mary in 1957. Driesell was persuaded to leave the head coaching job at his alma mater, Granby High, and take the job at Newport News. He coached the 1957-58 team to the third consecutive state championship. I paid a visit to my high school during my first year at Virginia, and I happened to see him and thanked him for the job that he was doing. Even though he had no idea who I was, he was very cordial. I had no idea that I had just had a conversation with a future Hall of Fame coach.

Caitlin Clark

I know many on here don't follow women's basketball, but even you are not interested in it I would highly recommend taking the time to watch Caitlin Clark play. I can't remember a player in the last 30 years that shoots as much as she does under such pressure and from such crazy distances. She routinely pulls up and hits 35+ foot three pointers (often in transition) and does so without losing her technique (she averages 13 three point attempts per game). So often in the women's game you will see players take set shot three pointers or shoot it from the hip almost, but Clark can pull up from 35-40 feet with perfect form and shoot over players. Every team she plays against does all kinds of things to stop her from scoring and none are successful. Her movement to get open is fun to watch. It is also interesting watching how they use her on defense. She pretty much just stands around and picks up whatever player she wants to (the one closest to her so she doesn't have to expend much energy) and her teammates then have to adjust (would drive Bennett crazy). Definitely worth watching video highlight of her game last night in which she broke the women's scoring record. She had 23 pts in the first quarter and 49 for the game including 9 three pointers.

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Jump Balls

Can anyone explain to me why we have Minor (and not Dunn) taking the opening tip each game (that he loses every time)? It's effectively giving away a possession to start each game and effectively a turnover. I know we will usually get the ball to start the second half, but not always in those situations where there is a held ball we may not. Dunn is much quicker off of the floor, gets up higher and has a longer reach it seems than Minor (and is only an inch shorter). The only reason I can think of is that Bennett wants him ready to play defense once we lose the tip, but he'd be just as able to do if he takes the jump ball and loses it.
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GAME DAY

I think that we will win today v/s Wake , we have changed a lot since the last game at Wake. We also have been able to rest v/s the pit game , where we had one day to prepare v/s Pitt getting 6 days to prepare. I hope that our FT shooting continues to improve every little bit helps.

The weather was cold and windy, but the Virginia bats were hot

Virginia scored 8 runs in the 3rd inning, 5 in the 4th, 4 in the 5th, and 3 in the 8th to defeat Hofstra 21 - 3. Blanco started on the mound and pitched the first 3 innings to earn the win. Both teams went deep into the bullpen. Virginia was led at the plate by Whalen, who was 4 for 4 with 2 walks and 6 RBI. Ford was 3 for 5 with 1 of Virginia's 4 home runs. O'Ferrall was 2 for 4 with a home run and 4 RBI; Didawick was 2 for 5 with a home run, a double and 3 RBI. Saucke was 2 for 6 with 2 RBI; Hanson was 1 for 2 with a home run, 2 walk and 2 hit by pitches. Several bench position players got into the game in the last few innings.

Virginia managed to overcome poor shooting to defeat Wake Forest 49 -47.

Once again Virginia was led on offense by Beekman and McNeely. Beekman led the Cavs' scoring with 20 points, and McKneely added 12. Beekman also tied for a team first 4 assists. The team was a poor 4 for 13 on three point shots and a dismal 1 for 11 on free throw attempts. Ultimately Virginia, led by Dunn and Buchanan, won on defense. Dunn had 7 blocked shots, and Buchanan had 2. Dunn also had a team leading 9 rebounds, and Buchanan was second with 7. Wake had the advantage in made free throws (4 to 10) and three point shots (5 to 4), but Virginia mad 18 of 41 two pointers, and the Deacons only made 14 of 34.
The talking heads will say that it was not a pretty game, but a not so pretty win is better than a pretty loss.
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