The Virginia Cavaliers have a chance to improve their win streak to eight games when they head to Tallahassee to take on Florida State on Saturday. UVa’s last loss was on Jan. 13 at Wake Forest. Since, Virginia has ripped off seven straight wins and now stands one game back from league-leading North Carolina (10-2 in the ACC).
The Cavaliers have won 23 straight games at home.
Virginia (18-5, 9-3 ACC) received 32 votes in the latest AP Top 25 and is the hottest team in the ACC and the nation. The success stems from what Tony Bennett’s squad has been able to accomplish defensively with its infamous pack-line defense which takes away dribble drives and interior scoring options to force teams to settle for and beat you with outside shots.
Virginia’s half-court defense this year is allowing just 0.783 points per possession which is sixth-best in the country, per Synergy. They currently have the best defense in the country (beating Houston by nearly two points per 100 possessions) in the seven-game winning streak. Additionally, teams are shooting just 52% at the rim against Virginia.
Take a look at Virginia’s last few games. N.C. State scored 53 against Virginia in overtime and had just 15 points at halftime. Louisville scored 52. Notre Dame 53. And most recently, Miami only scored 38 points(!) against the Cavaliers with just 17 points at the half. It’s mind-boggling. But this is nothing new to a Bennett-coached Virginia team.
Jacquie Franciulli, publisher of Wahoos247, sees the return of key players and the emergence of Jordan Minor as a big reason for the team’s current success.
“Virginia has turned a corner. Ever since the Cavaliers’ loss to Wake Forest on the road, the ‘Hoos look like a different team – you can even say that the team had a ‘WAKE’ up call….”
“The rotations and combinations on the floor were not working. They were not effective at getting the best out of the group collectively. But once Dante Harris returned from an ankle injury, the rotations started to work better. Harris helped ease the workload off of Reece Beekman. Then came the emergence of Jordan Minor and Taine Murray from the bench. Minor’s aggression and physicality have been a huge difference for the Cavaliers.”
Like a lot of college teams at this point in the season, players started to find their roles and the coaching staff figured out the most effective lineup combinations.
“These players returning/contributing allowed for Jake Groves to go back to playing a stretch four – his more natural position (Minor is now playing the five). During the seven game win-streak, Groves is hitting 17-of-27 (63.0%) and averaging 9.6 points per game. In the last four games, Groves is shooting an incredible 70% clip from outside the arc.”
Another big part of Virginia’s success is star sophomore, Ryan Dunn, who according to 247Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein’s “Draftables” is now considered a potential Lottery pick for the 2024 NBA Draft. Like most freshmen under Tony Bennett, Dunn waited his turn and is now one of the premier guards in the ACC. The 6-foot-8, 215-pound New York native was a late bloomer coming out of high school. He was the program’s lowest-rated commit in the class of 2023 at No. 147 overall per 247Sports.
Dunn has drastically increased his scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Dunn is averaging 9.4 points per game and shooting 58% percent from the field. He’s averaging 7.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.6 steals, and 2.2 blocks per game. Dunn recorded eight or more rebounds 10 times and has recorded five double-doubles on the season.
With eight games left in the regular season, Virginia basketball once again has high expectations heading into postseason play. The Cavs would be the No. 2 seed right now in the ACC Tournament and CBS’s Jerry Palm has the Wahoos as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament in his Feb. 5 Bracketlogy.
Virginia’s final stretch of conference games is not easy. They are at Florida State and home vs. Pitt before a rematch at home vs. Wake Forest. The two games to circle are vs. No. 3 UNC and No. 9 Duke. The Cavaliers get the Tar Heels at home on Saturday, Feb. 24 and then face the Blue Devils in Durham on March 2. Those two games will decide the conference standings.
But right now, there is no doubt that Virginia is the hottest team in the ACC and a team, and a defense, that no one is excited to face down the stretch.
The Daily Dish is a daily college basketball column by a rotating cast of 247Sports writers on the biggest stories of the day in the sport and will run through the NCAA Tournament championship in April.
