69 - 66 In the first half, Virginia looked like a senior led team with offensive patience and defensive toughness. At half, Virginia led by five, but it appeared they should have had a much bigger lead. Virginia shot around 50% from the field in the first half, while holding Penn State to roughly 35% shooting. Two things happened from there, Penn State went on a run and Virginia lost their offensive patience as noted by the graphs below...
The two graphs show the points graphed for the duration of the game and the FG% graphed for the duration of the game. Its pretty clear that the game turned when the field goal shooting turned. Further, Virginia held a rebounding advantage for the entire first half and Penn State also took control there in the second half. So, why did the collapse happen?
- We have to give some credit to junior guard Talor Battle. Battle was nearly held in check in the first half, but managed to finish with 32 points on 9-15 shooting. Battle was nearly unstoppable in the second half.
- The run actually started at the end of the first half, and likely partly keyed by Mike Scott's 3rd foul. When Scott picked up the foul, he sat for the remainder of the first half. Why was this important? Mike Scott is Virginia's best rebounder and only low post presence. Scott finished the game leading Virginia in +/- at +10. That means while Scott wasn't on the floor, Virginia was -13.
Virginia's loss has the ACC down 1-0 in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge.
