Offensive Limbo

As long as Virginia plays the style preferred by Tony Bennett, we should probably run this chart every year.

You may recall that Bennett’s conservative Cavaliers finished the 2017 season by scoring a miserable 39 points in their second NCAA tournament game, a loss to Florida. UVa’s point production was the lowest during the ACC era by a member school in NCAA competition. The Cavs had 17 points at halftime.

At least we should tip our caps to Bennett, a master suppressor of scoring by both teams, when we recount the premier parsimonious point performances in any and every season.

So, checking how ACC teams are doing in this era of bolstered offenses, we find 25 occasions in 2017-18 when league squads scored fewer than 30 points in the first half. And that’s just through Dec. 11, almost exactly encompassing the first month of the season.

ACC teams were 12-13 in those sub-30 games.

One conference team actually scored 19 in a first half this season – and won. And that wasn’t even Virginia. Miami poured in 19 in the opening period against LaSalle, less than a point per minute. Happily for the Hurricanes, the Explorers matched the Hurricanes for offensive ineptitude. That’s the only sub-20 first half to date in ’18.

Last year’s low through this time of year was 18 in a loss by Georgia Tech against Georgia.

A dozen ACC teams have scored under 30 points in a first half this season, the only exceptions Clemson, Duke and Florida State. Georgia Tech and Notre Dame have been under 30 points four times each, a bit of a surprise by the Irish, followed by three offensive lows for ACC members Louisville and of course Virginia.