Casey Morsell’s Breakout is the Story of Virginia’s Win Over Notre Dame

If you’ve watched Virginia basketball for the last two seasons, there’s a good chance you’ve been frustrated, disappointed (etc.) by Casey Morsell. He clanked his way to 27.7 percent from the field and 17.6 from three last year despite coming in as the Cavaliers’ most high-profile recruit. To start this season, the improvement was minimal on the offensive end, and then a COVID-19 absence struck forcing him out of Virginia’s wins over Wake Forest and Boston College. At the time, he was coming off a 2-for-9 performance and shooting 21.4 percent from deep.

Then he came back after his two-game absence and looked like a totally different player. His first shot, a corner three, went down and he shot confidently the rest of the way. Morsell finished with 15 points and his best single-game shooting percentage (85.7 percent) of his two-year career. The D.C. product was 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc (also a career-best). In a game where Jay Huff tied his career-high, Morsell was the one who earned KenPom’s game MVP honor.

Virginia wound up beating Notre Dame 80-68 to improve their record to 8-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference action.

The Hoos now face their biggest ACC challenge yet on Saturday. They’ll travel down to Clemson for a huge game. UVA is ranked #15 by KenPom while Clemson is right behind them at #18; they’re the two highest-ranked ACC teams via KenPom. As of now, KP has Clemson projected to win 58-56. With another heat-check performance by Morsell, however, there’s no reason the Hoos can’t pull the upset.

ESPN will broadcast the game nationally at 6:00 p.m. ET.