It’s unclear which of his clinics stuck out more — shot selection or passing — because it was that kind of night. YaYa Anderson only took nine shots, and of those nine, only two were inside of the 3-point line.
“I took a different approach this game,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t trying to take it to the basket early because I’m a bit hurt. But my shot started to fall and kept rolling, so why not keep shooting there.”
When he wasn’t knocking down the 3-pointers, the Radford commit looked like he was just toying around in cat and mouse fashion with Kettle Run as he picked up assists on behind-the-back, no-look passes, then two more helpers on one-handed overhand passes at the half court line through a zone defense that resembled four-seam fastballs more than anything else. And for the time that Fluvanna County had their foot on the pedal, Anderson’s teammates thrived off of it, finishing underneath with easy layups and knocking down short jumpers. That, paired with an aggressive approach on defense was way more than the Cougars could handle as they fell to the Flyin’ Flucos 74-45.
“I was a little concerned coming in after last night’s game which was so physical,” said Fluvanna coach Munro Rateau. “So I was afraid of what kind of intensity we’d have coming in, but as a coach, I couldn’t be any happier than with what we had tonight.”
Anderson enjoyed much of the second half from the bench, but his strong night from beyond the arc allowed him to lead all scorers with 18 points on six threes to go along with his seven assists and six rebounds. With his team up 12-4 midway through the first quarter, the senior took control of the game with his passing when he wasn’t launching from beyond the arc. He commanded the floor with the vocal authority that his coach was looking for coming into the season.
“I think everyone’s starting to adjust to that a bit more,” Anderson said. “They’re seeing the passes better and getting better at catching them.”
With the press creating turnovers and the Flucos shooting lights out, the early 8-point lead quickly inflated to 18 by the end of the first half with Fluvanna managing to put up a whopping 25 points total in the frame. The Flucos out-did themselves in second quarter, scoring the same total and holding Kettle run to just eight points to make the deficit 32 points at the half.
“When YaYa has the ball in his hands, if you want to get open and then actually do it, he will find you,” Rateau said. “Our younger guys are figuring that out and so they’re working harder on getting open. And then (the opposition has) to take care of the scoring YaYa does too, so somebody’s got to be open. We’re getting better and better and I’m pleased with that.”
Things got a bit sloppy in the first half of the third with neither team mustering up anything on offense. With a such a comfortable margin at its hands, Fluvanna took mercy on Kettle Run with a symbolic moment of that coming from Anderson late in the third when he was chasing a loose ball and rather than absolutely flattening a Kettle Run defender, stopped short and took a bruise from the floor. That was the end of his night. From the end of the third all the way though the fourth opting to play its bench in order to help new players garner much needed game experience.
“Take YaYa and Taylor Lintecum off the floor and nobody played any minutes last year,” Rateau said. “Jake Smith is getting better, great finisher with soft hands around the basket. Our two freshmen, Jalen Harrison and Vinny Agee are continuing to improve. Brad Bullock is doing great for us on defense. Blake Hills has had to play each team’s best player each game and that’s a role he’s accepting well on defense too. We know we’re playing some good teams coming up, so really, we don’t have a choice but to get better and better.”
Anderson’s senior counterpart, Lintecum, was on point with 11 points. So too was Harrison who added 10 points of his own.
Fluvanna (5-0) hosts its Holiday Bash starting on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
