“That’s something I’m not used to,” said forward Jake Groves, a transfer from Oklahoma. “This team really, really has a knack for finding each other, taking care of the ball and then it leaves it up to guys like me to make shots.”

In Tuesday night’s 80-51 blowout of North Carolina A&T, UVa (3-0) had 22 assists on 31 made baskets and committed just eight turnovers. Virginia went 6 for 13 on 3-point attempts, often setting up open looks on the perimeter by getting penetration into the lane, then passing the ball outside.

The ball movement and ball security through the first three games has been particularly impressive considering the newness of this year’s roster. Virginia lost five of its top seven players in terms of minutes logged last season, added four transfers – Groves, Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas), Dante Harris (Georgetown) and Jordan Minor (Merrimack) and four scholarship freshmen, three of whom are redshirting.

In the summer and preseason, UVa has quickly developed a chemistry and camaraderie that has shown up in the statistics. It leads the ACC in assists (15.7 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.84) going into Thursday night’s home game against Texas Southern (0-2), which has a 6-foot-11 and a 6-foot-10 post player and played a competitive game at Arizona State on Saturday, falling 63-52.

“I think throughout the summer we were big on that, moving the ball around,” sophomore wing Ryan Dunn said. “We have some good shooting ability, so it’s good to get them the ball, get them started early and it kind of opens up lots of stuff for me as well to crash the glass, long shots, long rebounds, they’re all going to scramble defensively. It’s great having them and I think we’re doing a great job finding them to get them their shots early.”

On the year, the Cavaliers are taking, and making, more 3-pointers per game this season than a year ago, when they ranked eighth in the ACC hitting 35% of its shots from beyond the arc. This year, that number is up to 43.4%.

Virginia averaged 6.3 3s per game on 18 attempts last year. This season, it’s taking 17.7 3s per game and connecting on 7.7.

“They take good shots,” said Tarleton State coach Billy Gillispie, whose team Virginia hit 10 3-pointers against in the season opener. “They get good shots. If you let those perimeter players catch the ball, and you guard the ball as poorly as we did, let them go from one side to the other with penetration, you’re going to be in a bind. They’ll make shots all year long if someone defends them like we did.”

McKneely, Groves, Rohde and Taine Murray are noted sharpshooters, while senior guard Reece Beekman and Dunn worked in the offseason to improve their outside stroke. All six have already knocked down a 3-pointer in the first three games, and Groves said those shots aren’t flukes or unexpected.

“A lot of the same shots we get in games are the same shots we’re making in practice,” Groves said.

Of course, past Virginia teams have struggled when they relied too heavily on 3-pointers for offense. And Tuesday night, despite being athletically overmatched at every position, North Carolina A&T was able to stiffen its 3-point defense after halftime.

UVa went 6 for 8 from beyond the arc in the first half and 0 for 5 on 3s after the break, as it actually was outscored by the Aggies, 32-31 in the second half of the blowout.

“At halftime, we had two goals we wanted to accomplish,” A&T coach Monte Ross said. “One, we wanted to try to win the second half. And we did. The other goal, we wanted to try to limit their 3-point shots. And we did. I don’t think they hit a 3 against us in the second half.”

Of course, leading by 30 at the half, Virginia’s urgency to hit from the outside no doubt lessened. And the players are confident that, with the way they move and share the ball, open looks will be there going forward.