The Virginia men's basketball team has a last chance to save its disappointing season in its last three games, beginning tomorrow against Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers realize they are in a desperate situation after a loss to Florida State Wednesday, but with only three games left in the season and the team swiftly dropping in the rankings, this attitude reversal may prove too little, too late.
Virginia has dropped six of the past eight games, and Wednesday's loss gave the Cavaliers (16-8, 6-7) a losing record in the ACC. Unless Virginia can defeat Georgia Tech (12-15, 4-9) tomorrow, it will not finish with a winning record in the ACC.
Virginia beat Georgia Tech 69-65 in the teams' first meeting Jan. 22. Freshman forward Elton Brown had a breakout game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. Virginia also benefited by a sub-par game from Georgia Tech senior guard Tony Akins, who scored only two points. Akins averages 16.5 points and 5.38 assists per game and will pose a problem for Virginia and its shallow backcourt.
But when the Cavaliers last faced the Yellow Jackets it was under slightly different circumstances. Virginia had risen to as high as No. 5 in national polls before a four-game losing streak. Although the Cavaliers temporarily got themselves together playing poor quality teams, they soon relapsed into the type of uninspired, turnover-ridden play that defined their season's second half.
Virginia has averaged 15.2 turnovers over the last five games and has gotten into early deficits against less talented opponents.
Wednesday's loss to Florida State marked a new low in the Cavaliers' season. The Seminoles, who hadn't beaten Virginia for two seasons going into the game, broke a six-game losing streak when they beat the No. 22 Cavaliers.
"We're not playing like we could right now," Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "We've got to correct that."
The Cavaliers have not met anyone's expectations this season, but not for lack of talent. Virginia only has two senior scholarship players and has relied heavily on four freshmen to make plays.
"We played hard, but we're playing young guys," coach Pete Gillen said. "It's hard to depend on young guys to make big shots in the ACC on the road."
It has been more than freshmen inexperience, however, that led to disappointment. Inconsistent play from Mason and senior forward Chris Williams also contributed to the skid.
But many players expressed heightened frustration after Wednesday's loss and are determined to emerge victorious from their last three regular season games. Even with such newfound focus, the Cavaliers can't finish better than fifth in the ACC if they lose any of their next three games, and with No. 3 Duke and No. 2 Maryland on the horizon, this seems a more than likely outcome.
"We have three left. Three tough games left," Gillen said. "We've got to go day by day and try to win the next one on Saturday. I think we're capable. The effort was there, the execution wasn't and it's tough to win with 18 turnovers on the road."
Virginia will have both positives and negatives awaiting them in University Hall tomorrow. Although the Cavaliers will boast homecourt advantage and face a team ranked eighth in the ACC, Georgia Tech has given Virginia trouble over the past few years. Last season the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia in both regular season games and again in the first round of the ACC tournament.
Virginia will also tackle another ongoing problem - how to deal with zone defense.
"Everybody's zoning us," Gillen said. "So we got a do a better job attacking it."
In order to attack a zone, the Cavaliers will need to get penetration from their guards. The only true point guard on the team is freshman Keith Jenifer. Because of Jenifer's inability to shoot accurately from the outside, defenders have been able to sag off of him and protect the middle.
"We're just trying to stay focused," Brown said. "The team chemistry is still there, we've just got to follow through. We've got 3 more games and we've got to knock them out"
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