The Virginia men's basketball team will get a break from their rough stretch in ACC play when they face the University of Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference today at 7 p.m. in Athens, Ohio. It will be the first time an ACC team has ever visited Ohio's Convocation Center.
In a season where road wins are hard to come by in the ACC, the Cavaliers (14-11, 5-8 ACC) will have an opportunity to gain a road victory against the Bobcats (9-14, 6-9 MAC), who are 6-4 in Athens and 2-0 against non-conference opponents at home.
Virginia will have to test its abilities away from Charlottesville against Ohio's star senior forward and MAC player of the week, Brandon Hunter. Hunter, who averages 22 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, is aided by fellow senior guards Steve Esterkamp (13.4 ppg) and Sonny Johnson (14.4 ppg). Ohio is coming off back-to-back overtime games, including an 84-82 home loss to Akron on Sunday where Hunter put up 30 points and 12 rebounds on his way to his 19th double-double of the season.
The Cavaliers will have to continue to improve on both sides of the ball as they put their 2-8 road record on the line -- their only non-conference road win this season came against Rutgers Dec. 21.
That means maintaining the scoring balance the team seemed to find in their 75-71 loss at Wake Forest.
In their three previous losses, the Cavaliers averaged under 70 points per game but allowed just under 80 points. During the Wake Forest game, junior guard Todd Billet and sophomore guard/forward Devin Smith shared the scoring role for Virginia. Billet's 25 points and Smith's 18 were met by a reinvigorated Elton Brown who put up 16 points and nine rebounds.
"They have great balance with [Travis] Watson and Brown inside and guys like Billet and Smith on the outside," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "When they have balance, they're hard to guard."
Virginia's season trends affirm these comments. Billet's average of 13.8 ppg and Watson's 13.5 ppg are followed closely by Smith's 11-point average and Brown's 10.8 ppg.
But none of this scoring will matter if the Cavaliers cannot make more headway on defense and at the free-throw line. During the Wake Forest game, the Cavaliers went 10-of-18 from the line while Wake made one more free throw than Virginia attempted.
These deficiencies -- combined with 10 more turnovers than the Demon Deacons, no blocked shots to Wake's three and four steals to their eight -- neutralized offensive chances that the Cavaliers could have used to build a lead.
"I'm very disappointed we did not win tonight," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said after the loss Sunday. "You have to give Wake Forest a lot of credit."
One key problem seems to be the Cavaliers' point guard situation. Distributing the position's minutes has been difficult with sophomore guard Keith Jenifer continuing to serve a suspension. Billet and junior guard Majestic Mapp have split the duties, but this has forced Billet to run the offense rather than concentrate on scoring.
Virginia will have to learn quickly from the four-game losing streak as chances for regular season wins dwindle. The Wake Forest game, though a loss, demonstrated some of the talents the Cavaliers can employ as the ACC tournament draws near, but more work is needed.
"We don't play for moral victories," Gillen said. "But I'm proud of our team and the way we played."
"We thought we would steal one today because of the simple fact that we played our hearts out," Mapp said of the team's effort at Wake. "Every game is important."
With the chances for an NCAA tournament bid hanging by the thinnest of threads, the Cavaliers have no margin for error from now through the end of the ACC tournament.
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