It's just after his third game in only six days and Devin Smith is in pain. His sore lower back has been bothering him all year and after a trio of physical ACC matchups, he is feeling it more than usual.
"Right now, it feels bad," Smith said. "It was bothering me a whole lot before the [Florida State] game too. I have to take it day by day."
While Smith wakes up every morning unsure about how his back will feel, his coach, teammates and fans know exactly what kind of performance Smith will deliver on the court, bad back or not.
The junior forward has developed into Virginia's most dependent all-around player. He has a deadly long-range three point stroke but also can battle with the best of them on the defensive boards. He's known just as much for the finesse of perimeter play as his tenacity away from the ball.
"Devin Smith shows a lot of courage playing," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "It has nothing to do with talent, even though he's talented. It's guts and he wants to win and toughness. He's the one guy on the team that wants to take charges, and he's got a bad lower back."
His physical play took its toll after Thursday's game at Georgia Tech. Smith hit the floor on a few occasions that night and came into Sunday's game versus Florida State feeling the pain.
In the first half against the Seminoles, Smith played only eight minutes and missed the only shot he took. Virginia trailed by five at halftime, but the junior forward went on to hit a trio of three-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half to help Virginia turn their deficit into a five point lead.
The Seminoles came back to force an overtime, but Smith nailed another three just 17 seconds into the extra period. The next possession, the forward drained a 16-foot baseline jumper to put the Cavaliers up by five. Virginia never looked back, and took home their first ACC victory.
Smith didn't have much time to bask in the glow of his 21-point performance and his team's conference win. In less than 48 hours the Cavaliers would be taking on another ACC foe. And his back was not feeling much better.
Smith has been playing with a herniated disc in his back since the beginning of the season. The forward did not play in Virginia's season-opening win against Mount St. Mary's and didn't start until the Cavaliers' fourth game of the season.
The back problems seemed to affect Smith's normally reliable long range shooting. The junior made only three of his first 27 three-point shots. Since then, Smith has returned to form, hitting 17-40 from behind the arc.
When Virginia took on Duke Jan. 11 in the Cavaliers' first ACC home game, Smith was the only consistent offensive weapon for Virginia, hitting 5-6 three pointers while grabbing six rebounds in the 22-point loss.
Every game has the potential to be an ordeal for Smith, whose back pain has remained with him throughout most of the season. He has been trying every conceivable method to help make the pain go away.
"I see a chiropractor, I go in the whirlpool and I get heat on my back all the time," Smith said. "I just try to do whatever I can, stretching, just anything."
Although Smith said sometimes his back barely bothers him, when the Cavaliers' schedule packs games close together Smith's pain can be excrutiating. Tuesday night's game against Clemson was the Cavaliers' second in three days, but Smith showed no signs of wear and tear. He grabbed seven rebounds and scored 10 points, including a three-pointer with just over five minutes left to break a 43-43 tie and put Virginia up for good.
Fortunately for Smith, he won't have to repeat the feat of enduring three ACC games in less than one week's time for the rest of the season. Unfortunately for Virginia opponents, Smith has survived the grueling stretch and shows no signs of slowing down.
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