The Virginia men's basketball team (13-9, 4-7 ACC) has been following a script of late that may seem very familiar to Cavalier hoops fans. In a manner similar to last year's February run to the NIT led by Todd Billet, this year's Virginia squad has emerged from January's ashes to embark on a three-game winning streak that has brought the Cavaliers to the cusp of respectability.
There must be something in the February air, or perhaps coach Pete Gillen simply performs at his best when the pressure rises.
Gillen's team now faces, however, what may be its toughest challenge yet. Tonight, the Cavaliers travel to the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., a mecca of college basketball.
Gillen has to be scratching his head of red hair while trying to devise ways to slow down a Tar Heel offensive attack that scores more often than Colin Farrell. Despite a recent upsurge in defensive intensity from these Cavaliers, this road contest against the Tar Heels poses a daunting obstacle to the extension of Virginia's winning streak.
"You have to take pride in your defense," Virginia point guard Sean Singletary said. "That's what we've been doing, rotating and giving it 100 percent. That's why we've been winning."
Since the two teams' last meeting in Charlottesville on Jan. 29, a 110-76 drubbing of Virginia at the hands of the Tar Heels, the Cavaliers have implemented a new offensive system based on utilizing a three-guard combination, usually Singletary, and sophomores T.J. Bannister and J.R. Reynolds. The other two positions on the floor are occupied by a rotation of seniors Devin Smith and Elton Brown and sophomores Jason Cain and Gary Forbes.
With three of the team's best ball-handlers on the court, the system limits turnovers and promotes a stronger defensive effort. The Cavaliers have been better able to set the tempo of the game by controlling possession of the ball until the shot clock dwindles. This keeps games closer, as it slows down quicker teams and gives them fewer possessions to score. Players conserve more energy, thereby enabling second-half runs such as those seen in the victories over Florida State and Virginia Tech.
"We're playing this new style to play better defense," Gillen said. "If we play fast, some of our fast-paced guys get tired and then they can't play defense. If we play tag, we're not going to outscore teams in the ACC."
In the victories over N.C. State and Florida State, the field-goal percentages of the Wolfpack and the Seminoles fell drastically in the second half. The Seminoles did not score after the 3:54 mark in the second half on Feb. 9, and Virginia capitalized on this by slowly chipping away at the lead before Brown pressured FSU's Von Wafer into traveling. Brown's defensive effort set up the possession that ended with Smith's game-winning three-pointer with 5.2 seconds left.
"Our offense isn't always going," Smith said. "So if we're getting the stops, we'll still be in the game. We know that that's how we have to win."
Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg noticed the difference between the Virginia squad his team beat 79-73 in Blacksburg on Jan. 27 and the Cavaliers who defeated the Hokies 65-60 last Saturday in U-Hall. The Cavaliers committed 22 turnovers in the loss compared to only nine in the recent victory.
"With the personnel they have, it was a good decision," Greenberg said of Gillen's shift in strategy. "It's paying dividends for them."