Late in Virginia's 87-82 overtime loss to Florida State Jan. 11, sophomore forward Adrian Joseph passed up a three-point attempt that could have won the game for the Cavaliers. Faced with a similar situation with 45 seconds remaining in Sunday's 54-49 win at Virginia Tech, Joseph redeemed himself by drilling the game-winning three pointer from the corner just in front of Virginia's bench.
"You have to credit him for having the gumption to make a shot like that," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "They [Virginia Tech] were doing a really good job at hedging defensively. On that play, they did what I thought they were going to do -- a hard hedge on J.R. [Reynolds] -- and that left Adrian open."
Joseph, averaging 10.6 points per game, has emerged as Leitao's third scoring option behind Sean Singletary and Reynolds. Joseph's athleticism allows him to contribute from inside and outside the arc. He has shot 23-63 (.365) from behind the three-point line this season. He led Virginia (8-6, 2-2 ACC) with seven rebounds against the Hokies.
"I believe as a catch and shoot guy he's as good, not only as we've got, but as good as there can be in this league," Leitao said. "That's confidence as much as it is repetition."
During his freshman season, Joseph averaged 14 minutes of playing time and 4.2 ppg. This year he is averaging 28.6 minutes per game and has started three games in a row for Leitao.
"I've been given more opportunities, and I'm just trying to step up and do big things along with Sean and J.R.," Joseph said. "I'm just trying to do what the coach wants me to do."
With the exception of Jason Cain, who has averaged 8.7 ppg this season, Virginia has suffered from a dearth of offensive productivity inside. Sophomore center Tunji Soroye has averaged a mere 2.6 ppg, while freshman forward Laurynas Mikalauskas has contributed 4.9 ppg. Both are prone to foul trouble, as seen in Sunday's win at Virginia Tech, when each fouled out without registering a single point and were serenaded with chants of "five fouls, no points" as they walked to the bench.
"We've got to do a better job of getting those guys a couple of looks during the game down low," Leitao said. "Hopefully they'll learn from the experience."
Another area of concern for Virginia is turnovers. The squad is last in the conference with a 0.73 assist to turnover ratio.
"I don't think we're all of a sudden going to have a 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio," Leitao said. "A lot of it is because we're still formulating ourselves and developing ourselves offensively as a group."
North Carolina (10-3, 2-1 ACC) arrives in Charlottesville looking to bounce back after Sunday's 81-70 home loss to Miami. Freshman forward Tyler Hansbrough leads the Tar Heels with 17.7 ppg. North Carolina lost its top seven scorers to graduation and the NBA after winning the national championship last season, and its current starting lineup includes three freshmen -- Hansbrough, point guard Bobby Frasor and guard Marcus Ginyard.
"We're going to come out like we do every game playing defense and playing with a lot of confidence," Joseph said. "Like Coach says, 'bring all that you got.' Hopefully we're going to be good"
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