When Virginia Tech (13-10, 3-7 ACC) comes to University Hall Saturday night to meet Virginia (11-9, 5-5), both teams will be fighting to keep their heads above water in the sea that is the ACC schedule. Currently, the two schools are in the bottom half of the conference in terms of wins, making this game crucial for each squad.
"Every game is important for us," Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds said following a 76-65 loss at Maryland. "We wanted to improve our road wins, but we didn't do that. So now we have to take care of our house."
Taking care of the home court has been something the Cavaliers have done well this year -- the team is 8-2 at University Hall. Virginia's offense is also more effective when the team is at home. Of the nine games in which the Cavaliers scored 70 or more points this season, eight were played in Charlottesville. The ninth game, a 77-66 win over UMBC Dec. 28, was played at a neutral site in Richmond.
The return to the comfort of their home court could help the Cavalier players run their offense. On Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia's offense looked ready to ignite the Comcast Center, scoring 20 points in the game's first five and a half minutes before stumbling through the rest of the game. Playing in front of a home crowd might prevent the offense from growing stagnant as the game progresses.
"We got a little bit relaxed," Reynolds said. "That took away from the aggression that we had on offense. We weren't aggressive like we were in the opening minutes, and they took advantage of that."
One player who will look to prevent a collapse from occurring again is point guard Sean Singletary. While Singletary did share the team's scoring lead with 18 points in Tuesday's loss, he went nearly 12 minutes before tallying a second-half point. Once he got started in the second half, though, he scored nine of Virginia's final 12 points. Despite that fact, Singletary is taking the blame for not scoring more often earlier in the half.
"They [Maryland] weren't doing anything," Singletary said. "I was trying to get the ball to my teammates, especially the way we were shooting [earlier]."
Coming off the loss, Virginia will face a Hokie team that has turned its season around in recent weeks. Since starting ACC play with five straight loses, Virginia Tech has won three of its last four conference games. Each of those games has been close, with the largest difference in the score being a six-point win over Wake Forest Jan. 28. The Cavaliers beat the Demon Deacons by two points Feb. 4.
Saturday's game is a rematch of a Jan. 15 game that took place in Blacksburg. Virginia downed its rival 54-49 when Adrian Joseph hit a three-point shot with 44 seconds remaining to give the Cavaliers the final lead of the game. In that game, Virginia turned the ball over 21 times, a factor that kept Virginia Tech in the game. The game also featured six lead changes.
"It's always a big rivalry, especially now that they are in our conference," Reynolds said. "They have a great basketball program, so I think this could develop into a good ACC rivalry as well."
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