The Virginia men's basketball team (11-8, 5-4 ACC) will look to continue their successful season as they take on the Maryland Terrapins (14-7, 4-4 ACC) tonight at the Comcast Center. Road wins are always hard to come by in the ACC, especially against a team Virginia has not beaten in its last four tries. If Virginia is to come away with a victory, it will be because of one thing -- rebounds.
Everyone likely remembers that junior J.R Reynolds hit a huge jumper with 4.1 seconds left to give Virginia the lead and the eventual win against Wake Forest Saturday. The true game-saving play, however, came when freshman Mamadi Diane pulled down a huge offensive board (one of 10 rebounds on the day), which allowed Virginia to hold for Reynolds' shot. The importance of this fact was not lost on the team.
"The guys gave [Diane] a standing ovation in the locker room after the game," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "I challenged a bunch of the guys at halftime; I said, 'You can make other kinds of contributions in the game.'"
These "other kinds of contributions" center around rebounding. Last season, rebounding was not exactly the team's forte. This year, it has been one of their strongest attributes.
Coming into the game, Wake Forest had the best rebounding margin in the ACC.
"We made it a challenge before the [Wake Forest] game," Leitao said. "Obviously that team is far and away the best rebounding team in the league, and we had to meet that challenge and we did."
Virginia did not just meet the challenge; they dominated the boards ,47-25. The Cavaliers had 21 offensive rebounds compared to just 5 for Wake Forest.
The success on the boards has come about from a total team effort. Jason Cain has been a big producer this year, averaging 8.0 rebounds per game and five double-doubles on the year (only five men in the ACC have more). Cain is not the only contributor, however. Freshmen Diane and Laurynas Mikalauskas have stepped up big when the Cavaliers need them the most. Mikalauskas has brought an intensity and dedication to the court that has invigorated his team and its fans. As he continues to learn to play without getting in foul trouble, he figures to be an even bigger factor in the rebounding department.
Sophomore Adrian Joseph put Saturday's performance in perspective.
"We had to come out there with the mentality of playing very physical and matching their intensity, which we did," Joseph said. "We had a great day rebounding."
If the Cavaliers can put up numbers against Maryland comparable to those they had against Wake Forest, they will be in a great position to win their second ACC road game of the year.
Maryland comes into the game still suffering from the loss of Chris McCray because of academic ineligibility. The Terps are 1-3 without McCray, including a 62-58 loss to N.C. State last weekend. Nik Caner-Medley has emerged as the leader for Maryland, leading in points and rebounds with 15.3 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. Containing Medley will prove critical not just in the rebounding margin, but in keeping Virginia's postseason hopes alive.
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