After a come from behind victory last weekend against No. 10 Arizona, the University of Virginia men's basketball team is looking for another win at home Sunday against Morgan State.
Trailing Arizona most of the game, Virginia was able to pull out a win with clutch-shooting down the stretch. The team showed skill in the season opener, shredding the Wildcats' defense with 93 points. Junior guard Sean Singletary and sophomore guard Mamadi Diane racked up a total of 50 points combined, paving the way to victory. Diane had a breakthrough performance, scoring 25 points, making eight of nine shots from the field, five of six three-point shots and all four free throws. His strong performance fueled Diane's selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week.
As a sophomore, Diane is adjusting to his new leadership role on the team.
"It is definitely different, and I am now taking on more of a teaching role," Diane said. "I am glad to be able to help, and I am trying to make [the younger players'] transitions as easy as possible."
Sunday, the Cavaliers will go up against Morgan State in John Paul Jones Arena. Morgan State has started slowly, losing its first two games to East Carolina and American. While Virginia's opponent is winless, Virginia coach Dave Leitao knows his team has things to work on.
"We didn't play a great defensive game [against Arizona]," Leitao said. "Obviously, offensive rebounds are something we have to work on. But we did a really, really good job of just stemming the tide at the right times and obviously, at the right times, making big plays offensively."
As competitors, Morgan State will most likely pale in comparison to nationally ranked Arizona. The Bears finished 4-26 last season, the worst finish for the team since 2001. Aside from a weak record, the Bears have not had a winning season since 1989.
However, Morgan State does have a few tough players. Returning starter and senior guard Joseph McLean averages 14.7 points per game, making him fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Bears are also under strong leadership from coach Todd Bozeman. Bozeman had tremendous success with the University of California, helping them land three top-four finishes in the Pac-10. Bozeman came to Morgan State last season hoping to reform the program.
The Cavaliers will look to Sunday's matchup with the Bears to keep up their momentum from the season-opener.
"This year we are going to play upbeat," Singletary said. "We are going to push it at them, and whenever they score or get a rebound, we are going to push it right back."
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