Lately, nothing has gone wrong for the Virginia men's basketball team. Virginia coach Dave Leitao has inspired his team to achieve six straight victories, and the Cavaliers are now tied for first in the ACC with a record of 15-6 (7-2 ACC). That standing, however, will be in jeopardy tonight as Virginia travels to College Park, Maryland to face the Maryland Terrapins.
In the first place, any and all ACC road games are difficult, but tonight's game at Maryland has a little something extra added to it. Virginia embarrassed Maryland in the previous matchup by putting up over 100 points. Maryland coach Gary Williams has always prided his teams on good defense, and Virginia's dismantling of Maryland clearly went against that mantra.
In the previous matchup, Virginia easily handled the Terps 103-91 at John Paul Jones Arena. Sophomore guard Mamadi Diane had an offensive explosion and finished with a career high 26 points. Junior guard Sean Singletary also contributed 25 points and seven assists.
Statistically, Maryland ranks as the top team in the ACC in defensive field goal percentage. The Terps allow their opponents an average of 38 percent shooting from the field and only 28 percent shooting from three point range. Despite this, Virginia was able to easily shred Maryland's defense earlier in the season. Virginia made 44 percent of its field goals in the first matchup. Additionally, Maryland allowed Virginia 51 free throws, which led to 39 Virginia points.
Virginia's embarrassment of Maryland in the first matchup will likely fuel the fire of the game. The Terps will be gunning for Virginia from start to finish, and that is a response that Virginia is fully expecting.
"Given what happened the last game here against Maryland, they are going to be licking their chops, and they play very well at home," Leitao said. "It's almost getting to desperation time for them and it's a tough match up for us."
Maryland was once ranked among the top 25 nationally, but after losing big to Virginia, Maryland has been on a bit of a downward spiral. Maryland now stands at 17-6 (3-5 ACC) but has suffered recent losses to Virginia Tech and Florida State.
Maryland still remains a difficult opponent. The Terps rank first in the ACC in blocked shots and are led by senior forward Ekene Ibekwe and junior forward James Gist, who rank first and third, respectively, in the ACC for blocked shots. Furthermore, Maryland is coming off an important road victory over Wake Forest. Stealing a win at the Comcast Center in Maryland looks to be difficult given Maryland's great home court advantage and die-hard fans.
"It's going to be a tornado," Singletary said. "We expect them to bring everything and we don'texpect to get any calls. We'll justhave to execute our offense, be solid on defense and rebound the ball, and we can take care of business."
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