A streaking North Carolina team is not what a slumping Virginia men’s basketball squad wants to play right now, but it is what the brutal ACC schedule next presents the Cavaliers.
Virginia (7-10, 1-6 ACC) travels to Chapel Hill tomorrow at 4 p.m. to take on the No. 3 Tar Heels (20-2, 6-2 ACC), winners of six straight games. After starting off its ACC schedule with two losses to Boston College and Wake Forest, North Carolina rebounded with a dominating 83-61 defeat of Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena Jan. 15. The Tar Heels have not looked back since and have outscored opponents by 16.5 points per game during their winning streak. North Carolina most recently topped Maryland Tuesday in a 108-91 shootout at home.
Virginia, meanwhile, has lost six consecutive games, winning its last game Jan. 6 against Brown. Additionally, the Cavaliers have not won an ACC game since the conference opener, when they topped Georgia Tech in Atlanta 88-84 in overtime Dec. 28. In its latest ACC loss, Virginia fell at home to Boston College 80-70 Wednesday night.
The Cavaliers are aware of the ACC’s strength and realize how difficult it is to turn around a season in such a demanding conference.
“There are no breaks in this league,” Virginia sophomore guard Jeff Jones said. “Every game is tough.”
One would think that after losing six games — one after the other — a team’s psyche would be damaged. Virginia players, however, insist on not throwing in the towel.
“We don’t fear anyone,” Virginia freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said. “We’re going to go out there and continue playing, even if we are in a slump. We’re not going to back down.”
The price of backing down on the road in the strong ACC can be high, as evidenced by the 27-point beatings highly-ranked Duke and Wake Forest suffered Wednesday night against Clemson and Miami, respectively.
Should Virginia fail to come out with an aggressive attitude, the Tar Heels certainly have the talent to turn the game into a blowout.
Though his numbers are down from last year, North Carolina senior forward Tyler Hansbrough continues to lead the Tar Heels in scoring with 22.4 points per game, tied for 12th in the nation with Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin. Hansbrough and freshman forward Ed Davis share the team lead in rebounds with 7.6 per game.
Against the Cavaliers Jan. 15, Hansbrough recorded 28 points, although 15 of those came off of free throws. As a result, the Cavaliers are trying to limit the number of easy points they give last year’s NCAA Player of the Year.
“I learned a lot from when I played against [Hansbrough] the first time,” Virginia freshman center Assane Sene said. “I got in foul trouble [the first time against North Carolina] so I’m going to play smart in the game, be patient and try not to get in foul trouble.”
Even if the Cavaliers are able to contain Hansbrough somewhat, they will still have to contend with four other Tar Heels who are averaging double figures in scoring: junior guards Ty Lawson (15.5 ppg) and Wayne Ellington (14.8 ppg), senior forward Danny Green (13.4 ppg) and junior forward Deon Thompson (11.6 ppg).
An aggressive attitude is one that coach Dave Leitao has recently attempted to instill in his team more than ever. A drastically different second half starting lineup cut Boston College’s lead into single digits Wednesday night. Leitao noted after the game that he started who he thought would play with the most energy. Now, it is unclear whether the starting lineup will be different tomorrow, and the Cavalier players expressed a similar ambivalence toward the possibility and the question of whether such changes could help the team.
“I’m not really sure [if a new lineup would help],” Landesberg said. “It may, it may not. We’ll just have to play it out and see what happens.”
Landesberg was the only starter who was not on the bench at the beginning of the second half Wednesday, and he continues to be a bright spot during an otherwise dismal year. The freshman poured in a career-high 32 points against the Eagles, and Leito may even ask him to take on more point guard duties as the rest of the year progresses.
“I’ve got to look at him a little bit more as a primary ball-handler because he doesn’t really turn it over and he tries more than anybody else on the team to go north and south,” Leitao said.
One aspect of the Cavaliers’ play that needs remedying if they are to even be within single digits of North Carolina at the half is their recent trend of starting slow in games. Virginia’s average deficit at halftime for its past five games is 17 points, creating a significant hole for the Cavaliers to start the second half of games.
“I think it’s a defensive lapse and then when that happens, the offense starts going down,” Landesberg said. “So it’s a combination of both.”
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