A look at this weekend’s upcoming sporting events.
Following a 15-point win against Notre Dame, the Virginia men’s basketball team will travel Sunday afternoon to take on another unfamiliar conference foe, the No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers. The game pits two defense-oriented teams who are and neck-and-neck in the ACC standings. This is the first meeting between the schools since 1991.
Continuing the tradition of my fallen comrade Fritz Metzinger, the #GoACC Power Rankings will rank our beloved conference’s teams last to first, with a dash of snark.
Much ado was made heading into the season about the Big East’s invasion of the ACC. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame all joined with the intention of breaking up the traditional Duke-UNC power structure, and through the early goings, it seems effective.
Within the first 15 minutes of its first ACC matchup with Notre Dame, the Virginia men’s basketball team led by as many as 20 points. The Cavaliers then withstood a 12-2 Irish run to end the half, blowing past the conference newcomers, 68-53.
The Cavaliers travel to South Bend looking to knock off a dangerous Notre Dame squad and earn Virginia’s best ACC start since 1982.
The Virginia men’s basketball team cruised to its sixth ACC win in seven games with a 64-44 win Sunday against rival Virginia Tech.
One of the biggest questions lingering throughout the offseason was who would fill the void at point guard left by Jontel “Bub” Evans. Evans was a fixture in the Cavaliers’ backcourt dating back to the 2009-2010 season, playing in 120 of his team’s 129 games during his four years at Virginia and starting 92.
Last year senior guard Joe Harris had a breakout season, establishing himself as the Virginia men basketball team’s best scoring option and one of the top scorers in the ACC. That status came with burden of carrying the Cavaliers’ offense — through 19 games last year, Harris had 12 games in which he attempted more than 10 shots.
North Carolina kept the game close for the opening 15 minutes, but the Virginia men’s basketball team ended the first half on a 12-2 run and never looked back.
Monday’s win for the Virginia men’s basketball team was utterly workmanlike. The Cavaliers’ opponent never truly troubled them in the second half, and looking up and down the score sheet, there was no clear star—just a coordinated, complete win.
When you consider eight players were ejected in the opening two seconds of Saturday’s Flames-Canucks game, a pair of ejections for Virginia’s men’s basketball team doesn’t sound too bad in comparison.
For the fourth time in five games, the Virginia men’s basketball blazed out to a fast start against a conference opponent, piling on early against Florida State.
The Virginia men’s basketball team, coming off a heartbreaking loss to Duke, will take on Florida State Saturday at home.
The old adage goes: you learn more from failure than success. Personally, I would prefer winning every time, and I would bet the Virginia men’s basketball team would agree. Yet in spite of a heartbreaking sequence of events in the final 30 seconds of a 69-65 road loss to Duke, the saying held true and we learned just how gritty the Cavaliers are. Virginia spent much of the first half trying to claw its way back into the game.
The 2013 season was a breakout season for senior Akil Mitchell. He emerged as one of the most well-rounded big men in the ACC and was third in the conference with 12 double-doubles.
Shooting just 38 percent from the field, Virginia really had no business being in their game Monday night against Duke. But after a stunning second half run, Virginia took a 65-64 lead with 38 seconds left. Duke would take the lead back, and on the ensuing possession, a missed deflected pass would give the Blue Devils the ball and the dramatic 69-65 win.
If the Virginia men’s basketball team resolved to go undefeated in the New Year, the Cavaliers have kept their resolution much longer than I have.
The Virginia men’s basketball team won its third consecutive conference game by double figures Saturday, handily dispatching N.C. State in Raleigh, 76-45. The Cavaliers are 3-0 in the ACC for the first time in four seasons and are one of just three remaining undefeated teams in the conference, along with No. 2 Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
