Following Wednesday night's debacle in Raleigh, N.C., the Virginia men's basketball team (16-5, 5-5 ACC) hits the road again this weekend to face Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Cavs, 73-68, at University Hall on Jan. 9 and want to sweep the season series.
Concerns over Virginia's ACC road record resurfaced after the Cavs' flat start in their 90-80 defeat on Wednesday. Virginia coach Pete Gillen, who compared the N.C. State game to the Maryland and Wake Forest games - both important home victories - said these road woes are not as bad as they appear.
"We obviously have some shortcomings [on the road], but we're not the only ones," Gillen said. "Part of it is us, but it's more a product of a great league, with the great talent that you're going against."
Georgia Tech (13-8, 5-5 ACC) is tied with the Cavaliers for fourth place in the ACC. Alvin Jones, a 6-foot-11 senior center, is enjoying the best year of his collegiate career, leads the ACC in rebounding average (9.6) and is second in blocked shots average (3.4).
"We've played them before, they played a great game and beat us," Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "A lot of teams have height just like Alvin Jones. There's [North Carolina's Brendan] Haywood and a lot of other centers. He's a great player. We just have to be ready to play against him."
Georgia Tech averages 79.8 points with a balanced attack led by Jones (15.3 points), freshman forward Marvin Lewis (10.4), and guards Shaun Fein (14.6) and Tony Akins (13.4).
In Tech's last game, Akins equaled his season-high with 28 points as the unranked Yellow Jackets scored a 72-62 conference upset over No. 13 Maryland on Tuesday night. Jones added a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
The Cavaliers' effectiveness in the middle will be hampered by injuries to starting center Travis Watson, who was held out of practice this week with a hip pointer. Although Watson started in Wednesday night's game at N.C. State, he was clearly hobbled. Early foul trouble further reduced his performance as he collected only one rebound in the first half.
The Cavaliers, now No. 6 spot in this week's Associated Press poll, enter every game as an upset target.
"This is new uncharted territory for us and we've got to handle it," Gillen said. "You've got to be ready to play, to understand this is the way people are going to come after you - the players, as well as the fans."
With three ACC road games remaining before the conference tournament, Virginia needs to address its inconsistencies away from home.
"Something is obviously wrong with our mind frame coming into these types of games," Mason said. "We have to learn from it. It doesn't get any easier and nobody's going to lie down for us because we've got this ranking now. They're just going to come at us and we have to be ready to take everybody's best shot."
Senior guard Donald Hand, who led the team with 29 points Wednesday, believes the Cavaliers must work in practice to reverse their fortunes.
"It all starts in practice," Hand said. "We usually do a good job of coming back off of a loss but we just have to show a lot of character and be consistent."
Virginia will need to show both qualities as it heads to face another hungry road opponent intent on proving the Cavaliers overrated.
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