The Virginia men's basketball team began Thanksgiving break with a home victory over Drexel University last Tuesday night. Then they headed to the historic Palestra in Philadelphia for the weekend to participate in the Philly Hoop Group Classic. The Cavaliers began the tournament with a win over the University of Pennsylvania; however, their encore performance was a loss at the hands of Seton Hall University. Now they look forward to returning to John Paul Jones Arena tonight and facing Northwestern University.
The Cavs, now 5-1, won the first two games with the leadership of senior captains Sean Singletary and Adrian Joseph. In a 72-58 win over Drexel, which is currently 5-1, Singletary scored 24 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists while Joseph netted 11 points and worked for 11 rebounds. Sophomore Calvin Baker and junior Mamadi Diane also scored 11 points each for the Cavs. In the 100-85 victory against the University of Pennsylvania, currently 2-4, Joseph led the team with 23 points and 11 rebounds, followed by 16 points for Singletary. Diane also netted 13 while freshman forward Mike Scott added 10.
Referring to the Drexel game, which followed a win over ranked Arizona, coach Dave Leitao said he was worried that "a little bit of a natural letdown could cost us the game." The Cavs fought through what Leitao said was a subpar offensive performance, not scoring until five minutes into the game. They were able to come back with the pedal-to-the-metal in the next game against the Quakers.
Singletary had a low shooting percentage and high turnovers in both games.
"He's just trying to get comfortable within himself and with the new guys around him," Leitao said. "I think if anybody in this country will work to get better at it, it would be him."
After the win against Penn the Cavs went on to play Seton Hall, currently 5-0, in the finals of the Independence bracket of the tournament. Behind 25 points and 10 rebounds from senior forward Brian Laing, the Pirates beat the then-No. 23 Cavaliers 74-60.
"He is a terrific athlete who has created himself to be a matchup problem," Leitao said.
Singletary led Virginia with 23 points while adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Diane was the only other Cavalier who scored in double digits, with 12, while Joseph brought down 16 rebounds. Despite these efforts, Virgina couldn't preserve its spot in the top 25.
"I thought we didn't do a very good job in a lot of areas today, and as a result, obviously, we didn't win the game," Leitao said. "It's hard to point out anything positive."
Leitao said he was particularly displeased with the team's defense throughout the tournament.
"We played defense for about seven of over 80 minutes in this tournament," he said.
Singletary led a closed-door meeting after the loss where he said to his teammates, "we've been there before, and we've got to mature. We're going to be alright. It's a bump in the road, but it's a long season."
He backed this positive outlook by saying that the team struggled shooting but will work hard on it during practice.
The Cavaliers moved on and have been looking toward tonight's matchup with Northwestern University (1-3) in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Virginia must find a way to stop freshman guard Michael Thompson, who is leading the Wildcats in scoring (15.3 points per game) and assists (5.5 apg). Northwestern runs an offense highlighted by ball movement and backdoor cuts and characterized by a very slow tempo. Virginia's quick style of play should prove to be an interesting contrast to keep an eye on tonight. Leitao said the team needs to remember the staples on defense and keep assignments in order to win tonight. To avoid a repeat of last year's close loss to Purdue, the Cavaliers will have to continue playing as a team.
"We've got to fix our camaraderie and our chemistry," Singletary said. "When we get down we've just got to stick together and fall back on the things we did in practice. That's how you come back from deficits like that, you just stick together"
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