After finishing the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Classic 2-1 last weekend, Virginia is ready to travel to Champaign, Ill. to take on the Fighting Illini.
The Cavaliers (5-2) will seek to rebound tomorrow night, having fallen from No. 15 to No. 19 with their loss to Gonzaga last weekend.
“Our mindset in the beginning of the game wasn’t where it should have been,” freshman forward Chelsea Shine said. “We knew we were the better team so we just sort of expected to walk in like that.”
While the Cavaliers had trouble overcoming a lack of focus, fatigue also may have affected Virginia’s play against Gonzaga. Virginia played two games in as many days leading up to Sunday’s matchup against the Bulldogs. After soundly defeating Utah Friday, the Cavaliers had to come from behind 14 points to defeat Marquette Saturday.
“This is sort of the same exact thing we saw at the Tennessee game,” Shine said. “We came off of a huge win, and although Marquette wasn’t as big of a win as the win over Tennessee, we had a huge comeback. It was an awesome win — we were all excited that we came back, battled back and won. As you saw after the Tennessee game — the [Old Dominion] game — it was rough. So unfortunately we saw a repeat of that.”
After arguably its biggest win of the season against then-No. 5 Tennessee, Virginia came out flat in the next game against then-No. 25 Old Dominion. After playing in two emotionally charged games, Virginia faced another tough team in Gonzaga and fell to the Bulldogs 62-69. The Cavaliers must now bounce back from the loss to come out strong against Illinois (3-4) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
“We are working on it right now,” senior center Aisha Mohammed said. “We are doing some defense and trying to know their plays so we can be able to stop them. Tomorrow, we are going to go over it again and work more defensively on how to stop them inside the perimeter and outside.”
Mohammed has established herself as a presence in the post so far this season, accruing four double-doubles in just seven games. Second on the team in scoring, Mohammed has been able to average a double-double during the entire span with 13 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
“In the summertime I worked with my coach on posting and on rebounding,” she said. “I know if I’m playing I’m going to have two people, three people double- and triple-teaming me so I’ve learned to pass from inside when I’m getting doubled.”
As teams start to plan for Mohammed’s dominance in the paint, working an offense from the inside-out and passing to the Cavaliers’ perimeter players may prove more effective. Freshmen guards Arianna Moorer and Whitny Edwards are averaging 8.1 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
“Right now, we’re not thinking about any games forward,” Mohammed said, “We’re taking it one game at a time, one step at a time.”
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