“We’ve got to be hungry.”
That’s what North Carolina junior forward Wayne Ellington told reporters Tuesday, two days after the Tar Heels lost to Wake Forest 92-89 in Winston-Salem. The preseason No. 1 team in the nation has shocked itself and the country by opening the conference season 0-2, as the loss to the Demon Deacons followed an even more stunning 85-78 loss in Chapel Hill to Boston College, picked by the ACC media preseason to finish 11th — ahead of only Virginia.
That means tonight at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia will have to contend with a North Carolina roster that is not only full of NBA prospects but also angry.
Tonight’s matchup with the struggling Tar Heels is Virginia’s ACC home debut after the team split its first two conference games on the road to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. This game is the first of a home-and-home with North Carolina, as Virginia makes the return trip Feb. 7.
“Everybody has to be looking forward to [tonight’s game],” freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said. “It’s gonna be a challenge, and I love challenges.”
As the conference season has started, Landesberg has quieted any Virginia followers who questioned whether he could continue to find lanes to the basket against ACC opponents. The New York City native continues to lead the Cavaliers in scoring and sits at fourth in the conference with 18.5 points per game. He has exceeded that mark in each of the team’s two ACC contests, pouring in 26 against Georgia Tech and 20 at Virginia Tech. Landesberg was named ACC Rookie of the Week Tuesday primarily for his effort against Virginia Tech, the fifth time he has received the award this season. He is just the fourth player in Virginia history to win the award at least five times; Cavalier greats Ralph Sampson (1979-80) and Sean Singletary (2004-05) each won the award five times, while Bryant Stith (1988-89) was given the honor on a Virginia-record six occasions.
Another common thread to Virginia’s first two ACC contests has been playing well from behind. Against the Hokies, Virginia trailed by 15 with 5:23 left in regulation, before sophomore guard Mustapha Farrakhan drained four threes in a row to bring Virginia as close as 2 with under a minute remaining before Hokie senior A.D. Vassallo answered with a bucket to put Virginia away. In Atlanta, a 3-point shot from junior forward Jamil Tucker and some big missed free throws from Georgia Tech ultimately sent the game to overtime, when Virginia took its first lead since the 14:29 mark of the second half en route to an 88-84 victory.
“We seem to do this a lot — we start to play harder when the game is starting to get away from us,” Landesberg said. “We’ve gotta find a way to just play like that the whole game.”
One thing that hindered Virginia against the Hokies that could potentially cost Virginia coach Dave Leitao even more tonight is foul trouble in the frontcourt, particularly for 7-foot freshman center Assane Sene. Sene picked up his fourth foul with Virginia trailing by 10 at the 6:38 mark of the second half, and Virginia Tech built the lead to its largest margin of 15 with Sene on the bench.
Sene averages 1.5 blocks per game this season and has the ability to alter shots more than any Cavalier center in recent memory. His size and length makes him the most able to bother North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, but Sene has had trouble keeping himself on the floor on several occasions this season. Considering Hansbrough’s physical style and his deft ability to get to the foul line, keeping Sene on the floor has to be a concern for Leitao, who noted that while foul trouble was certainly a factor in Blacksburg, it was less of an issue against the perimeter-oriented Hokies.
“You have to make a judgment when a guy has three [fouls] or is in any foul trouble,” Leitao said. “Can you manage with them out? Can you manage with them in foul trouble? Or, you can dip them in and out.”
And, of course, to the dismay of Virginia fans, the Tar Heels likely will not take for granted this game against the preseason pick for last in the ACC.
“Sometimes we go out there and just expect to win instead of realizing that nobody’s going to roll over for us,” Ellington told reporters after the loss to Wake Forest. “We’ve got a target on our back.”
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