Looking at the remainder of the Virginia men’s basketball team’s schedule two weeks ago, many wondered if the Cavaliers would pull off another win the rest of the season. Saturday’s road match-up at N.C. State appeared to be one of the more winnable games left on the Cavaliers’ slate.
A couple weeks later, however, the landscape has totally changed. Virginia (9-13, 3-8 ACC) comes off its first conference winning streak of the season going into Saturday’s contest. By the same token, the Wolfpack (14-10, 4-7 ACC) appear to be a much stiffer challenge than they were earlier in the season as well; they are 3-2 in February, including an 82-76 win against Wake Forest at home Feb. 11 and an 86-65 blowout victory at Georgia Tech Feb. 14. N.C. State’s only loss this month was against North Carolina Wednesday 89-80 at Chapel Hill. And for the Cavaliers, there is the added question of whether they can carry over their strong play from the last two games to a hostile environment.
“It’s definitely gonna test where this team really is now,” sophomore guard Jeff Jones said.
Both individually and collectively, Virginia has shown signs of life. Jones has been a consistent contributor since playing in the starting lineup Feb. 7 against North Carolina, averaging 11.8 points per game his last four games.
“As [Jones] gets more and more comfortable, he makes more shots,” coach Dave Leitao said, adding that Jones has started to contribute in other offensive categories as well.
Freshman Sylven Landesberg also has continued to add to the scoring column, and his overall growth has been noticeable, particularly in Virginia’s most recent win against Virginia Tech. Landesberg put in 19 points — including several midrange jumpers, which he said has been a point of emphasis in his development — and added six assists and nine rebounds.
“He’s realized, one, that he’s getting keyed on a whole lot more,” Leitao said, “And two, growing confidence in the people around him that he can make plays and get people the ball, and they can finish or make plays from there.”
As a whole, Virginia’s offense has been much more fluid, even prior to their latest two-game win streak. The Cavaliers have averaged 15.8 assists during their past four games, compared to 10.9 per game previously against conference opponents.
“Before you can change the score, you have to change the way you do your business,” Leitao said. “We’ve been working on execution a whole lot more, and I thought our screen-setting and our timing off the screens allowed us to get some more open shots than we had been getting.”
On the defensive side, Virginia finally showed that it can get stops when it needs to, both in the 3-2 zone and in man-to-man. Leitao effectively used both against the Hokies Wednesday.
“For the most part, I thought it looked like a defensive team out there,” Leitao said.
Unlike Virginia Tech, though, the Wolfpack are driven by their frontcourt. A year after junior forward Brandon Costner and senior forward Ben McCauley experienced off years while playing in the shadow of then-freshman and current Cleveland Cavalier J.J. Hickson, the two have combined for 27.4 points and 14 rebounds per game this year. Sophomore forward Tracy Smith’s game also has been a pleasant surprise for coach Sidney Lowe of late; Smith has averaged 15 points and 10 boards his last three games.
For Virginia, perhaps the most telling statistic has been first half production. Time and again early in the conference season, Virginia stumbled to double-digit first half deficits. Since Leitao began starting the unusual lineup of Landesberg, Jones, junior guard Calvin Baker, freshman center Assane Sene and junior forward Solomon Tat, however, Virginia has led at halftime in three of its last four games. The only game in which it trailed at the break was against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, in which the team faced just an eight-point deficit.
“My confidence is growing in addressing the issue that was plaguing us before, which was the slow starts,” Leitao said. “I think there’s an importance right now with Solomon starting, and Assane starting, and Jeff starting ... but at the same point in time, it’s a collective mindset that’s allowed us — win, lose or draw — to come back in a positive way.”
Now, as the Cavaliers look at their schedule, they might feel more optimistic that they can pick up one more win and avoid becoming the first Virginia team since 1967 to win fewer than 10 contests.
“We’re just trying to build as much momentum as we can,” Baker said.
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