Following the Virginia women’s basketball team’s big win against Florida State Tuesday night, the men’s basketball team gets to take its own shot at another Sunshine State squad tonight at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers (9-14, 3-9 ACC) will have the chance to damage the NCAA Tournament résumé of the Miami Hurricanes (16-10, 5-8 ACC) in much the same way they did against Virginia Tech last Wednesday, winning 75-61.
Miami is coming off a crucial 69-58 win against Boston College Saturday, ending a tough three-game skid after falling to Duke, North Carolina and Florida State. The Hurricanes own a paltry 3-7 record during their last 10 games, a statistic they will want to improve by Selection Sunday, given the importance the NCAA Selection Committee usually places on recent performance for tournament berths.
After Virginia, Miami finishes up its regular season against Georgia Tech and N.C. State. Including tonight’s game against Virginia, these games against the ACC’s weaker teams are must-wins for the Hurricanes. Though Miami has a ratings percentage index of 46, ahead of fellow ACC bubble teams Maryland (54), Boston College (55) and Virginia Tech (66), all of those teams currently have .500-or-better records in conference play. Miami, however, will have to win all three to achieve an even 8-8 ACC mark.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, have been relegated to the spoiler role. Virginia, coming off a 72-67 loss to N.C. State Saturday, will have to bring more energy against Miami than it did against the Wolfpack. N.C. State led 24-6 before Virginia closed the first half with a 23-9 run to make it 33-29 heading into the locker room.
“I thought early in the game, we settled for jump shots,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “I told them during one of the timeouts I didn’t want any more jump shots. I wanted to attack, which was our game plan anyway. It has been more of our thought process recently to be more attacking and if you attack more, you get to the line, you get easy baskets and high percentage shots.”
Being back on the home court could help the offense in the early going tonight, but getting out to a quick start will mean slowing down Miami senior guard Jack McClinton, who is averaging 20.1 points per game this season, placing him fourth in the ACC. Miami only has one other player averaging in double figures, junior forward Dwayne Collins at 11 points per game — but the Hurricanes boast five other players averaging at least five points. Collins is a presence on the inside, grabbing a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game, just slightly behind Virginia sophomore forward Mike Scott, whose 7.3 put him at 10th in the ACC.
As a team, Miami sports the third best scoring defense in the ACC, giving up only 66.2 ppg. Additionally, the Hurricanes are tied with N.C. State for the league lead in three-point percentage (38.4 percent) thanks in large part to McClinton’s incredible 47.7 percent accuracy from long range, far outpacing Clemson sophomore guard Terrence Oglesby (39.5 percent) for first place in the conference.
Leitao has used a revamped starting lineup since the second half against Boston College, but it was largely ineffective during the first half against the Wolfpack. Leitao then retooled the lineup, but he was disappointed in the bench production as well.
“I don’t think [the starters] as a unit came out with the same kind of energy that we had recently,” Leitao said. “Then guys came off the bench and didn’t give us energy boosts either. So it wasn’t specifically the starting lineup.”
Despite the subpar play from the entire team, senior forward Mamadi Diane, who has been largely absent from games this year, was a bright spot, scoring 11 points in the second half and sparking a comeback for the Cavaliers in which they nearly erased N.C. State’s 17-point lead. Earlier in the game, the embattled senior could sense the impending troubles Virginia later faced by watching his teammates’ body language.
“Our bodies were lackadaisical,” Diane said. “Everything we were doing was lackadaisical. When you start out like that, there’s no way you’re going to win.”
Virginia will have to become more energetic if it hopes to knock off a Miami team fighting for an NCAA Tournament berth. Only three Cavaliers scored in double figures against N.C. State, while five and four reached double figures in wins against Clemson and Virginia Tech, respectively.
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