The Virginia men's basketball team travels to Boston College today, seeking its first win since Feb. 3, when the Cavaliers topped N.C. State, 59-47.
Virginia's latest disappointment came Sunday night, as the team fell to Duke, 67-49, at John Paul Jones Arena.
This weekend's game featured a Virginia squad that lacked its leading scorer, sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg. Landesberg suffered a bruised thigh in the team's 74-62 loss at Miami, and his status has been listed as day-to-day. The all-around star has spent limited time practicing since the injury.
"If he can go the day of the game and there's a big turnaround, yes, I would play a kid that way," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said.
Junior forward Mike Scott, the team's second-leading scorer, failed to make up for Landesberg's absence against the Blue Devils. Scott has hit a dry spell as of late, shooting 0-13 since leading the team with 14 points in a loss at Clemson Feb. 20.
Poor shooting from all areas of the court also has plagued the Cavaliers as a team. Against Duke, Virginia made a modest 31.4 percent of its shots.
"There were some good looks, just had some trouble capitalizing on some of our open opportunities," Bennett said.
Senior center Jerome Meyinsse led the team in scoring Sunday with a career-high 21 points. Additionally, sophomore forward Assane Sene made significant contributions on defense with 10 boards and two blocks. Sene, who averages only 13.5 minutes, 1.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, will look to continue his stronger recent play against the Eagles.
"The one thing with Assane, whether he plays a little or a lot, he gives everything he has," Bennett said.
After the Cavaliers jumped out to a 5-2 start in ACC play, Virginia faithful balked at the team's 11th place standing in the preseason ACC polls. But now, after seven straight losses, the Cavaliers have plummeted out of contention for an ACC at-large bid and have fallen to the bottom rung of the conference standings.
"The way to respond is to hit them back if they hit you, just keep playing hard," Sene said. "We are losing, but at the same time, we still the same team as what we were when we were winning."
The Cavaliers face the Eagles tonight for the first time all year. Boston College, though tied with Virginia for eighth place in the ACC, defeated Virginia Tech - which twice edged the Cavaliers this season - in an 80-60 thumping Feb. 24.
"The word and watching on type is the physicalness of their team - how hard they run their cuts, how they fight for position," Bennett said.
Against Boston College, Virginia will turn to its still-improving defense to control the Eagles' scoring pace. The Cavaliers have limited their opponents to an average of 63.2 points per game, thanks in large part to the strong skill sets of guards sophomore Sammy Zeglinski and freshman Jontel Evans.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers also will look for strong offensive performances from junior guard Jeff Jones and Zeglinski. Jones has emerged as a long-range threat, shooting 42 percent from behind the arc since conference play began, while Zeglinski's ball-handling and clutch-shooting ability have aided his team all season.
Faced in February with the team's precipitous decline in performance, and knowing that other players must become key contributors because of Landesberg's nagging injury, Bennett has focused on rebuilding Virginia's confidence from the ground up.
"I think you try to find little victories, little things to say, 'Alright, these things we've done well,' and you just try to make improvements, and again focus on the quality of what's going on," Bennett said. "You don't get as hung up on the end result, because all that's gonna do is - it doesn't help"
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