When the most heralded recruiting class in the recent history of Virginia basketball came together for the first time this summer, the freshmen were bamboozled by coach Tony Bennett’s acclaimed pack-line defense.
“When I came in here, it made me feel like I didn’t play any defense whatsoever the last years of my life,” freshman forward Evan Nolte said before the season.
That inexperience was on display in the team’s opening weekend, which included the team’s first-ever loss to George Mason and a surprising elimination in the NIT Season Tip-Off against Delaware.
Since a 1-2 start to the season, the Cavaliers (5-2, 0-0 ACC) have not resembled that tentative squad, notching four consecutive victories and reclaiming their reputation as one of the most vaunted defenses in the ACC.
“It’s a different team,” senior guard Jontel Evans said. “I feel like we’re more physical and aggressive on both ends of the floor. That’s what we need and that’s the big difference from those two games we lost, we weren’t aggressive on either ends of the floor.”
The Cavaliers return home from a statement win in Madison, Wisconsin against the Badgers in the ACC/Big Ten challenge to face Green Bay Saturday looking to extend their season-long win streak to five.
The victory against the Badgers held special sentiment for Virginia coach Tony Bennett, a Wisconsin native whose father formerly coached at the Wisconsin. When current head coach Bo Ryan replaced Dick Bennett as the Badgers head man, he kept the younger Bennett on staff. Wednesday, Tony Bennett beat Ryan at his own game, and Virginia held its sixth opponent in seven games to fewer than 60 points.
Bennett faces a school with an even more personal connection Saturday. Bennett starred at Green Bay during his four-year collegiate career, leading the Phoenix to three postseason appearances while earning the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year award twice under the tutelage of his father, Green Bay coach Dick Bennett. He remains the all-time leading scorer in program history with 2,285 points.
After graduating from Green Bay, Bennett was drafted 35th overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. Bennett played three NBA seasons and rejoined his father as an assistant coach at Wisconsin in 1999.
“We’re aware of it,” Evans said of Bennett’s playing days. “But we don’t hear it from him. We hear it from everyone else because Bennett is not the type of guy to brag about what he did.”
Evans’ right foot injury has limited the point guard to just 19 minutes in two games this season. It has also given him a chance to join Bennett as a leader from the sideline, and the veteran has used the opportunity to mentor the team’s young players.
“Watching from the sideline, obviously you see a lot and I’ve noticed that the guys are sometimes doing something wrong, not hustling on defense or not being aggressive on the offensive end,” Evans said. “Me being the person I am on the team, I was able to go up to them and tell them what they were doing wrong and they were able to accept my criticism and get the job done.”
Virginia has made strides defensively and is once again leading the ACC in scoring defense at 53.1 points allowed per game. The team is also holding opponents to just 37 percent shooting from the field.
“During the summer when we introduced our defense to the freshmen, just like every other freshman including myself, they obviously struggle with it,” Evans said. “But as time went on they begin to grasp the concepts of our defensive principles and now they’re starting to be really good at it.”
Complementing the team’s swarming defense is a more assertive pair of juniors, who lead the team offensively. Junior guard Joe Harris, the team’s leading scorer averaging 16.0 points per game, scored a game-high 20 points to go along with five assists and five rebounds against Wisconsin.
“I feel like he’s adapted to that killer-instinct that we needed him to have,” Evans said.
Junior forward Akil Mitchell has also shone so far this season, adding 11 points and 10 rebounds and ranking fourth in the ACC with 9.3 rebounds per game for the season.
“It’s real exciting to come back and have those guys playing the way that they’re playing,” Evans said. “Akil Mitchell is just playing with a lot more confidence than he did last year in the shadow of [then-senior forward] Mike Scott. I feel like he’s blossomed into a good role this year with his confidence.
Green Bay (3-3, 0-0 Horizon) has lost three of four games since beginning the season 2-0. The Phoenix rebounded Saturday with a 74-59 win against North Dakota state behind 21 points from sophomore guard Keifer Sykes, who leads the team offensively with 16.3 points per game.
Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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