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Weekend Previews: Jan. 22-24

"The Skinny" on weekend action for men's basketball and indoor track and field

<p>Senior guard Malcolm Brogdon and the Virginia men's basketball team host&nbsp;Syracuse Sunday at 7 p.m.</p>

Senior guard Malcolm Brogdon and the Virginia men's basketball team host Syracuse Sunday at 7 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

What: No. 13 Virginia (14-4, 3-3 ACC) vs. Syracuse (13-7, 3-4 ACC)

Where: John Paul Jones Arena

When: Sunday, 7 p.m.

The Skinny: Following a victory Tuesday against Clemson, Virginia will hope to string together its first winning streak since the Cavaliers won 11 straight between Nov. 19, against Bradley, and Jan. 2, against Notre Dame. Since the 77-66 conference opening win against the Irish, Virginia has dropped all three of its away games, while winning its two home contests against Miami and Clemson.

The Cavaliers are still searching for their identity in ACC play, evidenced by coach Tony Bennett’s frequent changes to the rotation. Virginia has now used the same starting five — junior guard London Perrantes, senior guard Malcolm Brogdon, sophomore guard Devon Hall, senior forward Anthony Gill and freshman center Jack Salt — in consecutive games.

Still, Salt has provided little impact, and the rotation often stretches to 10 players, hurting the team’s on-court cohesion. Bennett will continue to tinker with lineups until he finds the appropriate balance of scoring ability and tight defense.

Meanwhile, Syracuse is riding a three-game win streak with victories against Boston College, Wake Forest and Duke — in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Orange lost their first four ACC games of the season.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was suspended for nine games earlier in the season. Since his return to the bench Jan. 9 against North Carolina, the Orange have gone 3-1.

The contest was originally scheduled for Saturday at noon, but tipoff was moved back to Sunday at 7 p.m. due to inclement weather. Virginia’s game against Wake Forest, originally scheduled for Monday, has been pushed back to Tuesday at 7 p.m.

—compiled by Robert Elder

Indoor Track & Field

What: Rod McCravy Memorial Meet

Where: Nutter Field House, Lexington, Ky.

When: Friday-Saturday, All Day

The Skinny: The Virginia men’s and women’s teams travel to Lexington, Ky. this weekend for the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet.

The meet marks the second of six before the ACC Championships, which will be hosted the last weekend of February in Boston, Mass.

Last weekend, at the Virginia Tech Invitational, sophomore Bridget Guy broke her own record in the pole vault with a mark of 13’ 6.25”, which bested her old record by six inches. Guy’s performance is currently ranked 12th in the nation.

Ten nationally-ranked programs are set to compete this weekend, including the 18th-ranked Virginia men. Top-ranked Florida, No. 6 Georgia and No. 25 Houston will all participate in the men’s race.

The unranked Virginia women will go against No. 2 Georgia, No. 6 Florida, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 11 Baylor, No. 17 Miami and No. 22 Clemson.

This weekend will be the indoor debut for the Cavaliers’ throwers, which include sophomore Filip Mihaljevic, a 2015 second-team All-American and ACC champion in the indoor shot put.

—compiled by Matt Wurzburger

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