UVa to take on Notre Dame for second time

Notre Dame at No. 14 Virginia, 2 p.m. ESPN2

Note: Where do you think UVa will finish in the ACC regular-season standings? Answer in my poll on the right side of the page. I should note now that after the win Tuesday at Tech, UVa can finish no worse than fourth.

The Cavaliers host the Fighting Irish today for the second time this season. UVa won at Notre Dame, 68-53, on Jan. 28. Malcolm Brogdon led the team in that contest with 16 points and Mike Tobey had 14. Joe Harris and Justin Anderson added nine each. Virginia shot 53.8 percent while Notre Dame shot just 42.6 percent. UVa took control of the game early, opening up a 32-12 lead. The Irish got it to within 10 at the half but never got closer after that.

Notre Dame was led by Zach Auguste and Demetrious Jackson with 10 points each. UVa held the Irish's leading scorers, Garrick Sherman, Pat Connaughton, and Eric Atkins to eight, seven, and six points, respectively. All of them average over 13 points per game. A key to today's game at JPJ will be the

Cavaliers once again holding these guys in check.

You might recall that Notre Dame's leading scorer early in the season, Jerian Grant, was booted off the team because of academic issues. Besides a victory vs. Duke, the Irish haven't been the same since. They went 8-4 with him but have gone just 6-9 without him. I do think that Notre Dame has been playing a bit better since losing to UVa by 15. The Fighting Irish lost to Syracuse by just six and have wins over BC (twice) and Clemson in double overtime. In that timeframe, ND also lost to UNC by 11 at home and lost to Miami by seven in Florida.

Like I said, I think a big key to this game will be can Virginia hold down ND's top players again? I think it would be careless to think the Cavaliers will hold them all down again. Virginia needs to be prepared for one, two, or all three to rebound and have better games this time around. The Wahoos will have to play a complete game to come out on top of the Irish. Another effort like against Virginia Tech will probably send the Wahoos to a loss. Notre Dame will probably play some zone against UVa and hopefully the Cavs learned some things playing against the Hokies' zone Tuesday. UVa scored 36 second-half points in Blacksburg so hopefully that trend continues at JPJ.

In one week, UVa hosts Syracuse in what could be the ACC's most important game of the year, even though Duke-Syracuse has stolen the national spotlight and those two lock horns again today, this time in Durham (the Orange won, 91-89 in OT, in Syracuse a few weeks ago). Hopefully, though, UVa is not looking ahead too much. That might have gotten them in trouble against the Hokies so hopefully the guys are now focused on the task at hand and the team directly in front of them. There is some business to take care of before the Wahoos can welcome the Orange to Charlottesville.