Pittsburgh at No. 2 Virginia, 7 p.m. ESPN
Virginia narrowly escaped an upset loss against Wake Forest on Saturday, 61-60. The Demon Deacons' Codi Miller-McIntyre had the ball with a few seconds left but Malcolm Brogdon wouldn't let him get to the rim and then he dribbled the ball off himself and into Brogdon's hands.
On the offensive end, Anthony Gill had a big game with 18 points. Brogdon and London Perrantes were cold from 3, but contributed 11 points each. Virginia hit just two 3s, both from Evan Nolte, who has started the last two games with Justin Anderson out of the lineup. He's made four of his last eight 3s after hitting just seven of 35 before that. Wake Forest had 10 3s, which definitely kept it in the game, and six of those came from 6-foot-10 Greek freshman Konstantinos Mitoglou (six of 12). Sometimes, Virginia had a hand in his face. Other times, it didn't. But he was on fire either way. He is now up above 40 percent on the year.
Virginia's offense struggled in the first half against a Wake Forest defense ranked in the bottom of the ACC, scoring just 24 points on 36.4 percent shooting. The Cavaliers began the second half very strongly, erasing a 31-24 halftime deficit quickly and eventually taking a 51-38 lead, but the Demon Deacons slowly chipped away at the lead, concluding with the dramatic finish.
What to take away from the close game against a team with a losing record? Well, Virginia played the first 10 minutes of the second half about as well as it could have. The other 30 minutes? Not so much. But the Cavs still won, and that's what's important. Lots of good teams struggle throughout the year against bad teams. And, by the way, I think Wake is headed in the right direction under first-year coach Danny Manning. UVa did not play well the whole game, but Wake looked good in stretches.
Also, if Mitoglou just hits three fewer 3s, UVa wins more comfortably by 10.
No doubt that not having Anderson is hurting UVa right now. I still say the biggest loss has been on the boards and as a motivator. His scoring is getting made up here and there. Perrantes and Nolte both scored more than normal against the Deacons, as did Gill, obviously. But Anderson is the engine that makes Virginia go. I think Brogdon would be a bigger loss, though. He plays the most minutes and is just very consistent and reliable. However, he made only five of 14 shots against Wake and his shot looked flat. A lot of the Wahoos' shots looked flat.
Hopefully the guys aren't getting tired. They have a quick turnaround tonight at home against Pittsburgh, a team that has been improving but is still probably on the outside looking in as far as the NCAA tournament goes. The Panthers are 17-9 overall and 6-6 in the ACC. They've won four of five games since suffering a bad loss at Virginia Tech (a place UVa almost experienced a bad loss, too). Victories included during that stretch include Notre Dame, Syracuse, and North Carolina. The win over the Tar Heels on Saturday in Pittsburgh was especially impressive as the Panthers shot a blistering 64.9 percent and won, 89-76. The loss during that stretch was at Louisville and Pittsburgh is only 1-4 on the road in the ACC and the win came by just one point over BC in OT.
Pittsburgh is led in scoring by Michael Young (13.3 ppg), Jamel Artis (12.8), James Robinson (10.1), Cameron Wright (9.4), and Chris Jones (8.9). The Panthers are shooting 45.1 percent and 34.1 percent from 3, about the same as Wake Forest, though the Deacons did make 10 3s. Pittsburgh's biggest threats from deep are Artis at 40.7 percent and Jones, Josh Newkirk, and Cameron Johnson, all at just under 35 percent. Pitt shoots 69.3 percent from the line. Virginia only out-rebounded Wake by one and Wake came into that game ranked 15th in the country. Pittsburgh is only 203rd in the nation in that category. Young (7.6 rpg) and Artis (5.8 rpg) are the team's best rebounders. Pitt does excel at moving the ball, ranking 11th in assists per game. Robinson is the best at dishing out dimes with 5.2 per game.
Virginia is probably in for another tough, hard-fought game. Both games between these teams were decided by three points last year when the 'Hoos won both, first at Pittsburgh and then in the ACC tournament semifinals. Pitt is more desperate for a win as it needs all the quality victories it can get with March looming. If Virginia can play better 'D' on the 3-point line than it did Saturday and get off to a faster start in the first half, it should have a better chance of winning. I expect a strong challenge from the Panthers either way.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
Virginia narrowly escaped an upset loss against Wake Forest on Saturday, 61-60. The Demon Deacons' Codi Miller-McIntyre had the ball with a few seconds left but Malcolm Brogdon wouldn't let him get to the rim and then he dribbled the ball off himself and into Brogdon's hands.
On the offensive end, Anthony Gill had a big game with 18 points. Brogdon and London Perrantes were cold from 3, but contributed 11 points each. Virginia hit just two 3s, both from Evan Nolte, who has started the last two games with Justin Anderson out of the lineup. He's made four of his last eight 3s after hitting just seven of 35 before that. Wake Forest had 10 3s, which definitely kept it in the game, and six of those came from 6-foot-10 Greek freshman Konstantinos Mitoglou (six of 12). Sometimes, Virginia had a hand in his face. Other times, it didn't. But he was on fire either way. He is now up above 40 percent on the year.
Virginia's offense struggled in the first half against a Wake Forest defense ranked in the bottom of the ACC, scoring just 24 points on 36.4 percent shooting. The Cavaliers began the second half very strongly, erasing a 31-24 halftime deficit quickly and eventually taking a 51-38 lead, but the Demon Deacons slowly chipped away at the lead, concluding with the dramatic finish.
What to take away from the close game against a team with a losing record? Well, Virginia played the first 10 minutes of the second half about as well as it could have. The other 30 minutes? Not so much. But the Cavs still won, and that's what's important. Lots of good teams struggle throughout the year against bad teams. And, by the way, I think Wake is headed in the right direction under first-year coach Danny Manning. UVa did not play well the whole game, but Wake looked good in stretches.
No doubt that not having Anderson is hurting UVa right now. I still say the biggest loss has been on the boards and as a motivator. His scoring is getting made up here and there. Perrantes and Nolte both scored more than normal against the Deacons, as did Gill, obviously. But Anderson is the engine that makes Virginia go. I think Brogdon would be a bigger loss, though. He plays the most minutes and is just very consistent and reliable. However, he made only five of 14 shots against Wake and his shot looked flat. A lot of the Wahoos' shots looked flat.
Hopefully the guys aren't getting tired. They have a quick turnaround tonight at home against Pittsburgh, a team that has been improving but is still probably on the outside looking in as far as the NCAA tournament goes. The Panthers are 17-9 overall and 6-6 in the ACC. They've won four of five games since suffering a bad loss at Virginia Tech (a place UVa almost experienced a bad loss, too). Victories included during that stretch include Notre Dame, Syracuse, and North Carolina. The win over the Tar Heels on Saturday in Pittsburgh was especially impressive as the Panthers shot a blistering 64.9 percent and won, 89-76. The loss during that stretch was at Louisville and Pittsburgh is only 1-4 on the road in the ACC and the win came by just one point over BC in OT.
Pittsburgh is led in scoring by Michael Young (13.3 ppg), Jamel Artis (12.8), James Robinson (10.1), Cameron Wright (9.4), and Chris Jones (8.9). The Panthers are shooting 45.1 percent and 34.1 percent from 3, about the same as Wake Forest, though the Deacons did make 10 3s. Pittsburgh's biggest threats from deep are Artis at 40.7 percent and Jones, Josh Newkirk, and Cameron Johnson, all at just under 35 percent. Pitt shoots 69.3 percent from the line. Virginia only out-rebounded Wake by one and Wake came into that game ranked 15th in the country. Pittsburgh is only 203rd in the nation in that category. Young (7.6 rpg) and Artis (5.8 rpg) are the team's best rebounders. Pitt does excel at moving the ball, ranking 11th in assists per game. Robinson is the best at dishing out dimes with 5.2 per game.
Virginia is probably in for another tough, hard-fought game. Both games between these teams were decided by three points last year when the 'Hoos won both, first at Pittsburgh and then in the ACC tournament semifinals. Pitt is more desperate for a win as it needs all the quality victories it can get with March looming. If Virginia can play better 'D' on the 3-point line than it did Saturday and get off to a faster start in the first half, it should have a better chance of winning. I expect a strong challenge from the Panthers either way.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 1-5.
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