Virginia Tech at No. 2 Virginia, 6:15 p.m. ESPN
Among the Cavaliers' accomplishments this season, you can add a double-digit comeback on the road.
UVa rallied from 11 down to top Florida State, 59-55, on Wednesday for its 15th consecutive win. Paired with losses by No. 1 Villanova to St. John's and No. 3 Purdue to Ohio State, also Wednesday, Virginia, 23-1 and 12-0 in the ACC, will be the new No. 1 team in the country Monday if it beats Virginia Tech at home on Saturday.
Devon Hall, after not scoring against Syracuse, led the Wahoos with 17 points and added three rebounds and three assists. He made 3 of his 4 3-pointers. Ty Jerome had a big day with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kyle Guy had 13 points and went 3 of 10 on 3s. Isaiah Wilkins had six points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal, and Mamadi
Diakite and De'Andre Hunter rounded out the scoring with four each.
As was demonstrated in the Duke game, this team is just really calm under pressure. That characteristic was present again against the Seminoles. Some examples: Wilkins, hesitant to shoot jumpers recently and off on a lot of them, took one with 6:12 left just inside the 3-point line and sunk it for a 48-47 lead, one Virginia never relinquished. As he did against Duke and Louisville, Jerome took a huge 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and hit it with 4:25 left to give the Cavaliers a 53-48 margin. FSU struggled down the stretch to make free throws (13-19). UVa didn't (8-10). Diakite, shooting 80 percent at the line after being at 54.5 percent last year, made both of his with 3:38 left to make it 55-49. Wilkins made another great offensive play after that. With 2:07 left, he had the ball near the 3-point line. He made a really nice move into the lane, pump-faked, and made a layup to make it 57-53. And finally, Hunter, who is a redshirt freshman, showed nerves beyond his years, making both of his free throws to make it 59-55 with nine seconds left to seal the win.
Next up are the rival Hokies. They stand in the way of UVa's first No. 1 ranking since the 1982-83 season.
Surprisingly, Virginia had zero issues with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Jan. 4, a game I thought the Wahoos would lose in a tightly contested affair. Instead, UVa won, 78-52, foreshadowing some of the dominance to come in ACC play. Hunter had his breakout conference game, leading the team with 14 points off the bench, this after barely playing in the first conference contest against Boston College. Jerome and Guy had 13 points each, and Hall had 12. Diakite added nine as a substitute. Tech got 14 out of Kerry Blackshear Jr. and 12 from Justin Robinson. Chris Clarke was Tech's next highest scorer with seven. The Hokies shot just 36.2 percent and made just 2 of 12 3s and mostly looked listless.
The beginning of ACC play was tough for the Hokies. They lost to Syracuse and then UVa before easy wins over bottom feeders Wake Forest and Pittsburgh and then dropped two contests in a row against Louisville and Florida State. Now, though, Tech has won four of five and is coming off a solid, NCAA tournament-resume building 85-75 victory over N.C. State in which Robinson put up 32 points. Tech stands seventh in the ACC at 6-5 and 17-7 overall and is listed as having one of the last
four byes in the NCAA tournament by ESPN.com's bracketology, meaning the Hokies are just off the bubble right now. A road loss at a 23-1 team wouldn't hurt them too much, but obviously an upset would be a huge boost.
This has got to be one of the better UVa teams in awhile at taking each game as it comes, one at a time. It is cliche, but Tony Bennett's teams are always good at that. But this one does it especially well. If it does that against Tech, I think UVa will be No. 1 on Monday. "College GameDay" is coming to town, and UVa has experience with the hype now. Three years ago, UVa lost to Duke in its first "GameDay" appearance. Two seasons ago, though, Virginia topped North Carolina after the show aired from JPJ. Bennett has said he doesn't like the hoopla, and I think his veterans will get that message through to the team now: Focus on the game. The Hokies definitely will. They need the win more than UVa. They will scrap and claw and do all they can to win and get one of the biggest victories for any team in the nation this season. I'm sure they don't want to be embarrassed like they were in Blacksburg. They'll come out with more passion than they did in that game. But if UVa stays under control and plays its game, it should capture another victory.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 5-10 points.
Among the Cavaliers' accomplishments this season, you can add a double-digit comeback on the road.
UVa rallied from 11 down to top Florida State, 59-55, on Wednesday for its 15th consecutive win. Paired with losses by No. 1 Villanova to St. John's and No. 3 Purdue to Ohio State, also Wednesday, Virginia, 23-1 and 12-0 in the ACC, will be the new No. 1 team in the country Monday if it beats Virginia Tech at home on Saturday.
Devon Hall, after not scoring against Syracuse, led the Wahoos with 17 points and added three rebounds and three assists. He made 3 of his 4 3-pointers. Ty Jerome had a big day with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kyle Guy had 13 points and went 3 of 10 on 3s. Isaiah Wilkins had six points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal, and Mamadi
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| Devon Hall led the comeback charge for UVa against Florida State, scoring 17 points. |
As was demonstrated in the Duke game, this team is just really calm under pressure. That characteristic was present again against the Seminoles. Some examples: Wilkins, hesitant to shoot jumpers recently and off on a lot of them, took one with 6:12 left just inside the 3-point line and sunk it for a 48-47 lead, one Virginia never relinquished. As he did against Duke and Louisville, Jerome took a huge 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and hit it with 4:25 left to give the Cavaliers a 53-48 margin. FSU struggled down the stretch to make free throws (13-19). UVa didn't (8-10). Diakite, shooting 80 percent at the line after being at 54.5 percent last year, made both of his with 3:38 left to make it 55-49. Wilkins made another great offensive play after that. With 2:07 left, he had the ball near the 3-point line. He made a really nice move into the lane, pump-faked, and made a layup to make it 57-53. And finally, Hunter, who is a redshirt freshman, showed nerves beyond his years, making both of his free throws to make it 59-55 with nine seconds left to seal the win.
Next up are the rival Hokies. They stand in the way of UVa's first No. 1 ranking since the 1982-83 season.
Surprisingly, Virginia had zero issues with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Jan. 4, a game I thought the Wahoos would lose in a tightly contested affair. Instead, UVa won, 78-52, foreshadowing some of the dominance to come in ACC play. Hunter had his breakout conference game, leading the team with 14 points off the bench, this after barely playing in the first conference contest against Boston College. Jerome and Guy had 13 points each, and Hall had 12. Diakite added nine as a substitute. Tech got 14 out of Kerry Blackshear Jr. and 12 from Justin Robinson. Chris Clarke was Tech's next highest scorer with seven. The Hokies shot just 36.2 percent and made just 2 of 12 3s and mostly looked listless.
The beginning of ACC play was tough for the Hokies. They lost to Syracuse and then UVa before easy wins over bottom feeders Wake Forest and Pittsburgh and then dropped two contests in a row against Louisville and Florida State. Now, though, Tech has won four of five and is coming off a solid, NCAA tournament-resume building 85-75 victory over N.C. State in which Robinson put up 32 points. Tech stands seventh in the ACC at 6-5 and 17-7 overall and is listed as having one of the last
This has got to be one of the better UVa teams in awhile at taking each game as it comes, one at a time. It is cliche, but Tony Bennett's teams are always good at that. But this one does it especially well. If it does that against Tech, I think UVa will be No. 1 on Monday. "College GameDay" is coming to town, and UVa has experience with the hype now. Three years ago, UVa lost to Duke in its first "GameDay" appearance. Two seasons ago, though, Virginia topped North Carolina after the show aired from JPJ. Bennett has said he doesn't like the hoopla, and I think his veterans will get that message through to the team now: Focus on the game. The Hokies definitely will. They need the win more than UVa. They will scrap and claw and do all they can to win and get one of the biggest victories for any team in the nation this season. I'm sure they don't want to be embarrassed like they were in Blacksburg. They'll come out with more passion than they did in that game. But if UVa stays under control and plays its game, it should capture another victory.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 5-10 points.
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