Of all the reasons for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s basketball bounce-back this season, Virginia’s turnaround is one of the biggest.
After the Cavaliers finished last season under interim coach Ron Sanchez with their first losing record since 2009-10, they are right back on a familiar roll under new coach Ryan Odom.
No. 15 Virginia improved to 20-3 (8-2 ACC) with Saturday’s 72-59 home win over Syracuse. Next up, the Cavaliers will face a suddenly hot Florida State team on Tuesday evening in Tallahassee, Fla.
The win over the Orange was Virginia’s fourth straight and ninth in the last 10 games. It never really felt in doubt — Syracuse led for just over two minutes — and yet, the Cavaliers were vulnerable when they led by just four points with five minutes left.
Virginia ended the game on an 11-2 run to hold off a pesky opponent which shot 49% (25 of 51) from the floor.
“Proud of the way our guys finished it down the stretch there,” Odom said. “They executed well, we defended well enough and came up with key rebounds in order to finish the game off. The key to the game for us was just the hustle plays.”
While this was an off-scoring night (41.3% from the floor and 33.3% from 3-point range), this is no longer former head coach Tony Bennett’s Virginia.
Defense is still a strength, ranking third in the ACC in scoring defense (67.9 points per game), but the Cavaliers also rank sixth in the conference in scoring offense (82.8 points).
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder managed just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting against Syracuse, but the forward leads the team with 16.4 points and 6.5 rebounds.
While Virginia’s record is impressive, it will have to keep providing wins. After Saturday’s win, the Cavaliers were the lowest-ranked No. 4 seed in ESPN’s updated NCAA Tournament projection.
A win may not be easy to come by against Florida State (11-12, 4-6), which enters on a three-game winning streak.
With an 82-79 win at Notre Dame on Saturday, the Seminoles have now won four of their last five games against major-conference opponents after starting the season with nine straight losses in those matchups.
That hasn’t satisfied first-year coach Luke Loucks.
“Our message to our guys has not been great job for this winning streak. It’s great job for doing a great job and doing your job,” Loucks said after Saturday’s win. “If you start drinking the poison of, ‘Hey, look how many games we’ve won and look how good we’re doing,’ that’s when you start dropping games.”
Chauncey Wiggins is a big part of that recent surge. He’s been a hot-and-cold player this season after transferring in from Clemson but has been riding a high of late.
After he scored 15 or fewer points in five straight games from Jan. 10-24 — including three games with six or fewer points — he’s scored 18-plus and led the team in scoring in the last three. Against Notre Dame, he finished with a game-high 22 points, making 5 of 10 from 3-point range.
Minimally used center Alier Maluk also played a surprisingly key role in the win. He was subbed into the game for the first time with 9 seconds left and hit his first two free throws since Dec. 19 to give the Seminoles some cushion.
Virginia has won four straight games against Florida State, including a pair of games in Tallahassee.
–Field Level Media
