Virginia makes its first West Coast swing in its Atlantic Coast Conference history when the Cavaliers tip off a two-game trip against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley, Calif.
The Cavaliers (8-6, 1-2) and Golden Bears (7-7, 0-3) have met just twice, with Virginia sweeping a home-and-home, nonconference series with a 63-62 overtime victory at home in 2015 and a 56-52 win at Cal the following season.
The Cavaliers also will play an afternoon game at Stanford on Saturday.
While acknowledging the logistical issues associated with spending most of the week on the road to play just two games — one of which will start at 11 p.m. on their Eastern body clocks — Virginia coach Ron Sanchez has been focusing on the positives as his team seeks its first true road win of the season.
“You get time to bond … time to spend more time to get to know each other,” he said. “We do have a lot of new players. So for us to just have time to dialogue, watch more film, not have to travel (far between San Francisco Bay Area sites), kind of get guys back into the arena (where) we’re all together in one space, is definitely beneficial.”
The Cavaliers did spend time together at the Baha Mar Championship four-team event in the Bahamas in November. But that did not go well on the scoreboard, with Virginia losing to Tennessee and St. John’s by a total of 47 points.
Virginia opened ACC play on the road two weeks later at SMU, losing 63-51, but broke into the win column when it split home decisions last week against North Carolina State (70-67 win) and Louisville (70-50 loss).
Elijah Saunders was the hero of a come-from-behind win over NC State with 22 points. He averages 12.1 points per game, second on the team to Isaac McKneely’s 12.3.
In Cal, the Cavaliers will see a team seeking its first-ever ACC win after losing at home to Stanford last month before getting swept at Pitt and Clemson last week, when the Golden Bears were doing their first conference Wednesday/Saturday road coupling.
Cal star Andrej Stojakovic went for 30 points in an 80-68 loss at Clemson on Saturday, but eight other Golden Bears combined for just 38 points. That prompted coach Mark Madsen to ponder lineup changes, including possibly promoting freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson (11 points at Clemson) into his first college start.
“Everything is always under consideration. … We look at everything; we evaluate everything,” Madsen said. “Jeremiah has been playing at a high level, and I have no doubt that he will continue to play at a very, very high level.”
–Field Level Media
