No. 13 Virginia will face a couple of mental hurdles when it wraps up a successful Atlantic Coast Conference regular season Saturday at home against Virginia Tech in Charlottesville, Va.
First, there’s a risk of complacency. The Cavaliers (26-4, 14-3) have already clinched the No. 2 seed and a double-bye in next week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte, N.C. They are also a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
Second, the emotional support from the crowd may be somewhat limited with Virginia students on spring break for this rematch with the rival Hokies (19-11, 8-9).
“We’re certainly going to have to be ready to go,” Cavaliers coach Ryan Odom said. “I hate that it falls on spring break. … (It) doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but it is what it is. Nobody’s fault, just the way it fell, and we’re going to make the most of it. So, we need as many Virginia fans in here as we can get.”
Despite the potential pitfalls, the Cavaliers are a clear favorite to finish on a high note. They have won 10 of their last 11 games and are 15-1 at home this season.
The Hokies are 3-6 in road games and 2-3 against Top 25 opponents. One of those wins was a 95-85, triple-overtime thriller against then-No. 21 Virginia on New Year’s Eve in Blacksburg, Va., giving Virginia Tech a chance to sweep its fiercest rivals for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
“We look forward to getting down there,” Hokies coach Mike Young said of making the 150-mile trip to Virginia. “Love that arena. Good friends down there, should be a whale of a college basketball game. We look forward to being a part of it.”
Virginia followed up its 26-point loss at No. 1 Duke last weekend with a wire-to-wire 75-70 home win against Wake Forest on Tuesday night.
“(Coach Odom) had a great speech after the game (at Duke) and the next day at practice he told us to look forward,” center Johann Grunloh said. “We still had unfinished business in conference, and we put a focus on that. It was not easy, but we found a good way to leave it behind.”
Thijs De Ridder led five players in double figures with 16 points against the Demon Deacons and the Cavaliers made 10 3-pointers, their 19th game this season with double-digit long-range buckets.
Ben Hammond scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Hokies over the Cavaliers in the first meeting, which featured 17 ties and 20 lead changes.
Hammond scored 11 points in Tuesday night’s 72-63 home win against Boston College. Tobi Lawal scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half.
Unlike its Commonwealth counterparts in Charlottesville, the Hokies likely need a big win Saturday and a run in the conference tourney to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We need to go down to Charlottesville and play a really good ballgame, that would help. They’re really good,” Young said. “We got to go to Charlotte, we got to play good basketball. We got to keep going. Yeah, I think about it a lot.”
