On Saturday, we learned that Duke is exactly who they think they are, the No. 1 team in the country. We also learned that Virginia can lay an egg against an elite team in a tough environment. It’s not that Virginia is “overrated”, “fraudulent”, or any of the other false claims I’ve been seeing on social media. Simply put, Ryan Odom got the Blue Devils’ best ball on a day when his team brought their D-minus game. Not usually a recipe for success in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The No. 13 Virginia Cavaliers
(25-4, 13-3 ACC) have zero room to bring anything but their A-game for the remainder of the season as they prepare for the postseason with two final ACC games at John Paul Jones Arena. The first of the two is against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (15-14, 6-10 ACC) on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM.
Steve Forbes has built a halfway-decent roster that has proved numerous times this season they can compete with the best of them. But a five-game losing streak in the most important stretch of their ACC schedule seemingly took the wind out of their sails and, with it, their NCAA tournament hopes.
So far this season, they took Michigan down to the wire early on in a neutral site battle, lost to an elite Texas Tech team by one point, dropped a close one to Miami at home, and to UNC in Chapel Hill, and defeated Clemson by eight at home.
Led by sophomore guard Juke Harris, the Demon Deacons will be expected to play nine guys on Tuesday night, but will officially be without talented point guard Nate Calmese, as he has suffered his second sprained ankle of the season and will be going on without him for the remainder of the season. Calmese averaged 10.1 points per game and nearly five assists per contest. Calmese was their floor general and came up in the clutch for Wake in multiple games this season.
Harris will undoubtedly be the main focus for Ryan Odom, the 6-foot-7 sophomore, who averages 21.4 points per game and possesses the ability to completely take over the contest when he is hot. He has 15 games with 20-plus points, ten games with 25-plus points, and two with 30-plus points. Virginia will look to force the other four on the court to try to do the damage and really lock down Harris in this one.
Wake Forest has struggled all year long on defense, ranking in the bottom half of the country in nearly every category. They are 15th in the ACC in points allowed per game, 16th in the ACC in opponent FG% allowed, 15th in the ACC in rebounding margin, and dead last at 18th in the ACC in team defensive rebounding.
Although Virginia wiffed on Saturday against the Blue Devils, they must play to their strengths in this one and avoid straying from their identity after one bad performance. Attack the offensive glass, push the ball up the court, find the open man, make the open shots, get to the hoop, and be a menace on the defense.
Prediction:
Despite an up-and-down season, Wake possesses a possible threat to the Cavaliers. Virginia has to be ready for this one, and anything other than their A game may result in a closer contest than Vegas may predict.
Virginia 78, Wake Forest 66
