Boston Coll. (7-12) at (19) Virginia (15-3)

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After a solid non-conference run, Virginia has gotten off to a mediocre start in ACC play.

Being without its starting center for potentially the rest of the regular season isn?t helping.

Looking to bounce back after losing their first game without 7-foot senior Assane Sene, the 19th-ranked Cavaliers should have a good chance to do so when they host Boston College on Thursday night.

Virginia (15-3, 2-2) was dealt a big blow Friday when Sene had surgery to repair an injured right ankle suffered in Thursday?s win over Georgia Tech. He?s expected to miss roughly a month and a half.

Without Sene, the Cavaliers lost to rival Virginia Tech 47-45 on Sunday, shooting a season-worst 32.6 percent. It?s the fifth time in six games they?ve scored 58 points or fewer.

?We still have to adjust without Assane,? coach Tony Bennett said. ?We have to take a look at those things and look at our scoring drought so we can get to the line and create some offense.?

The loss of Sene leaves Bennett with only eight available scholarship players after K.T. Harrell and James Johnson left the program right before Christmas.

?We are a little limited with our numbers,? Bennett said. ?We have to figure out what is best.?

Mike Scott has been by far the most consistent, averaging 16.6 points and shooting 57.8 percent. He scored only 10 points Sunday while seeing more double teams due to Sene?s absence.

?It made a difference offensively and defensively,? Scott said.

Jontel Evans and Joe Harris also had 10 points apiece. They are part of the three-guard lineup Bennett plans to use to gain a speed and quickness advantage with Sene out.

?We miss him a lot,? Evans said. ?He?s a great communicator. He really helps on the weak side, so it was tough playing without him.?

The Cavaliers seem to have the defensive mindset to adjust to Sene?s absence. Virginia ranks second in the nation in scoring defense behind No. 25 Wisconsin, allowing only 50.2 points per game.

Additionally, the Cavaliers rank among the nation?s top 20 in rebounding margin (plus-7.1), while the Eagles are among the 15 worst (minus-6.3).

That doesn?t bode well for a Boston College team that also ranks last in the ACC in both scoring average (61.2) and field-goal percentage (41.3).

The Eagles (7-12, 2-3) tied their season low by shooting 31.1 percent - including 4 for 21 from 3-point range - in Saturday?s 71-56 loss to Wake Forest.

Freshman Ryan Anderson scored 13 points and classmate Jordan Daniels added 12 for Boston College, which has lost two straight and five of its last seven - four by at least 14 points.

Boston College doesn?t have a single player averaging in double figures. Dennis Clifford leads the team with 9.8 points per game, followed by Anderson, Matt Humphrey and Patrick Heckmann at 9.6 each.

The Eagles, though, haven?t had much trouble with Virginia in recent seasons. They?ve won five of the last six meetings after thrashing the Cavaliers 63-44 in Charlottesville on Feb. 26.

Boston College has lost each of its three true road games, while Virginia?s loss Sunday ended a nine-game home winning streak.

The Eagles will be without backup guard John Cahill, who is expected to miss another week with a shoulder injury.

 

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Boston College at U.Va.: When less is more



Guard Jontel Evans took more shots than any other Virginia player Sunday night, and success for him will be measured by whether he can prevent himself from getting that opportunity again.

Virginia Tech's defense brought back a storyline that has been around as long as Evans. The junior is one of the league's top defenders, but he doesn't receive the same attention on the other end of the court.

The Hokies showed him no respect, having the player assigned to guard him double-team forward Mike Scott instead.

"Guys we play are looking at film and not seeing me shoot the ball, so they won't be playing defense," Evans said. "I just feel like I have to be aggressive and hit a couple shots here and there so they can play us honest."

Whether he did enough to warrant a defensive presence remains unknown. Evans, a Hampton native, finished 4 for 12, including the Cavaliers' only 3-pointer on a night where all eight shooters were ice cold.

Most notable, though, were the two plays where Evans created a defensive turnover and fast break, but couldn't convert the layup on the other end.

He had more success out of set plays, being on the receiving end of open passes when his defender strayed.

"When we would drive, Jontel's man would lose vision a lot because he would go to double the ball," guard Sammy Zeglinski said. "So Jontel did a good job of cutting to the basket and taking advantage of it."

Coach Tony Bennett agreed that the 12-shot performance, a season high, was warranted, saying after the game that Evans, "for the most part, made good decisions."

It's the rare situation where a player would prefer to shoot less.

If Evans can make enough baskets to keep defenders honest, that would free up Scott, the team's leading scorer, for more one-on-one looks in the paint, which the Wahoos would prefer every time down the court.

"That helps out a ton," guard Joe Harris said. "When guys can't just satellite off Jontel, and they have to stick with him to contest the shots."

Boston College is next for the 'Hoos. Eagles coach Steve Donahue said Monday that "you've got to think about bringing other guys over" to contain Scott.

How long he sticks with that approach will depend, in part, on whether Evans can make defenses pay for ignoring him.

 

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Will U.Va. use four guards tonight?



Virginia played its first game without center Assane Sene on Sunday, and the Cavaliers turned to forward Akil Mitchell to fill the role inside.

Coach Tony Bennett ditched that plan at halftime, returning from the locker room with a four-guard approach. It's what the team did last year when Mike Scott was out with an injury.

It remains to be seen, though, whether that is a viable long-term option in the ACC. Bennett said that the lineup will be adjusted on a nightly basis, but U.Va.'s scholarship guards are stretched thin.

Starters Jontel Evans, Joe Harris and Sammy Zeglinski all played at least 30 minutes against Virginia Tech on Sunday, and Malcolm Brogdon came off the bench for 25 more.

The only other player at Bennett's disposal is Paul Jesperson, but the freshman has played in just a handful of games this year.

At the forward position, though, Scott and Mitchell are backed up by Darion Atkins, a freshman who has shown promise in limited action this year.

"Being a freshman, he'll have to keep adjusting, but I think there will be more opportunities for him," Bennett said Monday. "In (Sunday's) game, with the matchups how they were, we went a little more toward the four guards in the second half specifically, so that was more of a game-by-game thing."

Against Boston College tonight, the Eagles will bring a more traditional look than the Hokies. BC has a 6-foot-8 forward and a 7-0 center.

That would indicate that Mitchell will need to step up his contributions, a big leap for a sophomore who hasn't had to carry such a heavy workload.

"You can't all of a sudden change who you are," Bennett said. "Like you said, Assane's not in the lineup, so you have to play to your strengths and do the things you have to do."

Virginia also would benefit from an offensive infusion. In Sunday's loss, the Wahoos shot just 7 percent from the 3-point line, an effort unlikely to be duplicated.

Perhaps the biggest adjustment without Sene in the lineup will be the lack of noise that he contributed. Sene is one of the team's biggest talkers.

"He's kind of the anchor on defense, always talking and helping guys out," guard Joe Harris said. "It was a little weird not having him out there, but obviously we're going to have to adjust, and I think we will."

How that adjustment will look is yet to be determined, but with ACC play in full swing, it will have to arrive quickly.

Sene injured his ankle last week against Georgia Tech and had surgery on Friday. He's expected to be out for up to six weeks.