Intensity is high for Va. Tech, even if score isn't

By Mark Berman

BLACKSBURG

The last time Virginia and Virginia Tech squared off in men's basketball, neither reached 50 points.

When the teams meet again tonight at Cassell Coliseum (9 p.m., ESPNU), can Tech coach Seth Greenberg promise a more entertaining game than the Hokies' 47-45 win at U.Va. last month?

"Why isn't 47-45 entertaining?" Greenberg replied Monday. "When Michigan State plays Ohio State and it's 50-48 or whatever it would be, that's appreciated as two teams playing really hard and competing (so) it's hard to get an easy shot.

"You'll see two teams play really hard.... It'll be a good basketball game, whether it's in the 90s or it's in the 50s."

The last meeting marked the first time in the series since 1945 that neither team cracked 50 points.

Can U.Va. coach Tony Bennett promise an entertaining game tonight?

"I wish I could," Bennett said. "But all I know is both teams are going to play real hard."

The No. 25 Cavaliers (20-6, 7-5 ACC), coming off a 71-44 win over Maryland, have held 11 opponents this season to less than 50 points - the most by an ACC team since the shot clock was adopted in 1986.

"The score is a by-product of (the fact that) they play good defense, and tempo," Greenberg said. "If you're defending for 25 seconds of possession, there aren't going to be as many possessions in a game, so therefore you're not going to score as many points."

Tech guard Erick Green said it might be another low-scoring game "because it's going to be an intense battle.

"But we're definitely going to try to get out and push the tempo more."

Greenberg expects senior center Victor Davila to miss his third straight game with a severe groin injury. He does not know when Davila, who will have an MRI today, will play again.

The teams' first meeting marked the first of nine straight games that U.Va. has been without injured center Assane Sene, who is still on crutches.

Forward Mike Scott - a former Deep Creek High star - is averaging 17.2 points for the Cavaliers, but had just 10 in the first meeting. He took only two shots in the second half, which he attributed after the game to the Hokies double-teaming and triple-teaming him and being physical with him in the post.

Scott could be more difficult to defend this time, said Greenberg, because he is spending more time on the perimeter.

"They've changed some things around in terms of trying to play Mike off the ball, not just on the block, but running him off screens," he said. "Are you going to chase him with your (center)? Because he's shooting the ball so well.... They are moving him a lot more."

U.Va. shot just 32.6 percent from the field in the first meeting. The Cavaliers were 1 of 14 from 3-point range.

Last season, U.Va. swept Virginia Tech. Losing twice to a team that was No. 140 in the RPI on Selection Sunday certainly hurt the Hokies' NCAA tournament hopes.

This time, U.Va. is the team seeking to make the NCAA field for the first time since 2007 and Tech is the squad hoping to pull off a sweep.

"Every game is significant at this stage," Bennett said.

"Losing a league game to a good basketball team shouldn't knock you out of the NCAA tournament," Greenberg said. "I didn't know the criteria in that room is, 'Well, they lost to Virginia twice, so they shouldn't be in,' or 'They lost to Virginia Tech twice, so they shouldn't be in.'... If we're fortunate enough to beat them twice, does that mean that they shouldn't play in the NCAA tournament? I'm not sure that's right either."