First-place Virginia (12-4, 3-0) returns to action on Saturday in Winston-Salem against the Deamon Deacons (13-4, 3-2). Wake is fresh off a 82-69 whooping of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, a place that been a house of horrors for the Hoos. (Speaking of houses of-horror, Virginia is 13-38 in games played in Winston-Salem.)
Wake is led by Ishmael Smith, who is averaging 13.1 points per game, and super-sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu who adds 17.3 ppg as well as an amazing 11.5 rebounds per contest. The Demon Deacons have one of the finest young coaches in the country in Skip Prosser’s protégé, and third-year head-coach, Dino Gaudio.
Virginia has won eight straight games, but is coming off of one of their worst performances of the season in a near-loss at home against North Carolina-Wilmington. The Hoos had 10 turnovers in the second half of the game, which is nearly matches their whole-game average of 10.2.
Look for Virginia to continue to play with controlled yet stifling persistence on defense. Virginia leads the league in three-point field-goal percentage, is second in free-throw shooting percentage, and is third in scoring defense. This team really seems to be buying in to the defense-first Tony Bennett mentality. I think Virginia keeps it rolling with a 70-65 victory! Go Hoos!
