Still looking for defense

A promise of change will be the underlying theme during Barack Obama’s inauguration this evening in Washington D.C.
Last March, that was also the gist of Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s postgame press conference after his team lost at home to Bradley in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
Tonight, just a few miles down the road from Obama, Leitao’s seemingly eternal quest to have his team play better defense continues when UVa plays at Maryland.
After finishing second-to-last in the ACC in scoring defense (74.8 PPG) and field goal percentage defense (43.5 percent) in 2007-08, Leitao said he was going to do whatever was necessary to find players who had more than just a passing interest in stopping opponents.
Well, through 14 games this season, Virginia is dead last in both categories.
But, according to Leitao, those stats are a little misleading.
“It’s strange when you look at the numbers,” Leitao said. “I believe we’ve gotten better and better as the weeks have gone on… my eyes tell me that we’ve gotten better.”
Virginia is allowing opponents to score 72.1 points and shoot 42.4 percent this season.
“It’s not great, but it’s not bad,” Leitao said, “but at the same point in time that puts us last in the league…
“Other teams are playing excellent defense for long stretches of time, so although we’re better, we have to get better because we still have to catch up to the rest of the league.”
In the loss to North Carolina on Thursday, Virginia allowed UNC to shoot 50 percent from the field in the first half. UVa’s lethargic transition defense against the uber-athletic Tar Heels proved fatal.
The good news for the Wahoos
(7-7, 1-2) is that tonight they won’t be facing UNC. They’ll be facing the worst shooting team in the ACC in Maryland (42 percent from the field).
But defense hasn’t been Virginia’s only problem. UVa was 4 of 27 from 3-point range against UNC. The Cavaliers are shooting just 30 percent from behind the arc on the season, last in the ACC.
Guards Sylven Landesberg and Sammy Zeglinski will both be looking to have bounce-back games. Landesberg was held to a career-low two points against UNC.
“I think he has the body of work so far that one [bad] game isn’t going to take him off his game,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “Carolina could do a lot of things with the depth that they have, [which] most teams don’t have the luxury to do. We’re going to have to play our way and hopefully do a good job against him and keep him under control …but it’s not just stopping Landesberg, it’s stopping Virginia.”
Landesberg and Zeglinski will be facing one of the better backcourts in the league in Grevis Vasquez and Eric Hayes. Vasquez is averaging a team-leading 17.1 points and 4.9 assists.
How well Zeglinski, Landesberg, Calvin Baker and company can slow down Vasquez will be a major factor. “He’s one of the best players in this league,” Leitao said.
Maryland (12-4, 1-1) is coming off close road losses to Miami and Florida State. “I think our club feels if we could have just shot the ball a little better, we could have gotten both,” Williams said.
Virginia and Maryland both have unsightly blotches on their ledgers. Early in the season, UVa lost to Liberty; Maryland was defeated by Morgan State on Jan. 7.
“It will be a battle, particularly on the road,” Leitao said. “They’ve shown a great ability to play extremely well at home so far and coming off a close, tough loss, I’m sure their mindset will be to get back on the winning track.”
Dunks
Maryland leads the all-time
series, 102-67… The teams split two meetings last season, with each squad winning at home …Leitao said his team will watch Obama’s inauguration speech together at their hotel… Maryland coach Gary Williams expects struggling Mamadi Diane, who starred at nearby DeMatha Catholic, to play better than he has. “I fully expect him to play with a lot of confidence coming back to his hometown fans and everything,” Williams said. “We’re coming out with the idea that he’s really going to come ready to play.”