Cavs look to bounce back

Common sense would indicate that Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, a 1989 graduate of Virginia, would steal a page from Old Dominion’s cheat sheet in her return trip to Charlottesville tonight.
Getting Virginia center Aisha Mohammed in foul trouble by any means necessary would obviously fall on the short list.
ODU accomplished that feat on Friday, limiting the All-ACC performer to a handful of minutes in the opening half and just a total of 23 en route to a 77-70 win over the 16th-ranked Cavaliers.
For Mohammed, who played in the 2004 Olympics with her native Nigeria, making the transition from the high-contact international game has been rough at times.
She has, in fact, fouled out of five games and led all Virginia players in fouls over the past 37 contests, a stretch that spans back to Mohammed’s debut in 2007.
“The international game is more physical and I don’t know if that is the rules but they allow you to play a more physical game than [in college], and in this game if you touch somebody they will call foul,” Mohammed said. “In international play they allow you to touch before they call foul. I am always thinking about that and that is what I have to work on right now.
“I have been trying to work on it for some time.”
Without forward Lyndra Littles available for the remainder of the academic semester, Mohammed’s ability to remain on the court has a tremendous impact on the team’s offensive production.
Mohammed, a senior, knows that and it showed in Virginia’s second straight loss to Old Dominion.
“With my foul problem in the first half [against ODU] it was kind of difficult for the team and when I went back in the second time I was kind of thinking about it because I wanted to stay away from foul problems,” Mohammed said. “I actually like playing a physical game. That is the kind of game that I like, but with this foul problem, thinking about it can take you away from your game and that’s what is happening right now.
“That is what we are going to work on. We have to eliminate the foul problem.”
After facing Colorado (2-0) tonight, Virginia will play four straight away from John Paul Jones Arena.
While contributions from Mohammed will be needed, the loss to ODU also exposed the need for Littles, the team’s second-leading scorer last season.
“We really need Lyndra,” Mohammed said. “Not having Lyndra really takes something out of us.
“With me getting some fouls, I know Lyndra will contribute something out there. We will work it out.”