Virginia center returns home

Aisha Mohammed has a peaceful feeling in her heart.

This summer, the powerful center on the Virginia women’s basketball team travelled back to Nigeria, her native country, to see her ailing father.

That experience in itself helped Mohammed look at basketball, her teammates and life at UVa in a different way.

Tonight in an exhibition against DT3 at John Paul Jones at 7 p.m., the new and improved Mohammed and the 15th-ranked Cavaliers will be on display.

“That trip meant a lot to me,” Mohammed said. “My dad wasn’t feeling real good, but me going back kind of raised his hope to try and fight back against his sickness.

“You don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, but if something happened, I am very happy to have been home one more time to see my family and friends, and that gave me more power to come back and not think about home and to just think about basketball and my academics and contribute to the team.”

Despite battling the emotions of being a continent away from her father last season, the former junior college All-American was rather special in her first season as a Cavalier.

Now a senior, Mohammed averaged 13.1 points and a team-best 9.2 rebounds per game. She also hit 55.4 percent of her shots from the field and nailed a gut-wrenching free throw in the final second to force overtime against Old Dominion in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Yet while trying not to brag or boast, Mohammed snuck in a warning to future opponents earlier in the preseason.

“Sometimes I think actions speak louder than words,” Mohammed said. “I am not going to say anything right now, but I know this year is going to be different from last year because I am really here right now more than last year.

“I am going to bring out everything I have out there to prove to them that Aisha is back.”

Virginia, which went 24-10 last season and welcomes back three starters, opens the regular season on Nov. 14 at home against High Point.