UVa in search of road win

OPELIKA, Ala., — Some 30 minutes after Virginia’s loss to Penn State in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge last Monday, UVa guard Sammy Zeglinski had tears in his eyes as he took questions from a group of reporters.
Zeglinski, who had almost single-handedly shot Virginia back into the game, had badly wanted to beat Penn State. His pain from coming up short was palpable.
In the early going of his inaugural season, Virginia coach Tony Bennett hasn’t liked a lot of what he has seen from his team — UVa (4-3) hasn’t won more than two games in a row — but if there has been one thing that he has been relatively satisfied with, it has been his players’ competitiveness.
“I believe these guys desperately want to win in the heat of the battle,” Bennett said. “You want guys that care that much.
“Sammy had a flurry at the end, but he wanted to play better before that. He was disappointed in his earlier play. He cares deeply about that. I like that passion, but hopefully we can care that much in practice leading up to the game.”
Tonight, Virginia travels to Auburn to take on a Tigers team that has been a little difficult to get a handle on.
The Tigers (4-4), who defeated UVa in Charlottesville last season en route to a
24-12 record and NIT quarterfinal appearance, lost at home to Troy on Friday, but nearly upset N.C. State two games before.
However, the recent return of guard Tay Waller from a quadriceps injury, has, to a certain extent, transformed Auburn, according to Bennett.
“That really helps them out,” he said. “They have very good guard play, especially with him coming back.
“They kind of run some stuff like NBA teams in that they have very good early offense — they’ll spread you out with ball screens in transition and also use them in the half-court. They kick and shoot a lot of 3s. When they’re shooting it well, they’re very dangerous.”
Against Penn State, Virginia sleepwalked through the first few minutes of the second half as the Nittany Lions went on a 23-7 run. Bennett knows his team can’t have those kinds of stretches if it has any hopes of picking up its first road win of the season tonight.
“I sound like a broken record because I know every coach will say this,” Bennett said, “but it’s the ability to try and sustain longer and not have as many breakdowns and limit those.
“There were too many times where we tried to get it back too quick or didn’t execute the way we needed...it came too easy for them.”
Bennett said one thing he might consider is getting freshman Jontel Evans into the game sooner. Against Penn State, Evans did a good job in limited time on Talor Battle.
“It’s certainly something I have to take a look at it,” he said, “because Jontel on the ball defensively can really bother [people].”
Dunks
On Friday, Bennett said there was still no timetable on when Jamil Tucker would be available for games. Tucker, who took a leave of absence from the team before returning just after Thanksgiving, has only been practicing. ... Junior forward Mike Scott said on his Facebook page that he recently sustained a high-ankle sprain. No word on his status for tonight’s game. ... Virginia is visiting Auburn for the first time, and is playing at an SEC school for the first time in 15 years. The Cavaliers last trip to an SEC school was almost 15 years ago to the day, a 70-65 loss at Vanderbilt on Dec. 6, 1994.