No. 21 men's basketball opens up ACC Tournament play Wednesday

Cavalier Daily

SPORTSCavaliers will play winner of Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh as No. 6 seed



by Alec Dougherty
| Mar 07 2017 | 11 hours ago

















It has been a roller coaster of season for the Virginia men’s basketball team (21-9, 11-7 ACC). Through multiple mid-season struggles, the team struggled to find its identity. Despite these ups and downs, though, the Cavaliers finished their regular season on a three-game win streak and enter the ACC Tournament as one of the most dangerous teams in the field at the No. 6 seed.“We need everything we can get,” senior guard London Perrantes said. “Having momentum keeps us positive and gets our mind right since that slump kind of messed with us.”Getting some wins before the ACC Tournament was undoubtedly huge for the Cavaliers’ psyche going forward. Before the win streak, the Cavaliers lost four-straight games — two at home — in a brutal stretch during February. However, with key wins, Virginia now finds itself as a contender, and it will open up play Wednesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.Coach Tony Bennett knows this year’s tournament will be more of an uphill battle for his team than in previous years. During the Cavaliers’ tune-up practice at the Barclay’s Center Monday night, the team got a visit from former Virginia star and current Brooklyn Nets’ player Joe Harris, who won the 2014 ACC Tournament with the Cavaliers. Bennett said he was reminded of when Virginia won the tournament with Harris.“Just seeing Joe Harris come to the shoot around gave me a great memory of the group that won it — it was a ventured group,” Bennett said. “I’m excited for this group because we had that hard stretch. We got a few wins and we want to take that high level quality into our play.”Virginia’s renewed momentum is largely due to its discipline on ...

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