Wahoo Wire

The Hoos return home to take on the Rider Broncos tonight, after having lost their first away contest of the season at South Florida.

Virginia will still most likely use a four-guard lineup as Assane Sene will serve the final game of his three game suspension tonight.  Virginia will welcome his return Saturday, but tonight they will have to cope without him again.  In his absence at USF, Mike Scott fouled out with a majority of the second half to play leaving Jerome Meyinsse as the only low post option for Tony Bennett.  Meyinsse played a career high 27 minutes Monday and it will be interesting to see if he is able to bounce back with the energy the team is going to need from him.

Bennett was cautious with Calvin Baker on Monday with Baker making a very early return from knee surgery.  He should be handled cautiously again since the last thing Bennett wants to do is put him out for more time, but don’t be surprised if he plays a significant amount if Rider keeps this one close.

The Broncos certainly have the ability to do exactly that as they have hit 26 three pointers in only two games.  Shooting from three is critical for any smaller team to stage an upset so the Hoos will need to be sharp on the defensive end to limit those opportunities.

Leading Bronco scorer Novar Gadson could also pose an issue with his size.  At 6-7, 230 lbs, he provides an awkward matchup for Virginia and the Cavaliers have not exhibited stellar low post defense in the first two games.  South Florida pounded it inside so much that the defense needed to help down low frequently, leaving their outside shooters open for big buckets.  Virginia cannot allow the Broncos to play inside-out, as their shooters are better than any of the Hoos’ previous opponents.

That being said, Virginia should win this game if all the players play as expected.  Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan will get big minutes again but they must produce while on the court if the Cavs are going to pull out a W.

With Oral Roberts coming to town Sunday having knocked off Stanford last night, the Hoos will need to get the last of the rust off their game heading into the weekend.