Beating Maryland could be key to Cavs' postseason hopes

A month ago, everything was peachy for the Virginia men’s basketball team. UVa had won 15 of its first 17 games and seemed on track to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.

But then starting center Assane Sene broke his ankle. Seven games later, starting shooting guard Joe Harris broke his hand.

Since the Sene injury, Virginia has gone 4-4.

Playing the likes of North Carolina and Duke instead of the Maryland-Eastern Shores of the world has also had something to do with the slide, but UVa hasn’t looked much like the team that it was in the first 2½ months of the season.

Today, No. 22 Virginia (19-6, 6-5) hosts Maryland in a sold-out game at John Paul Jones Arena that could prove vital to its postseason aspirations.

With five league games remaining before the ACC Tournament, Virginia probably needs to pick up at least three more wins if it wants go do dancing. Since UVa has games with UNC and Florida State left on its schedule, beating Maryland today — and then again on March 4 in the season finale at College Park — is likely a must.

“Our schedule’s tough,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, following Tuesday’s loss, his team’s second straight. “Every game out is going to be a battle.”

After giving up more than 60 points only once in its first 15 games, Virginia has surrendered 60-plus in five of its last 10. Meanwhile, the Wahoos’ offense has averaged just 50 points in its last two outings.

“With the injury to Joe and the numbers that we have — we can try some different rotations,” said Bennett, when asked if he might shake up his lineup. “There’s some challenges there, but we’ll keep looking at it. We still have some good basketball left in us. I know that.”

While Sene isn’t expected back for probably another two weeks (at the earliest), at least Virginia can hope for a better performance out of Harris today. Against Clemson, it was obvious the sophomore wasn’t himself as he tried to adjust to playing with a protective pad on his fractured left (non-shooting) hand.

After the loss to the Tigers, Harris was confident that he would get comfortable with the pad.

“I think just the more reps that I get, the better it will be,” he said. “I’ll be able to get used to it. I’ve made progress even since practice [on Monday].”

Maryland (15-10, 5-6) has lost six of its last nine games, but managed a 16-point home win over Boston College on Thursday. The Terrapins have been playing without injured guard Pe’Shon Howard.

“That really hurt us,” Maryland freshman Nick Faust told the school’s website. “We had a team meeting, got together and said, ‘We can either make this season better or worse.’

“We’re just trying to grind hard every day and do whatever we can to get the win.”

One of the key matchups today will be between point guards Jontel Evans and Terrell Stoglin. Evans has been one of Virginia’s best offensive threats in the last two games; Stoglin leads the ACC in scoring (21.7 PPG).

Of course, Virginia will need to rectify its turnover issues if it is to right the ship. UVa committed 18 on Tuesday, which Clemson converted into 19 points.

Dunks

Virginia ranks fourth in the ACC in home attendance, behind only North Carolina, Maryland and N.C. State. UVa is averaging 9,859 fans per game...UVa is 12-1 at home this season...Stoglin averages 4.0 more points than the ACC’s second leading scorer (Harrison Barnes)...Virginia will be looking for its first 20-win season since 2007...The teams split two meetings last season, with each team winning on the road.