The Hokies enter the 2009 ACC Tournament aiming to make amends for their disappointing regular season campaign. Their quest begins Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C., when they face their rival and sixth-seed Cavaliers.
"You can look at it as a fresh start because we are capable of beating anyone in this league," Biggs said. "So if we get on a roll, we can do some good things there."
To start the tournament with a victory against Virginia, the Hokies know they need to try and slow down the Cavs' potent offense -- ranked third in the conference while averaging over 73 points per game. UVa. is led by junior guard Monica Wright, who is leading the ACC in scoring with 21.1 points per game, and senior center Aisha Mohammed, who has tallied 12.8 points a contest while leading the league with an average of 9.9 boards. The most dangerous scorer on Virginia, however, is Lyndra Littles, who torched the Hokies for a combined 51 points in the teams' two meetings this season. The senior forward is averaging 21.4 points per ball game, which would be highest in the ACC if she had qualified to be included in ACC statistical rankings. She missed more than a quarter of her team's games when she sat out much of the beginning of the season for "personal reasons," thus making her ineligible for the rankings. Dunkenberger has the team focused on trying to contain the trio's offensive onslaught.
"We're focusing on defense and rebounding right now," Dunkenberger said. "Beating people to every loose ball, whether it's coming from a defensive steal standpoint or whether it's trying to get a rebound."
In the two games played this season, the Littles-Mohammed-Wright connection has combined to average over 60 points and 19 rebounds a match. Despite this enormous contribution from Virginia's stars, the Hokies have competed tough in their match-ups with the Cavs, having lost by only a combined 13 points. Junior Utahya Drye thinks the Hokies need to do all the small things well to defeat the 'Hoos.
"To come out with a win against UVa., we need to work on the little things," Drye said. "As far as boxing out, coming up with the loose balls, just playing aggressive and being more aggressive getting to the foul line."
The winner of the first round match-up is slated to play third-seed and No. 8 Duke on Friday at 8 p.m.
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