Virginia Embracing the Challenge of First True Road Game at Memphis

Fortunate to escape with a win against Northeastern, the Cavaliers know they'll need to play much better at Memphis on Tuesday night

The Cavaliers know they were fortunate to come away with a win despite playing subpar basketball against Northeastern on Saturday. They also know that it'll take a much better performance in order to leave Memphis with a victory in their first true road game of the season on Tuesday night. 

"We're glad to escape with the win, obviously," said graduate forward Jake Groves after Virginia's 56-54 win over Northeastern, which required a difficult game-winning shot from Reece Beekman with just five seconds left. "I think we have a locker room full of very grateful guys that we got that [win]."

Not a lot went right on Saturday night for the Cavaliers, who shot 2/14 from beyond the arc and 10/18 from the charity stripe, even air-balling three free throws. But thanks to the clutch play of Beekman, who tallied a career-high 21 points, Virginia found a way to win to improve to 9-1 on the season and avoid a disastrous loss right before the biggest game of the season to date. 

While UVA looked all out of sorts in its most recent outing, the opposite is true for the next opponent on the schedule. Memphis is surging at 8-2, having already beaten Missouri and Michigan earlier this season and now coming off of a big week that saw the Tigers beat a pair of ranked opponents in Texas A&M and Clemson. That Memphis just beat those two specific teams makes this an especially intriguing and informative matchup for Virginia, which played and beat Texas A&M earlier this season and will face Clemson, who was undefeated before the loss to Memphis, in ACC play in February. 

"Moving forward to Memphis, who's a really good team. They're coming off two really good wins," said Groves. "We're going to go in and play Virginia basketball... and take it as an opportunity to learn and grow our own team." 

Reece Beekman echoed his teammate's sentiments about the opportunity this game presents for the Cavaliers to test themselves against a high-quality opponent. 

"Great opportunity. Kinda different styles we're going up against. They're fast-paced, like to run, lot of switching on defense," Beekman said of Memphis. "So, it's just going to be a battle - who can get to their game first and settle in first and go from there. On the road, too... it's harder, we don't got the fans behind us, but I like to be in those settings. I feel like our team, down the road, will benefit from that."

Tony Bennett didn't give many details as to how the scheduling of this game came about, but stated plainly that the goal was to play a good team on the road. The Tigers fit the bill, and based on their play over the last week, may offer an even greater challenge for Virginia than initially expected. 

"We wanted to go on the road and play a high-quality team," Bennett said. "They're playing good ball and we needed a road game against a very talented, good team, and that's what we're going to get."

Virginia (9-1) will face Memphis (8-2) on Tuesday at 7pm at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

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