Virginia Looks to Capitalize on Momentum as Another Ranked Foe Comes to JPJ
Winning on the road in the Atlantic Coast Conference is an immense challenge in women's college basketball. No one knows that better than Coach Mox, who in her first season leading the Virginia women's basketball program, went 0-9 on the road in ACC play.
That gave her a special appreciation for what her team was able to do last week, as the Cavaliers took down Boston College and Wake Forest, winning back-to-back ACC road games for the first time since the 2017-2018 season, two head coaches ago.
"Winning on the road is huge," Coach Mox said in her weekly press conference on Wednesday. "We weren't able to do that at all last year in ACC play, so that's definitely progress."
Virginia has won three of its last five games and with four ACC victories on the season, has matched its conference win total from year 1 under Coach Mox with five games still to play. Now the Cavaliers are enjoying a rare respite from the grind of ACC play, as they get their "bye week" with no Thursday game, a much-needed break for a team that has faced an incredibly tough schedule and has endured too many injuries to count.
"It's been good. We've been going Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday from the beginning and obviously had a really tough schedule," said Coach Mox. "So it's good for our players to get a mental break, physical break, work on us a little bit this week rather than always preparing for the next team. So it's always good to get a bye week."
Hoping to both rest up and sustain the momentum of winning consecutive ACC games for the first time this season, the Cavaliers will host yet another ranked opponent on Sunday, their tenth ranked matchup of the season, as No. 19 Syracuse (21-4, 11-3 ACC) visits Virginia (12-12, 4-9 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena. Tipoff is set for 2pm on the ACC Network.
The game has also been designated as UVA's National Girls & Women in Sports Day game and the program will honor legendary head coach Debbie Ryan at halftime. As a Virginia native who watched Ryan lead the Cavaliers to three-straight Final Four appearances while growing up, Coach Mox has nothing but respect for Ryan, who has in turn given Coach Mox immense support as she inherits the Virginia program.
"I've always had a lot of respect for her. Obviously, the glory days, as we say, were when I was coming up. So I watched her, I watched the team, I watched a lot of the great players come through here, watched them get to the Final Four - I remember all of that stuff pretty vividly," Coach Mox said of Debbie Ryan. "She reached out to me the day I was hired. We've had a great rapport, a great relationship. She's been nothing but supportive, constantly says how proud she is. She thinks we're getting back to where we used to be. She offers a lot of love and support. I have a lot of respect and a lot of appreciation for her and for what she does for me and this program."
Debbie Ryan was also in the building three weeks ago when the Cavaliers celebrated their 50th anniversary of women's basketball at Virginia. On that day, UVA had more than one celebration as Coach Mox's Wahoos knocked off then-No. 20 North Carolina 81-66 in front of a lively crowd at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers will be hoping for a similar crowd, a similar celebration, and a similar outcome on Sunday.
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