Virginia wary of Gonzaga

Dave Leitao hasn’t researched the exact date, but the second-year University of Virginia coach knows it has been a long time since tonight’s opponent, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, have lost four consecutive games.

And that fact, Leitao admits, will be weighing heavily on his mind when his Cavaliers (8-3) tip it off against the Zags (9-5) at 6 tonight in John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.

Leitao said he has a number of concerns about GU, including its cohesiveness, experience and ability to attack, offensively, in both half court and full court.

“But another thing that concerns me,” he added, “is the mindset of a team that is coming off three losses in a row – which has not happened in a number of years over at Gonzaga.”

Unexpected losing streaks, no matter their length, tend to make good basketball teams refocus on the “simplistic things,” explained Leitao.

“So I know (Gonzaga) will come in with a mindset that is going to be about playing well, getting back to the basics and playing together.”

For the record, the last time the Bulldogs strung together four losses in the same season was back in late February and early March of 1997 in their last four games under former coach Dan Fitzgerald.

Those four losses, however, came against so-so West Coast Conference teams – another detail that has not gone unnoticed by Leitao, who sees no shame in losing to the likes of Georgia, Duke and Nevada, the three teams that have victimized the Zags in recent weeks.

In fact, he contends this year’s Gonzaga team is every bit as capable – maybe even more so – as last year’s team, which fed primarily off Adam Morrison and J.P. Batista.

“Those guys were Option One and Option Two,” recalled Leitao, whose Cavaliers suffered an 80-69 road loss to the Bulldogs last season. “This year (Derek) Raivio is their leading scorer, but on any given occasion it can be anybody that steps up for them.

“They’re much more balanced. And they may be, as a result of being more balanced, even more dangerous than they were a year ago.”

Look for Virginia’s defensive game plan to focus on the outside shooting of Raivio, the Zags senior shooting guard, who is averaging 18.7 points despite being limited to just 11 shots and 19 points in GU’s last two games.

“Any time you face a team whose leading scorer is as dangerous as Raivio, you try to take at least some of what he likes to do away,” Leitao explained. “With him, half his shots come from behind the (3-point) arc, and those that come from behind the arc, he makes half of those.

“So you start to do the math, and any coach looking at game film will say, ‘Hey, if we can limit the amount of times he gets that shot off – free, especially, because he knocks down just about every shot where he’s open – then you can start to dig into his effectiveness.’ “

Virginia, which finished 15-15 in its first season under Leitao last winter, will counter with the experienced backcourt duo of senior J.R. Reynolds and junior Sean Singletary, who have combined to average 33.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 9.4 assists so far this year.

The Cavs opened with four straight wins, including a 93-90 upset of Arizona, but have lost three of their last seven games.