Photo by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg is dealing with a much younger and less-experienced team this season.

US Presswire

After a strong start, which included a win over Arizona, Dave Leitao’s Virginia Cavaliers have been struggling.

Seth Greenberg will face Sean Singletary in Charlottesville for the last time tonight. And, after Virginia and Virginia Tech meet in Blacksburg for a second time in 2¹₂ weeks, he may never have to prepare for Singletary again.

"I love the kid," said Greenberg, the Hokies' fifth-year head coach. "I love his spirit and the way he wills his team to another level with his toughness. But, am I going to miss him? No."

Singletary doesn't have a spotless record against the Hokies, who obliterated UVa 84-57 last year at Cassell Coliseum, but the Cavaliers are 5-2 against Tech during his career.

That includes two victories at University Hall and a third at Virginia's new John Paul Jones Arena, site of the latest UVa-Tech showdown at 7 tonight.

While Tech (10-6 overall, 1-1 ACC) continues to bask in Saturday's comeback victory over Maryland, Virginia (10-4, 0-1) is searching for answers after losing back-to-back road games by a combined 60 points at Xavier (108-70) and Duke (87-65).

These are not the same teams that won first-round NCAA games on the same floor last year in Columbus, Ohio, but nobody expected much out of freshman-laded Tech, a preseason choice for 10th.

Virginia was picked fifth in the ACC and had a one-week stay in The Associated Press Top 25 after winning at Arizona in the season's first week.

Since then, UVa has lost to three unranked opponents -- Seton Hall, Syracuse and Xavier -- and irritated coach Dave Leitao to the extent that he locked them out of their plush JPJ locker room after the Xavier trip.

There have been few signs that Virginia is ready to turn a corner and re-establish itself as a bona fide NCAA Tournament participant.

"I've been on both sides," Leitao said. "There have been teams that found [themselves] at different points in the season -- early, late, all the way to the conference tournament or leading up to the NCAA tournament.

"Then there are teams that never get it together."

The end of a 10-day layoff was signaled by a change in the starting lineup at Duke, with sophomore Calvin Baker, a transfer from William and Mary, replacing freshman Jeff Jones.

Jones, the highest-rated of UVa's 2006-2007 signees, was 5-for-7 on 3-pointers against Arizona but is 0-for-13 from beyond the arc in UVa's other 13 games.

Leitao made an earlier move to freshman Mike Scott, who joined the starting lineup after fifth-year senior Ryan Pettinella developed shin splints. Pettinella was a forgotten man before he scored nine points in 18 minutes against Duke as a reserve.

Pettinella (6-foot-9, 249 pounds) might be around at the start tonight but, if the game is close, don't expect to see him at the end. In his two seasons at Virginia, Pettinella is 11-for-51 from the free-throw line, including 2-for-14 this season.

The Duke students went wild Sunday when Pettinella air-balled a free throw. At that point, he was 0-for-3 from the night and had missed 10 consecutive free throws going back to November, but his final attempt of the night rattled off the rim and backboard before falling through the net.

"You work on it; you work on it daily," Leitao said. "Ask anybody if you can fix Ben Wallace's or Shaquille O'Neal's free throws. Those things are very difficult to do, if not impossible."

Most coaches don't change their lineup after a victory, but Greenberg hasn't ruled out the possibility that a third freshman could join classmates Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney in the starting lineup.

Presumably, that was a reference to 5-9 former starter Hank Thorns, but Greenberg used six freshmen against Maryland.

"I don't want to speak for [Greenberg], but it looks like he enjoys coaching the team, because he's teaching every day and they're getting better," Leitao said.

That's easy for him to say.

"Don't I look happy all the time?" Greenberg said. "I'm such a happy guy. You know what? It's fun and frustrating at the same time. You're finding a different way to reach them and find the right button for what they don't know. Obviously, the little bit of success they had Saturday has made them a little more attentive this week."

Like UVa, Tech has a veteran leader in Deron Washington. Both Washington and Singletary have struggled this season.

"It's hard being a senior," Greenberg said.

At the same time, Singletary stands third in the ACC in scoring and is leading the conference in assists, which is a first.

"You know what he is?" Greenberg said. "He's a winner."