A number of eyes were focused on Dave Leitao early as Friday night's matchup with the Liberty Flames marked his first official game as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. The focus soon shifted to the play on the court as the Cavs got out to an early lead and never looked back on their way to a 79-44 win.
Coming into the season many people realized the brunt of the Virginia offensive burden was going to have be carried by the backcourt. Friday night Hoo fans witnessed a nice addition to an already solid backcourt rotation. Enter 6'5 freshman swingman Mamadi Diane who hails from the heralded DeMatha Catholic program in nearby Maryland. "Mo" as he is affectionately known got the starting nod at the small forward position tonight and displayed great poise considering it was his first college game. In the early going "Mo' and junior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds contributed 11 points and 10 points in the first half to lead the Cavaliers in scoring.
It was also a great sign to see sophomore point guard Sean Singletary play without pain or ill effects from the offseason shoulder surgery he had. The Philly native had an impressive night in limited action netting 15 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. The aforementioned Reynolds also had a solid outing as he would go on to end the night with 14 points and 6 assists.
"Mo" was the talk of the game though as the youngster opened a lot of eyes with a great showing in 33 minutes of action. Diane would in fact lead the Hoos in scoring with 17 points on the night and also lead them in another category, blocked shots with three. He didn't stop there either as he managed to hand out 3 assists and snare 6 rebounds as well. 
Afterwards we caught up with "Mo" and he said, "It was a great experience, people kept asking if I was nervous but not really, with the way we practice and all I wasn't really nervous at all. I'm guarding and playing against great players every day so there's not much to be nervous about."
Not to be outdone by his freshman teammate and roommate was power forward Laurynas Mikalauskas. The Lithuanian big man had his way inside with an outmanned Liberty frontline as he also scored in double digits with 14 points and 5 boards in just 19 minutes of action.
Showing no signs of a sophomore slump like Singletary was small forward Adrian Joseph who came off the bench to chip in 12 points and 7 boards. The New Jersey native could easily be a starter but provided great energy for Leitao off the bench.
The Flames were going to rely on guard Larry Blair for a good bit of their offense and he got off to a horrible start but still lead the Flames with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Russel Monroe also had a good showing for the Flames contributing 9 points, 4 boards and 2 blocked shots.
Liberty was held to 22.6% shooting from the field on the night and coach Leitao's desire to play tremendous defense shined brightly in this opening game. While the Flames aren't ACC-caliber competition things are pointing in the right direction as the team had solid contributions from everyone and also won the battle of the boards 49-32 with 17 coming on the offensive end.
Also of note was Dave Leitao's first technical foul as Virginia's head coach. Prior to coming to Charlottesville he had been labeled as a players' coach. Well with the Hoos up by 30+ points with 5 minutes to go in the game he let the referees have it when J.R. Reynolds was knocked to the deck hard on drive and no foul was called. That one will probably stick with the players as although he runs a punishing practice he fights for his players when it's gametime.
With game one in the books the Virginia Cavaliers looked pretty impressive although the Flames provided little firepower to test them. Regardless it was a positive victory for the team and staff and they will indeed continue to work hard to try and improve in all areas heading up to their next game against Tuesday against the Richmond Spiders which should provide a bigger challenge to the young Cavaliers.
Our first HooNation.com player(s) of the game award this season goes to freshmen Mamadi Diane and Laurynas Mikalauskas for their impressive play in their first collegiate action. The two will have four years to improve and help Dave Leitao turn the program around and tonight was a great start.