This past weekend, UVa had its scheduled altered due to COVID-19 issues within the program. And on the heels of that development, head coach Tony Bennett said Monday during his first ACC teleconference of 2021 that the Cavaliers will not be at full strength when on Wednesday night against Wake Forest (9 p.m., RSN).

Here are the three key takeaways from his time speaking to media members yesterday.

Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Virginia Tech, now likely to be played in February, was called off after a Virginia staff member tested positive. Since then, the Cavaliers have practiced but they are without both staff and players.

“We had to get some further testing and get results before we could proceed,” Bennett said, “and then practice [Sunday] for the first time. We have some contact tracing issues but we’ll deal with those. We knew that coming in, how it was going to be. So we’ll make the most it. But we did have a practice yesterday with a limited group so that’s kind of where we’re at preparing for the game Wednesday evening.

“As of right now, we’ll have enough,” he added later. “We’ll have enough to play. We’ll miss a few guys. It’s more of a staffing [thing] and some players. But if everything stays the way it is, we’ll be good to go. Not at full strength, of course, but we’re in a spot where, if you can get games, you’ve got to try to play them. And you want to be as ready as you can by being smart and safe and then trying to be ready to go with the opportunities that are in front of you.”

While Bennett said that he would like the ACC to have “uniformity” in terms of the measure teams use to contact trace, like how UVa personnel and players wear low-powered Bluetooth chips which help with tracing, he mentioned that the Cavaliers are doing what they can to both be safe and compete.

Asked by one reporter if the balance between the win/loss record and the player experience/enjoyment shifts more toward the latter this season, though, Bennett was unequivocal.

“My initial reaction to that question is no way,” he explained. “It’s enjoyable when you win…You want your team to be as ready as it can, whatever you’ve got to do. That’s the hard part, the fun part, the challenging part, is competing to win. It wasn’t fun to get beat by San Francisco nor get hammered by Gonzaga. But, again, there are certain challenges that come with it.”

Earlier, when asked about his frustration level given the uncertainty of the situation, Bennett said that he wants his players to learn from the situations they face.

“When you face challenges, wherever you’re at, you need to think ‘How can we use this setback or certain guys who are not there, to grow and be stronger hopefully for longer?’,” he said. “That’s the mindset. Yeah, it frustrates you. That’s human nature…I’m not trying to make anything more than it is and you step through it.”

He said later that given that none of this is normal, he and his staff are just trying to make the most of the season they have.

“We want, with the older guys, to be as good as we can,” Bennett added. “Of course, there’s always that [search for balance]. Whether it’s COVID [or otherwise], it’s always about ‘How can we build into these young men? How can we grow as people? And then as a team?’ But we chose to compete. We chose to be a part of this profession, the players chose to play. You want to try to be as good as you can and go after the brass ring, so to speak. Again, hold it with open hands when situations aren’t in your control like they should be. It’s absolutely about welfare and all that but you gotta go. You’ve got to try to be as good as you can and compete to win, of course.”

Making the roster situation all the more difficult is the loss of Stattmann, who has missed the last three games and given what Bennett said yesterday seems certain to miss at least Wednesday’s game against the Demon Deacons.

“Right now, we’re undergoing some medicals tests that will determine more about him,” he said of the 6-foot-7 forward. “Again, patience is going to be required for him, to get to the bottom of some medical issues to see what’s going on. Non-COVID related, obviously best of our knowledge and all that. That’s kind of where that’s at right now and that’s one more guy down. “When a guy can’t play, when there’s an injury, or someone’s out, that’s where you feel it in your guts toward your young men because it’s a lot,” Bennett added. “They want to play and when they can’t play or certain things happen—I always struggle when guys want playing time and you can’t give them playing time so then all of a sudden someone has something that’s either an injury or you’re trying to get to the bottom of stuff and there’s uncertainty—that’s hard. So, we’re kind of just waiting and seeing with him. Hopefully we’ll get some more information as we get some more results back.”

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