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A few closing thoughts after writing two stories on Virginia's 77-74 loss to Tennessee for Monday's print edition of The Roanoke Times:

Tennessee's 39-29 rebounding margin marked only the third time in 32 games that Virginia had been outrebounded by 10 or more. The Cavaliers earlier had been outrebounded by 16 and 13, respectively, in losses to Utah and North Carolina.

"It was one of three or four different things that cost us," UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "We didn't get as many offensive rebounds (six) as we're accustomed to, but that was balanced by the fact that they didn't get as many easy baskets."

In other words, UVa reduced some of its emphasis on the offensive glass in order to curtail UT's fast break.

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Adrian Joseph played 23 minutes, scoring 10 points in 14 minutes in the second half, but no other Virginia reserve played more than seven minutes.

Tennessee used nine players, compared to the 11 that Virginia played, but all four of the Volunteers' substitutes played 10 minutes or more.

"We also thought fatigue was a factor," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "We really work hard at balancing the minutes and it's hard sometimes."

Pearl said that Tony Jones is the assistant coach who monitors substitutions and Pearl told him at one point, "Who, exactly, is going to score for me out there, Tony?"

Pearl said it might sound "crazy" that star guard Chris Lofton played only 33 minutes and was never in foul trouble, but "go back and look at the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and he never played the whole game. He always got his rest so he could make plays at the end."

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Pearl blamed reserve Jordan Howell for not fouling UVa's Sean Singletary before Singletary missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game.

Howell was covering Jason Cain, Pearl said, and should have switched on to Singletary when Jason Cain set a pick for Singletary's man.

Pearl said it always be his plan to foul "because they have to make four plays to beat you. They have to make the first shot, they have to miss the second, they have to get the rebound, then they need to make another offensive move. The other way, they only need to make one play."

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Virginia made five of its first eight 3-point shots, then missed 15 of its next 16 shots before Sean Singletary connected with 11.9 seconds left. The Cavaliers shot 37.9 percent from the field, the fifth time in the last 10 games that they failed to hit 40 percent, and shot 26.9 on 3-pointers.

In their last three losses, counting setbacks at Wake Forest and against N.C. State in the ACC Tournament, Virginia has gone 5-for-20, 6-for-21 and 7-for-26 from behind the 3-point line.

On the other hand, Virginia's 31 made free throws Sunday (out of 36) were its second highest total of the season. Virginia was 39-of-49 from the line in a 103-91 victory over Maryland.