Just when you thought it might flourish, the Virginia men's basketball team tumbled. And just when you thought they were about to fall apart, they reunited and bounced back.
Tuesday night's convincing 89-71 victory over Florida State ended a disastrous slump that almost sent the No. 13 Cavaliers to the bottom of the ACC. They looked apathetic and clearly out of sync in a home loss to unranked Georgia Tech and a 42-point debacle at No. 2 Duke. In the two losses, they shot a measly 30.5 percent from the floor and averaged 22 turnovers, while allowing their opponents to shoot 50.8 percent. Prior to facing the Seminoles, Virginia stood at 1-3 in the ACC and was in danger of falling to the last spot in the conference.
"Coming into [the FSU game], we knew we had to win, because we just lost our last two games in the ACC," sophomore guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "We played with a greater sense of urgency."
And the Cavaliers played more like a team too. In just 25 minutes, senior sharpshooter Keith Friel shot 5-for-9 from beyond the arc to lead the team with 22 points - his highest total since transferring from Notre Dame - but he barely credited himself for his success.
"Donald [Hand] made the plays for me," Friel said. "Travis [Watson] did a great job setting up the screens. Everyone worked together to come up with the win."
The Cavaliers made 55.7 percent of their field goals, thanks to easy opportunities created from extra passes and pressure defense that were almost nonexistent during the previous two games. In the Georgia Tech and Duke losses, the Cavaliers had more than twice as many turnovers as assists. But Tuesday, Virginia scored 30 points off 21 Florida State turnovers, balanced its own 11 turnovers with 11 assists and had five players score in double figures.
"Everybody stepped up," coach Pete Gillen said. "Keith Friel was tremendous. Chris Williams made some big plays. Travis did all the dirty work down low. Donald Hand was aggressive and shared the ball."
What happened in University Hall Tuesday night looked like a complete turnaround, but it wasn't something you hadn't seen before.
Virginia began its season 10-0 before ACC play, its best start since the 1992-93 season. The Cavaliers, by way of unselfish play and a deadly full-court press, climbed into the national top 10 and became the country's No. 2 in scoring and margin of victory. Virginia also established itself as the only team to have six players average in double figures in points. Virginia was well on its way to a dream season.
But after a 23-point loss in their ACC opener at Wake Forest, the Cavaliers were plagued by sloppiness, poor decision-making and bad shot selection. That's why the players said the victory over FSU, the team picked to finish last in the ACC, is more important than it seems.
Are the real Cavaliers the ones who beat Purdue and Tennessee or the ones who lost three out of four?
A win over No. 20 Missouri on Saturday would go a long way toward answering the question.
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