TALLAHASSEE, FL -- If Virginia (13-10, 6-6 ACC) is going to sneak into the NCAA Tournament, the margin for error is getting smaller by the day.
The Cavaliers were out-played and out-hustled Saturday afternoon in a resounding 76-62 loss at Florida State (16-7, 6-6). The Seminoles took the lead 25 seconds in and never gave it up, giving Virginia its fourth consecutive ACC road loss.
Florida State "set the tone very early," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "It was 6-2, and we were already back on our heels. We never recovered from there."
The 2-3 zone Virginia ran on defense did nothing to stop the FSU perimeter attack -- the Seminoles shot better from three-point range (55 percent) than they did from the field as a whole (51.9).
Despite not taking a single shot from inside the arc, FSU senior guard Andrew Wilson was a one-man show with a game-high 21 points. At 7-for-11, Wilson had more three-pointers than any Virginia player did field goals. Lingering on the perimeter all day long, Wilson knocked down big shot after big shot to keep Virginia from ever mounting a serious rally.
Wilson "was the beneficiary of very good ball movement," Leitao said. "He's a one-dimensional player that has an excellent one dimension, and was left open a number of times."
Foul trouble and turnovers kept the Cavaliers from being able to get anything going early, and Virginia went into the locker room trailing 39-28. Only a plus-six rebounding margin and a perfect seven-for-seven team mark from the free throw line kept the Cavaliers in the game after one half of play.
Virginia's lack of depth was exposed when forward Laurynas Mikalauskas was forced to leave the game less than 11 minutes in. The freshman never returned after suffering a concussion and a broken nose when he was elbowed by FSU forward Alexander Johnson.
Mikalauskas's exit put a strain on the already thin Virginia frontcourt: Junior center Tunji Soroye -- who fouled out with zero points, zero blocks and zero rebounds -- was already sitting on the bench with two early fouls.
"When our big guys get in foul trouble, it's just a bunch of guards out there on the court," junior guard J.R. Reynolds said. "We've got to execute better."
But it wasn't just the big men that had trouble in the first half. After picking up his second foul in the span of 58 seconds with 10:19 left, team scoring leader Sean Singletary went to the bench, replaced by little-used reserve guard T.J. Bannister. Singletary, who finished the game with 12 points, was held scoreless in 11 first-half minutes.
"We just didn't come out with any energy or focus, and they took advantage of it," Singletary said. "We've got to get everybody on the same page so we can make a run."
The Cavaliers are now 1-5 on the road in conference -- a mirror image of their 5-1 record at home.
After FSU went up 24-11 following Mikalauskas' injury, eight consecutive Virginia points cut the lead to five with 6:31 left in the half.
Virginia never got closer than that.
In the second half, seemingly every Virginia rally was thwarted by a Florida State three. After a Reynolds three-pointer, a Reynolds lay-up and two Singletary free throws cut the Seminole lead to 12 with 15:40 to go, Wilson responded with back-to-back buckets to put his team back up 18.
Three minutes later, the lead cut down to 13 following a Singletary jump shot but Wilson and sophomore guard Ralph Mims knocked down two more deep shots to hike the lead to 19.
Virginia never got closer than 13 after that.
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