With 1:30 left in regulation and Syracuse up one on Virginia's home floor, the Orange left it to their star freshmen Donte' Greene and Jonny Flynn to come through. The two freshmen responded with veteran-like poise, as Greene hit a turnaround jumper and Flynn knocked down two clutch free throws in the final minute to preserve a 70-68 win.
Flynn and Greene "stepped up big," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "They're freshmen, but they're very good freshmen."
Virginia had two chances to tie the game with a potential 3-point basket, but only managed an uncontested dunk from junior Mamadi Diane and a free throw from senior Sean Singletary with time winding down.
"We had [senior] Adrian [Joseph] popping out, we had [Diane] coming under, and we had [sophomore] Calvin [Baker] in the corner," coach Dave Leitao said. "Those options presented themselves."
Singletary, who reportedly was given intravenous fluids following the game after playing through illness, did not have his best outing, shooting just 3-14 from the floor. Even more surprising for Singletary, however, was his 2-8 shooting from the free-throw line after not missing a shot from the charity stripe before last night's game.
"I felt like we let him [Singletary] down," Baker said. "He couldn't be at his best because he was sick, and I felt like we should have stepped up for him."
As has become the norm for Virginia, the offense was dominated by perimeter shots; of the Cavaliers' 64 field goal attempts, 32 of them came from beyond the arc. With the Cavaliers shooting an outstanding 43.8 percent for three coming into last night's action, a steady diet of 3-point field goals was the sensible approach against Syracuse's aggressive 2-3 zone. Unlike in previous games, however, Leitao said Virginia was settling for shots out of rhythm and out of the game plan.
"As good a perimeter team as we are, and [against] a team that plays 40 minutes of zone as they did, it's not so obvious that you're going to get shots, you're going to shoot them, you're going to make them," Leitao said. "There were a lot of possessions where we settled, especially early in the game and then the majority of the second half."
Syracuse got the better of the action early, as the Orange jumped out to an early 12-5 lead. When junior Eric Devendorf converted a 3-point play after getting hammered on his way to an acrobatic left-handed scoop in traffic, Syracuse appeared to have a stranglehold on the momentum early. Virginia struggled at the outset from the perimeter, hitting just two of its first 10 from beyond the arc.
In the latter part of the first half, however, it was Virginia's turn to get hot, while Syracuse lost its early rhythm. The Cavaliers persisted with firing the long ball and rallied to hit five of their next seven 3-point field goals in the midst of arun in the last nine minutes of the first half, giving Virginia a 36-29 lead going into halftime.
As the second half got underway, however, it appeared that the halftime break was exactly what the Orange needed to diminish Virginia's momentum. Syracuse opened with a 15-5 run in the first six minutes of the second half to regain the lead, while Virginia's 3-point attempts once more started to rattle out. Seldom-used freshman Sammy Zeglinski ignited the home crowd with a pull-up three in transition to knot the score at 44 apiece, but Syracuse quickly drained the energy out of John Paul Jones Arena with another 10-2 offensive spurt.
"They got deep into our defense for the majority of the second half," Leitao said. "It led to offensive rebounds, it led to short shots, it led to kick-outs for open threes, and we hadn't given that up for the majority of the game."
With the help of Singletary and some timely shooting, however, the Cavaliers climbed their way back into the lead. On three consecutive possessions, Singletary dished twice to Joseph for two threes, then converted a 3-point play of his own when he scored in transition and got fouled. After converting the free throw at the 7:36 mark, Virginia held a 57-56 advantage. The Orange, however, regained the edge less than three minutes later and never relinquished the lead as time wound down.
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