The first half of Saturday’s Florida State-Virginia men’s basketball game was a nightmare for the Cavaliers en route to their 73-62 loss. Virginia shot a dismal 3-22 from the field — including starting out the game shooting 1 for 19 — and shot 0 for 8 from 3-point range. The Cavaliers’ 16 points in the first half were the lowest they had scored since only scoring 15 points against Connecticut in a 77-36 loss Nov. 29, 1993 at University Hall.
“The way Florida State plays basketball — systematically and methodically — wore us out,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “They wore us down mentally, starting with the beginning of the game.”
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said his team took the Cavaliers seriously while preparing for this game because he noticed how Virginia’s overall record could have been different if some breaks had gone the Cavaliers’ way.
“You watched them play Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Maryland, and we knew that they very well could have pulled those games out,” Hamilton said. “I think, as a result of the respect we had for them ... we elevated our focus and intensity and created some easy opportunities for us in the first half with some deflections, getting good stops and getting some easy baskets.”
The difference in preparation between the two teams was evident on both ends of the floor, not just when the Cavaliers had the ball. The Cavaliers (7-9, 1-4 ACC) allowed the Seminoles (16-4, 3-2 ACC) to shoot 11 for 23 in the first half and 50 percent from the field for the whole game.
“We just didn’t play defense like we should have and are capable of doing,” sophomore forward Mike Scott said.
As badly as Virginia played in the first half, there was a brief glimmer of hope when junior forward Jamil Tucker stole a Florida State pass and put up a jam to make it 41-33 with 13:09 remaining. During the next possession, however, sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski fouled Florida State senior guard Toney Douglas on a 3-point shot. Not only did the shot go in; Douglas converted the free throw to complete a 4-point play and break any momentum Virginia had.
“That was a point in time where I thought the crowd got back in the game and the door was slightly opened up again, and it closed real quick,” Leitao said. “Anytime you put yourself in a hole like that and if you’re trying to come back, you’ve got to play damn near perfect basketball and especially when you do something positive or two things positive, you can’t follow it up with a negative, and obviously it becomes a momentum swinger when that happens.”
The home crowd met the home team’s performance with a scattering of boos during the first half. Tucker, however, said he was not impacted by the booing.
“Fans are fans,” Tucker said. “They’re with you, and there are some times when they feel like you aren’t doing something right so they will be against you. We don’t play for the fans, we play for each other.”
With No. 9 Clemson sandwiched between upcoming games against giant-killers Boston College and Virginia Tech at home, not to mention back-to-back road games against North Carolina and Florida State, the Cavaliers will need fans to at least cheer against the visiting team to help disrupt their opponents’ communication on the floor. Sunday, the Cavaliers will travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face Duke, which likely will be the new No. 1 team in the nation. Junior guard Calvin Baker knows the importance of what will occur between now and the Duke game.
“I know these [days off] are going to be really critical to our success,” Baker said.
Read More
Virginia volleyball crushed by Auburn in error-ridden loss
By Lauren Halak | YesterdayVirginia suffered a second-straight demoralizing loss.
Roy Horovitz is done waiting, and ready to make up for lost time
By Thomas Baxter | 2 days ago"He's probably the hardest-working guy on the team right now," Dietrich said.
No. 3 Virginia field hockey continues undefeated start with gritty win over No. 16 Rutgers
By Eleanor Buchanan | 2 days agoVirginia has started the season with three consecutive ranked wins.
