He's not one to bark at his team from the sideline. But when Tony Bennett sniffed out a lethargic defensive effort during the first half against N.C. State last night at the John Paul Jones Arena, he didn't hesitate to let his players know it.
"When you whip a donkey, it kicks. When you whip a thoroughbred, it responds," the first-year coach said. "I'm not saying we're thoroughbreds by any means, but they responded when they were challenged and that was what we needed. I told them I was proud of them for that."
After allowing the Wolfpack (14-9, 2-6 ACC) to score 18 points in the paint and shoot 45.8 percent from the field during the first half, the Cavaliers (14-6, 5-2 ACC) locked down on defense during the final 30 minutes and defeated N.C. State for the second time this season by a score of 59-47. The victory vaults Virginia into a first-place tie in the ACC with Duke.
The win did not come easily; Virginia trailed by three at halftime and did not appear to have an answer defensively for junior forward Tracy Smith, who already had scored an efficient nine points on 4-of-9 shooting. He got into the lane early and often, scoring seven of his team's first 10 points with an array of jump-hooks and baseline drives.
Senior guard Calvin Baker said the team made a conscious effort to deny Smith the ball during the second half and force the Wolfpack to attack from the perimeter. The strategy paid dividends: Smith was held to just three points on 1-of-4 shooting during the final period and N.C. State shot a meager 29.2 percent from the field. Virginia may have been inspired by Bennett's demeanor during halftime.
"It's scary," sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg said. "He gets red in the face, veins bulge - it's not fun."
After exchanging baskets for the first five minutes of the half, Virginia took advantage of a missed three by junior guard Javier Gonzalez, which resulted in a fast break and a wide-open 10-foot jump shot for sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski from the right wing, giving Virginia its first lead since the score was 7-5 in the early going. On the following possession, senior forward Jerome Meyinsse corralled a rebound off a missed Zeglinski three and - surrounded by three Wolfpack players - went up strong for a lay-up and drew both a foul and an eruption from the crowd. He tacked on a free throw to give the Cavaliers a 36-32 lead.
And it wasn't the last time the Virginia faithful got to their feet.
After Landesberg forced a turnover - one of his many non-scoring contributions of the night - the guard found beleaguered teammate Mustapha Farrakhan in the right corner. Even though the junior guard had missed eight of his nine last three-point attempts during the previous four games, Farrakhan rose up with a confident stroke and drained the trey, extending Virginia's lead to nine. Victory was palpable, but Farrakhan wanted to deliver an exclamation point.
When Gonzalez launched another errant three, Landesberg batted the ball down the court ahead to Farrakhan, who planted his left foot as he approached the basket, rose up and threw down a malicious dunk with his off-hand over a trailing Gonzalez.
"I was frustrated," the 6-foot-4 guard said afterward, "and it was just a good way to release some stress, so I'm happy about it."
As the crowd exploded, Landesberg had to hold his teammate back to try to cool down his adrenaline.
"Oh, my God," Landesberg said when asked to describe the play. "That's all I could say was that - Oh, my God. It was nasty... I saw Mu going and I thought he was gonna lay it 'cause I saw Gonzalez coming, and then I saw him stuntin' his feet, and I was like, 'Oh no ... Oh no.'"
The dunk startled Baker, in more ways than one.
Farrakhan has "done it to me over the summer," Baker said, adding that he'd give the slam a '10' if it was part of a dunk contest. "I told him that's probably why I got goosebumps, I maybe had a flashback or something."
After receiving a lengthy standing ovation, Farrakhan, who scored 11 points on the night, knocked down the free throw, giving Virginia a 10-point lead with 6:57 remaining. But those present at Virginia's last home game against Virginia Tech know that not even a double-digit lead was necessarily safe.
Two more threes from Farrakhan and Zeglinski, however, gave the Cavaliers plenty of breathing room, especially considering N.C. State couldn't buy a bucket down the stretch, making only seven field goals during the half. So though Virginia fans may have gained the most satisfaction from Farrakhan's offensive display, it was the Cavaliers' second-half defensive performance that pleased Bennett.
"I thought they won in a way today that they haven't, in the second half," Bennett said. "It was more with our defense, with some of our key guys not shooting it well, so that's a good sign."\nOne such player was Landesberg, whose streak of scoring in double figures in every game this season came to a close, as well as his streak of scoring 18 or more points per game in ACC contests - a feat that belonged to him and him alone.
Although his seven points were not staggering, he dished out a career-high nine assists, constantly finding the open man. And though he said he doesn't care about his records, he did have one final thought as his team ascended the ACC standings.
"I just wanna thank all the people that voted us to be in last place," Landesberg said with a grin on his face. "I just wanna say thank you for giving us a lot of motivation. And that's basically it - I still have that preseason poll posted up on my wall"
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