Virginia came back from sixteen points down in Tallahassee Saturday afternoon, but they did not have enough left in the tank to come all the way back. The Seminoles hung on to win 63-56.
Chris Singleton, Florida State’s best player, scored the first 11 points for the Seminoles in the first ten minutes of the contest, but he landed awkwardly on a teammate’s foot and spent the last ten minutes of the first half in the hospital getting x-rays. Singleton returned to the bench for the second half, but his afternoon was through as he was relegated to being a cheerleader for Leonard Hamilton’s team.
Virginia (12-12, 3-7) shot an incredibly bad 31.7% from the field for the game, but they did rectify their horrid free-throw shooting of late, finishing 7 for 8 at the charity stripe. The Hoos scored 16 points off of turnovers (most of them in the second half), but because they played so few guys off the bench (3), the Hoos only scored nine bench points.
Only Joe Harris, who scored 17, and Sammy Zeglinski (19 points) played well offensively for the Wahoos. Jontel Evans had a very disappointing effort at the point guard position as he had as many turnovers (5) as he had assists.
Florida State (18-7, 8-3) was very impressive at the free-throw line hitting 15 of 19. The Seminoles were led by Michael Snaer who scored 16 points.
Virginia is now 0-14 in Florida in their last 14 games there, and the Hoos have not won in the Sunshine State since 2001.
Mustapha Farrakhan never really got into the flow of the game as he only scored 7 points. Farrakhan has had some high-scoring games, and freshman Joe Harris is still learning how to go for the kill at the end of the game, but man, where have all the heroes gone from the program? Where are the guys like Junior Burrough, Lee Raker, Bobby Stokes, Barry Parkhill, and Sean Singletary, or Wally Walker?
I bet Virginia fans would even take back the much maligned point guard Donald Hand on this team! Harold Deane, where are you?
Tony Bennett’s kids never gave up today, in fact they showed a lot of heart coming almost all the way back, but I think it is disturbing to watch this brand of hoops. The pack-line defense (which no one else on the East Coast runs) is just plain painful to watch and sure as hell does not put asses in the JPJ’s seats.
Now I know that if this team had Sylven Landesberg, Mike Scott, or a top-flight point guard, things would be much rosier, but I’ve never seen a Virginia team in the modern era that has so many likable kids, but yet is so heinous to watch play the game. How many games are we going to have to sit through where this team only scores in the 40’s or 50’s? How is that even possible with the 3-point shot and all the ticky-tacky fouls that get called these days?
Give me Richard Morgan, Othell Wilson, or John Crotty out there. At least they weren’t too shy to hoist one up as the clock expired. Hell, even Cornel Parker could shut down a team’s leading scorer. Where is the Cornel Parker type of hand-in-your-face defender on this team? Hell, how many layups has UVA missed this year? 30? 40? Has Virginia ever (in the modern era) had a point guard that is not a scoring option like they do now?
Rebuilding takes patience, but when coaches make millions of dollars a year and arenas that aren’t even paid off yet are sitting nearly half-empty, how long do we have to wait for a team that can play a brand of basketball that is entertaining, week-in and week-out?