White: 'Hoos Survive Non-Conference Finale
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 01/18/2010
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Given the way UNC Wilmington had bombed in 3-pointers all night, it was a wonder Chad Tomko's prayer from halfcourt wasn't answered at John Paul Jones Arena.

Fortunately for UVa, Tomko's heave bounced off the backboard and onto the court. And with no time showing on the clock and the scoreboard showing them ahead 69-67, the Cavaliers could finally exhale Monday night, along with the crowd of 10,420.

"These are the type of games that you just hope that you can pull out when you're not playing your best," sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski said, "still just being able to grind it out at the end of the game, and people step up and make big plays.

"And that's exactly what we did tonight. We weren't playing great. Everybody saw we were sloppy. It's good to get a win like that every once in awhile."

The Wahoos (12-4) have won eight straight games, their longest such streak since 2003-04. Their latest victory did not come easily.

"I think we just forgot who we were," said senior center Jerome Meyinsse, who made 8 of 9 from the line and fnished with a career-high 14 points.

"We forgot what makes us good: being defensively sound and not turning the ball over. We didn't do those things tonight, and it made it a close game."

It didn't have to be so tight. A 3-pointer by Zeglinski put the 'Hoos up 47-31 with 14:49 remaining, and they appeared ready to break the Seahawks (6-12). But guard Ahmad Grant -- the same UNCW reserve guard who came in averaging 6.5 points -- hit five 3-pointers in the final 14:19 against a UVa defense that did not lack for hustle or effort.

Grant's fourth trey gave the Seahawks a 64-60 lead with 2:55 to play and stunned the crowd. Virginia answered with seven straight points, only to see Grant tie the game at 67-67 with another trey. It came with 34.7 seconds left, which meant the shot clock was off when the Cavaliers, who had not won a game by fewer than seven points this season, took possession.

With 14 seconds showing, first-year coach Tony Bennett called a timeout and put 6-8 forward Mike Scott back in the game. That gave UVa a lineup of Meyinsse, Scott, Zeglinski, point guard Jontel Evans and sophomore swingman Sylven Landesberg.

They ran what Zeglinski called "a bread-and-butter" play. Landesberg curled around a pick set by the 6-9, 233-pound Meyinsse and caught a pass from Scott at the left elbow. With no defender in his face, Landesberg put up a 15-foot jumper that dropped through with 2.2 seconds left.

"I guess they thought I was going to drive it," said Landesberg, who led Virginia with 19 points. UNCW's center "didn't come out to me. He just stayed back, and I got the space, and I was able to raise up and shoot it. But I was definitely surprised [to be that open]. They were in my jersey the whole night."

The game-winning shot was the second of Landesberg's college career. In a 77-75 victory over South Florida at JPJ last season, he scored with 13 seconds left.

"It feels amazing," Landesberg said a smile Monday night. "I kind of know how Kobe feels every now and then when he hits his."

Bennett applauded the Seahawks' effort, as did their coach, Benny Moss.

"With a minute and half left we are down two and get three point-blank shots and none of them go in," Moss said. "But again, we didn't drop our head. We hung in there ... Landesberg made a big play, and that is why he is one of the best players in the ACC. He made the play to win the game."

The teams originally were scheduled to meet Dec. 19 at JPJ, but that game was snowed out. The makeup featured dramatic runs by each team.

After Virginia went up 14-9 in the first half, UNCW responded with 15 straight points, a spurt capped by Jeremy Basnight's second trey. Not to be outdone, the 'Hoos answered with a 20-0 run, and if not for Tomko's off-balance 3-pointer in the final seconds, the Seahawks would have gone scoreless for the last 10:41 of the half.

The second half included a 17-2 run by UNCW, which finished 11 for 24 from beyond the arc. Virginia wasn't nearly as sharp, committing 10 of its 11 turnovers after intermission.

"I just thought we kind of lost our way in that second half," Bennett said.

"I think we got too lackadaisical," Meyinsse said. "We started turning the ball over. We started getting soft on defense, and that allowed them to climb back in the game, and they just hit shot after shot and started building momentum."

Zeglinski said: "We just got complacent. I think we took our foot off the pedal a little bit. They're a streaky shooting type team. They can heat it up real quick, as they showed."

In 30 minutes, Zeglinski contributed 10 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and a game-high 8 rebounds, no small feat for a 6-0 guard. He made two 3-pointers, extending his streak of games with at least two treys to 11, and also did a slick Globetrotters impression with UVa up 66-64.

After three misses inside by UNCW, the rebound was knocked toward midcourt, and Zeglinski dived for the ball. He came up with it and, with Seahawks swarming, deftly kept his dribble alive while calling time out.

"I just did what I had to do," Zeglinski said. "I knew we needed that loose ball."

The 'Hoos were coming off back-to-back wins over ranked opponents, and their reserves, led by junior guards Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan, had sparkled in each of those wins. Virginia's bench chipped in only 10 points against UNCW, another reason the game was so close.

"That was disappointing," Bennett said. "I know those guys are disappointed, but we'll learn from it, certainly."

The game was the third in six nights for UVa. All three were at JPJ. Next up for Virginia, which leads the ACC with a 3-0 record, is a Saturday date with Wake Forest (2-2, 12-4) in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Seahawks were the last non-conference team UVa will face during the regular season.

"I don't think we took them for granted, but from here on out there's nobody to take for granted, so that's a moot point," Bennett said.

 

Postgame Quotes
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 01/18/2010

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett

On second half performance:
“The two keys that hurt us in the game [were] 60% shooting by UNC-Wilmington and our carelessness with the ball with 10 turnovers. They’re a hard team to guard; he has well-organized schemes as far as their sets. There are a lot of guys that can hit threes – Ahmad Grant was five of six from three and [Chad] Tomko – I’ve seen him win games so they put pressure on you to really chase some screens and they certainly out-executed us and we were casual. We got a little bit away from who we were and we had a chance when we were up 15 or 16 but we couldn’t put them away. I thought we lost our way in the second half. Credit to them; I knew that – I’ve watched them play and we were thankfully at full strength to play them this time. If we would have played them when we didn’t have Mike [Scott] that would have been hard. I respect that team and I told their coach after the game, ‘I watched your tapes a lot and I’m impressed. Your stuff is hard to guard, especially with your shooters.’”

On lulls in the first- and second-halves with subs in the game:
“[Substitutions] gave us great lifts against Georgia Tech and Miami, games where guys have really come in and sparked us. Tonight it wasn’t working and I perhaps put in too many guys at a time. There’s not a ton of separation and I have to maybe just look at one or two at a time with a starter. That was disappointing and I know those guys were disappointed, but we will learn from it certainly… We walk a fine line and when we are sharp and focused, we will compete. When we get away from it, then we become below average. Not to take anything away from Wilmington-- they are hard to guard, but we did not do our part."

On finding a way to win:
“We made some good individual plays: the 50-50 balls at the end – Sammy [Zeglinski] ran one down and certainly Jontel [Evans] – that was terrific. The individual plays like the big basket by Sylven [Landesburg] when we ran a set for him and he made a nice move and then to hit the game winner, we executed that. Those went well, but that isn’t the way we are going to have to play to be competitive and successful in this league as far as a team. You are not just going to out-individualize people at our level. We were fortunate. We will learn from it. I am thankful for the win, but we realize that we have stuff we have to clean up and we can’t ever stop.”

On substituting Mustapha Farrakhan for Mike Scott in the final two minutes:
“Coach McKay is the one who whispered that in my ear. He said, ‘Maybe we can get one of our bigs out and switch the ball screen one through four.’ We were having a little trouble with one of their other screens and we haven’t worked on switching it and we kept running into it. That’s also why I decided to get Jontel off of Tomko because his experience started showing down the stretch but I thought if we got something and we could have a little better ball handling on the offensive end, attack them off the dribble, but defensively we could switch a screen or two that might help us. We almost hurt us on the glass… [Matt Wilson] seemed to have a pretty easy point-blank shot that didn’t go in so you give up a little bit, but we ran down some loose balls with the guards out that there that we might not have otherwise."
________________________________________

UNC Wilmington Head Coach Benny Moss

On the final moments of the game
With a minute and half left we are down two and get three point-blank shots and none of them go in. But again, we didn’t drop our head – we hung in there – we held them to one free throw and then we came down and made the three to tie the game. Then you just have to tip your hat – (Sylven) Landesberg made a big play and that is why he is one of the best players in the ACC. He made the play to win the game.

On sequence when Sylven Landesberg hit the game-winning shot
We thought he was going to get the ball. He is their guy and rightfully so. He is very good – as much motion as they run, we didn’t know as much what to expect, because we are not as familiar with them as teams in our league (CAA). You have a familiarity in your league - you know what certain teams are going to run done the stretch when they got to get a basket. They have go-to plays and really not much – we just told our guy to guard dribble penetration – play our principles and expect anything, but play our principles. If you’re supposed to help – help. If you’re supposed to hold a block – hold a block. To his credit he came off that single angle down screen and he came off it with a little too much space and he got the open look that he needed.

On UVa’s defense holding UNCW scoreless for over 10 minutes in the first half.
They are a very good defensive team. A lot of it had to do their defense and they dug in. They took their intensity to another level. I also thought we got away from what we were doing early and what we regrouped and did in the second half. Other then that stretch I thought we flowed pretty well tonight – as far as we got out – we ran – we attacked in transition. There wasn’t a pause after the transition. We got into our motion and sets a lot quicker. I thought in that stretch we started walking the ball up a little bit. They are so good defensively in the half court, you can’t let them lineup and guard a set play. They are too good, they are too strong –they are too well taught. Coach Bennett does a great job. He is a very good coach, as good as there is. I thought we got back to that, but that stretch really hurt us and allowed them to get away from us a little at the end of the half.

On using game film of UVa’s defense as a teaching tool
As coaches by nature sometimes the best plays are stolen from someone else. You can do it on the defensive end too. We are going to watch film and break Virginia down and show it to our guys is their attention to detail on box-outs. In the first half we had zero offensive rebounds and we are a pretty good offensive rebounding team – we didn’t get any. It was textbook box-outs by Virginia. We will break some of the game film down and use it as teaching points for our guys with what they did.
 

Postgame Notes
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 01/18/2010
VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Postgame Notes
Virginia 69, UNC Wilmington 67

Team Notes
• Virginia increased its winning streak to eight, the longest since an eight-game streak to start the 2003-04 season
• The Cavaliers are now 10-1 at home this season
• UVa finished its non-conference schedule with a 9-4 record
• Virginia turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead with a 20-0 run in the first half
• UVa overcame a 10-point first-half deficit, tying a season best. UVa also came back from 10-point deficits against Cleveland State (11/25) and NC State (1/9)
• Virginia’s 20-consecutive points scored in the first half marked a season high; the previous high was 12 against Oral Roberts and Hampton (twice)
• UVa held UNC Wilmington scoreless for a span of 10 minutes, 34 seconds in the first half
• Virginia went 20-for-24 from the free-throw line and is now 73-for-86 (84.9 percent) in the last four games
• UVa recorded just one turnover in the first half but 10 in the second half

Individual Notes
• Sylven Landesberg (19 pts) scored in double figures for the 16th time this season (every game) and 39th time in his career
• Landesberg went 9-for-10 from the free throw. Both totals tie season highs for a Virginia player.
• Landesberg’s missed free throw in the final minute broke his streak of 27-consecutive free throws made
• Landesberg’s game-winning shot was the second of his career. He also hit the game winner with 13 seconds remaining in the 77-75 win over USF last season
• Landesberg has scored at least 18 points in each of the last six games
• Mike Scott (12 pts) scored in double figures for the 11th time this season and the 31st time in his career
• Sammy Zeglinski (10 pts) scored in double figures for the fifth straight game, 12th time this season and 22nd time in his career
• Zeglinski made two 3-pointers, the 11th consecutive game he has made at least two 3-pointers

Player Career Highs
• Jerome Meyinsse set a career high with 14 points. His previous career best was 12 vs. Elon (12/22/07). It was his first time in double figures this season
• Meyinsse tied a career high with 27 minutes played and also set career highs in free throws made (eight) and attempted (nine)
• Zeglinski tied a career high with eight rebounds
• Jontel Evans set a career best with 30 minutes of game time and tied a career high with three steals
 

Cavaliers avoid home-court stumble against UNC-Wilmington
Sylven Landesberg hits a 15-footer with 2.2 seconds remaining and Virginia wins its eighth game in a row.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When snow postponed the Virginia-UNC Wilmington men's basketball game on its scheduled date, there was some ambivalence at UVa over the need for a makeup.

Those feelings returned on several occasions Monday night.

The Seahawks, who arrived at John Paul Jones Arena as 16 12-point underdogs, carried a four-point lead into the final three minutes but were unable to hold off Sylven Landesberg and the Cavaliers.

Landesberg's foul-line jumper with 2.2 seconds remaining was the difference as UVa won its eighth game in a row, 69-67.

"What's that they say, 'Don't accept in victory what you wouldn't in defeat,'" said Virginia coach Tony Bennett.

"They certainly out-executed us and we were casual. We got a little bit away from who we are."

It was the seventh loss in the last nine games for UNC Wilmington, which trailed by 16 points before going on a 25-9 run that gave the Seahawks a 57-56 lead with 5:23 left.

An Ahmad Grant 3-pointer enabled UNC Wilmington to stretch its lead to 64-60 with 2:59 remaining, and Grant answered a 7-0 Virginia run with his fifth 3-pointer with 34.7 seconds left.

Virginia (12-4) elected to hold for a last shot and the Seahawks (6-12) didn't force the action. UVa called a timeout after Grant's game-tying shot, then held the ball until Bennett motioned for another timeout with 14.1 left to shoot.

Landesberg said the original plan was to get the ball to Sammy Zeglinski for a 3-pointer, but when the Cavaliers' coaches returned from their huddle, the idea was to get the ball to Landesberg.

When Landesberg curled around a screen set by Jerome Meyinsse and took a pass from Mike Scott, he had an uncontested 15-foot jumper.

"I was surprised I was open as I was," said Landesberg, who had a team-high 19 points. "They were harassing me all night. They were basically in my jersey. When I got that look, I was relieved."

Chad Tomko's halfcourt shot hit the backboard but was left of the rim at the buzzer.

Tomko, a gritty, 5-foot-11 senior, finished with 17 points and a game-high eight assists. Grant, a 6-3 junior, came off the bench to score 19 points in 22 minutes but committed five turnovers.

One of those turnovers came on a steal by UVa freshman Jontel Evans, whose driving layup gave Virginia a 66-64 lead with 1:59 left.

Evans, making his second start of the season and second in as many games, drew the original assignment on Tomko and shut him down until Bennett made his first wave of substitutions. Virginia, which had taken an early 14-9 lead, watched the Seahawks take off on a 15-0 run against the UVa subs. Bennett sent his starters back onto the floor and they responded with a 20-0 run. If not for a 3-pointer by Tomko with 11 seconds left in the half, the Seahawks would not have scored in the final 10 12 minutes of the first half.

Much of a 17-2 UNCW burst in the second half came with UVa non-starters on the floor.

"[Substitutions] gave us great lifts against Georgia Tech and Miami, games where guys have really come in and sparked us," Bennett said. "Tonight it wasn't working, and I perhaps put in too many guys at a time. There's not a ton of separation and I have to maybe just look at one or two at a time."

Virginia had averaged six 3-point field goals during the first seven games of its winning streak, but was held to 3-for-10 shooting from behind the line Monday. The Cavaliers maintained their deadly free-throw shooting, hitting 20 of 24 shots from the free-throw line.

Meyinsse, a senior and a 55.3-percent free-throw shooter going into this season, was 8-of-9 from the line and finished with a career-high 14 points.

Landesberg’s late FG lifts U.Va. over UNCW 69-67
By Michael Phillips
Published: January 19, 2010
» 0 Comments | Post a Comment
vote
nowBuzz up!

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- UNC Wilmington didn't score for a full quarter of last night's game, but that didn't keep the Seahawks from putting a scare into Virginia.

The Cavaliers needed a last-second shot from Sylven Landesberg to secure a 69-67 victory that revealed just how slim their margin of error will be this season.

"It's not a lot," first-year coach Tony Bennett said. "We took a step outside who we've been in the last few games."

But one thing that Bennett has instilled is defense, and it carried the team through the final possessions. With the game tied at 64, guard Jontel Evans stole the ball from UNCW's Ahmad Grant, going coast to coast for a layup that gave the Cavs the lead with two minutes left.

The defense struck again on the next possession as the Seahawks' John Fields missed two looks from under the basket, and Matt Wilson whiffed on a tip-in attempt. From there, Sammy Zeglinski fought for the rebound, grabbing it and keeping the ball alive as he lost his balance.

After a Cavs free throw, Grant delivered his 17th point of the half on a 3-pointer, which was followed by Landesberg's game-winner with 2.2 seconds left. Landesberg was guarded closely all night, but he found himself open off a screen to hit the winner from just to the left of the free throw line.

"They were basically in my jersey all night, so I was really surprised," he said.

U.Va. overcame 11 turnovers and a strong shooting performance from the Seahawks in the second half -- they made 60 percent of their shots, including five 3-pointers by Grant.

"We were sloppy," Zeglinski said. "But we got the win, so we're thankful for that."

The exciting finish came after a first half where each team got its turn at scoring. The Seahawks took the lead early, going on a 15-0 run as the Cavs got away from the inside game against their undersized opponents. The final basket of the rally came at 10:45, which would soon become a notable stat.

Off of a radio timeout, forward Mike Scott muscled his way inside for two points, marking a return to the power game and the start of a dominant run for U.Va.

The Cavs scored the next 20 points. UNCW finally ended the run on a long 3-pointer from Chad Tomko with 11 seconds remaining in the half.

"This was an odd game, I'll tell you that much," Landesberg said. "I've never been in a game like this."

During U.Va.'s 20-0 run, the Seahawks were unable to contain the Cavs offense despite three timeouts -- two for radio, one by the team. They also became increasingly frustrated offensively, with Tomko taking ill-advised shots early in their possessions.

"We are going to watch film and break Virginia down and show it to our guys," UNC Wilmington coach Benny Moss said. "It was textbook box-outs by Virginia."

In the end, the Cavs were able to keep themselves from having a letdown game after back-to-back victories against ranked opponents. John Paul Jones Arena didn't reach the same noise levels of those games -- the listed attendance of 10,420 included fans who had tickets to the snowed-out game but did not show for the makeup.

The rescheduling worked in U.Va.'s favor, as Scott was injured when the initial game would have been played.

"If we played them when we didn't have Mike, that would have been hard," Bennett said. "I told their coach after the game . . . your stuff's hard to guard."

Sylven Landesberg bails out Virginia with late shot to beat UNC Wilmington
By Zach Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It is a play Virginia runs often -- curl Sylven Landesberg around a screen, letting him set his feet for a jumper at the elbow -- but it had not been called under Monday's circumstances. The clock ticked close toward the buzzer with the score tied and the next shot almost guaranteed to be the game-winner.

The play worked as Coach Tony Bennett designed it in the huddle of a timeout with 14 seconds remaining. Jontel Evans passed the ball to Mike Scott at the top of the key, who found Landesberg on the curl with the clock fading below five seconds. Landesberg caught the pass unguarded and launched a shot that dropped in with 2.2 seconds left to give the Cavaliers a dramatic 69-67 victory over North Carolina Wilmington.

"If I got the open look, I'm pretty confident I was going to make the shot," said Landesberg, who finished with 19 points. "But they had been in my jersey all night. They were harassing me. It was hard to get open looks. It was hard to get the ball, period. I was just surprised I was that open."

Throughout an eight-game winning streak that has catapulted Virginia (12-4) into national attention so much that the team received votes in the recent top 25 poll, Coach Tony Bennett has warned that the Cavaliers can quickly become "below average." On Monday, Virginia showed just how quick.

Virginia lost a 16-point second-half lead. It was a lead built up after a 20-0 run allowed the Cavaliers to erase the Seahawks' 10-point first-half lead. UNC Wilmington (6-12) made 59.3 percent of its second-half field goals and 11 three-pointers in a game rescheduled from Dec. 19.

At that time, the Cavaliers were on a two-game losing streak and missing Scott because of injury. Had the game been played on the original date, Virginia's players admitted that their victory could be in peril. Instead, the Cavaliers have not lost since during a streak that keeps Bennett unimpressed.

"Our margin for error -- I tell those guys if they don't believe me, and they're listening to people saying, 'Hey great job' -- it's not a lot," Bennett said. "We walk a fine line."

That line was on the display as late as Monday's final three minutes, which started with the Seahawks nursing a four-point lead. The Cavaliers regained advantage only to watch UNC Wilmington tie the score with 34.7 seconds remaining -- enough time for one final possession.

The set that Bennett wanted required two big men on the court, and the Cavaliers played with four guards. This prompted the coach to call the timeout with 14 seconds remaining and insert Scott back into the game.

The inbound went to Evans, who found Scott at the top of the key, where he waited for Landesberg to come around the screen set by Jerome Meyinsse near the low block. The UNC Wilmington defender came off the screen toward the basket, expecting Landesberg to drive. That was why Virginia's star was open only 15 feet from the basket for the second game-winner of his career.

"It's a play we run a lot in practice, and we usually have success with it," said Meyinsse, who scored a career-high 14 points. "We executed it right, and Sylven knocked down a big-time shot."

The excitement of the win will be short-lived, because the team seemed dissatisfied by its overall performance. Bennett said Virginia "got a little bit away from who we were," and the players understood they cannot lose double-digit leads.

But when those players discussed the performance, they often finished with the reminder that it was a victory. For the first time this season, the Cavaliers won a close game -- albeit in uninspiring fashion.

"It wasn't the way we're going to have to be competitive and successful in this league," Bennett said. "You're not just going to out-individualize people at our level. We were fortunate. We'll learn from it. We're thankful for the win, but we got stuff we need to clean up."
 

Landesberg lifts UVa
By Whitey Reid
Published: January 19, 2010
» 0 Comments | Post a Comment
vote
nowBuzz up!

After beating three ranked opponents and winning an ACC road game all within the last three weeks, Monday night’s game with UNC-Wilmington was supposed to be an opportunity for Virginia to catch its breath and pad its win total before the brunt of the ACC schedule.

Well, things got a bit more intense than that.

UVa played down to UNCW, a squad that had lost by 23 to Northeastern on Saturday. However, the Wahoos recovered just in time and, thanks to a 15-foot jumper from Sylven Landesberg with 2.2 seconds left, escaped with a 69-67 victory in front of a crowd of 10,420 at John Paul Jones Arena.

Landesberg led Virginia (12-4) with 19 points. Jerome Meyinsse added 14.

UNCW (6-12) was paced by Ahmad Grant’s 19 points.

Virginia, which won its eighth straight, allowed the Seahawks to shoot 51 percent from the floor, including a 46 percent clip from behind the 3-point arc.

“I don’t think we took them for granted,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, whose team plays at Wake Forest on Saturday, “but from here on out, there’s nobody to take for granted, so that’s a moot point.

“I think [the performance] reminds you that our margin of error ... it’s not great. Our guys have to really be locked in. The second we venture from that, it gets a little tough for us.”

In the second half, you could say Virginia went walkabout — just when you least expected it.

UVa seemed to be in full cruise control when Sammy Zeglinski drained a 3-pointer to put UVa up by 16.

However, UNCW went on a 17-2 run and took a 57-56 lead when Chad Tomko drove around Jontel Evans with 5 minutes, 20 seconds to play.

The Seahawks increased their lead to 64-60 on a deep 3-pointer by Ahmad Grant before Virginia scored seven straight points to retake the lead at 67-64. The highlight of the spurt came when freshman guard Jontel Evans ripped the ball cleanly from Grant and went coast-coast for a layup.

But Grant answered with another triple with 34 seconds left to set the stage for Landesberg’s heroics. After a timeout by Bennett, Landesberg was wide open on a curl play at the elbow.

“The big man was there and hedged out to help,” Landesberg said. “I guess they thought I was going to drive it, but he didn’t come out to me. He just stayed back and I got the space and was able to raise up and shoot it.

“But I was definitely surprised. They had been in my jersey the whole night.”

In the first half, Virginia actually overcame a similar meltdown. The Cavaliers fell behind, 24-14, after a Jeremy Basnight 3-pointer.

However, after a timeout, UVa’s defense put the clamps on the Seahawks, holding the visitors scoreless for over 10 minutes. The Seahawks committed four turnovers during the span, while launching an array of long, sometimes ill-advised jumpshots — always with hands in their faces.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s offense started to click. The Cavaliers stopped settling for perimeter shots and started attacking the basket. The result was a staggering 20-0 run that was highlighted by a Meyinsse dunk, which came off a pretty feed from a penetrating Zeglinski.

UVa led 34-27 at the break.

But things started heading south about five minutes into the second stanza.

“These are the types of games that you just hope you can pull out — when you’re not playing your best and still be able to grind it out at the end, and people step up and make big plays,” said Zeglinski, who had 10 points and five assists. “That’s exactly what we did tonight.

“It’s good to get a win like that — every once in a while.”

Added Evans (four points, three assists, three steals in his second career start): “It was a game of runs. It was an ugly win, but we never stopped fighting and we never gave up.

“We hung in together as a team and we got the ‘W.’”
 

Winning shot well-planned and well done
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: January 19, 2010
» 0 Comments | Post a Comment
vote
nowBuzz up!

Just the way they drew it up on the chalkboard.

That’s the bottom line in Virginia’s dramatic — but less than impressive — 69-67, come-from-behind win over visiting UNC-Wilmington on Monday night.

Regardless, sophomore Sylven Landesberg, named co-ACC player of the week earlier in the day, celebrated by knocking down the game-winner with 2.2 seconds remaining, extending the Cavaliers’ winning streak to eight straight — the program’s longest since the 2003-04 season.

The pesky Seahawks, who just might be the best 6-12 team in the country if one takes UVa coach Tony Bennett’s thoughts to heart, refused to go away down the stretch and knotted the game at 67 with 34 seconds to play on a 3-pointer by Ahmad Grant from the far left corner.

The last shot

With 14 ticks on the clock, Bennett called a timeout to set up what he hoped would be the final play. In his mind, the first-year Wahoos coach had already convinced himself that he could handle losing the game, but wasn’t going to accept that quality of play by his team.

Virginia had three or four go-to plays for the win, but really only one go-to guy and everyone in the joint knew so.

Senior post player Jerome Meyinsse, who played perhaps the best game of his career (14 points and good defense) was to set a screen for Landesberg to the right of the key. Landesberg would have the option of driving or pulling up for a jumper — or if Meyinsse’s man slid to cut off the lane, Landesberg could dump the ball off inside to Meyinsse for a layup.

“That’s how coach Bennett drew it up,” Meyinsse said after his team improved to 12-4. “I just wanted to get a piece of my man, and if my man was to help on Sylven, I was going to roll to the goal.”

It’s a play that Virginia runs a lot in practice, but not as much in games — and never for a game-winner until last night.

Nerves of steel

Before he left the huddle, Landesberg knew the game was in his hands. He admittedly had to get “my nerves together and my head right” to prep himself for the final play.

UNCW coach Benny Moss knew what was coming, he just didn’t know exactly how.

“We thought [Landesberg] was going to get the ball,” Moss said. “He’s their guy, and rightfully so.”

Moss knew that as much motion as Virginia runs, there could be various options in how Landesberg would attack, but wasn’t overly familiar with what Bennett might draw up. He just told his guys to guard dribble penetration, which is what Landesberg would have done most of the time last year in that situation.

Not a bad guess, because Landesberg’s strength is definitely his uncanny ability to get into the paint and cause havoc.

Meyinsse did a good job with the screen as Landesberg came off it, losing the trailing Grant in the process. Meyinsse’s man stayed home, leaving Landesberg with a semi-open 12-footer from the left side of the key.

He nailed it over the outstretched hands of Meyinsse’s man, John Fields, who didn’t recover in time to stop the shot.

Swish!

Just like that, Landesberg saved UVa’s bacon and kept the Cavs as the hottest team in the ACC heading into Saturday’s trip to Wake Forest.

Bennett will spend the rest of the week telling his team that if they play the same in Winston-Salem, they’ll get blown out of the gym. But for now, it’s a chance to breathe a little easier.

Landesberg has been here before. Last year, he canned the Reaper Cheater against South Florida in a 77-75 win, but that one came with an eternity left to play — 13 seconds.

Last night, it was make it or play on in overtime.

He had banged in game-winners in high school, back in New York when he was carving out his McDonald’s All-American credentials at Flushing’s Holy Cross High.

“But that was in front of maybe 1,000 people, not several thousand like tonight,” Landesberg grinned.

That explained the butterflies in the huddle.

There was another significant difference between last year and now at crunch time.

Last year, Virginia would have most likely set a high ball screen for Landesberg, encouraging him to drive to the basket and either score on one of his unorthodox jumpers in the lane or draw the foul.

“Last year, I wasn’t able to consistently knock down that 15-foot jump shot,” Landesberg said in the post-game chat. “This year, I’m more comfortable shooting it. I think I can knock it down on a consistent basis, so they can use me differently than they did last year.”

Just the way Bennett drew it up.
 

Virginia picks up 1st ACC win
By The Daily Progress Staff
Published: January 19, 2010
» 0 Comments | Post a Comment
vote
nowBuzz up!

In Blacksburg, Debbie Ryan, a Hall of Fame coach, has called more timeouts than she will ever recount.

One signaled for on Monday, however, essentially propelled the Virginia women’s basketball team to its seventh straight victory over Virginia Tech.

Barely clinging in the national rankings at No. 25 and suddenly trailing in the game, the Ryan-forced stoppage in play at Cassell Coliseum with 18:12 left in the game Cavaliers led to six unanswered points and a 70-56 win over the Hokies.

“I was mad. We set up a defense to force a turnover, we got the turnover and missed a layup,” Ryan explained to The Daily Progress, speaking of the quick timeout after the intermission. “We forced a another steal and chunked another layup. I had seen enough. I was going to kill them, but I didn’t.

“I told them, ‘You can’t start like this. You have to finish plays.’”

Virginia (12-5, 1-2 ACC) certainly finished over the final 18 minutes, outscoring the Hokies 45-29 in the most impressive stretch of play in conference action this campaign.

“Sometimes it is just a re-centering,” Ryan said. “We have done well to start halves defensively, but we haven’t done well offensively.

“I just wanted to remind them that I’m not going to accept this.”

Monica Wright, despite battling foul trouble in the second half, paced the Cavaliers with 27 points and moved into the top 10 in scoring in ACC history.

Most of Wright’s damage to the Hokies (11-6, 1-2) came in the second half as she scored 17 of her total and helped keep Virginia Tech senior Lindsay Biggs in check defensively.

“She was amazing tonight,” Ryan said. “She played so well in all facets the entire game.”

In the second half, Virginia dazzled from the field as it made 18 of 29 shots (62.1 percent).

Virginia Tech, riding the heels of an impressive win over North Carolina, shot 48.1 percent from the field in the second half, but did not have enough defensive answers.

“Obviously, we played one of the best games that we’ve played in a long time in the game before this [the upset over 10th-ranked UNC on Thursday],” Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenburger said. “But tonight, I thought we were flat on several fronts. It’s frustrating to see us play so well so shortly ago and then to come out flat tonight, but I don’t think it was from a lack of effort.

“I’ll give credit to Virginia and some of the things that they did. They changed some things defensively and we never really adjusted. I don’t think we ever really got in sync.”

Wright was joined in double figures by Whitny Edwards (11 points) and Ariana Moorer (10).

Virginia returns to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Boston College.
 

UVa women crisp after half against Virginia Tech
Monica Wright keys a big run for UVa midway through the second half. | UVa 70, Virginia Tech 56
By Katrina Waugh
981-3127

BLACKSBURG -- This is why Monica Wright was voted the ACC's preseason player of the year.

The 5-foot-11 senior guard scored more than a third of her team's points as No. 25 Virginia topped in-state rival Virginia Tech 70-56 on Monday at Cassell Coliseum.

Wright scored 27 points, seven of them in a 17-6 drive that took the Cavaliers from two points down to nine ahead with 13 minutes to go in the second half. Virginia's lead never again dipped below nine.

"She did what ACC players of the year are supposed to do," Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said of Wright. "She stepped up and knocked down shots. She did it off the bounce, from behind the line."

That wasn't the half of it.

A perennial all-ACC defensive teamer, Wright clung to Tech's leading scorer Lindsay Biggs like winter static until Biggs seemed to give up the idea of scoring.

Biggs was named the ACC's player of the week earlier in the day after scoring 19 points in the Hokies' 69-64 win over then No. 10 North Carolina on Thursday. Against Wright's pressure, Biggs took just six shots in the first half, and hit only one.

"It's hard to take a player like her out of a game," said Wright, who had three assists, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. "I was just being physical with her, getting in her comfort zone with her.

"Nobody likes that."

Biggs didn't hit a shot after a 3-pointer six minutes into the first half and stopped shooting altogether over the final seven minutes of the first half and the first seven of the second.

"Obviously she's a great defensive player, a great all-around player," Biggs said of Wright. "We didn't play as well together. They played good defense on me and I don't think I was aggressive as I needed to be."

Tech hit just 28.6 percent of its shots in the first half, but the Hokies hung close because Virginia wasn't shooting well either (36.7 percent) and Utahya Drye had 10 points and five rebounds, and Brittany Gordon had six points and four boards.

Wright wasn't the only one to take a turn guarding Biggs.

"She's so lethal," Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan said. "She's a tremendous talent shooting the 3. We did everything we could to take her out of her rhythm.

That included a lot of switching off on defense, which sometimes left Drye guarded inside by short people. She netted 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Hokies (11-6, 1-2 ACC).

But Drye and Biggs, who scored six points in the final four minutes to pump her total to 11, were the only Hokies to score in double figures. They'd had four against UNC.

Point guard Nikki Davis, who'd had 11 assists against the Tar Heels, had four Monday.

"We need to play together, we need to execute on offense and defense," Davis said.

After two buckets by Drye at the start of the second half, the Hokies were up 27-25.

Virginia switched from a zone defense to man-to-man, and ripped off six straight points to kick off that back-breaking 17-6 run.

Whitny Edwards had 11 points and five rebounds for the Cavaliers (12-5, 1-2) and Moorer had 10 points, six rebounds. Paulisha Kellum had eight points and she and Moorer each had three assists.

After hitting just 11 of 30 shots in the first half, UVa hit 62.1 percent in the second half.

Ryan credited shot selection on both fronts.

Dunkenberger figured it was a bad sign all around that the Cavaliers shot better from the floor than the Hokies did from the free throw line (55.6 percent) in the second half.

"We were flat on several fronts," Dunkenberger said.

"There were times out on the court when we were supposed to trap but we didn't," Drye said, offering an illustration. "Plays like that, it can bite you in the butt."

Men’s Tennis Blanks W&M 15-0 in Season Opener
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 01/18/2010

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team opened its 2010 dual match season with a 15-0 victory over No. 75 William & Mary Monday night at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (1-0) won their 49th consecutive home match while handing the Tribe (4-1) their first loss of the year.

The match used an alternative scoring method agreed upon by both teams. The match consisted of five doubles matches and 10 singles matches, all worth one point for a total of 15 points available.

Play began with the No. 7-10 singles matches. Philippe Oudshoorn, Santiago Villegas and Dino Dell’Orto all won their Cavalier dual match debuts and Steven Eelkman Rooda also added a victory for Virginia, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

The Cavaliers followed by sweeping all five doubles matches to take a 9-0 lead in the dual match. The duo of Sanam Singh and Michael Shabaz topped the No. 26 ranked Tribe pair of Keziel Juneau and Sebastien Vidal 9-7 at the No. 1 position. The teams of Houston Barrick/Jarmere Jenkins, Drew Courtney/Lee Singer, Oudshoorn/Rooda and Julen Uriguen/Villegas also won for Virginia.

Virginia swept the No. 1 through No. 6 singles matches to complete the 15-0 victory. Shabaz, Jenkins, Courtney, Barrick and Singer won to make it 14-0 before Singh rallied to complete the sweep. Singh trailed Juneau 7-5, 5-4 and fought off four match points against him before rallying for a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1 win.

“This was a good start to the season,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “We have had a good couple of weeks of practice and it was nice to be able to get the season started. This format was a great opportunity to let a lot of players get competitive matches in, and that is so important this time of the season. We appreciate William & Mary for agreeing to play the match with this format. They have a great team and it proved to be a great dual match.”

The Cavaliers return to action this weekend as they visit Illinois and Notre Dame.

No. 2 Virginia 15, No. 75 William & Mary 0

Doubles:
1. Singh/Shabaz (UVa) def. #26 Juneau/Vidal (W&M) 9-7
2. Jenkins/Barrick (UVa) def. Andersson/Whiteford (W&M) 8-0
3. #17 Courtney/Singer (UVa) def. Orre/Vodislab (W&M) 8-3
4. Rooda/Oudshoorn (UVa) def. Mihalov/Pandit (W&M) 8-5
5. Uriguen/Villegas (UVa) def. Braig/Wardell (W&M) 8-6

Singles:
1. #12 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. #122 Keziel Juneau (W&M) 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1
2. #3 Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. Anton Andersson (W&M) 6-2, 6-3
3. #16 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. Sebastien Vidal (W&M) 5-2 ret.
4. #31 Drew Courtney (UVa) def. Jamie Whiteford (W&M) 6-1, 6-4
5. #58 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Adrian Vodislav (W&M) 6-0, 6-1
6. #28 Lee Singer (UVa) def. Richard Wardell (W&M) 6-0, 6-3
7. Philippe Oudshoorn (UVa) def. Ilja Orre (W&M) 7-6(7), 5-7, 10-4
8. #80 Steven Eelkman Rooda (UVa) def. Daniel Mihalov (W&M) 6-4, 6-0
9. Santiago Villegas (UVa) def. Varun Pandit (W&M) 6-3, 6-0
10. Dino Dell’Orto (UVa) def. Jacob Braig (W&M) 6-2, 6-3

Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2,3,4,5,1
Singles: 9,10,8,7,3,2,5,6,4,1