Blue Devils dispose of Cavaliers
Related Links
By Jeff White
Published: February 2, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. -- Four months after the University of Virginia lost by 28 points in football at Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium, its men's basketball team met a similar fate at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Not everyone saw a Duke win in football coming. Yesterday's hoops game, however, unfolded as expected. The only question was how quickly the top-ranked Blue Devils would seize control.

It took less than a half. Duke, which never trailed, led 30-11 at the 9:58 mark. At the final buzzer, it was 79-54 -- the Blue Devils' 13th consecutive victory over U.Va. at Cameron.

The Devils (6-1, 19-2), coming off a loss at Wake Forest, played with palpable intensity against the struggling Cavaliers (1-5, 7-10). The ACC's best defense forced U.Va. into a season-high 23 turnovers, 17 of which came in the first half.

"Today our defense had a lot to do with our offense," said junior guard Gerald Henderson, who led Duke with 18 points.

If one play typified Virginia's sloppiness with the ball, it was a turnover by forward Jamil Tucker early in the second half. Tucker had the ball, with Duke point guard Greg Paulus covering him, in front of the U.Va. bench. But the 6-9 junior inexplicably picked up his dribble and then tossed a lazy crosscourt pass that Kyle Singler intercepted. The 6-8 sophomore dribbled in for a tomahawk slam that pushed Duke's lead to 27 points.

A raucous crowd of 9,314 filled Cameron, and the atmosphere, combined with the Devils' defense, appeared to rattle some of the U.Va. players. Sylven Landesberg, though, was unfazed.

After picking up two early fouls on charging calls, Landesberg played only 10 minutes in the first half. The 6-6 freshman still finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting. In one second-half sequence, he converted back-to-back three-point plays.

Landesberg now has scored at least 20 points in 10 games, breaking the U.Va. freshman record he shared with Ralph Sampson.

"It was definitely one of the most intense places to play at, but I don't think it affected me too much," Landesberg said of his first visit to Cameron.

Sophomore forward Mike Scott, who missed a chunk of the second half with cramps, was the only other play to score in double figures for U.Va. Scott had 10 points, and redshirt freshman point guard Sammy Zeglinski added eight to go with a game-high five assists.

The loss was the fifth straight for the Cavaliers. In each game, they faced a significant halftime deficit. They trailed Virginia Tech by seven, North Carolina by 14, Maryland by 15, Florida State by 14 and Duke by 22.

"Until we address the first half, it's hard to talk too much about the second halves," Leitao said. "I'd like to be able to put two halves together, and that's our plan, and we've got to get back in the gym [today] and look at the film, and in the process of preparing for Boston College, we've got to address that."

U.Va. hosts BC (5-3, 17-6) on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

 

Poor first halves still haunt UVa men's basketball team
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Virginia men's basketball team needs to come up with a new game plan.

This pattern of falling behind by 20 points in the first half isn't working.

The Cavaliers had another horrendous first 20 minutes Sunday and dropped their 13th straight game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 79-54.

Top-ranked Duke (19-2, 6-1 ACC) forced 17 turnovers in grabbing a 43-21 halftime lead.

It was Virginia's first game in eight days but little had changed since the Cavaliers' previous outing, when they had committed 13 first-half turnovers in a 73-62 home loss to Florida State.

In less than a month, UVa has trailed by 22 points in the first half against Duke, by 21 in the first half against Xavier, by 20 in the first half against Florida State, and by 17 in the first half against Maryland.

In many of those games, UVa (7-10, 1-5) played respectably in the second half.

What's the difference?

"I don't have that particular answer," fourth-year UVa coach Dave Leitao said.

The Cavaliers, who entered Sunday's game as 23-point underdogs, shot 54.2 percent in the second half and had a chance to get the margin in the teens during a stretch when freshman center Assane Sene missed three 1-and-1s in an 81-second span.

Sene, who has played with a bandaged left (shooting) thumb for more than a month, has missed his last 13 free throws.

Virginia wasn't about to get back in the game by that time, but the dichotomy between the first half and second half can't solely be a matter of the opposition backing off the accelerator.

"Until we address the first half, it's hard to talk that much about the second half," Leitao said. "I'd like to be able to put two halves together and that's our plan."

Leitao made a golf analogy, saying it was like hitting a drive in the fairway, landing an iron shot on the green and then four-putting.

"It's like whipped cream on crap," he said. "Second halves will matter and putting will matter when you hit the ball square and get the ball in the middle of the fairway and to the green."

Virginia had turnovers on seven of its first nine possessions Sunday, three as the result of offensive fouls. Two were against UVa freshman and leading scorer Sylven Landesberg, whose second foul sent him to the bench with 16:28 remaining.

The Cavaliers, who had trailed 7-5 after the second of two Landesberg field goals, had fallen behind 28-11 by the time Landesberg returned with 10:16 left.

He didn't pick up another foul the rest of the way, finishing with a game-high 20 points. It was his 10th game with 20 points, breaking the UVa freshman record of nine set by Ralph Sampson in 1979-80.

Landesberg made his only 3-point attempt of the game and converted three three-point plays after being fouled. Landesberg has 14 "old-fashioned" three-point plays for the season, but sometimes his aggressiveness gets him in trouble.

"I knew I was going to have to sit out a large part of the first half because of the fouls and that upset me," Landesberg said. "It was real hard to be sitting there watching and not being able to help.

"I tried to come out in the second half and make up for it, but I had to become more cautious. They'd let me past the first guy and then they were just lining up to take charges. They weren't really trying to block my shot."

 

Duke humbles Hoos
Virginia commits turnovers against the Blue Devils and falls behind early on its way to a fifth consecutive loss.
By NORM WOOD | 247-4642
February 2, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. - Maybe if Virginia had two weeks to prepare for Duke, the outcome in Sunday's matchup would've been different. It's obvious an eight-day break did nothing for U.Va.

Stifling defense helped No. 1 Duke build a big early lead on its way to a 79-54 win against U.Va., which has lost five consecutive games. Gerald Henderson paced Duke with 16 of his 18 points in the first half — a half in which U.Va got off to another slow start.

After an eight-day layoff following a 73-62 loss Jan. 24 to Florida State, U.Va. (7-10 overall, 1-5 ACC) entered Cameron Indoor Stadium hoping to use a strong performance to get its season back on track. There was no chance of that happening against Duke.

The Cavaliers committed a season-high 23 turnovers, including 17 in the first half. They had six turnovers by the first media timeout with 15:49 left in the first half.

"I said it during the first TV timeout that the things we talked about and the things we were executing and preparing for in practice every day really didn't show itself today really at any point in time during the game," U.Va. coach Dave Leitao said.

Duke (19-2, 6-1) took advantage of U.Va.'s foibles. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first eight minutes and the Cavaliers never got back within single digits.

"We did a really good job defensively in the first half, and that just set the tone," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

"Virginia's dangerous because they push it. If they get open shots, they're going to take it…We just felt it was a dangerous game for us if we didn't attack defensively and stay in passing lanes."

U.Va.'s Sylven Landesberg committed two offensive fouls in the first four minutes and had to go to the bench. He played just 10 minutes in the first half and scored eight points.

"Every time after (the first two fouls) I tried to attack, it seemed like there was a (Duke player) waiting to take a charge," Landesberg said. "They weren't even trying to block my shot."

Landesberg still finished the game with 20 points on eight of 10 shooting, giving him 10 games with 20 or more points, a school-record for a freshman. While he shot 80 percent from the floor, his teammates combined to shoot 33 percent (13 of 39).

U.Va., whose only other double-figure scorer was Mike Scott with 10 points, shot 43 percent from the floor as a team. U.Va., which had five offensive fouls in the game, trailed 43-21 at halftime. It marked the fourth straight game it has trailed by 14 or more at halftime.

Duke's lead grew to as many 27 points in the second half, as the Blue Devils made 46 percent of their field goals for the game and committed just nine turnovers. They got 15 points from Nolan Smith and 11 from Scheyer.

Duke entered the game ranked No. 1, but it surely will fall today when the new Associated Press poll is released. Duke lost Wednesday at Wake Forest. U.Va.'s record against No. 1 ranked opponents fell to 1-27 all-time.

"During this stretch of games, we've gotten down and gotten down by double figures and had to climb out of a hole," said Leitao, whose team now has lost 13 consecutive games in Cameron Indoor Stadium dating back to 1995. "You're not going to do that on the road very much. You're not going to do that against very good teams very much."

 

Smith gets hot in Devils' victory
By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Feb 2, 2009

DURHAM -- Most Duke possessions start with the ball in point guard Nolan Smith's hand, but recently, Smith has been using his other hand more often to signal an offensive play.

Sunday afternoon against visiting Virginia, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski took more of a hands-off approach.

"I think we were starting to call too many plays," Krzyzewski said. "It should be easier to push it and get into something so that he can be more instinctive."

Smith took the additional freedom and ran with it, quite literally, scoring 15 points to help the Blue Devils run away with a 79-54 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Smith hit 7 of 10 shots a game after connecting just once from the floor in Duke's 70-68 loss at Wake Forest on Wednesday.

It wasn't just a one-game thing: After averaging 12.3 points and hitting 52.4 percent of his shots over the Blue Devils' first 10 games, Smith was averaging 7.7 points while hitting just 32.8 percent of his shots over their last 10 games entering Sunday.

"I had kind of fallen into trying to be the set-up point guard," Smith said. "I'm still going to do that, but at the same time I'm going to look to be aggressive and make the other team's point guard guard me.

"I want to be a threat offensively and do the same thing I've been doing defensively."

Duke's defense again keyed the victory. The Blue Devils (19-2, 6-1 ACC) forced Virginia into 17 first-half turnovers winning their 13th consecutive home game in the series. The Cavaliers (7-10, 1-5) didn't miss a shot over the first six minutes, but only because they couldn't get off many shots, turning the ball over seven times while attempting just four shots to fall behind 14-9.

Four of those turnovers went to freshman Sylven Landesburg -- the team's leading scorer -- including two on charging fouls.

Landesburg came on in the second half to finish with 20 points, surpassing Ralph Sampson's school record for 20-point games by a freshman with his 10th. But shortly after Landesburg exited with foul trouble, Duke's offense caught up with its defense.

The Blue Devils went on a 20-3 run to build a 34-12 lead, a stretch that included 11 of Gerald Henderson's 18 points and a pair of baskets from both Smith and Jon Scheyer (11 points).

"It started with defense," Smith said. "All of our runs are going to start on the defensive end, contesting the passing lanes and getting steals.

"From there, our offense is going to come."

Kyle Singler scored a season-low five points coming off an illness that cost him a day of practice, but Henderson maintained his hot hand and Scheyer hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range, the first time he's made more than half his 3-pointers in seven games.

But above all, Sunday's game was about Smith.

"Nolan played very well today," Singler said. "He was very aggressive.

"We're at our best when Nolan gets into the paint and is able to create shots for himself and others. He just needs to keep on playing with that aggressive mindset."

NOTES -- Krzyzewski said Smith and Henderson were slowed by back problems, though it didn't show. Martynas Pocius missed his second consecutive game with a cut on his finger. ... Lance Thomas got his first start of the season, with Brian Zoubek coming off the bench for the fourth time. Thomas had five points, four rebounds and two assists; Zoubek had four points and three rebounds. "We're just trying to get he and Brian to play at the level they can play at, whether they start of sub in," Krzyzewski said. ... The crowd was at its loudest over the final few minutes, when Elliot Williams (6 points) hit fellow freshman Miles Plumlee (4 points) with a beautiful alley-oop pass for a dunk off an inbounds pass, and when sophomore walk-on Steve Johnson got his first career points. Johnson, serenaded by the crowd on his 21st birthday, drove the baseline and hit a shot in traffic.
 

Smith sets tone as Devils rout Cavs
Ken Tysiac - Staff Writer
Published: Mon, Feb. 02, 2009 12:30AMModified Mon, Feb. 02, 2009 05:43AM

DURHAM -- The opening was there, and Duke point guard Nolan Smith immediately raced into it.

Smith hurled himself into the lane on the dribble and made a layup just nine seconds into a possession, establishing the aggressive tone the Blue Devils were looking for in the early minutes of a 79-54 ACC basketball blowout of Virginia on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

It was predictable that Duke (19-2, 6-1 ACC) entered the game with extra spirit after a 70-68 loss Wednesday at Wake Forest that probably will cost the Blue Devils their No. 1 ranking when the polls are released today.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski also sent Duke into the game with a new emphasis on pushing the ball with Smith, a sophomore first-year starter who is still learning the position. Krzyzewski was disappointed with the first 30 minutes at Wake Forest but was pleased with the way the Blue Devils attacked in the last 10 minutes to erase a 13-point deficit before the Deacons won on a last-second layup.

Smith said the coaches urged him to keep pushing the ball Sunday instead of just setting up plays for Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer.

"The coaching staff told me to just look to attack," Smith said. "Run the team, but look to attack at the same time. That's my game, and I felt comfortable playing that way today. So we'll continue to be aggressive and just make shots."

While playing a team-high 26 minutes, Smith scored 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and added two assists. Only Henderson, with 18 points, scored more for the Blue Devils, who stayed ahead of second-place North Carolina (19-2, 5-2) in the ACC standings.

Krzyzewski said Duke had been starting to call too many set plays. He said he would rather have Smith push the ball, then try to get a good shot out of Duke's motion offense before calling a set play.

"It should be easier to push it and get into something so you can be more instinctive," Krzyzewski said. "We trust them. It's trusting our team to be able to create an offense, to create shots through screens and movement."

Duke's pressure defense made sure Virginia (7-10, 1-5) didn't get many good shots as it lost its fifth straight game.

Cavaliers freshman guard Sylven Landesberg scored a game-high 20 points but committed four turnovers in the first 3:32.

Two of those turnovers came on charging fouls, sending Landesberg to the bench in the fourth minute. Coach Dave Leitao said Duke was getting the Cavaliers to play too fast.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were urging Smith to play faster.

"He was very aggressive, and I think that's the way we're going to have to play if we're going to keep playing well," Singler said. "We're at our best when Nolan gets into the paint, and he's able to create shots for himself and others."

 

Cream of the crop Leitao quotations
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Published: Monday, February 2 2009

“It’s like whipped cream on crap.”

This was the eloquent simile Virginia coach Dave Leitao used yesterday afternoon to describe his team’s tendency to follow a lousy first half with a better second half — a trend that continued yesterday when Duke routed the Cavaliers 79-54.

To be accurate, this comparison was a simile within a metaphor. “In golf ... when you’re playing, you hit a really good drive in the middle of the fairway, and you get to the green in two and you four-putt,” is what Leitao compared to soft, sugary sweetness coating — ahem — solid waste.

While this was Leitao’s only humorous quip following the beatdown at Cameron Indoor Stadium, it was not the only intriguing one, an especially surprising development given Leitao’s self-described ornery nature after losses. Most interestingly, Leitao elaborated in great detail on the current state of the program at a time when, I think we can all now definitively say, his job is very likely on the hot seat pending the outcome of the rest of the season.

Thus, I’ll let Leitao do most of the talking in this column, seeing as how I hammered the Cavaliers enough in their last dismal effort against Florida State. There’s really nothing of substance I can add that would shed any more light on just how mind-numbingly horrible Virginia has played of late.

Plus, it’s 5:09 p.m. as I type this sentence, and I really don’t want to miss the kickoff of the Super Bowl.

So, without further ado, here is a selection of some of Leitao’s surprisingly revealing and lengthy answers he gave at his postgame presser yesterday.

On the state of the program:

“This is a very bad year to be where we’re at. This league is much better than at any point in time that I’ve been here. You’ve got three teams that have already been No. 1; nobody’s talked about Clemson, they’re very, very good, and we have yet to play them — we play them twice. You go down the line — Florida State, for the first time since I’ve been here ... will be in the tournament. Miami is not the Miami that I got [when I came to Virginia]. So, this league is very, very good at a time when we’re very, very young — and I don’t use that as an excuse; it’s just a fact.”

“When you take over a program, usually you clean out a roster in a span of two years, and you get your people in, and you let ‘em grow, and somewhere — three, or four, or five, or 10 [years thereafter] — success.”

“It’s a league of ebbs and flows with programs, unless you’re Duke and can maintain yourself, and get at the top — [or] Carolina — and stay at the top. What we did, when I first got there, was we went and rode the people that were there because, one, they were very good people, and two, they were, I thought, very good players. They helped us win a lot of games, helped us win an ACC Championship, which a lot of teams in this league can’t say.”

For you youngsters out there, Leitao was referring to 2008 graduate Sean Singletary and 2007 graduate J.R. Reynolds.

“The downside of that is at some point they leave, and you’ve got [to] start. It stunted the growth of the guys that are older right now, that we’re asking to do things for the first time — leadership, command, all those kinds of things. And, we’re asking young people — three of which are freshmen that start — to come into an environment like this, or any environment, and perform like you’ve been around the block for many times.”

“So, I understand that the growing pains come. I don’t look at it programmatically other than, we’ve got a job to do, and we’ve gotta grow through improvement — team-wise, individually, through recruiting. Through all those things, you get to the place that you need to be. It’s happened with all the [teams] that I just mentioned, it’s happened already for us, and now it’s [going to] happen again.”

On Duke’s defense being among the best defenses in the conference and the country:

“I think this year more than any other year, the correction is that they are the best in this league. Obviously I don’t get to see other teams as often as I’d like, so I would put them in comparison to anybody else. I think Wake Forest — correct me if I’m wrong — is the only [ACC] team that’s scored over 60 points [against Duke] this year.”

Yes coach, that is correct, and the Demon Deacons only put up 70 — “and while doing so, they’re still scoring. You get fooled by teams that don’t give up a lot of points because they don’t score a lot. This team scores a lot, but yet doesn’t give up a whole lot.”

“There’s a tremendous amount of attention to detail in what they do. They’ve figured it out — they’re athletic, they’re quick, they’re fast — and whatever their individual deficiencies may be ... on defense, you never get a chance to see them. What they did to us was made us play faster than we wanted to physically and then after that play faster mentally, and that’s what they do to everybody.”

On whether Duke is better than Connecticut, where Leitao spent 18 years as an assistant coach for Jim Calhoun:

“Fortunately for the rest of the world, or unfortunately for me, I don’t think my opinion on that matters that much.”

The quote that stuck with me, in reference to building a successful program:

“It’s happened already for us, and now it’s [going to] happen again.”

Certainly, Virginia will be good again; the question of whether it is with Leitao at the helm is what will generate much discussion. Sounds familiar to another revenue-generating team at the University, doesn’t it?

But for now, it’s 5:54 p.m. Go Steelers.

 

Virginia continues to struggle, falls 79-54 to dominating Duke
Devils bring motivated defensive effort after falling earlier in the week
Ernie Washington, Cavalier Daily Gameday Editor
Published: Monday, February 2 2009

Freshman guard Sylven Landesberg, who led the Cavaliers with 20 points, shot 80 percent from the field, including 1-1 from behind the three-point arc, in yesterday’s loss. Durham, N.C. — The Blue Devils turned up the heat on the Cavaliers yesterday, thrashing Virginia 79-54 in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Simply stated, we played a team that obviously is very good, talented and experienced,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “[Duke’s] on a bit of a mission, whether it’s what they are trying to do with the season or coming off their last game, that focuses on some very specific things to make their train run smoothly.”

The Blue Devils were not only able to shoot 44.4 percent in the first half, they were able to hold Virginia to eight field goals during that same time. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was concerned about some facets of Virginia’s play, but he said he believed his team did a good job addressing those areas.

“Virginia’s dangerous because they push it, and if they get open shots, they are going to take them,” Krzyzewski said. “We just felt it was a dangerous game for us if we don’t attack defensively and stay in passing lanes. We did that [and] got some buckets off of our defense.”

Virginia did not have a good first half — a common occurrence during ACC play — and the Cavaliers fell behind 43-21.

“Obviously during this stretch of games, we have gotten down by double figures and have had to climb out of a hole,” Leitao said. “You’re not going to be able to do that on the road very much; you are not going to be able to do that against very good teams very much.”

One player for Virginia who was able to have some success against the Blue Devils was freshman guard Sylven Landesberg. Contributing 20 points on eight of ten field goals, Landesberg was not fazed by Duke’s Cameron Crazies and even managed to impress Krzyzewski.

“He’s a really good player,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s an attacking player — puts you in a position where you can foul him, which we did for those two three-point plays.”

A turning point in the game, however, occurred when Landesberg picked up his second foul on a charge with 16:29 left in the first half and the Cavaliers trailing 11-5. When Landesberg came back into the game with 10:16 left in the first half, the score was 28-11 in favor of the Blue Devils.

“He’s got to shoot the ball, he’s got to make a scoring play because he elongates,” Krzyzewski said. “As long as you don’t foul him, you’ve got a chance to draw a charge, and we did. I thought we took some really [good] charges today.”

Turnovers also helped Virginia’s opposition, as the Cavaliers handed the ball to the Blue Devils 23 times.

“They wanted to get us out of our offense,” Virginia freshman guard Sammy Zeglinski said. “They were pressuring the wings and making it hard to change sides of the court with the ball, and we kind of figured it out in the second half what we needed to do, but by then it was too late because they jumped all over us in the first half.”

Virginia must now face a competitive Boston College team at home Wednesday. As the Cavaliers continue conference play, there are at least some positive aspects of Virginia’s play off which to possibly build, Krzyzewski said.

“I think they play hard,” the Duke coach said. “Our defense was really good today, so we didn’t allow as much penetration and we did a good job on switches, but they’re a dangerous team because they have a bunch of guys who can shoot the ball and they will play hard.”

 

Give Duke its due, but Virginia is pitiful
Caulton Tudor - Staff Writer
Published: Mon, Feb. 02, 2009 12:30AMModified Mon, Feb. 02, 2009 05:52AM

DURHAM -- There were a couple of inescapable questions to be mulled after Sunday's developments in Cameron Indoor Stadium:

* How far is this Duke basketball team going?

* Where the heck has Virginia's once respectable program gone?

It's certainly not an embarrassment to lose big to the Blue Devils at their place, of course.

Compared to Maryland's 85-44 loss to Duke in the same building last week, the Cavaliers did modestly decent. The final score turned out to be Duke 79, Were-Hoos 54. But that was deceptive. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski took it very easy on Virginia's Dave Leitao, whose team somehow was charged with only 23 turnovers on an afternoon 43 would have seemed a more reasonable guess.

Duke, the ACC leader at 6-1 and 19-2 overall, possibly could be the best team around -- or at least the best team south of the Big East. Even after last week's disappointing 70-68 loss at Wake Forest, the Blue Devils brought plenty of juice to the gym Sunday.

It probably began with a difficult defensive practice on Friday -- a series of manly drills that led, at least in part, to a starting lineup that excluded Brian Zoubek in the low post and resulted in Lance Thomas' first start of the season.

Statistically, that decision didn't make much difference. Thomas finished with five points, three rebounds and a couple of assists. Zoubek, off the bench, wound up with four points and three rebounds.

At this point in the season, Krzyzewski usually isn't so much interested in starting fives as starting drives. The Devils are facing a series of games that includes Clemson on the road, followed by Miami and North Carolina in Cameron. All he wants out of that run is a 3-0 record that would put the Tar Heels (19-2, 5-2) on the outside looking in entering the final few games of regular season.

No one -- least of all Krzyzewski, Carolina's Roy Williams and Wake Forest's Dino Gaudio -- is giving it much lip service right now. Nor should they.

But the big plum waiting in March is a trip to Greensboro for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. One, perhaps even two, of those three will reach, meaning that an opening NCAA weekend near home is there for the taking.

As for Virginia, in its fourth season under Leitao, there is no light at the end. He has been given enough time and recruiting leeway to produce a more competitive team.

Duke, we fully understand, could be heading to Detroit and the Final Four. Virginia, it was clear Sunday, may be heading toward a coaching fix.

 

Blue Devils romp, roll
By Whitey Reid
Published: February 2, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. — Due to a quirk in the schedule, Virginia had eight days off heading into Sunday afternoon’s game at No. 1-ranked Duke.

That meant eight days to prepare for the Blue Devils’ pressure defense. Eight days to find a way to make more than the three first field goals they had against Florida State last Saturday. Eight days to figure out a way to cut down on all the turnovers that have plagued them during their four-game losing streak.

Well, the Cavaliers could have had 365 days of preparation and it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Duke, behind 18 points and four assists from Gerald Henderson, treated the visiting Wahoos like their kid brother — intimidating, dominating and thrashing UVa to the tune of a 79-54 rout in front of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“I said it during the first T.V. timeout,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, referring to a conversation with his players, “that the things we talked about and the things we were executing and preparing for in practice every day really didn’t show itself at all — really at any point in time during the game.”

Virginia (7-10, 1-5) will now try and break a five-game losing streak when it hosts Boston College on Wednesday night. If the Wahoos play like they have in their last couple, they won’t have much of a chance.

From the opening jump, the Blue Devils (19-2, 6-1) — who were coming off a loss to No. 4 Wake Forest on Wednesday — looked like a team with something to prove.

Meanwhile, Virginia looked like the timid teenager at the high school dance who doesn’t want to talk to the pretty girl.

UVa committed six turnovers in its first eight possessions, a span of just 4 minutes and 11 seconds.

“We knew they were coming off a loss and would just come at us and try and end the game early,” said Virginia freshman Sammy Zeglinski, who finished with eight points and five assists. “We knew they would pressure us like that, but a lot of times we just broke out of our offense and were careless with the ball.”

Things didn’t get any better after that first television timeout.

Mamadi Diane (0 points, three turnovers) immediately committed an offensive foul. Mike Scott, Mustapha Farrakhan, Jeff Jones and Calvin Baker all followed with turnovers of their own.

Before Duke fans even had the chance to get into their famed taunting, Virginia found itself down 34-12 following a breakaway dunk by Henderson.

UVa had 17 first-half turnovers and trailed 43-21 at the break.

“Obviously during this [losing] stretch we’ve gotten down by double figures and have had to climb out of a hole,” Leitao said, “and you’re not going to do that on the road very much or against good teams very much.”

Sylven Landesberg, who had been struggling in ACC play, was one of Virginia’s few bright spots. The freshman led all scorers with 20 points. However, he had five turnovers, including four in the first four minutes, two of which were offensive fouls.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said drawing charges on Landesberg was part of his team’s gameplan.

“He’s a driver,” Krzyzewski said. “The thing we didn’t want to do — is the guy who was guarding him to foul.

“As long as you don’t foul him, you have a chance to get a charge…we drew some really good charges today.”

Landesberg joked about Duke’s defense.

“They’re good actors out there,” said Landesberg, when asked if Duke’s flopping was everything he had heard about, “but seriously their defense is very tough and they’re always in the right position. That just comes from good coaching.”

Landesberg was one of three Virginia freshmen making his Cameron debut. He said the whole team may have come out of the gate a little too excited.

“I think we might have had too much intensity,” he said. “We were making a lot of mistakes early on and just making a lot of bad passes that led to turnovers and I don’t think our defense was too sharp to begin with.

“I think we might have been too amped up to play. The second half we came out with more poise.”

Of course, that was against the likes of Duke freshmen Elliot Williams, Miles Plumlee and Olek Czyz, along with sophomore walk-on Steve Johnson, whom Krzyzewski only put in the game because it was his birthday — something the Cameron fans reminded him of repeatedly in the last few minutes.

“The second half we played a lot better,” Zeglinski said, “but the game was out of reach by halftime.”

Dunks

Virginia finished with a season-high 23 turnovers. … Sylven Landesberg broke Ralph Sampson’s record for most 20-point games by a freshman. He now has 10… Mike Scott (10 points, four rebounds) had to leave the game in the second half with cramps. Scott said that his entire body, including his arms, cramped up. “I just need to do a better job of getting more fluids,” he said. …Sammy Zeglinski wore the uniform No. 1 in the second half. He said he switched at the request of the referees who noticed that his usual jersey had ripped.

 

Singletary's Number To Be Retired
Official Release, UVa Athletics Media Relations

Sean Singletary will join six other former Virginia men's basketball players whose uniform numbers have been retired when his No. 44 is retired at halftime of the Cavaliers' game with Clemson on Feb. 15. Singletary currently plays for the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association and will be in attendance at the game because of the break for the NBA All-Star Game.
The other former Virginia men's players whose numbers have been retired are Jeff Lamp (3), Barry Parkhill (40), Ralph Sampson (50), Bryant Stith (20), Wally Walker (41) and Buzzy Wilkinson (14). Their numbers and Singletary's No. 44 will not be worn again.
"Sean is very deserving of this honor," said Virginia men's head basketball coach Dave Leitao. "He meant so much to this program and his name deserves to be mentioned with the names Lamp, Parkhill, Sampson, Stith, Walker and Wilkinson as one of the great players in the history of Virginia basketball."
Singletary is the first Virginia player to have both his jersey and number retired. His jersey was retired in ceremonies prior to his final regular season home game last season. The numbers of players honored with jersey retirement remain active, but Singletary's No. 44 will now be retired.
Singletary finished his Virginia career in 2008 as one of three Cavaliers to earn first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors three times (only 25 players in the history of the ACC have accomplished the feat), one of five UVa players to score more than 2,000 points and ranked among the program's leaders in a number of statistical categories. He concluded his UVa career by scoring in double figures in a program-record 55 consecutive games and he became the first player in ACC history to have 2,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals in a career.
In his final season with the Cavaliers in 2007-08, the 6-0 point guard from Philadelphia, Pa., averaged 19.8 points, 6.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds a game. He was the only player in Division I that season to have a 40-point scoring game, a 10-rebound game and a 10-assist game. Singletary ranked second in the ACC in assists, third in scoring, fourth in free throw percentage (.851, 189-222), and sixth in steals (60, 1.82 spg.) and minutes played (34.0 mpg.) in 2007-08. He earned first-team All-ACC honors for the third consecutive season and was an honorable mention All-America selection by The Associated Press and CollegeHoops.net. He scored a career-high 41 points at Miami on March 1, 2008.
Singletary earned third-team All-America honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and CollegeHoops.net in 2007. He was the first player to earn first, second or third-team men's basketball All-America honors for Virginia since Ralph Sampson in 1983. Singletary averaged 19.0 points, 4.7 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 33.2 minutes played a game for the 2006-07 season.
A three-time team captain, Singletary finished his Virginia career ranked second on the Cavaliers' career steals list (200), third in assists (587) and three-point field goals (222), fourth in free throws made (573), fifth in scoring (2,079 points) and ninth in field goals made (642). He led the Cavaliers in assists and steals each of his four seasons in the program, and in scoring his last three seasons.
 

Cavs fall apart — yet again
Advertisement
Text size: small | medium | large

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: February 2, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. —

From the opening moment you knew that Virginia’s basketball team was in for a long afternoon.

How many times have we witnessed a wobbly group of Cavaliers saunter into Cameron Indoor Stadium only to unravel before our very eyes in the first 10 minutes. As complimentary as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski usually is to his victims — and was similarly gracious after this Super Bowl Sunday tilt — he must froth at the mouth every time he sees the Cavaliers coming.

Road woes continue

For those that haven’t been paying attention, Virginia fell for the 13th straight time at Cameron, 79-54 (that’s 23 losses in the last 25 visits for those counting). This one was pretty much a Xerox of the other 20-something.

Duke came out in full attack mode, flexing its muscles as the ACC’s top defensive team, and focusing its plan on preventing UVa’s best player, freshman Sylven Landesberg from driving the lane.

There was no question that Duke benefited from what Krzyzewski described as a tough defensive practice on Friday. Landesberg, who still managed to break Ralph Sampson’s freshman record for 20-point games (his 10th), was whistled for two charging calls within the first two minutes of the game, setting the tone for the afternoon.

Ten minutes into the game, Duke had already established a 19-point lead (30-11) and by halftime the Cavaliers had fallen behind by their largest first-half deficit of the season (22 points) and had turned the ball over 17 times en route to a season high 23 of ‘em.

It’s all downhill

First halves haven’t exactly been kind to the Wahoos this season, particularly during their current five-game losing slide. While UVa played better in the second half as the Blue Devils seemed to have lost interest, that didn’t seem to pacify Coach Dave Leitao, who watched his team fall to 7-10 overall and 1-5 in the ACC.

In their previous outing, the Cavs connected on only 3 of 22 shots in the first half against Florida State and were soundly beaten at home. This time, Duke, still smarting from losing at Wake Forest in its last outing, wasn’t about to repeat the mistake.

Leitao used a golfing analogy to express his frustration with his team’s inability to put two halves together.

“In golf, I’ve learned that when you hit a good drive to the middle of the fairway and you get to the green [in] two, then four-putt, it’s like putting whipped cream on crap,” Leitao said. “Until we fully address the first half, it’s hard to talk that much about the second halves.”

While the analogy might have been backward, we get the point.

In the meantime, Virginia’s problems appear to be mounting. The Cavaliers desperately need to stop the bleeding and it appears their best chance of that is Wednesday’s home game against Boston College.

After that, it’s North Carolina on the road, Florida State on the road, then home dates against Clemson and Virginia Tech.

Good second halves aren’t going to mean anything if Virginia keeps stinking up the joint in the first stanzas. The Cavaliers dig themselves into such a deep hole they can’t escape no matter how much they might improve the final half.

There’s growing unrest among the fan base and there was a smattering of boos at the last home game against Florida State.

While Leitao may be worried about his team getting out of the blocks faster, he didn’t appear to be sweating the state of his program after the Duke loss.

Asked if he was worried about things, the fourth-year Virginia coach explained his program’s predicament this way:

“This is a very bad year to be where we’re at,” Leitao said. “This league is much better than at any point [in] time that I’ve been here. We have three teams that have already been ranked No. 1. This league is very, very good when we’re very, very young.”

The Cavaliers regularly start three freshmen and a sophomore and lost their leading scorers from last season. Those are some of the reasons Virginia was voted to finish last in the conference in the preseason poll.

Leitao said he isn’t using the team’s youth as an excuse.

“It’s just a fact,” he said. “When you take over a program, you clean out a roster in a span of two years and you get your people in and let them grow. Somewhere your third, fourth, fifth year you attain success. We saw that at Miami and different places. I told people that Wake Forest, in my three-and-a-half years [at UVa], this is the first time they’ve been credible.”

Leitao explained that when he took over the Virginia program, he decided to ride “the people who were there,” i.e. star guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds. Singletary, a three-time, All-ACC first-team pick, will have his number retired later this month.

The coach’s slogan throughout those early years was that he was going to ride the two guards as far as they could take him and the program.

The ride was good, including a tie with North Carolina for the ACC regular-season title (two seasons ago) and a rare UVa bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“They were two of the top five or 10 players in the league, they helped us win a lot of games, helped us win an ACC championship, which a lot of teams in this league can’t say,” Leitao said. “The downside of that is that at some point, they leave and you’ve got to start again.

“It stunted the growth of the guys that are older right now that we’re asking to do things for the first time,” Leitao said. “Leadership, command, all those things, and we’re asking young people, three of which are freshmen that start, to come in an environment like [Duke] like they’ve been around the block. I understand that the growing pains come, but I don’t look at it programmatically other than we’ve got to grow.”

The burning question at this point, should Virginia’s freefall continue, will be if the Cavalier fan base will be patient enough to wait for that growth or lose faith that the growth will occur.

Leitao has no doubts.

“Through improvement, recruiting, you get to the place you need to be,” he said. “It has happened already for us and now it’s going to happen again.”

 

Tale of the tape
Breaking down the Cavaliers' and Hokies' recruiting.
NORM WOOD
February 2, 2009

Top recruit
Dominique Wallace, a 6-foot-0, 215-pound running back from Chancellor High in Fredericksburg, could challenge for a spot in U.Va.'s two-deep.

Like Tech signee Ryan Williams last year, David Wilson from GW-Danville is considered one of the nation's top five running backs.

One that got away
Lanford Collins from Stafford's Brooke Point High might've made a great outside linebacker in U.Va.'s 3-4 set, but he chose Tech over U.Va. and Penn State.

A few quarterbacks here, but Kevin Newsome's decision to go to Penn State over Tech and Boston College really hurt the Hokies.

Biggest steal
The late addition of unheralded 6-foot-6 wide receiver Bobby Smith from Varina High in Richmond could turn out to be a brilliant pickup.

Though it wasn't too surprising tight end Logan Thomas from Brookville High in Lynchburg wound up at Tech, beating a program like Oklahoma for Thomas' services was impressive.

Most improved unit via '09 class
Offensive linemen Oday Aboushi, Sean Cascarano and Luke Bowanko all have the potential to be starters and could contribute early in their careers.

Adding defensive ends Lanford Collins, James Gayle and Duan Perez-Means helps shore up an area where depth could've been a concern.

Best out-of-state commitment
Aboushi, an offensive tackle from Xaverian High in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the best offensive line recruit to commit to U.Va. since Monroe in 2005.

Jerrodd Williams, a commitment from D.W. Daniel High in Central, S.C., is considered to be among the nation's top 50 cornerbacks.

Biggest expectations
Quintin Hunter played in a spread offense at Orange County High in Orange. He was recruited to play receiver, but could play quarterback in U.Va.'s new spread offense.

Thomas expects to start out at wide receiver, but he knows he could wind up on special teams, at tight end or even quarterback.

Top recruiting assistant coach
Strong 757 connections for assistant head coach Bob Pruett, left, paid off, as he gained commitments from six Hampton Roads area recruits, including Lafayette's Will Hill and Phoebus' Lovante Battle.

A huge recruiting year for offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring, right, who was responsible for bringing in Wilson, Thomas and sleeper offensive tackle Andrew Miller.

In-state impact
A giant leap forward in the state, which is the origin of 15 of U.Va.'s 24 commitments. That's almost as many as the last two years combined (17 in-state).

Another very strong year in the Commonwealth, where the Hokies have received 17 of their 21 commitments. In 2008, they picked up 24 of 31 signees within the state.
Best 2009 class
The Cavaliers made great improvements on the offensive and defensive lines, but their class doesn't have as much star power on offense as the Hokies.

Tech gets the edge with Thomas, Wilson and wide receiver D.J. Coles — three potentially dazzling offensive players. Williams and the defensive ends are also strong additions.

Best overall classes in past five years
Good classes in '05 (Eugene Monroe, left, Branden Albert, Vic Hall) and '07 (Ras-I Dowling, Matt Conrath) are hurt by '06 class that featured eight non-qualifiers.

The Hokies come out on top with nine starters on last season's team from the '05 class and two big contributors (Tyrod Taylor, right, and Darren Evans) from '07.

The Final Word
While U.Va. has made some small steps forward this year, especially in the Hampton Roads area, it still has some ground to make up in order to catch Tech. The continued overall recruiting success of the Hokies is a testament to the relationships with high school coaches that have been forged by assistant coaches Jim Cavanaugh, Curt Newsome, Charley Wiles, Torrian Gray and Stinespring.