Virginia has no answer for Florida State in a rare one-sided loss

By Gene Wang,

With an opportunity to separate further from its closest pursuer in the ACC, the seventh-ranked Virginia men’s basketball team instead unraveled defensively and wilted amid full-court pressure from No. 16 Florida State in an 81-60 loss Monday night at Tucker Center in Tallahassee.

The Cavaliers (15-4, 11-2) remain in first place ahead of the Seminoles (12-3, 8-2), but by virtue of losing the head-to-head tiebreaker they would have to finish at the top of the conference standings outright to claim the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament.

The end to Virginia’s four-game winning streak included permitting the Seminoles to make 13 of 24 three-pointers (54.1 percent) and shoot 50 percent overall. The reigning ACC champions were barely threatened in their 24th straight conference victory at home.

“If you want a chance to beat a team of this caliber or that is playing at this level in this setting, you can’t be sometimes really good defensively,” said Virginia Coach Tony Bennett, who fell to 9-10 in his career against the Seminoles. “You’ve got to be all-the-time good in areas you have control over.”

Cavaliers guard Kihei Clark scored 12 points, all in the second half, and directed a brief rally that trimmed a 20-point halftime deficit to seven, 48-41, with 14:25 to play. But Florida State soon countered with a 17-0 run to douse any glimmer of an improbable comeback.

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A frontcourt duo that has been Virginia’s most reliable scoring option this season frequently labored for open looks against Florida State’s considerable length, quality depth and defensive energy that forced 13 turnovers. It’s the fourth time in five games Virginia has had double-digit giveaways.

Forward Sam Hauser, the Cavaliers’ leading scorer this season, finished with 11 points, eight of which came in the second half, on 3-for-7 shooting. The transfer from Marquette, considered a contender for ACC player of the year, had been averaging 15.1 points per game.

Center Jay Huff was averaging 13.4 points, second on the team, but managed just four for his lowest-scoring performance in an ACC game this season. Another contender for ACC player of the year, Huff missed all three of his three-point attempts and committed three turnovers.

Guard Trey Murphy III had a team-high 13 points for the Cavaliers on 5-for-10 shooting. The transfer from Rice joined Clark as the only starters to shoot at least 50 percent in Virginia’s fourth loss in its past six games in Tallahassee, where approximately 2,800 fans were permitted to attend.

“Florida State is unlike a lot of teams you’ll play because they make every catch hard,” Bennett said. “They switch every screen, ball screen, off-ball screen. They force you to spread the court, try to move a little bit and touch the paint, get aggressive, and then you’ve got to make the next pass, and we aren’t real imposing. It challenges you.”

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The Seminoles were playing for the second time since resuming from a second pause because of coronavirus-related complications, leaving them having played three fewer conference games than Virginia with three weeks to go in the regular season.

Guard M.J. Walker sparked the Seminoles with game highs of 17 points, including 5 of 6 three-pointers, and six rebounds. Forward RaiQuan Gray added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists in a game Florida State led for all but four minutes.

“They were more aggressive,” Virginia guard Tomas Woldetensae said of the Seminoles, who lead the ACC in scoring offense (79.3 points per game after Monday). “They were more energetic than us. That’s where they got it. The coaching staff told us that they would be hungry.”

Given the high stakes of the game, Virginia came out with a lack of urgency in the first half, falling behind by as many as 23 points as it struggled with careless ball security and late defensive rotations. The Cavaliers committed eight turnovers in the half after entering Monday third in the country giving up only nine per game.

They also surrendered their most points in a first half this season and fell to 1-3 against ranked opponents.

“We’ve been playing some good basketball — for sure, we have,” Bennett said. “It wasn’t tonight, again partly due to Florida State, partly due to us, but apply it. I think that was our third or fourth game in a short amount of time, so take a day off, recharge, and then hopefully you come back with guns a-blazing, with your tenacity and your approach and your focus.”

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