Playing just five days after having its defense shredded at Tennessee, the Virginia men’s basketball team needed to find its identity for the start of ACC play Saturday. The Cavaliers had to overcome a 17-game losing streak in Florida and the loss of senior Joe Harris for all but two minutes of action, but thanks to a refocused effort on that defensive identity and a balanced scoring attack, they pulled out a 62-50 victory at Florida State.
It marked the program’s first win in the state since a 69-66 victory against FSU on Feb. 17, 2001 and gave UVa its sixth straight win in conference openers.
“The guys did battle. Far from perfect. You see us struggle at the line and you see us make a couple of costly turnovers, but there was a different kind of heart tonight,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We talked about what heart meant on the defensive end and what purpose meant on the offensive end and it wasn’t perfect as I said, but at least a good start to [ACC play].”
The Cavaliers (10-4, 1-0 ACC) led wire to wire and built a lead of more than 20 points against the Seminoles (9-4, 0-1 ACC), who cut the lead to seven points in the final three minutes before the visitors finally put the game away. The Hoos pulled out to that large lead thanks in large part to a steady effort on the defensive end. They held Florida State to 30.8% shooting and 50 points, both the worst effort of the season for the Noles, who had averaged 77 points per game prior to Saturday.
Only Okaro White reached double figures as he posted 15 points and 7 rebounds; White was the only Seminole to make more than one 3-pointer as the team finished 4 of 14 from beyond the arc. Virginia held Devon Bookert and Montay Brandon, FSU’s starting guards, to 5-of-22 shooting and helped force reserve guard Ian Miller to commit 7 turnovers. The hosts finished with 16 turnovers.
“We had to get back to playing what I said was our way to do it. … We just know that we’re going to have to win with toughness, defense, and just things you’ve seen over the years when we’ve been successful,” Bennett said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We’ll just keep working. Each game is a little bit of a new adventure this year.”
Thanks to that defensive effort, the Wahoos survived another rough shooting night. They made just 19 of 58 shots (32.8%) and 18 of 33 free throws (54.5%) in the game, but hit 6 of 16 3-pointers (37.5%) and turned the previously mentioned FSU turnovers into 24 points. One of the game’s highlight plays came from one of those moments as Mike Tobey scooped up a steal and threw it over the top to London Perrantes behind the defense. Perrantes tossed up an alley-oop dunk to Justin Anderson in the open floor for the easy jam.
Perrantes finished with 3 assists and 0 turnovers as well as a career-high 14 points. That included making 3 of 5 triples, a pair of which jumpstarted the road effort with a 6-0 Virginia lead in the opening minutes. Anderson led the way in the scoring column for the fourth straight game. He posted a strong stat line with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists with just 2 turnovers.
Malcolm Brogdon and Akil Mitchell joined that duo in double figures with 11 points each. Brogdon helped close out the victory by make 5 of 6 free throws and he added 6 rebounds to the cause as well. Mitchell, meanwhile, came through with his first double-double of the season as he registered 11 points and 13 rebounds. Mitchell added 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist while also taking 2 charges in the game. He could have had a truly superb stat line if not for a couple of shots missed near the rim and a rough night at the free throw line where he made 3 of 10 shots. Still, the Hoos were happy to see him playing with a tenacity that had ebbed and flowed at times this season.
The Cavs needed that balanced effort, especially after Harris exited the game with 17:37 to go in the first half. Harris exhibited concussion like symptoms according to Bennett on the postgame radio broadcast and he will be re-evaluated in Charlottesville.
As a group, Virginia had just 6 turnovers. That’s the lowest mark of the season and the first time since the Liberty game on Nov. 23 where the team finished with single digits in that column. Florida State had forced 15.58 turnovers per game this season entering the contest.
“I feel like Coach Bennett got us ready for this. We did a lot of taking care of the ball in practice with extra defenders and we have these things we call the blue arms which extend the defenders’ hands,” Perrantes said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We’ve got to learn to take care of the ball and cut to get open easier. So I feel like Coach Bennett definitely prepared us well for this game and especially our second team or our walk-ons, they definitely helped us this week. They put a test to us during practice. … I think they helped us get this win too.”
