For the second time in two weeks, the Virginia men’s basketball team dismantled Florida State before taking a 12-point win to the bank. The Cavaliers prevailed 78-66 after leading by double digits for the whole second half on Saturday at the John Paul Jones Arena.
UVa (13-5, 4-1 ACC) is the only team to defeat FSU (12-5, 3-2) in more than a month. This is Virginia’s best ACC start since 1994-95, a team that also opened league play at 4-1.
“We knew they were trying to get this bounce-back game, and we wanted to win, too. After what happened at Duke, we were really excited to be back to play at home,” Virginia senior Akil Mitchell said. “It was really a clash of the titans here, and we came out on top.”
Saturday’s victory proved to be another dominant performance for the Hoos, who have captured their four conference wins by an average of 19.5 points per game. The stretch is comprised of two 12-point wins against the Seminoles (62-50 and 78-66), a 23-point walk-over against Wake Forest (74-51), and a 31-point romp against NC State (76-45). Those four victories have been dominant. The Cavaliers have held a 10-point or more lead for 133:17 of 160:00 possibly minutes in those four games and the only time the second half fell to single digits was during a late FSU run during the first meeting in Tallahassee. UVa also nearly grabbed a win at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time in 16 tries before falling 69-65 at Duke earlier this week.
Remarkably this run of strong play followed a humiliating 87-52 loss at Tennessee on Dec. 30.
“We’ve been playing good ball. I told our guys before and I’ll continue to say it: After the Tennessee game we didn’t say to ourselves, well, now we have to go to Florida State and get a win and then we have to come home and get a win against Wake Forest and then we have to go to NC State and get a win. It was about play the right way for us. Play the right way and focus on the quality. The outcome takes care of itself,” Bennett said. “That is the process-oriented approach that all teams, I think, should have and we have to have. It is about the quality of our play – taking care of the ball, getting good shots, getting back and doing the little things we say help us be successful. When you take care of that and don’t worry so much about the big picture I think we’re in a better place. And I think that is what the guys did today and what they responded to [since Tennessee].”
Bennett’s search for quality since that loss to the Vols has paid off so far in conference play. Among the most noticeable areas of improvement has been on offense where the Hoos have upped their assists while lowering their turnovers. The team really had struggled to take care of the ball for much of the season with double-digit turnovers in 11 of 13 non-conference games where it also owned a negative assist-to-turnover ratio eight times as well. Since the start of ACC play, Virginia has posted double-digit assist totals three times and has had more than 10 turnovers just once in five games.
Both of those trends were evident against FSU on Saturday. The Cavaliers piled up 18 assists with just 9 turnovers in the win, which helped lead to 49.1% shooting against a team ranked No. 3 nationally in field goal percentage defense entering the contest. The starting guards were rock solid in the victory. Malcolm Brogdon led the way with 16 points, 6 assists (career high), 4 rebounds, and 4 steals (tied for career high); he committed just 2 turnovers. London Perrantes scored 2 points, but had 4 assists and just 1 turnover. Joe Harris, meanwhile, registered 18 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 blocked shot; he had only 1 turnover. Mike Tobey contributed 13 points to the cause, while Justin Anderson also added 10 points. Mitchell chipped in 9 points and 4 rebounds while Anthony Gill added 8 points and 4 rebounds.
In other words, it was a balanced offensive attack for a team that seems to be clicking at the start of league play.
“We are starting to play inside-out, getting the big men going first, and then the guards get opened up. I think that’s been key for us,” Brogdon said. “Getting out in transition has resulted from the stops we get on defense.”
The game ended with some tension as the two teams got in a halfcourt skirmish following a technical foul that was assessed to Anderson for hanging on the rim after a dunk in the final 20 seconds. Darion Atkins and Teven Jones were ejected for leaving the bench during the scuffle (both are expected to be able to play Monday against UNC), while Perrantes and FSU’s Okaro White (15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks) received double technical fouls. Then in the post-game handshake line, tempers flared again and players were quickly moved on their way to the locker rooms. As Perantes and Anderson left the floor, they waved their arms to the student section in the bleachers and received a rousing ovation from their peers.
“I didn’t really see much. I heard one guy push[ed] London [Perrantes] and guys started getting into it. All that stuff is not important. We went out there and won. I guess the other team just got angry,” Brogdon said.
Both coaches downplayed the situation as players having some heightened emotions in a game with a wide margin on the scoreboard.
“I know Coach Bennett is a class act and he works very hard to keep his kids disciplined in the ACC. We’ve been down [in Tallahassee] 12 years and have had very little instances when our kids have responded in a negative way. I think sometimes things happen and you got to learn from it, grow from it and move on,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “I don’t think his kid meant any disrespect and I don’t think our kid meant any disrespect. I know we will deal with it appropriately and I’m sure he will. I hope that it doesn’t take away from how well they played. I told my players that it was about nothing in reality.”
“That doesn’t take away from the quality of play. Things happen in the heat of battle and I’ll have to take a look at it. It was unfortunate. I don’t think we were trying to disrespect anybody. There was a six, seven seconds difference on the shot clock and we threw the alley-oop because we needed to get a shot up. I wish we could’ve finished better down the stretch and we maybe wouldn’t have been in that spot, but I have a great respect for Leonard [Hamilton] and his team,” Bennett said. “They play hard and we played well for the most part, and hopefully that was just a little bit of a mirage. I told my guys they are lovers not fighters. The best way to respond is to play as well as you can. I didn’t see what happened on the handshake line at the end. What’s done is done and it’s time to move on.”
