Woes Continue for Wahoos

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Things went from bad to worse for the Virginia men’s basketball team Wednesday night. First the Cavaliers announced that senior forward Jason Clark is academically ineligible to play the rest of the season, then they fell apart once again in the second half and lost to Maryland, 82-68, at Comcast Center.

With the loss the Cavaliers fell to 0-5 in league play and 9-6 overall. The Terrapins improved to 11-4 overall, 2-2 in the ACC. Virginia led 49-42 early in the second half before getting outscored 40-19 the rest of the way.

“The big story in my eyes was that early in second half we had a bunch of turnovers that led to some baskets for [Maryland],” said UVa coach Pete Gillen. “We had trouble scoring. We didn’t take care of the ball and were careless. We can’t have as many turnovers as we did.”

Jason Clark’s Cavalier career is over because of academics.

The Cavaliers were without Clark, who was averaging 6.7 points and 5.2 rebounds, and Donte Minter, who has a broken finger on his shooting (left) hand. Gary Forbes started in place of Clark and fouled out with one point. Elton Brown paced the Wahoos with 18 points and 10 rebounds, though he missed 14 of 18 shots, while Devin Smith had 17 points and 10 boards.

Nik Caner-Medley poured in 26 points for Maryland, going 4 of 8 from behind the arc. He had 15 points in the first 10 minutes as the Terps jumped to a nine-point lead, but the Cavs went on a 12-0 spurt to go up 35-32. Virginia led 41-40 at the half.

Poor starts in the second half have doomed the Cavaliers in recent games, but Sean Singletary drained two 3-pointers to increase their lead to 49-42. Then things fell apart. The Terps went on an 18-4 run over the next 7½ minutes to take command of the game.

Virginia went nearly 13 minutes with just one field goal. Smith, who scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the first half, didn’t score in the first 16 minutes of the second half. Maryland’s second-half run was fueled by five Virginia turnovers in a six-minute span. The Terps also tied a season high with 11 blocked shots.

“It’s just mental concentration,” said Brown. “We’ve got to focus better. We’re not focusing like we used to. We’re turning the ball over and we have to rebound better.”

Singletary was not as kind about Virginia’s second-half woes. “We just fell apart in the second half,” he said. “In previous games we have done the same thing. We started off strong in the first half and in the second half we came out flat. As a team we just didn’t stick with it.”

Surprisingly, the Cavaliers outrebounded the ACC’s top rebounding team 46-39, including an 18-10 differential on the offensive glass. Despite that, Virginia is 0-5 in the ACC for the first time since the 1998-99 season, Gillen’s first as UVa’s coach. Next up is Clemson at U-Hall on Saturday night.

“Once we get that first win everything will be fine and everyone will have confidence in themselves again,” said sophomore guard T.J. Bannister. “We just have to come together and play as a team and keep working hard and good things will turn up.”