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J.R. Reynolds had 20 points to lead Virginia, but it came off a 4-of-16 shooting night. |
Virginia got off to a slow start and could never pick up the pace as the Cavaliers suffered a stunning 80-69 defeat at the hands of Appalachian State in the first round of the San Juan Shootout on Tuesday.
The Cavaliers (6-2, 1-0 ACC) will face Utah (4-6, 0-0 Mountain West) at noon on Wednesday in a losers bracket match-up.
As has been the case in some earlier games this season, Virginia had trouble defending the 3-point shot against the Mountaineers (8-3, 3-0 Southern Conference). Senior guard Nathan Cranford hit 6 of 10 shots from behind of the arc and fellow senior guard D.J. Thompson drained 3 of 4 from downtown as Appalachian State converted on 13 of 25 3-point attempts.
“They came out on fire and made threes and we did not,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao told the Virginia Sports Network after the game.
The Mountaineers hit 26 of 47 shots overall, a solid .553 percentage. Cranford was Appalachian State’s leading scorer with 24 points while Thompson added 17.
In stark contrast to its opponent, Virginia could not buy a bucket from any part of the court, from beyond the arch or otherwise. The Cavaliers finished 21 of 53 from the floor, including a pithy 2 of 12 mark from 3-point range.
Senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds led Virginia with 20 points, 11 of which came from the charity stripe. Reynolds struggled from the floor, making just 4 of 16 shots. Junior swingman Adrian Joseph scored 16 points, while junior point guard Sean Singletary was limited to 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Virginia’s post players were almost completely shut down by the Mountaineers. Junior forward Ryan Pettinella scored eight points and senior forward Jason Cain tallied five. Freshman Jerome Meyinsse added one point on a free throw while sophomore Laurynas Mikalauskas was held scoreless during a brief appearance.
Appalachian State took a 3-0 lead on a Thompson 3-pointer and never trailed. After a Joseph free throw pulled Virginia within five points of the Mountaineers, 17-12, Appalachian State poured in three straight treys to build some separation. The Cavaliers fell behind by as many as 18 points during the middle of the first half but closed the gap to 13 at intermission.
Twice in the second half, Virginia was able to pull within 10 points of the Mountaineers but could not maintain any sort of sustained comeback.
With more than 14 minutes remaining, Reynolds drained a baseline floater to make the score 51-41 in favor of Appalachian State but the Mountaineers responded with an 8-3 run to build a 15-point lead.
Just less than six minutes before the end of the game, Reynolds hit two free throws to make the score 66-56 but the Mountaineers once again responded when challenged. A 7-0 Appalachian State run put the game well out of reach for the Cavaliers as the final minutes expired.
“We’re not playing real well on a day-to-day basis in practice,” Leitao said. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it coming but I haven’t said anything about it. We’ve got to be tighter, rally the troops, and we have to become better every day.”
The loss marks the first for Virginia against a Southern Conference team since a 64-63 loss to Davidson at University Hall on Jan. 23, 1974.
Note: Former Virginia player Donte Minter, who transferred to Appalachian State in December of the 2005-2006 season, scored nine points in the win over his former team.
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