Coming off a heartbreaking 81-79 loss to Iowa State Monday, an exhausted Virginia team took on Furman University last night in Charlottesville. Despite a lackluster performance until deep in the second half, No. 19 Virginia pulled out another win, 79-67, to improve to 7-1 on the year. The Cavaliers, playing their fourth game in just one week, gave an often gutsy, yet ragged performance.
At the break, the Cavaliers entered the locker room with a narrow 38-37 lead. Another 12 minutes of play would elapse before Virginia would finally come alive.
With just under eight minutes remaining in the game the Cavaliers held a slight 59-54 advantage. Through the next four minutes, ending with an alley-oop from freshman point guard Sean Singletary to sophomore shooting guard J.R. Reynolds, Virginia would extend their lead to 70-58.
"I was stunned," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "Sean alley-ooped [J.R.] and I didn't know J.R. could jump that high. He's a better athlete than people realize."
Through the first half, the Paladins shot 7 of 14 from beyond the arc to score 21 of their 37 points. Defensively, the Cavaliers allowed Furman to take unchallenged three-point attempts until the five minutes remained in the second half. Sparked by Gillen's unremitting screams of "Shooter!" and a two-minute entry from sophomore center Donte Minter that included one steal, the rest of the Virginia defense began to step up to the perimeter to halt several hot Paladin hands.
In 27 minutes of play off the bench, sophomore sixth-man Gary Forbes once again proved himself to be a Virginia spark plug. Forbes scored a season-high 21 points and added six rebounds.
"Every game I have something that I need to do when I come out on the court," Forbes said. "Today it was my day to score."
Reynolds, following a disappointing performance Monday, took blame for the loss and readied himself for a standout game last night. The sophomore tallied 18 points, including four of eight three-point attempts.
Forbes and Reynolds were two of five Cavaliers scoring in double digits against Furman, combining to make up for a worn out Devin Smith, who scored 40 points Monday. The Paladins keyed on Smith, aware of his fatigue yet respecting his talent by forcing the senior to take contested shots from the perimeter and working to avoid fouling him.
"Devin didn't have a great game, but [Reynolds] and Forbes stepped up and made shots," Furman coach Larry Davis said.
Though Virginia was able to pull out a win in their final game before winter break, it is certainly debatable whether the Cavaliers really deserved the victory. Depleted from a grinding early schedule, however, Virginia did show some character in fighting to ensure victory in the second half.
Coming out of that break, the Cavaliers will have to take advantage of the time off before the season heats up. Guts must overshadow fatigue for any team to compete in the ACC.
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