Heading into Friday's exhibition game against Concordia, there was much apprehension surrounding the Virginia men's basketball team. The Cavaliers, expected by many to finish the season in the bottom of the ACC, had such a bad practice Thursday that head coach Dave Leitao cut it short.
"We knew that we had to come back after [Thursday's] practice, just take care of business, because the practice that we had wasn't too good," Virginia point guard Sean Singletary said. "We decided that we needed to win.
And that is exactly what the Cavaliers did, beating Concordia University 98-62. Virginia was paced by its starting backcourt, with Singletary and J.R. Reynolds combining for 47 points. Both guards also played at least 30 minutes in the win.
"Obviously, just as everybody knew, our guards were going to carry us and make huge shots," Leitao said. "J.R. [Reynolds] had a terrific second half, and Sean [Singletary], with 13 [points] in the first half, carried the load. It's going to have to continue."
The Cavaliers opened the game with a starting lineup that included two freshmen, Mamadi Diane and Laurynas Mikalauskas. Despite the young lineup, Virginia was able to establish an early lead. Concordia was able hang around because of the play of guard Chris Blackwood, who led the Stingers with eight first-half points. But Virginia started to pull away when Singletary hit back-to-back three-point shots to make the score 37-23 with 4:04 remaining in the half. Singletary dominated the first half, shooting 5-7, including 3-4 from three-point range.
If the first half belonged to Singletary, the second half belonged to Reynolds. The junior co-captain scored 19 of his game-high 25 points after halftime. Reynolds did it all offensively for the Cavaliers, making an acrobatic highlight-reel layup to make the score 70-52 and scoring six points in slightly over one minute to all but put the Stingers away.
"The first half, I was just trying to get a feel for the game and take open shots, but they just weren't falling," Reynolds said. "In the second half, I was more aggressive because my shots weren't falling."
Reynolds' aggressiveness carried over to the rest of the team, with Virginia making four more free throws in the second half than in the first. From the free-throw line, the Cavaliers took advantage of their opportunities, shooting 80 percent. Virginia shot well from overall, going 59 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range as a team.
"We have been spending a lot of time shooting [in practice]," Leitao said. "Besides getting you better, it gives you confidence, and most of the shots we took from three-point range, we took with an air of confidence. If we can continue to do that -- I don't know if we can shoot 50 percent every night -- but we can shoot a pretty high percentage."
The Cavaliers also got some spirited play from their athletic forwards Diane and Adrian Joseph. The two slashing forwards both scored in double digits, Diane with 16 points and Joseph with 13. Both players also came up with rebounds at key moments on both the offensive and defensive glass. On the whole, Virginia's post players dominated Concordia, winning the rebound margin 43-31 and combining for 10 blocked shots.
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