Once again, the Virginia men's basketball team proved to everyone why it is first in the ACC in three-pointers made. The Cavaliers shot 46 percent from behind the arc, and their three-point shooting ability allowed Virginia to defeat the Florida State Seminoles 73-70 on Saturday afternoon. Virginia now stands at 18-7 (9-3 ACC) and improved its record at John Paul Jones Arena to 14-1.
Virginia was led by the trio of junior guard Sean Singletary, senior guard J.R. Reynolds and junior forward Adrian Joseph. Singletary scored 19 points and added six rebounds and six assists. Reynolds and Joseph contributed 17 points apiece. Florida State's senior forward Al Thornton had 30 points and 16 rebounds.
"At this time of year winning games is paramount," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "One of our focuses coming into the game was to not lose two league games in a row."
The game got off to a slow start as the Cavaliers and Seminoles couldn't buy a bucket early on. Junior center Tunji Soroye scored Virginia's first points as he tipped in a missed shot attempt with 17:30 left in the first half. The poor shooting would continue for the rest of the first half as Virginia and Florida State struggled offensively.
Virginia's defensive pressure held Thornton in check for the first 20 minutes. Senior forward Jason Cain and freshman forward Will Harris combined to frustrate Thornton, which prevented him from putting up his usual stellar numbers. In one instance, Thornton went up for what looked to be a wide open dunk, but Cain came out of nowhere to reject the attempt, bringing the entire crowd to its feet.
Thornton "is big, quick and has lots of energy," Harris said. "It seems like he never gets tired. But I think we did a good job on him in the first half. We made him take some tough shots."
Adrian Joseph was the star of the first half for Virginia. Joseph was Mr. Clutch in the first half as he drilled some big three-pointers. With the game tied at 26, Joseph hit a three from the corner to put Virginia back on top. The first half ended with the Cavaliers leading Florida State 34-28. Both teams shot under 35 percent in the half.
In the second half, Singletary came out on fire. The guard made three straight shots to start the half, including two key three-pointers. Singletary's heroics helped Virginia open up a 10-point lead with 17:22 left in the game.
Florida State answered Virginia's quick start with a run of its own. The Seminoles got a few quick buckets from Al Thornton and cut Virginia's lead to one with 11:30 remaining.
The rest of the game proved to be a back and forth affair as the teams exchanged blows down the stretch.
As expected, Thornton came up big for the Seminoles. Thornton was able to escape Virginia's defensive pressure time and again.
But Virginia had an answer, and this time it came from an unexpected source -- Joseph, who looked as if he could not miss as he continually knocked down three-pointers. Singletary and Reynolds found Joseph wide open in the corner several times, and when they gave him the ball, he didn't let them down. Joseph's efforts, combined with the play of Singletary and Reynolds allowed Virginia to make 12 three-pointers.
"I was so confident, I thought I was going to make any shot I tried," Joseph said.
The Cavaliers will look to gain sole possession of first place when they head to Coral Gables Wednesday for another ACC matchup with the Miami Hurricanes.
Read More
Volleyball holds off Boston College in tight five-set win
By Lauren Halak | 12 hours agoSenior outside hitter Elayna Duprey led the team throughout the match with 22 points and 18 kills.
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | YesterdayThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
