In a game that lacked the basket-to-basket offensive excitement of last Sunday’s matchup against VMI, the Virginia men’s basketball team worked out a 77-75 victory against South Florida last night.
“Without playing particularly well today, we were still able to win and do it a little bit gutty,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.
One player who showed a lot of guts was freshman guard Sylven Landesberg, who played nothing like a freshman in this game, especially down the stretch. With Virginia (2-0) down one with 13 seconds remaining, Landesberg made the go-ahead lay-up off an assist from junior guard Calvin Baker; then, on the ensuing possession for South Florida (1-1), he rebounded a miss by sophomore guard Dominique Jones, was fouled and converted a free throw to put Virginia up 2.
Jones, who led South Florida with 23 points, got another chance to save the Bulls off Landesberg’s missed second free throw, but his contested 15-footer again rimmed out with two seconds remaining.
Landesberg finished with 21 points and four rebounds. While Leitao said he has been surprised by Landesberg’s scoring outburst in his first two games, he was not surprised by Landesberg’s demeanor on the court.
“I didn’t expect that in his first two games he was going to score 28 and 21 points, but I never really worried about his presence,” Leitao said. “He’s got a quiet — without [being] cocky — presence about him as a basketball player, and I noticed that very early on.”
On the go-ahead lay-up, Landesberg credits Baker for being able to find him so he could make the play.
“They had me playing the four [power forward], and I didn’t know the position,” Landesberg said. “So I was just running up and down the baseline, and [Baker] penetrated and he just saw me open, and that was it.
Baker did not have his best game, but finding Landesberg in crunch time was certainly a big play for the Cavaliers.
“Calvin [Baker] is in a more leadership role as a captain and a guy in the forefront,” Leitao said. “To make that assist just kind of shows that he has enough resiliency because obviously he didn’t have a great day.”
A pleasant surprise for Leitao during this game was the play of junior forward Jamil Tucker, who finished the game with 15 points — including 12 in the second half — and added a team-high seven rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Tucker is looking to produce more this season.
“Knowing our team is more of a team without Sean Singletary, he was a 20-point scorer, and we didn’t have any 20-point scorers [coming into] this year,” Tucker said. “So everybody has to contribute and step up in a bigger role, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
In the absence of the graduated Sean Singletary, team continuity in tight situations — especially on the offensive end — is something Leitao is looking to establish as the season progresses.
“If we really believe in each other, then we’ll execute,” Leitao said. “The best man from what we’re trying to do will get the shot, and without having to define somebody right now.”
The Cavaliers hope their game tomorrow against Radford will not be as close as the previous two games, but Leitao realizes there is some benefit to starting the season with contests against tougher opponents like VMI and South Florida.
“We’ve opened up the season with two very close games, which I’m not sure if they are the best of circumstances, particularly with a young team,” Leitao said. “But it was done purposely to help them hopefully grow up a little bit quicker than normal, obviously looking ahead because of what we’ve got to face once ACC season starts.”
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