The close game against VMI was considered an entertaining, high-scoring affair. The close game against South Florida was considered an ACC-Big East slugfest. Friday’s close game against Radford, however, is seen by Cavalier fans as disappointing, even though Virginia was able to come through with a 68-66 victory.
“For the second consecutive game we haven’t really played the game the way we’ve intended to from day one in practice,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “And if we don’t make a decision to turn the corner both psychologically and physically, these nights where we eke out wins are going to turn into losses.”
If there is one telltale sign that Leitao was not happy with the play of his team Friday, it was that every available player — including sophomore walk-on forward Will Sherrill — received playing time in the first half of a very close game.
“The subs going in was definitely a showing of his frustration with the guys,” said freshman center John Brandenburg, who played three minutes in the first half. “Obviously he didn’t think that people were playing the way they needed to play. He’s been talking about subs going in and saying ‘You need to pick it up, or I have guys on the bench that can replace you,’ and he finally did it tonight.”
Sherrill played five minutes in the first half, producing three rebounds. Brandenburg said he believes Sherrill’s play should be a model for the team.
“It’s great to see Will in the game because he works so hard in practice everyday,” Brandenburg said. “He’s a motivator for the team and its great to see him finally rewarded. Some of the athletic stuff isn’t there, but what he lacks in athleticism he definitely makes up in heart and just working hard. That’s something that the whole team needs to work on, and we can emulate him and have much more success.”
Given the team’s struggles, the team is lucky that freshman guard Sylven Landesberg chose Virginia over St. Johns and Georgia Tech. Landesberg once again had a big game with 22 points, including 18 in the second half. Down 1 with 29 seconds left, Landesberg, after drawing a foul, went to the free-throw line and converted both free throws to put the Cavaliers up 1.
“I think that the only difference in the game was Landesberg’s ability to get into the middle in the second half,” Radford coach Brad Greenberg said. “He was the key to their offense in the second half. We just could not keep him from getting into the middle of the court, and that was the difference in the game.”
Though Landesberg played well and the Cavaliers emerged victorious, two aspects of the game were particularly troublesome for the Cavaliers. Radford dominated the paint in this game; the Highlanders had 10 blocked shots in the game and its two big men — Joey Lynch-Flohr and Artsiom Parakhouski — combined to score 31 points and pull down 14 rebounds.
“I’d be hard-pressed to think there’s going to be a better 1-2 punch in [the Big South] than those two guys that Brad’s got,” Leitao said.
A more concerning statistic is that of 24 field goals Virginia made, the Cavaliers only produced four assists and had 14 turnovers — three times the number of assists. The Cavaliers clearly are having problems running their offense.
“We need to start sharing the ball more and be more efficient on offense,” junior guard Calvin Baker said. “When we do that, our assist-to-turnover ratio will improve.”
Virginia’s game against Liberty tomorrow may no longer be a cakewalk victory for the Cavaliers, and Brandenburg knows what Virginia needs to do in order to improve.
“We just played so poorly against a team that we were so much better than, and it was really just passion,” Brandenburg said. “We were lacking the passion on defense. These guys weren’t quicker than us; we just weren’t playing hard enough on defense. So we just need to pick up our intensity and our focus and our passion.”
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