Virginia entered last night's game against Maryland searching for a consistent scorer. After receiving 66-42 thumping, coach Tony Bennett is still looking.
"Out of the last four games, this was the poorest," Bennett said. "I wish it wouldn't seem like it would be contagious, when one guy is off, a number of guys were certainly cold. I wish one guy would step up and get us going."
During the Cavalier's previous outing, senior guard Mustapha Farrakhan and freshman guard KT Harrell stepped up for Bennett, leading the team with 23 and 17 points, respectively. The two followed those performances, however, with a combined 5-for-21 shooting. After the team's 72-64 win against Georgia Tech, the entire Virginia offense fell flat and turned in its worst scoring performance in John Paul Jones Arena history. Virginia's 42 points were its lowest total since 1998 and less than the team's halftime total against the Yellow Jackets.
Against Georgia Tech, Virginia relied on hot shooting, going 10-for-15 from behind the arc. The Cavaliers found less success from three-point range against Maryland, though, and connected on only 4-of-17 attempts.
The Terrapins "play good defense, they slow you down with their three-quarter, full court press," Bennett said. "Were we going to go 10-for-15? Probably not, but we needed to hit a few more of those rhythm shots."
At the outset of the game, Virginia appeared to carry over the momentum from its previous win and owned a 17-12 lead with seven minutes left in the half. Five minutes later, however, the team trailed by six points. Virginia finished the half with only 21 points.
"I think throughout the whole game we were kind of waiting for them to dictate to us," senior forward Will Sherrill said. "Especially with our team, we don't have a whole lot of offensive firepower."\nVirginia's inability to generate offense ultimately crippled its defense as well. After holding the Terrapins to 26 points during the first half, the Cavaliers allowed Maryland to shoot 68 percent from the field during the second. The Terrapins outscored Virginia 40-21 during the second period, thanks in large part to 17 points off turnovers. Junior center Assane Sene had a career-high 15 rebounds in the game, but his six turnovers proved costly.
"Too many turnovers led to buckets for them," Bennnett said. "I can live with guys missing quality shots, but there are some we needed to finish ... There were too many point-blank shots that we missed."
The Cavaliers limited Maryland's talented sophomore forward Jordan Williams to four points and six rebounds, snapping his 13 consecutive-game double-double streak. Because all eyes were watching Williams, however, senior guard Adrian Bowie was able to sneak 22 points past the Cavalier defense.
"We lost vision. I thought defensively we were out of position," Bennett said. "Looking at that stat line ... I wouldn't gave guessed that outcome, but they have some experienced players that certainly stepped up and hit some shots."
Virginia will look to regain that vision but forget hindsight thinking, when it takes on a struggling Wake Forest team tomorrow.
"We let [Maryland] take the game to us, and especially in our home gym," Sherrill said. "I wasn't happy with my personal performance and I wasn't happy with the team's performance. Tonight we came out for some reason and were soft, and we can't let that happen again because we have a great opportunity to win on Saturday"
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