The No. 20 Virginia men's basketball team hopes to return to their winning ways when they battle Wake Forest tonight at John Paul Jones Arena.
Saturday's trip to Tallahassee proved to be unkind to the Cavaliers (18-4, 5-3 ACC), as they came up short in their comeback attempt against then-No. 21 Florida State (16-6, 7-1 ACC). Virginia's 58-55 loss dropped the team to fifth in the conference standings while lifting the Seminoles into a tie for first with North Carolina.
The loss also snapped a three-game winning streak for Virginia and exposed a number of concerns which the Cavaliers must address as they enter the second half of conference play. Virginia committed a season-high 20 turnovers, including 12 in a first half in which they scored just 22 points.
"I told our guys in the locker room [at halftime], 'You made a statement with the kind of heart you have and the fight in you and that was good,'" coach Tony Bennett said. "But we also made a statement that we need to clean up some of these turnovers and be more efficient to play against a team like this."
Another concern has been the hot-and-cold play of senior guard Sammy Zeglinski. He has shown the ability to stretch out the defense with his outside touch, making a team-high 41 three-pointers this season.
He has been cold from deep in back-to-back games, however, making just 2-of-12 three-point attempts, including four airballs at Florida State. Zeglinski also missed all six of his attempts in the team's loss to Virginia Tech.
Backup freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon, meanwhile, scored 10 points in 22 minutes against the Seminoles and drained a contested three-pointer with two seconds to play to bring Virginia within three of the Seminoles. Brogdon has carved out an important role off the bench for the Cavaliers, but Bennett does not plan
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