"Whether you win or lose, you gotta say, 'Was there quality on the floor?' And I'm sure you can find some stretches where some guys did some things, but overall, the quality wasn't present tonight. And that's what bothers me." In a game that could only be described as sloppy, Tony Bennett's Virginia Cavaliers beat Texas-Pan American 72-53 tonight in a game that was too close for anyone's comfort.
The first fifteen minutes of the game was nothing short of embarassing, as the Cavaliers led just 23-21. It wasn't until the Cavs went on a 17-2 run to close out the half.
The Broncs didn't have a single starter over 6'7 -- perhaps this was a contributing factor to the lackluster performance coming from the team tonight. For Sylven Landesberg, who was second in scoring with 20 points, this was definitely a distraction.
“You definitely try and look past [their size], but when you’re on the court, it’s kind of tough,” Landesberg said. “I mean, I was standing next to some of them and I don’t think some of the guys could touch my head."
Mike Scott, who returned against UAB after missing three games due to a high ankle sprain, was back in the starting rotation tonight, but even this rebounding machine was unable to pick up what should have been an easy double-double. Scott finished the night with 22 points and 7 rebounds.
Sammy Zeglinski, who entered the game third in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage at 47.4%, shot 75% tonight, making 3 of 4. This moves him into second in the ACC behind only Duke's Nolan Smith (as Miami's James Dews did not play tonight). But still, this is no consolation.
“We let [Coach] down tonight,” said Zeglinski, who also picked up a season high 6 assists and 4 steals. “It was pretty disappointing to come out with a poor effort like this, especially when we took a step forward in the UAB game."
The 'Hoos are now 8-4, but Bennett is not looking at the record.
"I try not to look at this and get too carried away with the record and rather look at quality," he said. "We’ll take 8-4, but you also look at some of those games we had chances in. From that standpoint, we have competed."
Last season, Virginia followed up its eighth win of the season with eight consecutive losses. Hopefully this won't be the case this year, as UVa heads to N.C. State to tip-off the ACC schedule at noon.
