Cavs top Tigers, snap skid

Break out those clippers. Save a chair for Sylven Landesberg. The Virginia freshman is headed to the barber shop.
And nobody could be happier about that than Wahoo Nation — and perhaps Landesberg’s parents.
Landesberg, who vowed not to cut his hair until Virginia won a game, had gone since early January without a visit to his barber.
On Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena, Landesberg scored 23 points — including a game-tying bucket at the end of regulation — to help Virginia snap an eight-game losing streak. UVa, which had four other players — Mike Scott, Sammy Zeglinski, Jeff Jones and Jamil Tucker — score in double figures — shocked visiting Clemson, beating the No. 12 Tigers in overtime, 85-81, in front of a crowd of 10,971.
“I might go there right now — to the barber shop,” said a smiling Landesberg, who played a season-high 45 minutes.
If it wasn’t against NCAA rules, Virginia coach Dave Leitao would probably want to pay for the haircut.
As has been the case all season, it was Landesberg who came up big when it mattered most.
With Virginia (8-13, 2-8) trailing by two with 26 seconds left in regulation after Clemson’s K.C. Rivers split a pair of free throws, Landesberg received the ball out front. After a screen forced Tigers defender David Potter to pick up Landesberg near the top of the key, the freshman bided his time as the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena rose to its feet.
“I just danced with him for a little bit,” Landesberg said, “and waited for the right time to attack.”
Landesberg drove hard to his right, around Potter, and scored on a layup to tie the game at 74 with 13.4 seconds left.
Still, Clemson (20-4, 6-4) had a chance to win. In the frantic final seconds, the Tigers had three quality shot attempts — two from Rivers and one by Demontez Stitt — but couldn’t convert.
“We got three shots in the lane,” said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. “You hope you get a foul called in that situation. I’m certainly not saying that there should have been [one], but that’s the kind of mindset — to get a layup and go to the line.”
In overtime, Virginia took over.
After a Terrence Oglesby 3-pointer gave Clemson a brief three-point lead, Virginia — behind press-breaking layups from Zeglinski and Landesberg — went on a 6-0 run. Landesberg, who scored six of his points in the extra session, scored three of Virginia’s last four baskets.
Clemson’s last gasp came with six seconds left. Trailing by three, Oglesby, trying to draw a foul on Zeglinski, forced a leaning 3-pointer from the right wing.
“I knew he was going to pump fake and try and get me to jump, so he could draw a foul,” said Zeglinski, who had 15 points and six assists, “but I stayed on the ground to force him to make a tough shot and he missed it.”
After Tucker hit a free throw at the other end to clinch the game, the celebration was on. Virginia students mobbed the court to congratulate the players, then began singing the school song.
The atmosphere was so hunky dorey that Leitao grabbed the courtside microphone and addressed the crowd.
“Thank you for this win today,” said the embattled coach. “You gave it to us. The only thing I’m going to ask is — we have another one on Wednesday night.”
Leitao was referring to Virginia’s next game against Virginia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena. Tech defeated UVa, 78-75, on Jan. 10.
“I think we’re just going to keep rolling from here,” Zeglinski said. “We’re a young team. This is very satisfying, but we have a quick turn-around.”
If Virginia can play the kind of defense they did on Sunday, beating the rival Hokies and just about anybody else who visits JPJ is certainly in the realm of
possibility.
UVa put forth its best defensive performance of the season against Clemson. In the first half, the Cavs held the Tigers to just 39-percent shooting. In overtime, the Tigers shot just 1 of 6 from the floor.
Leitao said the relief in the locker room among his players following the game was palpable.
“They were happy, obviously,” he said. “[They were] joyful and congratulating one another, which I think is supposed to be the case when you win, probably a little bit more today than in games past because we hadn’t won in a while.”
Leitao believes his young team never lost confidence during the slide — the program’s longest since the 1997-98 season.
“Through this whole thing, which hasn’t been easy for anybody, you have to continue to prepare, and more than anything — live,” Leitao said.
“If you believe in certain things that you do every day, then, at some point, they were going to come true.”
Landesberg said the team didn’t let talk of a 1-15 ACC finish bother them.
“I mean we’re always facing some kind of adversity — whether it’s being picked to finish in last place in the ACC or after the losing streak people saying we could go 1-15,” he said. “We don’t really let that affect us. If anything, we use that as motivation.”