Cavs try to end slide

With just a minute or so left in Tuesday’s night’s game versus Florida State and Virginia headed toward its eighth straight loss, UVa freshman Sylven Landesberg came down with an offensive rebound right underneath the FSU basket.
As Landesberg jumped in the air, he seemed to have an easy layup — until teammate Solomon Tat, out of nowhere, slapped the ball out of his hands.
“He was just in the way when I was going up,” Landesberg explained. “I think I just caught his hand more than anything.”
The play was inconsequential to the game’s outcome, yet emblematic of Virginia’s woes this season. UVa (7-13, 1-8) has won just once in 2009, and it has become painfully clear that if something has the chance to go wrong, it usually does.
This afternoon, the Cavaliers play host to No. 12 Clemson (20-3, 6-3), a squad that utterly embarrassed them at John Paul Jones Arena last season. Playing with star Sean Singletary, the Cavs lost by 31.
Today, Singletary will be back in the house. The school is retiring his number and the powers that be are probably hoping that some of the good karma from the festivities will rub off on the team.
If the Cavs have any hopes of stopping their slide, it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to have to play infinitely better than they have at any point in the last two months.
After his team’s loss to Florida State, Virginia coach Dave Leitao almost seemed to be speaking to frustrated Wahoo fans when he compared his program’s plight to that of FSU’s.
“They’ve been waiting,” said Leitao, referring to FSU fans. “It’s been six years. Everyone’s been patient and knew that it was a development. That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about. We’ve got to do it in the same kind of way. This league is unforgiving.”
A ninth straight loss today would match the program’s longest streak since the 1961-62 season. Virginia would still have six league games remaining, but with Miami, Wake Forest and Clemson (on the road) left, among others, it would be a minor miracle if Virginia found a way to win more than three conference games.
UVa is coming off a performance in which it showed some rare passion to start the game. The Cavaliers played some of their best defense of the season in the first half against the Seminoles when they held them to 26-percent shooting. However, after the break, they allowed FSU to shoot 71 percent from the floor.
Virginia sophomore Mike Scott, following an ineffective outing versus North Carolina, showed a little life, notching eight points and nine rebounds.
“I was able to finish around the rim better and draw contact,” Scott said, “but we still didn’t win, so it didn’t really matter.”
Clemson, on the other hand, has won four of its last five games. That includes an 87-77 win at Boston College on Tuesday and a 27-point clubbing of Duke on Feb. 4.
The Tigers are everything the Cavaliers aren’t — tough, defensive-minded, well-balanced. They are led by big man Trevor Booker (15.1 PPG, 9.0 RPG) on the inside and by veterans K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby on the perimeter. Everyone seems to know their roles.
So far, in 2009 ACC play, being on the losing side is about the only role Virginia has been familiar with.
Dunks
Virginia leads the all-time series, 65-48, including a 38-16 edge in Charlottesville. … The last time UVa lost four straight home games came during the 1976-77 season. … Clemson has five ACC wins by double digits this year, including the 27-point win over Duke.
The Clemson record for double-digit ACC wins in a season is six.