Virginia falls apart in 2nd half
CLEMSON, S.C.
Call this one the Meltdown in Tiger Town.
After playing 18th-ranked Clemson nearly even in the first half, struggling Virginia must have liked its chances of pulling off a second consecutive upset of the highly favored Tigers on Tuesday night.
The visiting Cavaliers came into Littlejohn Coliseum with some swagger, having knocked off then-No. 12 Clemson in Charlottesville on Feb. 15. On this wintry Southern night, Virginia certainly didn’t play like the next-to-worst team in the ACC.
Instead, the Cavs were energized by aggressive defense and an attacking offensive game plan that caught the Tigers on their heels early on an emotional Clemson senior night where fans said goodbye to K.C. Rivers, the winningest player in Tiger hoops history.
Clemson coach Oliver Purnell commented that his team’s tentative start made Virginia’s inside players look like Wilt Chamberlain, perhaps the most overstated case of mistaken identity in the game’s history.
Still, the Cavaliers trailed by only a 32-31 count at the break thanks to guard Calvin Baker’s hot hand (12 points on 5 of 7 shooting the first half).
The game took a dramatic turn from the opening minute of the second. After Baker drew first blood with his a bucket for a 33-32 lead, the Cavaliers suffered a monumental meltdown.
An ill-timed slump
Clemson went on a 10-0 run and by the 11:44 time out, the Tigers had taken command of the game, having outscored UVa 18-4. The Cavs had managed only one field goal — Baker’s — in more than an eight-minute stretch (plus two free throws) and trailed by 15.
During that span, Baker was hit with the second of three technical fouls called against Virginia after he was tied up at halfcourt by Clemson’s sticky defense. Baker slammed the ball to the floor in frustration with it bounding well over his head, an automatic technical.
Coach Dave Leitao was slapped with the first “T” in the first half, protesting a foul called on Jeff Jones. Freshman John Brandenburg was hit with another later in the game after blocking Demontez Stitt’s shot, then screaming in a taunting manner.
Dunk you very much
That was just a small part of the collapse. Clemson stepped up its game big time in the second half. The opening 10 minutes looked like one of those NBA dunkfests, with Trevor Booker, Raymond Sykes and Jerai Grant putting on the exhibition.
The Tigers smelled blood and quickly put away the Cavs, building a 20-point lead (60-40) with eight minutes to play.
Purnell told his team during a time out during those first 10 minutes that he felt they could break Virginia’s will if they didn’t let up. They got the message.
Clemson connected on 53.6 percent of its shots in the second half, easily outrebounded the Cavs for the game (36-27), increased their defensive intensity (UVa made only 28.6 percent of its shots the second half), and cut its turnovers in half.
The Tigers were a mere 1-5 this season when committing 15 or more turnovers. They had 16 in this game (six in the second half) and managed to win going away.
Meanwhile, Leitao’s Cavs continued to struggle, dropping to 9-17 on the season, 3-12 in the ACC, including 12 of their last 14.
That means over the past two seasons, Virginia has an 8-23 record in ACC play with one regular season game to go, a home match Saturday against Maryland. The Cavs will attempt to avoid
becoming the first UVa team since the 1967-68 season to win only nine games.
Baker was the bright spot for Virginia during another night of futility. With star freshman guard Sylven Landesberg being held scoreless for the first 32 minutes (he finished with only three points, all free throws), Baker kept the Cavaliers in the game with a game-high 18 points.
His effort drew Leitao’s praise on a night where there was little to take solace.
“Calvin, through thick and thin, has been booed at home, doesn’t always play pretty for a guy who’s playing out of position, and turns it over more than a point guard should,” Leitao said. “But he plays the game with heart and spirit. That’s what we’re trying to get from everybody, every game. So, the things that he does not do, I sometimes live with, because what I’m looking for, he’s one of the guys that gives it to us.”
Heart and spirit are commodities that have been scarce around Virginia basketball this season, a season that could end in with a resounding thud a week from Thursday in the opening round of the ACC tournament.
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One question I would like to see a writer ask is:
Why did UVa athletic boosters raise hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade basketball and football facilities, when John Casteen sure seems to have decided to de-emphasize football and basketball at UVa? Did John Casteen never give his approval for this spending?
If he gave his approval, why did he give it?!
The first thing Mr.Chasteen has to realize is that “diversity” won’t work any better at Mr.Jeffersons University than it does anywhere else..Just look at what “Diversity” contributed to in the Duke LAX HOAX…When people are hired simply for the sake of diversity, its demeaning to them and to the people who hired them,especially if they are not able to do the job, or simply follow nariatives that contribute nothing at all to the betterment of the university…BEWARE !!!!!
In response to BigAl’s comment that Craig Littlepage does not know coaching talent, let’s look at the overall athletic department standings. These are for the latest ACC conference standings, either ‘08 or ‘09. Of the 25 teams there were 6 in 1st place; 5 in 2nd; 3 in 3rd; 2 in 5th; 1 in 6th; 2 in 8th; 2 in 9th and 2 in 11th. Even given that Littlepage did not hire all of those coaches, he has kept them on board. Not a bad overall record. Keep up the good work.
The worst part of this season is… I don’t care anymore. I know the students are working hard and I hope they are doing their best, but the wins are just not there. I applaud the student athletes for the effort and tip my cap to the staff but from this point forward I will not spend time or money on UVA Men’s Basketball until or unless they win games. Best of luck to you coach.
Leitao has to go - at this point, any claims that he’s a good college basketball coach have been completely shattered. The team is not even competitive now, and they are clearly not playing with any heart or determination.
But Littlepage should not be the one to select the next coach, because he needs to go first. He has done nothing relevant to advance the cause of Virginia athletics - unless you count the football season ticket fiasco “advancing the cause.“ If we’re going to keep Littlepage, then it really makes little sense replacing Leitao. Littlepage has already shown that he does not know how to evaluate coaching talent.
Time to clean house in the front office, Mr. Casteen.
I hope Dave is not back. When search for a new coach we need to look for somebody that has actually DONE SOMETHING. Look to a smaller school in a lower conference that has shown impressive results.
Like Western Ky coach, or (I am dreaming here) Rick Pinto, or a slew of other coaches that migth want to step up into the ACC and play with the big boys. Or we could look to other areas and go after Rick Carlisle… if he were interested.
Well, I hope Leitao will be back next year! But if he’s not, I wonder who Craig Littlepage will try to hire. And will John Casteen let Littlepage hire who Littlepage wants to hire this time?
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