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CHARLOTTESVILLEIt’s not the way the Virginia men’s basketball team wanted to enter the first semester exam break, but the reality is the Cavaliers are on a three-game losing streak that has evened their record at 3-3 after a 66-56 loss at Minnesota Tuesday night (Dec. 2) in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. UVa does not play again until Dec. 17 when the Cavaliers host Longwood University at John Paul Jones Arena.
Virginia shot just 31.4 percent (16-51) and turned the ball over 19 times in the loss to the Golden Gophers.
“We played a team that’s extremely well coached,” Virginia head coach Dave Leitao said. “We watched them on film and they don’t beat themselves. The team that made the fewest mistakes was going to win. We coughed it up on offense far too many times and defensive assignments were blown too many times and that’s basically the story of the game.”
Minnesota made two runs that helped the Golden Gophers take control of the game. The first came with Virginia leading by five points at 16-11. Starting with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Blake Hoffarber with 8:13 remaining in the first half, Minnesota outscored the Cavaliers 15-2 over a span of 2:43 to take a 26-18 lead with 5:30 left in the half.
The Cavaliers cut the lead to three points (32-29) at halftime and narrowed the deficit to one (32-31) on two free throws by junior guard Calvin Baker with 18:48 to play in the game. Minnesota then went on a 13-2 run over a span of 4:14 to take a 12-point lead at 45-33 with 13:42 left to play.
“It’s always difficult to withstand runs, especially when you’re not playing on your home court,” Baker said. “That just comes under mental toughness. I think we’ve got to become a lot more mentally tough. There are going to be a lot of times when teams go on runs and we’ve got to be able to withstand them and come back. I don’t think we did a real good job of it tonight.
“We’re a young team and there are experiences you’ve got to learn from. This is one of them and when we get in this position again we’ll know better how to handle it.”
UVa pulled within four points at 48-44 with 10:17 remaining in the game after an 11-3 run of its own and had two possessions to draw closer, but the Cavaliers were unable to score on either possession.
“We got it to a four-point game and then we got a runner that was a very low percentage shot and two long jump shots that were low percentage shots without any ball movement,” Leitao said. “When you don’t spend a lot of time on offense and you take bad shots it leads to transition baskets and easy offense for your opponent. It was back up to 11 before you know it and that last opportunity to climb back and be in the game was lost.”
Virginia’s turnovers hindered the Cavaliers’ effort against the Golden Gophers.
“We didn’t really execute on offense and it starts with me,” said freshman guard Sammy Zeglinski. “I didn’t have a great game as a point guard. I need to do a better job of leading the team and cut down on turnovers that I’ve been struggling to do. The past three games I’ve been turning the ball over too much.
“The effort is there for the most part, we just break down on offense sometimes. We played pretty solid defense, gave up a couple of second chance rebounds, but offensively we just didn’t click and have everybody on the same page. Like I said that starts with me. I need to do a better job directing traffic, taking care of the ball and getting people easier shots.”
A bright spot for Virginia was the long range shooting of junior forward Jamil Tucker. Tucker, who had scored just four points in the previous three games, scored a team-high 12 points and made a career-high four three-pointers against Minnesota. Tucker also had four rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes of action.
“The guards were getting into the lane and finding me open,” Tucker said. “You want to keep playing games, but with a three-game losing streak we definitely need to get back in the gym and fix things.”
Zeglinski and freshman guard Sylven Landesberg each added 10 points against the Golden Gophers. Landesberg has scored in double figures in each of UVa’s six games and Zeglinski has been in double figures in scoring in the last four games and five of the Cavaliers’ six games.
Now the Cavaliers break for exams while also going to work on what needs to be done to break the current three-game slide.
“I would like from a coaching standpoint to dig in and keep teaching fundamentals, but it’s very difficult because finals take so much out of them,” Leitao said. “Practice times become choppy because of the commitment level to finishing off the semester. We’ve got to sit down and manage it as best we can and use this break to our best advantage, but it’s hard because with finals coming that takes precedence over anything.”