The #7 UVA Men’s Basketball Team (15-4, 11-2 ACC) suffered a demoralizing defeat at the hands of the #16 Florida State Seminoles (12-3, 8-2 ACC) by a final score of 60-81. Heading into the game, fans were excited to see the ACC’s best offense and defense square off. However, while UVA is currently the top team in the conference, Florida State was absolutely dominant from start to finish.
The Seminoles were able to score with ease against Tony Bennett’s typically-stringent Pack Line Defense, while the Wahoos struggled to find open looks against Florida State. Just ten minutes into the game, the Seminoles had gotten off to a 22-9 lead, thanks to numerous careless turnovers by the Cavaliers. At the end of the first half, the Cavaliers were down 25-45, being down by 20+ at halftime for just the third time in the Tony Bennett era.
Coming out of the break, Virginia appeared to find their groove as they whittled down the impressive Florida State lead. Over the first six minutes of the second half, the Cavaliers went on a 16-3 run, spearheaded by Kihei Clark’s 10 points, and decreasing the FSU lead to just seven. Clark would finish with 12 points and 4 assists.
However this momentum would not last long as the Seminoles quickly responded by going on a 10-2 run and wouldn’t look back after this point. For FSU, leading scorer M.J Walker had another impressive night notching 17 points and 6 Rebounds. The Cavaliers would go on to lose by a final score of 81-60, their second largest defeat of the season.
With the loss, the Cavaliers have now lost three of their four games against a ranked opponent, with the lone victory a blowout against now-unranked Clemson. Additionally, Florida State now owns a 27-26 lead in the all-time series against Virginia.
The Wahoos will look to rebound when they face the Duke Blue Devils, fresh off of the opt-out of star freshman Jalen Johnson, this Saturday at 8pm.
