It was the best of weeks; it was the worst of weeks.
The best: January 3, win at home against Gonzaga. Final score: 108-87.
Sean Singletary, UVA’s star point guard, put the men’s basketball team on his shoulders early against the visiting Bulldogs—and what mighty shoulders they proved to be. Singletary scored a career high 37 points, many of them three pointers from NBA range, as he led the Cavs in an all-out humiliation of the ’Zags—at the end of the first half, UVA led 60-26. The second half was mostly mop-up duty. Supporting Singletary in the points column were Mamadi Diane, with 22 points, and J.R. Reynolds, with 15.
Sean Singletary led the Cavaliers with a career high 37 points as they blew out Gonzaga. But a few days later, despite Singletary’s 24 points, UVA fell to Stanford, marking the first loss in the John Paul Jones Arena for the men’s basketball team.
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The worst: January 7, loss at home against Stanford. Final score: 76-75.
Singletary again tried to put the men’s basketball team on his shoulders, leading the team with 24 points. But even though he played all but two minutes of the game, he was shut down in the first half and needed more support from his teammates. Virginia led by one point with nine seconds left, but let Stanford win the game on a last second two-point bucket—similar to the Cavs’ first loss of the season against Purdue.
Which UVA squad will show up in the grueling ACC schedule ahead? The team that stomped Gonzaga and outfought Arizona? Or the team that blew games at the final buzzer to Stanford and Purdue, that lost back-to-back road games to Appalachian State and Utah? If they wish to be among the 65 teams playing for the national title come March, the Cavaliers will need more than Singletary to step up.
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