Virginia did what they’ve done for the past month or so: they lost. It was their ninth straight ACC loss and not one of them was more painful that this one was today: at home to bitter rival Maryland who won for the first time in Charlottesville on Senior Day since 2006. But this loss wasn’t as much on the players’ shoulders as it was squarely on Coach Tony Bennett’s as he was called for a technical foul with 38.6 seconds remaining. The score was 66-65 Maryland and there was a questionable call on Jerome Meyinsse for a block. Coach Bennett lost his temper, and he threw his suit coat to the floor while leaving the bench area. Maryland looked the gift horse in the mouth and made the two technical foul free throws to make it 68-65. Next, Sean Mosely made his two free-throw attempts from the original foul-call to make it 70-65. Then, as the Hoos had three time-outs left, Coach Bennett made his second-straight critical mistake of the game and chose not to set a play with one of those time-outs as the Wahoos simply floundered around wasting over 20 seconds. The Hoos then forced a terrible three-ball from Jeff Jones that was almost an air-ball. Game over. As much as I respect Coach Bennett, and totally believe that things will eventually turn around, this was a very tough game to watch.
More bad news Hoos fans, as we learned that Virginia superstar Sylven Landesberg has been suspended for academic reasons. I don’t think we will ever see Sylven in a Virginia uniform again. Another wonderful potential career cut short at Virginia by laziness and not paying attention to what they are really supposed to be here for: an education.
Virginia senior Jerome Meyinsse led the Hoos with 17 points on 7-8 shooting. Jeff Jones, who originally committed to Maryland out of high school, found the way out of his slump and pitched in 16 points on 4-7 shooting. Sammy Zeglinski scored 14, while Mike Scott continued to remain in la-la land with 2 points in only 15 minutes of play. The Hoos were out rebounded 35-21 by the much more athletic Terrapins. Virginia was down 38-27 at the half, and really battled back, but just did not have enough in the tank to come all the way back.
Maryland was led (per usual) by the All-Everything Venezuelan Greivis Vasquez who had 23 points on what was really an off game for the talented sharpshooter. Vasquez was only 7-18 from the field and 5-11 from three-point-land. If Carolina can somehow beat Duke tonight, then Maryland will win the regular season ACC regular season title outright, but if Duke wins they will share the title with the Terrapins.
Virginia has (most likely) one game left, an opening round game in the ACC Tournament which begins Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Let’s hope the Hoos can get on a roll next weekend so they will not finish the season with a 10 game losing streak. Go Hoos!
