Virginia sweeps N.C. State

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Every team needs a wake-up call occasionally, and Virginia's Cavaliers got one from their coach at halftime last night.

"He doesn't scream a lot; he's usually pretty composed," guard Sammy Zeglinski said. "But our defense was lethargic in the first half, so he let us know about it at halftime."

That Tony Bennett raised his voice may have come as a surprise, but that his team responded was not. Virginia got things together in the second half, finishing off a 59-47 victory against N.C. State.

After a calming second half, Bennett told his team in the locker room that "when you whip a donkey, it kicks. When you whip a thoroughbred, it responds."

The message was understood by the 5-2 Cavs, who have risen to the challenge so far in the ACC schedule.

As usual, they did it with defense. Twice this season, the Wolfpack has been the victim of a second-half scoring drought against Virginia. This time, it happened over a five-minute stretch when the team failed to score. Even when given a free throw, Dennis Horner shot the ball well short of the hoop.

From there, the Cavs took over, and with 7 minutes remaining, Mustapha Farrakhan delivered the game's biggest play, dunking on N.C. State's Javier Gonzalez. A frustrated Gonzalez drew a foul after the play as the U.Va. bench erupted.

"That was nasty," guard Sylven Landesberg said, adding that the play was "definitely" going to make the SportsCenter Top 10 as No. 1.

Away from the action, guard Calvin Baker joked that he had "goosebumps," while remembering being the victim of a similar Farrakhan dunk over the summer.

It was a big scoring night for the players who aren't usually top contributors -- Farrakhan had 11 and Jerome Meyinsse 10. Landesberg's contribution was in the form of nine assists. He entered the game as the only player in the ACC to have scored in double digits in every game this season, but he finished with seven points.

Baker also saw more minutes than normal, logging 23 in his first major action since missing the Wake Forest game for disciplinary reasons after expressing displeasure with his playing time.

"I was just going through a rough stretch, but that's what time away will do for you," he said. "I talked to the coaches, and now everything is going really good."

The player who had been replacing Baker, freshman Jontel Evans, is going through his own slump. The defensive star has been ignored by opponents on the offensive end, and a pair of missed free throws and two fouls were his only mark on the stat sheet in eight minutes of play.

Foul trouble limited Virginia's attacking ability inside as Meyinsse, Will Sherrill and Mike Scott all picked up their third foul early in the second half. Sherrill notched his fourth with 11:25 remaining, and Meyinsse fouled out late.

But the team was able to fight through it, and showed some fire on defense after an uncharacteristic speech from the coach at halftime.

"It was scary," Landesberg said of Bennett's pep talk. "You don't want to see any coach get mad. He gets red, the veins start bulging -- it's not fun. But he definitely gets us going."

The talk was all about defense, and even as the Cavs went cold early in the second half they weren't worried -- the Wolfpack wasn't making any baskets either. The result was a low-scoring game, but Bennett won't be complaining about that.

"At halftime, I really challenged them hard -- I said that's not who we are or who we need to be," he said. "With some guys being cold, that second half defensively won it for us."

N.C. STATE (2-6, 14-9)


M FG FT R PF A Pt T. Smith------------------------- 34 5-13 2-5 8 3 2 12 Horner------------------------- 22 3-6 1-2 0 3 1 7 Degand------------------------- 32 2-3 0-0 4 0 0 4 Wood------------------------- 30 1-6 0-0 2 2 3 3 Mays------------------------- 18 0-4 0-0 2 1 0 0 Howell------------------------- 22 5-9 4-7 8 3 0 14 Painter------------------------- 1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 Gonzalez------------------------- 21 2-6 2-2 0 2 0 7 Williams------------------------- 8 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 Davis------------------------- 12 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 Team------------------------- 4 Totals ------------------------- 18-48 9-16 30 17 6 47

VIRGINIA (5-2 ACC, 14-6)


M FG FT R PF A Pt Scott------------------------- 23 6-9 3-4 10 3 1 15 Meyinsse------------------------- 23 4-6 2-2 4 5 0 10 Evans------------------------- 8 0-0 0-2 0 2 0 0 Zeglinski------------------------- 31 3-12 0-0 4 1 2 8 Landesberg-------------------- 35 2-10 3-3 6 0 9 7 Farrakhan------------------------- 21 4-6 1-1 3 0 1 11 Baker------------------------- 23 2-6 0-1 0 2 1 5 Sene------------------------- 9 0-2 0-0 2 2 0 0 Sherrill------------------------- 23 1-2 0-0 5 4 0 3 Jones------------------------- 4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 Team------------------------- 6 Totals ------------------------- 22-54 9-13 40 19 14 59

N.C. State ------------------------- 28 19 -- 47
Virginia ------------------------- 25 34 -- 59

3-point goals -- N.C. State (2-11): Wood 1-4, Gonzalez 1-5, Mays 0-2. Virginia (5-11): Farrakhan 2-3, Zeglinski 2-8, Baker 1-2, Sherrill 1-2, Jones 0-1.

Turnovers -- N.C. State (7): Howell 3, Wood 2, Gonzalez 2. Virginia (8): Landesberg 2, Meyinsse 2, Sherrill, Scott, Baker, Farrakhan.

Blocked shots -- N.C. State (4): Degand 2, Howell, T.Smith. Virginia (1): Sene.

Steals -- N.C. State (4): T.Smith 2, Wood, Degand. Virginia (5): Zeglinski 3, Landesberg, Sherrill.

A -- 10,092.