The final score – Virginia 67, Florida State 58 – would make you think this game was relatively close. It wasn’t.
The 11th-ranked Cavaliers got out to an early 11-point lead and strangled the Seminoles from there, with good offense getting open shots, and good defense keeping FSU at arm’s length all afternoon.
This one was never in doubt, and the only thing that kept it even in hailing distance for the ‘Noles was an officiating blip that had Virginia committing eight fouls in the second half before Florida State picked up its second.
Even with that bit of nonsense from Teddy Valentine (go figure, right?) and his crew, nice win for UVA (13-3, 5-2 ACC), which has now won three straight.
The news of the day was the move by Tony Bennett to start Ben Vander Plas at the five ahead of Kadin Shedrick, who only got five minutes off the bench, and didn’t get on the floor in the second half.
Vander Plas was part of the quintet that closed out Virginia’s 65-58 win over North Carolina on Tuesday, and he picked up where he left off in that one, hitting three early threes and scoring 11 in the first half, on his way to a 15-point, seven-rebound day.
As in the closing stretch in the win over UNC, Vander Plas, at the five, helped Virginia space the floor with his three-point shooting, creating driving lanes for guards Kihei Clark (nine points, six assists) and Reece Beekman (eight points, four assists).
Armaan Franklin also had a big day, going for 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting overall and 4-of-7 from three.
Virginia overall was 11-of-22 from three-point range, a season-best performance there.
This may be – should be, anyway – your starting lineup going forward.
It was 33-25 UVA at the break, and FSU (5-13, 3-4 ACC) got it down to six by scoring the first bucket of the second half, a jumper by Jalen Warley, but that was as close as it would get.
Virginia went on to lead by as many as 16, and led by 14 as late as the 2:10 mark, on a driving layup by Franklin, before Florida State closed out with a three by Cameron Cohren and a jumper with 24 seconds left from Matthew Cleveland.
Cohren led Florida State with 15 points. Caleb Mills had 14, and Cleveland had 10 points and 10 boards, his seventh straight game with a double-double.
It’s so strange to see a Leonard Hamilton-coached Florida State team sitting at 5-13 right now.
FSU had been picked to finish fifth in the preseason by the ACC media types.
Shows what they know.
Virginia next gets in-state ACC rival Virginia Tech (11-6, 1-5 ACC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in JPJ and on ESPNU.
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Chris Graham
