Longwood gives UVa men run for its money

CHARLOTTESVILLE — If Friday night was any indication, there won’t be many games this year where fans can leave early to beat the traffic.

Virginia defeated Longwood 85-72 to open the Tony Bennett era after a second-half surge brought the Lancers within eight points late in the game.

“To give up that many points, that was discouraging,” Bennett said. “There’s no secret: We’ve got a lot of work to do, and it’s going to be a long journey.”

The defensive-minded coach had to make do with a four-guard lineup because center Assane Sene is suspended and forward Jamil Tucker is on a leave of absence. The result was a versatile Sylven Landes-berg stepping up and scoring a game-high 23 points while playing four different positions — he said he has learned to adjust based on who’s in the game.

Turnovers were a concern for Virginia, as the Cavs coughed the ball up 16 times. That, combined with offensive sluggishness in the second half, created a less-than-memorable opening-night victory.

“We were happy we got a win,” Landesberg said. “But we all knew it wasn’t a great win.”

One bright spot for the team was freshman guard Jontel Evans, who admitted to nerves in his first game but on the whole played with poise and brought energy to the team, entering the game 12 minutes in as the momentum started to swing.

First Landesberg hit a 3-pointer, causing Longwood to use a timeout.

On the Lancers ensuing possession, Evans was staying back on the man he was guarding when Bennett yelled at him to force the issue. After creating a turnover, the ball was fed to Landesberg for a dunk on the other end.

“That was a motivation call right there,” Evans said with a laugh.

The coach said that he was looking for his freshman to make a play instead of being passive.

From that point, the long-ball shooters took over, with UVa making four consecutive 3s to cap off a 21-6 run that seemingly put the game out of reach going into the locker room.

For the most part, Bennett stuck to his starting five of guards Sammy Zeglinski, Landesberg, Jeff Jones, Mustapha Farrakhan and forward Mike Scott, who was rotated with Jerome Meyinsse because of injury. Freshmen Tristan Spurlock and Evans rounded out the eight players who saw game action.

All five starters finished in double-digits, led by Landesberg’s 23.

It was a strong offensive showing, though one that may not be as easy to achieve against ACC competi-tion.

“Some of those looks we might not get as the season progresses,” Bennett said. “But you have to take advantage of opportunities and play to your strengths when you can.”

The Lancers had a surprise for the Cavs in the second half, as they continued to run with an increasingly apathetic UVa team.

Zeglinski struggled at times, and finished with a game-high five turnovers, showing his susceptibility to Longwood’s pressure defense, which encouraged the Lancers to keep applying it to the sophomore.

The game was close enough to keep the mostly-student crowd of 10,787 on hand until the buzzer. With 1:38 remaining, Mustapha Farrakhan took a steal downcourt for an easy layup, then Mike Scott logged a steal inside the paint, followed by a tip-in basket.

It was too late for the Cavs to make any big substitutions from the bench, perhaps a sign of things to come during the non-conference season, where Virginia will be viewed as a beatable team by a parade of mid-major and small-conference teams looking for a signature upset.

It didn’t happen Friday night, though, and the Bennett era was off and running, save for the occasional trip-up.