Virginia 77, South Florida 75
By Zach Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 19 -- Teammates met Sylven Landesberg at midcourt after the final buzzer, embracing the talented freshman just moments after he continued a storybook first week that keeps
getting better.
On Sunday, Landesberg broke the scoring record for a Virginia freshman making his debut. In Landesberg's second game, he made a game-winning layup and grabbed the game-clinching rebound in Virginia's 77-75 win over South Florida at John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday.
Landesberg finished a nifty pass from Calvin Baker with 13 seconds remaining, turning a one-point deficit into a one-point lead. When South Florida missed a jumper five seconds later, Landesberg was under the rim for the rebound. He then made 1 of 2 free throws to finish with 21 points, and the Bulls missed a final runner to lose a game that included 19 lead changes.
"I live for those moments," Landesberg said.
Coach Dave Leitao knew freshman jitters would not affect Landesberg, who Leitao said exudes confidence. But even the coach did not expect his most decorated recruit to start with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in his first game and come through in the clutch during his second game.
"I never really worried about his presence," Leitao said. "He's got a quiet but not cocky presence about him as a basketball player, and I noticed that early on. It's just getting him caught up. That was my concern -- still is my concern. Just getting him caught up from an experience standpoint."
The final shot was actually the byproduct of inexperience. Landesberg was playing power forward and did not know where to be when the designed play broke down. He roamed the baseline, and when Baker attacked the rim, Landesberg waited for the ball.
Landesberg's admission of ignorance was fitting. Even when he did not know what to do, he still made the right play.
"I don't really know what to say about that," said Landesberg, a smile stretching across his face. "I'm just playing my game and being productive."
The Cavaliers needed his production, and he played 31 minutes off the bench. It was a night when neither team played particularly well, but Virginia made 18 free throws to South Florida's six, a discrepancy that USF Coach Stan Heath pointed to after the game as the difference.
Although South Florida is a power-conference program, the Bulls were picked to finish last in the 16-team Big East. They provided a template for the type of talent Virginia might see in the ACC, but certainly not a replication.
Nonetheless, it provided Leitao with an idea of his team's composition. In the season-opening win over Virginia Military Institute, the Cavaliers needed to adjust to an unconventional style. On Wednesday, they learned what to do in a close game. Just two games into the season, Leitao has witnessed the rapid development of his budding star and watched a team with few expectations figure out ways to win a pair of games that could have gone in either direction.
"I'm not going to say we're world beaters, because it's game two," Leitao said. "But looking at our schedule, playing a like opponent, a BCS opponent from a heck of a league and playing at home, it becomes important that you win those games."
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