Wahoo Wire

Virginia’s eight-game winning streak came to a halt at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, finally giving the ‘Hoos a loss in ACC play. Wake Forest stymied Virginia all day long, cruising to a 69-57 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.

Although the Cavaliers (12-5, 3-1) remain atop the ACC standings (albeit in a tie with Maryland), they certainly didn’t look like a top team in a premier conference against the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest jumped out to a 34-15 halftime lead, and that was only the midst of an 18-1 run that buried Tony Bennett’s team for good.

Besides a late run that was essentially meaningless, very little went right for Virginia. Sylven Landesberg scored 18 points, but was forced to sit for the majority of the first half after picking up two quick fouls, devastating the Cavaliers’ offense. Landesberg eventually fouled out of the game. The Cavs only got six points from forward Mike Scott, and just one from guard Sammy Zeglinski. Both average double figures. To make matters worse, Virginia shot 8-for-16 from the foul line – well below its 76.3% season average.

Credit Wake Forest (14-4, 4-2), whose strong rebounding effort (42-26 advantage) gave them an additional edge in the victory. Ishmael Smith tallied 21 points for the Deacs, while  Chas McFarland hurt Virginia early on and finished with 16. Al-Farouq Aminu squeaked out a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Virginia will return to action Thursday night at JPJ against rival Virginia Tech (15-3, 2-2).