Florida State Florida St/Virginia Virginia Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Three days after falling to seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a humiliating 42-point loss at Duke, No. 13 Virginia beat Florida State 89-71 Tuesday night, as Friel scored 22 points to lead five Cavaliers in double figures.

Virginia (12-3, 2-3) had lost two straight and three of four, so Friel cracking the 20-point barrier for only the second time in his career was huge. The first time he did it was when he scored 30 points against Syracuse while he was a sophomore at Notre Dame in 1998.

"He made all the big plays for them," Florida State coach Steve Robinson said of Friel. "He was the difference. We had a chance to have things going our way and he came up big for them."

Virginia led by six points at halftime but pushed its lead to 55-40 less than five minutes into the second half with its 3-point shooting.

The Cavaliers, who finished 11-for-23 from beyond the arc, shot 3s on seven of their first nine possessions in the second half, connecting on four. Friel had three of the bombs and got fouled on his fourth attempt.

As usual, the Cavs lived off their pressure defense, converting 21 turnovers into 30 points. The Cavaliers thrived as the game opened up in the second half, making transition baskets inside or kicking it out to the perimeter for 3-point attempts.

Friel gave Virginia a 71-58 lead with six minutes remaining on two pull-up 3s in transition. In both cases, senior point guard Donald Hand slashed through the scattered Seminoles defense before dishing to Friel for a wide-open look.

"He was in the zone," Gillen said of Friel. "He said he was going to be aggressive and he was, but you've got to give the guys credit for finding him."

Virginia continued to pour it on, consistently increasing its lead to the final margin.

Chris Williams had 20 points, six rebounds and three steals for Virginia, while Hand had 15 points, Travis Watson 12 and Roger Mason Jr. 11.

"His shooting definitely took the pressure off other guys," Gillen said. "It's better sometimes to have balance than to have one guy carrying the load."

Delvon Arrington had 23 points for the Seminoles (5-12, 0-4), who got just six points from star freshman Michael Joiner.

Arrington's 3-pointer gave Florida State a 25-21 lead with 7:20 left in the first half, but went on a 15-0 run and never trailed again.

The Cavaliers had struggled in their last four games, losing to then-No. 4 Wake Forest, unranked Georgia Tech and No. 2 Duke, and barely slipping past unranked North Carolina State. Their win over the Seminoles was not perfect, but Gillen said the Cavs are happy to be back on track.

"It was a lot closer game than the final score shows," he said. "Any league win is a good win. We needed that after the last few games."

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Florida State Clubhouse

Virginia Clubhouse