Virginia panned after abysmal offensive performance

It’s tough to win basketball games if you can’t score points. Virginia’s basketball team found that out the hard way during its First Four matchup against Colorado State on Tuesday.

With 9:20 left in the first half and his Cavaliers trailing 18-12, Virginia’s Reece Beekman hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 18-14. Those were the final points that the Cavaliers would score in the half. In fact, those were Virginia’s final points until more than three minutes had expired in the second half, when Beekman hit a jumper with 16:37 remaining in the game.

The scoreless run lasted for 12:43 of game time. It also covered nearly an hour of real-time.

Virginia’s inclusion in March Madness was controversial when the brackets were announced. The Cavaliers being held scoreless for more than one-quarter of game time did nothing to quiet the critics.

Virginia’s offense got into more of a rhythm in the second half, scoring 28 points. Normally that would be a below-average run but given what the Cavaliers did for the rest of the game, it doesn’t look so bad.

And to the surprise of nobody, that offensive performance was not nearly good enough to earn Virginia another game. Colorado State trounced the Cavaliers 67-42.

[Photo Credit: TruTV]