The Seminoles led late before the No. 18 Cavaliers ignited a late charge to avoid the upset.
Florida State basketball came so close to forcing the student section to rush the Tucker Center floor.
The Seminoles took a nine-point lead, then led by three at 58-55 with under three minutes left. But Virginia outscored the Seminoles 6-0 to prevail 61-58 in avoiding the Tuesday night upset.
Head coach Luke Loucks would've earned his first win against a ranked foe had the Noles secured the win. The Cavaliers not only walked in at 20-3 overall, but rated No. 18 in the nation.
Johann Grunloh started the scoring by hitting a 27-foot three-pointer for UVA. Robert McCray V followed by attacking the key and nailing an eight-footer for FSU's first basket of the night.
AJ Swinton, though, got the home crowd to its feet near the 12:35 mark. Swinton denied a dunk opportunity by timing his leap near the rim and swatting the two-point opportunity. Both teams remained tied at 15 during that sequence from Swinton.
Both teams went scoreless for the next minute before Lajae Jones broke the slump -- attacking the lane for his layup to break the 15-15 tie. That basket sparked a brief 6-1 run for the Seminoles.
McCray V, though, brought the crowd to their feet with this fierce one-handed throwdown dunk.
Florida State led for most of the first half before the Cavs went on one final run before halftime -- leaving the game tied at 32-32. The Cavs even erased a 32-27 deficit to close out the opening period.
The Noles later expanded the lead to 54-45 with McCray, Kobe MaGee and Chauncey Wiggins adding to the FSU run. Again, that became the biggest lead for FSU...and one they struggled to keep.
McCray ended up scoring the final basket for the hosts, hitting his solo shot from the white stripe. Thijs De Ridder ignited the UVA late rally by making a 15-foot jump shot near the free throw line.
Jacari White followed by throwing down a slam dunk at the 1:12 mark. De Ridder made the last basket of the evening, nailing a six-foot jumper from within the paint to seal the rally.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak in Atlantic Coast Conference play for the Seminoles. Florida State took down NCAA Tournament hopefuls Stanford, Cal and Notre Dame on the road during the streak.
FSU watched Jones and McCray V lead the scoring charge -- dropping 21 points and 20, respectively.
Magee had nine points. Alex Steen scored five points while Chauncey Wiggins got bottled to two points.
FSU drops to 11-13 overall on the season.
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