1/22/02 - Loss Control

By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

A reeling team that is 0-5 in conference play rarely would supply a lot of motivation for a ranked team such as Virginia. Unless, of course, that team is Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets defeated Virginia three times last season, including in the ACC Tournament, and have won the last four games against the Cavaliers.
Judging from some of the Virginia players’ comments after Sunday’s win over Florida State, at the moment there is little pity for the Jackets’ current plight. Rather, it seems nothing would make the Cavaliers happier than sending the Jackets to 0-6 in the ACC.
“Man, I’m looking forward to that game. I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year and that’s the game you look at. They beat us three times last year and were the only team to beat us at home last year,” said junior guard Roger Mason Jr. “It’s a big game. Every game is a big game but this one is especially big.”
Virginia’s futility against the Jackets, especially in Atlanta, certainly predates this current group of Cavaliers. Virginia has lost 11 of its last 13 games against the Jackets and UVa has not won at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum since 1995. The only ACC arenas that have been more daunting for the Cavaliers are Cole Field House and Cameron Indoor Stadium. Virginia last won in Cole in 1993 and in Cameron in 1995, actually just a few weeks before that last win at Alexander Coliseum. Alexander is nicknamed the “Thrillerdome”, but for Virginia it is more like a house of horrors.
A conspiracy theorist might argue that Atlanta is buga-boo for UVa programs in general. The UVa football team has not won in the city since the 1995 Peach Bowl and is 0-4 there since, including a loss to Georgia in the 1998 Peach Bowl. It is something of an odd trend for a town that likely has more UVa alums in it than in any other state outside the Commonwealth.
Georgia Tech’s recent domination of the Cavaliers is likely attributable to a player now in the NBA and not on its roster. Former Jacket center Alvin Jones ability to dominate and intimidate in the paint was a direct cause of those three losses that season as the Cavs just could not match his size or overcome his shot-blocking ability.
Jones, however, is gone, and his absence has left a definite void for the Jackets who are now starting 6-foot-7 freshman Ed Nelson in the middle.
If Jones’ absence is a reason for confidence for the Cavaliers, they are avoiding saying that ... at least officially.
“I actually enjoyed the challenge of playing against Alvin Jones. He’s a banger and I like that,” said Virginia junior center Travis Watson, who has 32 rebounds in Virginia’s last two games.
Watson’s comments likely would be the only positive ones from a UVa player regarding the 6-11 Jones.
These Yellow Jackets have been somewhat snakebitten of late, as their ACC record is not necessarily reflective of how they are playing at the moment.
The Jackets have lost games to Maryland, North Carolina and Clemson by a combined 18 points and led N.C. State by nine with 14:01 left in the game before falling to the Wolfpack 84-71 on Saturday in Raleigh.
“They’ll be hungry for a victory. It will be a very difficult game. They’ll press us and come after us,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen. “They almost beat Maryland. It came down to the last few possessions. They’re capable. Right now, they have just lost some close games.”
Some of the veteran UVa players have discussed the recent woes with the Jackets with the team’s freshmen, but according to senior forward Chris Williams, the four freshmen were well aware of that sweep last season.
“We didn’t have to stress it to them because they’ve already been talking about it amongst themselves. They know that we were 0-3 against them last year and that we haven’t played well against them during my career here,” Williams said.
Added freshman point guard Keith Jenifer: “We know that we were 0-3 against them last year and we want to get this one against them.”

By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor

While there is no official word as of yet, Virginia may have gained a couple of football commitments over the weekend and perhaps lost another.
According to sources, as many as two prospects who visited campus last weekend may have committed to the Cavaliers but were not ready to announce official decisions publicly as of early Monday evening.
Sources also said that the recruiting weekend, which featured such prized prospects as Hylton High linebacker Ahmad Brooks, Warwick quarterback Marcus Vick and others, went well. Many of the top recruits still had visits scheduled over the next week or two and may not announce their college choices until sometime in February.
National signing day is Feb. 6.
Meanwhile, according to the Gainesville Sun, one of UVa’s top offensive line commitments, Randy Hand of Fort Myers, Fla., may have reneged on his intentions to play for the Cavaliers. The Sun reported Monday that Hand will decommit to UVa and commit to the Florida Gators.
Hand, a 6-foot-6, 305-pound offensive tackle, became Virginia’s 17th commitment in mid-December. At that time, he chose UVa over North Carolina, Miami, Michigan and Florida. But apparently, new Florida coach Ron Zook and his staff persuaded Hand to visit the SEC school.
“North Carolina was the only other school I seriously considered and I was going to visit Miami and Florida,” Hand told The Daily Progress on Dec. 16. “But Virginia is the right place for me. I really like the campus and all of the coaches. Also, the academics played a big part and I’m excited about where the program is going.”

This is a much different Yellow Jackets team than the one that beat UVa three times last season.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - When Virginia looks at Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers don't see a men's basketball team that has lost six of its last seven games and is winless in ACC play.

The only thing Virginia knows is that it lost three games to the Yellow Jackets last year.

"We've got to remember that," UVa guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "They're young and desperate and that's scary in the ACC."

Seventh-ranked Virginia (12-2, 3-2) visits Georgia Tech at 7:30 tonight. UVa has won its last three games, the last two at home, including a 91-74 triumph Sunday over Florida State.

Georgia Tech's only victory in the last seven games was over lowly Cornell, but the Yellow Jackets (7-11, 0-5) had an earlier victory over then-No.13 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome and played then-No.4 Maryland to a 92-87 game last week in Atlanta.

Of the nine scholarship players receiving playing time for the Yellow Jackets, four are sophomores and four are freshmen.

A fifth freshman, 7-foot, 230-pound Australian Luke Schenscher, started five of the first six games before suffering an injury that will cause him to seek a hardship appeal.

The Yellow Jackets earlier had lost 6-8, 250-pound redshirt senior Michael Isenhour, who is undergoing treatment for leukemia.

Georgia Tech is led by senior point guard Tony Akins, who is scoring 16.6 points per game and has registered 101 assists.

Freshman center Ed Nelson has scored 19, 18 and 14 points in the last three games, although he does not pose the shot-blocking or rebounding threat of 2001 All-ACC center Alvin Jones.

"Jones gave us a lot of problems," UVa forward Chris Williams said. "It's a new year. They've got almost a completely different team."

Williams traditionally struggles in Atlanta, one of the few ACC venues to which his parents make the drive from the family's home in Birmingham, Ala. In three games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, Williams has gone 10-for-33 from the field, with 14 turnovers, and has fouled out twice.

The Cavaliers have lost six straight games in Atlanta, including the 2001 ACC Tournament opener against Georgia Tech at the Georgia Dome. Plus, UVa already has lost on the road this season to a Clemson team that was picked for ninth in the ACC.

With four freshmen among its top eight players, Virginia isn't much younger than Georgia Tech.

"I think they're understanding what it's like to go play away from home," Mason said of his first-year colleagues. "There shouldn't be too much I have to say."

Foul Virginia at your own risk.

The seventh-ranked Cavaliers are shooting a commendable 71.3 percent from the free-throw line this season. But in their past five games - all against ACC rivals, with the stakes raised - the Cavs have made 79.3 percent of their foul shouts. No other ACC team is shooting better than 73 percent in conference play.

This, from a U.Va. team that missed 15 of 30 free throws in its Nov. 16 opener against Wagner. That wasn't the Cavaliers' last subpar performance from the line. They made only 20 of 31 freebies against Virginia Tech on Dec. 1, 21 of 34 against Auburn on Dec. 8, 20 of 34 against Charleston Southern on Dec. 17.

Nor did the start of ACC competition trigger an immediate turnaround. U.Va. was 13 for 20 from the line (65 percent) against N.C. State on Jan. 5, 6 for 11 (54.5 percent) against Clemson three nights later.

Not coincidentally, perhaps, Virginia lost both games. Since then, however, the Cavs have become, by the standards of modern-day hoops, can't-miss kids from the line. They also have posted three straight victories.

The winning streak started Jan. 12 at North Carolina, where U.Va. made 16 of 19 attempts (84.2 percent) from the line. Three nights later, against then-No. 14 Wake Forest, Virginia hit 20 of 22 foul shots (90.9 percent). Then, Sunday against Florida State, the Cavs made 37 of 44 (84.1 percent).

That guard Roger Mason Jr. has the ball in his hands much of the time boosts U.Va.'s numbers. A 6-5 junior, Mason led the ACC in free-throw percentage last season and hasn't lost his touch. He's shooting 91.3 percent from the line for the season and 90 percent in ACC games.

Mason, in fact, became the ACC leader is career free-throw percentage with his 4-for-4 effort against FSU, though he could lose that distinction, if only temporarily, with a miss here or there. He's at 87.32 percent, a fraction ahead of Charlie Davis, who made 87.31 percent for Wake Forest from 1969-71.

This is a U.Va. team stocked with quality free-throw shooters, the exception being forward J.C. Mathis. The 6-8 sophomore is shooting 42.9 percent in ACC play and 44.1 percent in all games. Otherwise, though, the Cavs' big men have been more than respectable from the line. Check out their ACC percentages: Junior Travis Watson is at 75.9, senior Chris Williams at 73.7, freshman Elton Brown at 87.5 and freshman Jason Clark at 66.7.

Coach Pete Gillen "tells us, 'Free throws are going to win the game for us,'" Brown said.

Whatever the reason, Virginia (3-2, 12-2) would be thankful simply to win tonight in Atlanta. Its opponent is Georgia Tech (0-5, 7-11), which has taken 9 of the past 10 games in this series. The Yellow Jackets were the only team to beat the Cavaliers at University Hall last season, and they also defeated them twice in Atlanta: once at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, the other time in an ACC tournament first-round game at the Georgia Dome.

"When I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, that's the game you look at," Mason said. "Every game in the ACC is big, but this one's especially big."

Mason said he's not worried that Virginia's freshmen, after checking out the Jackets' record, will underestimate their foe tonight.

"It doesn't show up in wins and losses," Mason said, "but they've beaten a good Syracuse team, and they're Georgia Tech and they're in the ACC and they beat us three times last year. So that should be enough."