UVa runs afoul against Duke
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer
DURHAM, N.C. — On Sunday night, the No. 7 Virginia men’s basketball team
found out it could play a half with Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium; it just
could not play a whole game. It also learned that it’s hard to beat anyone
when plagued with foul trouble.
No. 1 Duke, which was deadlocked with Virginia at 42 at the half, received 27
points from star guard Jason Williams as it handed Virginia its sixth straight
loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 94-81.
“I thought our kids really responded in the second half. We started attacking
in the second half,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team has now won
six straight games after falling to Florida State on Jan. 6. “Jason went off a
little in the second half and we did a better job rebounding and that led to
some transition stuff for us.”
The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3 ACC) and
also began a grueling week. UVa hosts No. 3 Maryland on Thursday and then
travels to face No. 18 Missouri on Sunday. The defeat was still the closest game
Virginia recently has played in this arena as it had lost its last four games
here by an average of 37.5 points and allowed Duke to score more than 100 each
of those times.
“I’m very proud of our team. We played very hard against a great Duke team.
We played with courage in a very tough environment,” UVa coach Pete Gillen
said. “Our kids competed, but we probably got a little flustered in the second
half. ... A loss is a loss. The other ones were humiliating. I thought we
competed better and were more aggressive.”
The two teams were tied at 42 at the half, but the Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 ACC)
opened the second half with a 17-6 run. And when Chris Duhon connected on a
3-pointer with 15:13 remaining, Duke had opened up a 59-48 advantage.
“They had some spurts in the second half and we got a little flustered. They
got up by eight or 10 and we just didn’t recover,” Gillen said.
Virginia briefly cut the lead to seven, 61-54, on a layup by Roger Mason Jr.
with 13:28 to go but would get no closer the rest of the way as the Blue Devils,
and Carlos Boozer in particular, took advantage of UVa’s foul difficulty on
the interior.
Boozer finished with 25 points and 9 rebounds, many of those points coming on
dunks or layins as UVa was basically defenseless against him.
Virginia center Travis Watson and forward Chris Williams both had to play the
bulk of the second half with four fouls each after heading into the second half
with three apiece. Two of Virginia’s other interior players, J.C. Mathis and
Jason Clark, also were saddled with three fouls after the first 20 minutes.
Clark, who scored a career-high 11 points in the first half, ultimately fouled
out on a reach-in in the backcourt with 16:14 remaining. Williams, who finished
with 13 points, played most of the second half with four fouls and fouled out
with 1:34 remaining.
Watson, who entered the game as the ACC’s leading rebounder, was held to just
nine points in 18 minutes of action. According to Gillen, Watson’s foul
trouble more than anyone else’s was the difference.
“I think the big key to the game was that Travis Watson only played seven
minutes in the first half,” Gillen said. “It’s tough for us to win when a
great player like that is in foul trouble.”
Mason led Virginia with 15 points on 4-for-14 shooting, including a 1-for-6
effort from beyond the arc.
It was obvious as Duke ran the trio of Jason Williams, Chris Duhon and Dahntay
Jones at Mason, that its goal was to take Mason out of the game as much as it
could, or make things as difficult as possible for UVa’s leading scorer.
“We gave some attention to him, but the thing that happens is that he’s so
good that he helps his teammates score because he draws so much attention. ...
He’s one of the top players in the country and he deserves the attention we
gave him,” Krzyzewski said.
Elton Brown, one of UVa’s few inside players to avoid foul trouble, added 12
points and hit two of UVa’s three 3-pointers in 15 attempts. Freshman Keith
Jenifer, who played 33 minutes in his first evening at Cameron, finished with
eight points, four assists and zero turnovers.
Mike Dunleavy and Jones each added 15 for the Blue Devils.
While the Virginia players quickly dismissed any thought of the loss being a
moral victory, they said this defeat was not the kind of one that was going to
derail any momentum it had built up during this five-game winning streak.
“The train is going to keep moving. You can’t put your heads down after one
loss. Guys on this team showed a lot of energy and we’re going to bounce back
from this,” Mason said.
Virginia puts up fight for one half
By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor
DURHAM, N.C.
Pete Gillen doesn’t believe in moral victories. In his book, a loss is a loss
and they all hurt. But the Virginia coach had to feel that his young basketball
team took a giant step forward Sunday night when the Cavaliers gave No. 1 Duke
all it wanted for half a game.
The Blue Devils flexed their top-ranked muscles and wisely took advantage of
Virginia’s foul trouble in rolling to a 94-81 victory in a top-10 showdown.
No one beats Duke at Cameron. Heck, no one hardly ever beats Duke ever. The
Devils, who have won 65 of their last 71 ACC regular-season games, are No. 1 in
the nation for a reason.
But Sunday night’s game was more of a measuring stick for Gillen to see how
far his team had come in a year. Sure, Virginia beat Duke once last season. The
win was in Charlottesville.
Gillen wanted to see if he could take the show on the road. On the last four
visits to Duke, the game was practically over before Virginia
finished its warmups. All four of those games were blowouts of landslide
proportions. In fact, the Cavs trailed by 33 at the half the last time they
ventured inside this storied arena and lost by 40.
This time it wasn’t all that bad. At least the Cavs left Durham with their
self-respect intact and weren’t questioning their skills.
They played Duke jaw-to-jaw the first 20 minutes, deadlocked in a 42-all
dogfight at the half. If the Cavs could keep it up, hoops junkies across the
country would have been in store for an epic.
But as Gillen will caution, his team is taking things one step at a time. His
first year, the program was in shambles and the team still nearly finished .500
in spite of having to play part-time bartenders to fill out the roster. The
second year, the Cavs made the NIT, lost in the first round. Last year, his team
made it to the NCAAs, lost in the first round, but won 20 games and were 14-1 at
home.
Measuring this team against the past, there seems to be a little more maturity
that it can use to gut out tough wins on the road and adapt to situations a
little better than in the past. There is more overall talent and depth, albeit
young, which could allow Gillen’s Cavs to peak at the right time.
Where other Virginia teams have become unglued under the pressure of playing a
highly touted Duke team, these Cavs refused to allow the usual meltdown.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski usually forces opponents to choose their poison.
Gillen chose to be aggressive, which allowed his team to hang for a little over
a half before foul problems stemming from that very aggressiveness began to take
its toll.
A little more than four minutes deep into the second half, both senior Chris
Williams and the ACC’s leading rebounder, Travis Watson, had picked up their
fourth fouls, freshman forward Jason Clark, who had dazzled the crowd with a
career-high 11 first-half points, had fouled out and Duke had taken control of
the game with a 14-4 run for a 56-48 lead.
Game, set, match.
Mired in foul trouble, the Wahoos might as well have played with handcuffs and
shackles the second half. Duke knew it, attacked it and cruised to its 18th win
in 19 games. The Devils average 30 attempts from beyond the 3-point arch but
took only 18 against Virginia, choosing more to attack the basket with their
quickness.
“We drove the ball more than we shot three’s tonight,” said Krzyzewski.
“We’re going to the basket and so you either have to foul us or our guy is
going to score.”
Simple as cornbread but near impossible to stop unless your team excels on
defense in transition. Virginia’s didn’t and paid the price.
“We played aggressively on defense and they called fouls on us,” said
Gillen. “We were in foul trouble and they’re a smart team. They took
advantage of it.”
Gillen tried to go zone to help protect some of his foul-plagued big men, but
that only lasted about 1.2 seconds in the coach’s estimation because Duke
blasted away from the perimeter, making it too risky for Virginia to stay in the
defense.
“Considering the environment and our youth, we played well,” said Gillen.
“Last year was humiliating. This time we competed better and were more
aggressive.”
That’s really what Virginia had to gain from this trip. No one was expecting
the Cavs to win here. What everyone wanted to see was whether they could compete
without the usual implosion in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Baby steps.
Even Krzyzewski was impressed with Virginia’s freshmen, a class that is
proving that it was underrated by most of the recruiting gurus of the hoops
world.
UVa’s foul trouble didn’t soothe K’s worries because it wasn’t the big
dogs that were causing Duke all the problems. Rather it was Clark, 11 points in
11 minutes, big man Elton Brown’s 3-pointers and inside strength, point guard
Keith Jenifer’s poise, confidence and penetration, and Jermaine Harper’s
overall game that raised Krzyzewski’s eyebrows.
“Guys were coming off the bench and scoring more than their regulars,” said
Krzyzewski. “Every kid they put in could play and did play tonight.”
So, even though Virginia left town with a 14-3 mark (4-3 ACC), the Cavs walked
away with something to build on.
Next stop: U-Hall on Thursday night against Maryland.
U.Va. runs out of steam at Duke DURHAM, N.C. -- Statistically, it was a step forward. After losing by an average of 36 points in its previous three visits to Duke,
Virginia hung with the nation's No. 1 team for a half Sunday night.
But 20 minutes was all Virginia could muster.
Dogged by foul trouble and hampered by a cold shooting night from its best
player, Roger Mason Jr., No. 7 Virginia fell to the Blue Devils 94-81 at Cameron
Indoor Stadium.
The Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3) generally thrive in a frantic, ugly contest, but
the cost of keeping the Blue Devils in check was some crippling early foul
trouble.
``We played aggressively and they called fouls on us,'' U.Va. coach Pete
Gillen said.
In quick succession early in the second half, Chris Williams, Travis Watson
and Jason Clark picked up their fourth fouls. Duke (18-1, 6-1) found another
gear and opened up a double-digit lead that it never relinquished.
Mason, shadowed alternately by Dahntay Jones, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon and
Daniel Ewing, missed 10 of his 14 shots from the field and finished with a quiet
15 points. Williams had 13 and freshman Elton Brown 12.
``Nobody's denied me the ball the way they did,'' Mason said.
Duke's Williams scored a game-high 27 and Carlos Boozer 25. Williams had nine
turnovers, but it was that type of game: choppy, physical, without much flow.
Virginia committed 31 fouls, Duke 22. The Blue Devils shot 46 free throws.
``When we're in an attack mode, that's how we get fouled,'' Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said.
Duke attacked in the second half, passing up 3-point attempts in favor of
drives to the basket. The Blue Devils also dropped the ball inside to Boozer.
``I thought we played very hard,'' Gillen said. ``Early in the second half,
they separated themselves from us. . . . We just couldn't recover.''
Watson had just nine points and played just seven first-half minutes. Despite
all the foul trouble and Mason's lack of involvement in the offense, the score
was tied at 42 at the half.
Clark and Brown, Virginia's freshmen forwards, were a key reason the
Cavaliers were even at the break. Clark scored 11 points and Brown eight,
including a pair of 3-pointers.
``I love an environment like this,'' Clark said. ``I love a hostile crowd.''
Freshman point guard Keith Jenifer also did well, playing 33 minutes without
a turnover.
``We played with courage in a tough environment,'' Gillen said.
But by game's end, as Clark put it, ``We ran out of bodies.''
``After you get in foul trouble it's tough,'' Gillen said. ``Because you
can't be as competitive as you want to be.''
By ED MILLER, The
Virginian-Pilot
© January 28, 2002
| Devils, foul trouble erase Cavaliers' early efforts |
| UVa plays Duke close for a half, but Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer upend the upset bid. |
| By
DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES |
DURHAM, N.C. - Things went much better than usual for Virginia on Sunday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The "usual" for the Cavaliers in coach Pete Gillen's first three seasons was an average margin of defeat of 36 points. In a break from its recent pattern here, 10th-ranked Virginia played No.1 Duke close for a half before succumbing to foul problems and the Blue Devils' relentless fast break and penetration, 94-81. Duke (18-1, 6-1 ACC) won its sixth game in a row and moved into a tie for the conference lead with Maryland. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3). "We feel very fortunate to beat this team," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Virginia made us look bad in the first half." UVa dropped to 1-23 against No.1-ranked teams, including 13 straight losses since the Cavaliers defeated then-No.1 North Carolina 86-73 in 1986. Ten of the losses have been to Duke. The Cavaliers, down 28-20 at one stage of the first half, fought back with a lineup that included four freshmen and junior guard Roger Mason Jr. at one point. Freshmen scored 19 of UVa's last 21 points as the Cavaliers forced a 42-42 halftime tie. No one was a bigger force than 6-foot-8, 225-pound Jason Clark, the eighth UVa player to enter the game. Clark, who had not scored more than nine points in any of the Cavaliers' first 16 games, had 11 points and five rebounds by the half. Virginia also received a surprisingly heady performance from freshman point guard Keith Jenifer, who played 33 minutes and had four assists - all in the first half - and no turnovers. "That shows you the type of player he's turned into," said Mason, who had been playing the point until Jenifer took over the reins five games ago. "Most freshmen come in here and get rattled. He liked it, he loved the crowd and he thrived in it." The Cavaliers outscored the Blue Devils 36-24 from the field in the first half, but the Blue Devils made 18 of 23 free throws. The Blue Devils were 30-of-46 from the line for the game. On top of the free shots, Virginia found itself in deep foul trouble as three starters and Clark each had three personals by the half. UVa center Travis Watson played only seven minutes before picking up his third foul on a charging call with 11:11 remaining before halftime. It was more of the same to start the second half. Watson and senior forward Chris Williams had offensive fouls on back-to-back possessions - the fourth for each - in the first 1:01 of the second half. "That didn't make me feel that good," Krzyzewski said. "The guys coming off the bench were scoring more than they were. I don't know if we let up in the first half when Mason wasn't hitting and Watson was in foul trouble. Sometimes that can happen." Duke, which trailed 44-42 following a basket by UVa's J.C. Mathis on the first possession of the second half, took the lead on a three-point play by center Carlos Boozer and never looked back. That started a 17-4 run for the Blue Devils, who later enjoyed a 13-4 spurt that made it 77-59. The Blue Devils shot 67.9 percent in the second half, lifting them to 51.8 for the game - the first team to shoot over 50 percent against the Cavaliers this season. Jason Williams had 27 points and Boozer added 25 in his sixth straight game of 20 or more. Mason, the focus of Duke's defensive strategy, made only four of 14 shots from the field but scored 13 in the second half to finish with a team-high 15. Two of UVa's four double-figure scorers, Clark and Elton Brown, were freshmen. |
Cavaliers run afoul of No. 1 Blue
Devils
DURHAM, N.C. - Virginia's basketball team didn't collapse as it has so many times against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But the Cavaliers didn't win, either, and so they're left to look ahead to Feb. 28, when the Blue Devils visit University Hall.
Top-ranked Duke capitalized on No. 7 U.Va.'s foul problems last night and seized control after intermission. Coach Mike Krzyzewski's club took the lead for good with 19:36 left and pulled away for a 94-81 victory before a sellout crowd of 9,314.
"I thought our kids responded very well in the second half," Krzyzewski said. "Virginia made us look bad in the first half."
The Blue Devils shot 67.9 percent from the floor after the break and 51.8 percent for the game. They also attempted 46 free throws. Before last night, no U.Va. opponent had shot more than 24 foul shots, and that was Wagner on opening night.
"We played aggressively, and they called fouls on us," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.
Duke (6-1, 18-1) has won six straight since its stunning loss at Florida State on Jan. 6. Virginia (4-3, 14-3) saw its five-game winning streak end and dropped into a tie for fourth in the ACC with Wake Forest (4-3, 13-6).
The Blue Devils' "Big Three" - guard Jason Williams, forward Mike Dunleavy and center Carlos Boozer - combined for 67 points and 24 rebounds. The Cavs' top three players - guard Roger Mason Jr., forward Chris Williams and center Travis Watson - totaled 37 points and 19 rebounds.
Mason, hounded from the opening tip by Jason Williams and others, missed 10 of 14 shots from the floor, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
"Mason is truly one of the top players in the country, and he deserves the attention we gave him," Krzyzewski said.
Afterward, Watson said emphatically, "We didn't come down here for no moral victory." Still, this was a game from which the Cavaliers will take many positives, most notably the play of their four freshmen, who combined for 37 points.
"What a spark they're getting from" the newcomers, Coach K said.
When these teams met last season at Cameron, the Blue Devils led by 33 at halftime and cruised to a 42-point win that Gillen called "humiliating." After the first half ended tied at 42 last night, the big question was not whether the Cavs could compete, but whether they'd have any frontcourt players left by game's end.
U.Va. came to Cameron with only nine scholarship players, and by halftime, four of them had three fouls. Watson, the ACC's leading rebounder, picked up his third personal at the 11:11 mark; 6-8 sophomore J.C. Mathis, at 7:25; 6-8 freshman Jason Clark, at 3:51; and 6-7 Williams; at 1:13.
Watson never fouled out, but he played only 18 minutes. Clark departed with 16:14 left after an ill-advised steal attempt in the backcourt, a mere 18 seconds after he'd collected his fourth personal. Williams fouled out with 1:37 remaining.
Conventional wisdom held that Virginia's freshmen - Clark, the 6-9 Brown, point guard Keith Jenifer and shooting guard Jermaine Harper - would be unnerved by the Cameron Crazies. Instead, the first-year players seemed to thrive on the raucous atmosphere. They scored 19 of the Cavaliers' final 21 points in the first half, and Clark, who'd never scored more than nine points as a collegian, had 11 at the break.
Clark finished with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals. Brown had 12 points and four rebounds. Jenifer contributed eight points, four assists and no turnovers. Harper scored six points on 3-for-5 shooting.
"They took another step in the right direction," Mason said.
No.1 Duke has inside stuff
You bust your fannies from the get-go, hustle after loose balls, swarm the glass, roll out your kamikaze defense, force a boatload of turnovers from the country's best backcourt this side of the NBA, shrug off Duke's reputation and the noise from the Cameron Crazies and Coach K's stranglehold on college basketball and play your little orange and blue hearts out.
And still lose by 13.
Reverse the digits, and you've got 31. That's the number of fouls Virginia's Cavaliers committed last night. The stat speaks volumes about this 94-81 decision and how frighteningly difficult it is to keep the genie in the jar that is Duke hoops.
The Blue Devils were 30 for 46 from the line against U.Va. They've made 388 free throws this season. Their opponents have attempted 359. What does it say when you do so much right and still get whipped by double figures? Roger Mason Jr. knows.
"It definitely says they're a great team," Mason said. "We really tried to be the aggressor, and they responded well. They're the defending national champions. They're just really good."
The Cavs had dropped their past six starts in Cameron by an average of 30½ points. When last in the building, they trailed by 33 at halftime. This time, it was a 42-all dead heat.
The Blue Devils want to run. U.Va.'s press hounded them into a walk-it-up pace. Duke wants to fire up treys. U.Va.'s perimeter quickness kept Jason Williams and his buddies from going nuts. Duke wants to force you into mistakes. U.Va. took care of the ball. Duke wants to get to the foul line.
Ah, well, you have to give ground somewhere, now, don't you?
By the time intermission mercifully arrived, four U.Va. players - Travis Watson, J.C. Mathis, Chris Williams and Jason Clark - had three fouls apiece. You will note that each of them logs time in the frontcourt. Williams drew his fourth 38 seconds into the second half when he lowered his right shoulder into Dunleavy while on the move. Watson dittoed when he set an illegal screen 23 seconds later.
Wait, it gets worse. Clark was whistled for his fourth with 16:32 to go, prompting U.Va. assistant Tommy Herrion to gaze down the bench for reinforcements before shrugging helplessly. Eighteen seconds after that stoppage, Clark thought it'd be a smart idea to press Dahntay Jones in the backcourt. Tweet. Take a seat. Will the next banger enter and sign in, please.
By now, you had to wonder what Virginia would run out of first - petrol or bodies? The answer, essentially, was a combination of both. Immediately after Clark made his exit, Jones soared for a tip-in to make it 56-48, and the Cavs got no closer than seven points thereafter. Vulnerable didn't begin to describe U.Va.'s interior defense at that juncture. Fact is, from the beginning of the second half till it was 77-59 and capital-O over, the Blue Devils rang up 11 of 14 baskets on dunks, stickbacks, layups and low-post turnarounds.
Where were Ralph Sampson and Olden Polynice when the Cavs needed'em?
"We're familiar with these guys," Mathis said. "They have five real good players. You have to give up something. You can't defend everything. Today, they went to the foul line a whole lot."
U.Va. went home 14-3. The Cavs have between now and Feb. 28 - that's when these squads meet again, in Charlottesville - to come up with Plan B. It might include 2 by 4s and several lengths of heavy rope.
Devils tough enough
Duke outmuscles No. 7
Virginia
By LUCIANA CHAVEZ, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Small children were
better off shielding their eyes through most of top-ranked Duke's 94-81 victory
over No. 7 Virginia on Sunday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Unsightly was one way to describe it.
In a game that was memorable for the unending sound of referees blowing their
whistles, the Blue Devils exploited Virginia's severe foul trouble in the second
half en route to the ACC victory.
Duke, which shot 35.7 percent in the first half while Virginia successfully
slowed the tempo, knew it needed to take it right at the Cavaliers in the second
half.
The Devils were able to drive and finish more efficiently after intermission
with the Cavs in foul trouble. They got a lot more easy buckets, shooting 67.9
percent from the field (19-for-28) in the second half. Of their 36 points in the
paint for the game, 26 came after intermission.
Junior wing Dahntay Jones, who finished with 15, led the charge after
halftime. He picked up his aggressiveness on the offensive glass and scored six
points, twice swooping in to grab an offensive rebound and finish it with a
dunk, while Duke was building a 64-55 lead with 12:02 remaining in the game.
The tide began to turn with more velocity for the Devils (18-1, 6-1 ACC) at
that point. Virginia forward Jason Clark had already fouled out, after scoring
all 11 of his points in the first half, and Travis Watson was playing
tentatively with four, so Duke's attempts to drive and pass inside began to
produce better results.
Sophomore guard Chris Duhon found junior center Carlos Boozer for a dunk.
Junior guard Jason Williams twice drove the lane, dishing to junior forward Mike
Dunleavy, then Boozer for easy buckets.
A few plays later, Williams found Boozer again ahead of Virginia's defense
for a monster dunk to put the Devils up 77-59 with 8:33 left.
"I thought we got a little flustered early in the second half,"
Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We took a couple bad shots and made some
mistakes, and they capitalized."
Duke's Williams led all scorers with 27 points, adding six rebounds and six
assists, though he did have nine turnovers.
Boozer scored 25 points with nine rebounds. It was Boozer's sixth game in a
row scoring at least 20 points, and he is averaging 23 points and 12.3 rebounds
during that stretch.
Virginia's top scorer, Roger Mason Jr., led the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3) with 15
points, but it was a quiet 15. He scored 13 in the second half, limited to a
single bucket in the first thanks to the tag-team defensive efforts of Duhon,
Williams and Jones.
Virginia and Duke were still neck and neck early in the second half because
Virginia had successfully slowed the game and dictated the tempo.
The Cavaliers were also limiting Duke's looks at open 3s, a Blue Devils
staple.
"Virginia made us look bad in the first half," Krzyzewski said.
"I don't know if we let up a little when Mason wasn't hitting."
The fouls themselves -- Virginia was called for 31, Duke 22 -- also slowed
the game down, putting Duke on the line 46 times, where it made just 30.
After a first half that ended with the score tied at 42, the only clear
things was that Virginia was in a heap of foul trouble and thus would eventually
struggle to maintain its advantage inside the paint.
The Cavs had 15 team fouls at the intermission, and four of their frontcourt
players, including post threat Travis Watson, had three fouls each.
Duke had 11 team fouls, though no one player was in serious foul trouble,
before the end of the half.
"I think a big key to the game was Travis Watson, the leading rebounder
in the ACC, only played seven minutes in the first half," Gillen said.
"It's tough for us to win when a great player like that gets in foul
trouble."
Duke shot poorly (35.7 percent) in the first half. Virginia forced the Devils
to earn their points at the line. Duke shot 23 free throws in the first half and
hit 18, with Williams going 7-for-8, Boozer going 6-for-8 and Dunleavy, who
scored 15 points in the game, going 4-for-5.
Mason was having a heck of a time getting free. He scored just two points in
the first half.
Virginia was able to stay with Duke in the first 20 minutes thanks to 11
points off the bench from Jason Clark and eight from Elton Brown.
"Actually, the guys coming off the bench ... were scoring more,"
Krzyzewski said of Brown and Clark. "We didn't feel that good really."
Cavs Feeling Foul
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, January 28, 2002; Page D05
DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 27 -- When the buzzer sounded for halftime at Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight, Virginia stood tied with No. 1 Duke. But with several key players in foul trouble, the question was how long the seventh-ranked Cavaliers could keep up.
It was not long.
The Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 ACC) pulled in front by 11 points five minutes into the second half and maintained a double-digit lead en route to a 94-81 win.
"We had a chance, but foul trouble hurt us and they capitalized," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "They're a smart team, so they took advantage. . . . We played aggressively and [the referees] called fouls on us."
Said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski: "In the first half, we didn't defend them real well. They're good. They play with a lot of confidence. I thought our kids responded really well in the second half. We started attacking in the full court."
The game was officiated tightly, with Virginia called for 31 fouls and Duke for 22. At one point it seemed as if the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3) might run out of front-court players. Virginia forward Jason Clark fouled out less than four minutes into the second half, at which point center Travis Watson and forward Chris Williams had four fouls apiece and forward J.C. Mathis had three.
Clark and Williams, who finally picked up his fifth foul in the closing minutes, were the only Virginia players to foul out, but three others finished with four fouls, which translated into a 46-24 Duke advantage at the free throw line and prompted the Cavaliers into shooting jump shots instead of attacking the basket, as they had in the first half.
"You just lose that aggressiveness when you're in foul trouble," said Williams, who scored 13 points. "You don't go hard to the cup because you're scared of picking up a charge."
Not one Duke player fouled out, but guards Dahntay Jones and Jason Williams -- who scored a game-high 27 points -- each had four fouls. Carlos Boozer, one of four Devils with three fouls, added 25 points -- his sixth straight game with at least 20.
As expected, Watson started despite a hip pointer that kept him out of Thursday's game against Virginia Military Institute. But he picked up his third foul less than nine minutes into the game and played just 18 minutes, contributing nine points and 11 rebounds.
In the Cavaliers' second and third possessions after halftime, Chris Williams and Watson committed their fourth fouls and immediately took seats on the bench. By the time Watson returned five minutes later, Duke's three-point lead had ballooned to 59-48.
"It's tough for us to win when a great player like [Watson] gets in foul trouble," Gillen said. "I thought that was a big key to the game."
Virginia pulled within seven with 13 1/2 minutes left on a drive by junior guard Roger Mason Jr., who had a team-high 15 points but shot 4 of 14.
In the next two minutes, though, the Blue Devils regained a double-digit lead and maintained it for the rest of the game. Boozer all but slammed the door on Virginia's upset hopes with a fast-break dunk to put Duke up 77-59 with 8:42 remaining.
The Blue Devils' second-half explosion stood in contrast to a back-and-forth first-half battle worthy of a pair of top 10 teams. Virginia trailed for much of the half but managed to stay within six points and made a late surge for a 42-42 halftime tie.
Duke led by eight points on Mike Dunleavy's two free throws 12 1/2 minutes into the game, but the Cavaliers pulled even in less than two minutes. Elton Brown tied the score at 29 by stepping back to make a three-pointer. On the next possession, Clark made a free throw to give Virginia its first lead since an 8-7 advantage.
"Virginia made us look bad in the first half," Krzyzewski said. "I don't know if we let up a little bit when Mason wasn't hitting and Watson was in foul trouble."
Gillen said he was proud of the way Virginia played and took solace in its improvement from last season's 42-point loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But Williams, a senior who lost at Duke in his first three seasons by an average of 36 points per game, did not see the silver lining.
"We still lost," Williams said. "You don't want to come down here and get a moral victory."
Virginia plays even with Duke for a half before fading
DURHAM, N.C. - Rather than the lopsided losses of the past few years,
Virginia left Cameron Indoor Stadium without shame Sunday night, but the result
in the standings will be the same: Duke 94, Cavaliers 81.
Seventh-ranked Virginia played the No. 1 Blue Devils to a standstill over the first 20 minutes, heading into halftime tied at 42, but it was a pyrrhic moral victory, as four Cavaliers - including the entire starting front court - had three fouls at halftime.
Then, on the second and third possessions of the second half, Chris Williams and Travis Watson each picked up a fourth foul. The Cavaliers were left defenseless in the interior when freshman power forward Jason Clark, who had played a superb first half, entered the game and got called for his fourth and fifth fouls within a 16-second span, leaving the game for good at the 16:14 mark.
"We couldn't be as aggressive in the second half," Williams said. "When you're in foul trouble, you don't want to take it to the hole because you're afraid of the charge."
Duke went on a 7-0 run at that point, as Virginia missed shots on its next six possessions to fall behind 59-48. The Cavaliers never got within nine points after that, as the Blue Devils pounded the ball inside to Carlos Boozer, who scored 15 of his 25 points in the second half.
Virginia (14-3, 4-3 ACC) now hosts Maryland Thursday night before traveling to Missouri Sunday in its toughest stretch thus far, a five-game winning streak ended here.
All in all, the Cavaliers were called for 31 fouls to Duke's 22, and Duke made 30 of 46 free throws; once the Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1) sense the referees were whistle-happy, they began to attack the basket more, particularly in giving the ball to Jason Williams and Boozer, who each shot 12 free throws.
"They were aggressive and it paid off," Chris Williams said.
Jason Williams scored a game-high 27 points and Mike Dunleavy and Dahntay Jones each added 15 points for the Blue Devils.
Roger Mason Jr. struggled for Virginia, scoring 15 points on 4 of 14 shoooting, including one of six from 3-point range. The Blue Devils doubled down on the Cavaliers' big men, robbing Mason of his best passing options. Williams draped Mason one-on-one for most of the game, all but eliminating him.
Chris Williams, who fouled out in the final minute, scored 13 points. Watson, battling a hip pointer that forced him to miss the VMI game Thursday, scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Not getting blown out by the Blue Devils was a milestone of sorts for a Pete Gillen-coached Virginia team. The Cavaliers had lost by an average of 36 points in their three previous trips to Cameron under Gillen.
"We didn't come down here for any kind of moral victory," said Chris Williams, a senior who was present for previous losses by 42, 20 and 46 points here.
Duke was unable to shake the Cavaliers in the first half despite nearly all of Virginia's post rotation picking up three fouls. After Watson left with 11:51 remaining in the half, Mathis picked up his third four minutes later and Williams followed with just over a minute left in the half.
The Cavaliers were left with their four freshmen on the floor together for long stretches, and still managed to give Duke fits.
"Virginia made us look bad in the first half," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I don't know if we let up a bit when Mason wasn't hitting shots and Watson got into foul trouble - sometimes that can happen - or what."
Krzyzewski was especially complementary of the Virginia bench - Clark was terrific, scoring 11 points and grabbing five rebounds in 10 first-half minutes, and continuing to establish himself as the Cavaliers' best post defender. Elton Brown scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Jenifer controlled the game, his head down and churning his legs upcourt to ignite the fastbreak. Mason was held to five shots in the first half, making one, and was not allowed to set his feet for a 3-pointer, but he thoroughly outplayed Duhon. Jenifer finished with eight points, four assists (all in the first half) and no turnovers. Duhon had 7 assists but 5 turnovers, and scored just six points.
The same, however, could be said about Virginia, which held Duke to 35.7 percent shooting by harassing the 3-point shooters and keeping a close watch on Boozer in the paint. If Williams or Duhon penetrated, there was usually more than one player to collapse on the ball.
But in the second half, with most of the Cavaliers regulars either on the bench with four and five fouls or playing tentatively, the Blue Devils made 19 of 28 shots.
Warwick's Vick, Hill weigh college options
"We will sit down and talk about it," Reamon said.
"It's been a nice process. He's been very mature. I've sat down with
quarterback coaches and offensive coordinators and thrown them some pretty
heavy-duty questions. Every school has done a great job. I've learned a lot
about each school, and I know Marcus has, too."
Vick admitted Saturday he was leaning toward Virginia Tech and he may choose a
college within the next week, but added he is planning to make a formal
announcement Feb. 5. In addition to Reamon, another individual who may be ready
to provide some advice to Vick is his brother Michael, the Atlanta Falcons
quarterback and former Tech star.
Two weeks ago, Marcus said his brother was going to keep quiet until "it
comes down to the wire" before offering his opinions. Michael went to
Blacksburg on Saturday night to attend the 23rd birthday party of former Hokies
fullback Jarrett Ferguson, according to Marcus, who also said he was planning to
go to the party.
Meanwhile, Brenden Hill, a former wide receiver at Warwick, said Sunday he had
eliminated West Virginia from his options and would make his decision from U.Va.,
Virginia Tech and possibly Norfolk State. Hill said he had a visit scheduled to
West Virginia for this past weekend, but a midweek in-home visit from the
Mountaineers didn't go as planned.
"They said something to me that was kind of a smack in the face, so I'm not
considering them anymore," Hill said. "They thought I was going to
commit to U.Va. or Virginia Tech, and they really thought I was going to commit
after that visit (to U.Va.) I had last weekend, so they played it soft with me
and recruited a few other guys a little harder than they recruited me."
He is slated to visit Virginia Tech this weekend and indicated he might wait
until signing day (Feb. 6) to make an announcement. Hill added that he currently
doesn't favor any college.
"One day I feel like I'm leaning one way, and the next day I feel like I'm
leaning the other," Hill said. "It's going to be a hard
decision."