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Cavaliers use layoff to their advantage
 By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 12, 2003
 
Layoffs after losses can be double-edge swords.

A team may be eager to return to the court quickly, thus erasing any lingering memories. The other possibility is that a lengthy respite can refocus a team as adjustments and tinkering are done to improve the on-court product.

The latter describes the Virginia men's basketball team.

The Cavaliers had six days off after their loss to N.C. State last Sunday and their contest against North Carolina at University Hall on Saturday. In this instance, the Cavaliers used the layoff wisely.

Virginia played its best opening half of the season as it jumped out to a 48-30 halftime advantage and then held off North Carolina in the final 20 minutes for a 79-72 victory.

"I think they knew that we were playing a great team in North Carolina. … They knew we had to get an ACC win. You'd have to ask them but I think we did play with a sense of urgency," said UVa coach Pete Gillen.

UVa sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer, who scored 10 points with six assists and just two turnovers Saturday, described last week's practices as intense though he noted that players were in and out of practice with injuries.

"We had a couple of hard practices, especially right after the N.C. State game. We just knew today was a must-win game because we didn't want to go to Duke 0-2 in the league," Jenifer said.

Added junior guard Todd Billet, who made six 3-pointers and had 24 points against the Tar Heels: "It was a good week of practice. It gave us a chance to regroup and get better. We had some long, intense practices and the team got a little better because of it."

There were two visible byproducts of those practices, one as the result of emphasis the other the result of, well, practice.

Against N.C. State, the Cavaliers suffered from poor shooting from the perimeter (4 of 22) and an inability to frequently get the ball to senior forward Travis Watson. On Saturday against North Carolina, the Cavaliers were more effective in both areas.

Virginia connected on 11 of its 26 attempts from behind the arc and Watson received a few more touches on the interior as he scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Billet and Virginia's other perimeter players admitted to extra shooting sessions during the week while Virginia made obvious attempts to feed Watson the ball in the post when possible. Of course, there is a certain relationship between the two as good shooting from the perimeter opens things up for Watson and vice-versa.

"When Todd and Travis are playing well we are at a different level," Gillen said. "Travis worked hard to get the ball. We're looking for him, trust me. He's got to work hard to get it and he did that today I thought. … When he gets touches, usually good things happen."

While North Carolina's zone might have limited those touches to less than he would have liked - Watson connected on seven of his 10 shots - Watson claimed he took it upon himself to be productive he received the ball.

"I definitely felt more involved in the offense. When I got the ball, I was going to the rack. That's what I've wanted to do for a long time but I wanted to keep it in the flow of the game," Watson said.

The win was Virginia's fourth straight overall against North Carolina and fourth in a row against the Tar Heels at University Hall. It's the first time in nearly 83 years that Virginia can claim such streaks against its rival. It's something certainly beyond the memory of the 55-year-old Gillen.

"I was just a gleam in somebody's eye back then. All I know is that we need an ACC win desperately and we beat a very talented ACC team," said Gillen, whose teams have won six of the last seven against the Tar Heels.

 

 

Beating Tar Heels no longer brings nirvana for Virginia
By BOB MOLINARO, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 13, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Against a discount North Carolina team, Virginia won a dullish basketball game it felt it had to have, but Tar Heel fortunes weren’t all that suffered Saturday afternoon.
These meetings between U.Va. and North Carolina once had the feel of something special, at least for U.Va. players and fans hoping to wipe smug grins from Tar Heel faces.

In the case of the players, though, apparently that’s no longer as true as it once was. For the time being, the sight of Carolina blue does not inspire fear or loathing.

"It was just a game we had to win," said Todd Billet, U.Va.’s scoring leader, reflecting the business-like mood of the U.Va. locker room. ‘‘It didn’t matter if it was North Carolina, Florida State or Clemson."

Once, beating North Carolina 79-72 would have represented much more than a single conference victory, in this case, U.Va.’s first of the year.

Whereas now outplaying the Tar Heels inspires a general feeling of relief, it used to spark giddy celebration.

"Well, you don’t want to go 0-2 in the conference and then play at Duke," summed up Billet, anticipating Wednesday’s visit to Durham, N.C.

Beating this Carolina team, one supposes, is mostly about the numbers. Once it involved all the emotions. And hearing people lump their program in with ciphers like Florida State and Clemson may be the cruelest blow by yet the suffered Tar A year ago, Heels.

We have Carolina coach Matt Doherty and Bill Guthridge, his predecessor, to thank for this. Guthridge’s recruiting left the cupboard bare for Doherty, who is not yet up to the task of winning with an incomplete team, made even weaker by the injury to freshman big man Sean May.

As the Tar Heels fell to 9-5 and 1-1 in the ACC, Doherty said, "This may sound crazy, but I’m as excited about my team as I’ve ever been." It does make him sound a trifle daft. But a coach needs to grab for inspiration wherever he can find it. Saturday, he lauded his team for whittling U.Va.’s 18-point halftime lead to six. Perhaps the score might have been different had North Carolina come out of its ineffective zone before the end of the first half. But by the time Doherty adjusted, Billet had fired in five 3-pointers and U.Va. had eight of the 11 treys it would make for the day. "We made a change to man-to-man at halftime," said Doherty. "Maybe we should have gotten out of the zone sooner." At the game’s start, the change in Billet was obvious. The junior transfer emerged from his shooting slump in time to give U.Va. hope of doing something unusual this season in the ACC, such as winning on the road. "He’s just what this team needed," Doherty said. Virginia coach Pete Gillen attributed Billet’s performance to old-fashioned work ethic. "He spent five or six days in the gym, doing extra," Gillen said. Said Billet, who finished with 24 points, "I got to the gym an hour early and shot a couple hundred jump shots each day. In any line of work, you put in more effort, you’re going to have greater success. You don’t want to underachieve."

A year ago, underachieving defined the last half of U.Va.’s season. In the second half Saturday, the Cavaliers again displayed an inclination for coasting with a big lead. It’s a luxury they won’t enjoy against teams with more talent than the Tar Heels.

"All I know is," said Gillen, "we needed an ACC win very desperately." U.Va. got what it needed. Those wanting a victory over Carolina to mean something special again may have to wait a little longer.
 

 

 

Virginia's Mapp finds way back to the court

Majestic Mapp makes his return during the Cavaliers' victory over North Carolina after two reconstructive knee surgeries.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   CHARLOTTESVILLE - For nearly three years, Majestic Mapp has been getting the same question: "When are you going to play again?"

    Now, he can move on.

    Mapp, the only McDonald's All-American on Virginia's basketball roster, learned Friday night at dinner that he would play Saturday against North Carolina in a game the Cavaliers won 79-72.

    "I've been telling them for the longest time that I've been ready to go," said Mapp, who received the go-ahead from a surgeon in California who had performed the second of Mapp's two reconstructive knee surgeries. "It was their decision."

    Gillen had said he was waiting for the approval of the Cavaliers' medical staff and wanted to see Mapp go through a full practice, which he did for the first time last week.

    Mapp entered Saturday's game with 7:23 remaining in the first half, came out with 5:11 left, and did not play in the second half. He did not wear a brace, did not favor his rebuilt right knee, and made the transition from zone to man-to-man when Gillen changed defenses.

    Mapp's only field-goal attempt was a 3-point try that looked on line but did not fall.

    "It would have been too good to be true if he had nailed that 3," Gillen said. "He didn't have a big impact on the game, but the fact he played [and] had the courage to play was great. [After] all those thousands of hours of rehab and the pain and doubt, I was thrilled for him."

    Gillen said the coaches debated at halftime whether to use Mapp in the second half but decided against it, based on a lack of full-scale practice time.

    "I'm not the coach, so I don't know what the two minutes was about," Mapp said. "But, I got out there. Things are getting better. I'm healthy. I thank God for that."

    The Cavaliers really didn't need Mapp because sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer had everything under control. Jenifer, prone to lapses in judgment and inconsistent shooting, was so indispensable Saturday that Gillen had to rush him back into the game after several breaks.

    "What I see out of Keith is, all he has to do is keep maturing and he'll be fine," said Mapp, who was a freshman when he last played in 1999-2000 and conceivably could have two more years of eligibility, based on appeal.

    As a freshman, Mapp played nearly 18 minutes per game and once was considered a likely three-year starter. He was the first player signed by Gillen after he took the job in the spring of 1998.

    "I'm not coming back to be a mediocre player," Mapp said. "I'm coming back to eventually be the best again. We'll see what happens down the road."