sabres.gif (4521 bytes)

Cavaliers exhibit home-court edge
 By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 30, 2003
 
A lack of balance and consistency might plague the Virginia men's basketball team on the road but that problem seems to disappear at home. Or at least it did on Wednesday night against Florida State at University Hall.

Five Virginia players scored in double figures as the team dispatched Florida State, 85-72, to improve to 9-0 at University Hall this season.

"We got a lead and maintained it. A lot of times we are not mature enough to do that. … It was one of our better games of the year," said Gillen, whose team connected on a season-best 11 3-pointers and limited Florida State to 43.5 percent shooting. "We had balance both offensively and defensively."

Travis Watson had a team-high 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds – his 47th career double-double - while freshman Derrick Byars, in his best performance in nearly a month, added 15. Todd Billet and Elton Brown each had 14 for the Cavaliers (12-6, 3-3 ACC), while Jason Clark finished with 12.

In addition, sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer came off the bench to dish out a career-high eight assists while junior point guard Majestic Mapp had four points and two assists in nine minutes.

"We had nice balance tonight. We had nice ball movement. We had good possession and got good shots. I think guys are starting to feel a little more comfortable with each other."

Tim Pickett led Florida State (10-8, 1-6 ACC) with 21 points, 18 of which came in the second half, after the game had basically been decided. For the Seminoles, it extended a winless streak in ACC road games that extends back to March 3, 2001, when they defeated Clemson, 75-63. In total, the Seminoles have now lost 12 straight ACC road contests.

"You have to give Virginia a lot of credit. Every time we cut into the lead they would hit a big shot. That's a mark of a team with good balance both inside and outside," said first-year Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton.

Virginia led 38-28 at intermission. Sparking the Cavaliers offense in the first 20 minutes were two unlikely sources. Sophomore forward Jason Clark, starting his second straight game, had 10 points while freshman Derrick Byars had 11.

Byars, who has a combined 18 points in his previous six contests, entered the game with 14:31 left in the first half and UVa proceeded to fall behind by six, 18-12. After a basket by Brown cut the lead to 18-14, Byars erupted to score Virginia's next 11 points which included three 3-pointers. When Byars hit the last of those treys, Virginia led 25-20 with 8:47 left before halftime.

"Derrick just gave us a big lift," Gillen said.

Byars entered the game having made just one of his last 11 3-point attempts but his confidence reappeared Wednesday night.

"I've been kind of off with my shot. I just tried to get my stroke back tonight. I had some open looks and I knocked them down," said Byars, who finished with a career-high four 3-pointers.

Clark's scoring came from much closer than Byars' efforts as the 6-foot-8 had three dunks and was the recipient of alley-oop passes from Devin Smith and then Todd Billet.

Billet's halfcourt-lob in particular was not perfectly placed but the athletic Clark still managed to rise enough to slam the ball home, much to the delight of the U-Hall crowd.

"It wasn't that bad a pass. I just tried to go up and get it. That's what you have to do," Clark said.

Clark also sparked UVa's defense as he drew the assignment of guarding FSU leading-scorer Tim Pickett. Pickett, averaging 18.0 points a contest entering the game, had just three points after 1-for-8 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. As a team, the Seminoles shot just 36.7 percent in the first half.

Virginia, as Gillen noted, maintained its halftime advantage and constantly kept the Seminoles at a 12- to 14-point deficit for much of the second half.

Virginia built its biggest lead, 70-52, on a 3-pointer by Mapp with 5:29 remaining. The Seminoles briefly cut the lead to under 10 with two minutes remaining, but would get no closer.

 

 

Cavaliers exhibit home-court edge
 By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 30, 2003
 
A lack of balance and consistency might plague the Virginia men's basketball team on the road but that problem seems to disappear at home. Or at least it did on Wednesday night against Florida State at University Hall.

Five Virginia players scored in double figures as the team dispatched Florida State, 85-72, to improve to 9-0 at University Hall this season.

"We got a lead and maintained it. A lot of times we are not mature enough to do that. … It was one of our better games of the year," said Gillen, whose team connected on a season-best 11 3-pointers and limited Florida State to 43.5 percent shooting. "We had balance both offensively and defensively."

Travis Watson had a team-high 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds – his 47th career double-double - while freshman Derrick Byars, in his best performance in nearly a month, added 15. Todd Billet and Elton Brown each had 14 for the Cavaliers (12-6, 3-3 ACC), while Jason Clark finished with 12.

In addition, sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer came off the bench to dish out a career-high eight assists while junior point guard Majestic Mapp had four points and two assists in nine minutes.

"We had nice balance tonight. We had nice ball movement. We had good possession and got good shots. I think guys are starting to feel a little more comfortable with each other."

Tim Pickett led Florida State (10-8, 1-6 ACC) with 21 points, 18 of which came in the second half, after the game had basically been decided. For the Seminoles, it extended a winless streak in ACC road games that extends back to March 3, 2001, when they defeated Clemson, 75-63. In total, the Seminoles have now lost 12 straight ACC road contests.

"You have to give Virginia a lot of credit. Every time we cut into the lead they would hit a big shot. That's a mark of a team with good balance both inside and outside," said first-year Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton.

Virginia led 38-28 at intermission. Sparking the Cavaliers offense in the first 20 minutes were two unlikely sources. Sophomore forward Jason Clark, starting his second straight game, had 10 points while freshman Derrick Byars had 11.

Byars, who has a combined 18 points in his previous six contests, entered the game with 14:31 left in the first half and UVa proceeded to fall behind by six, 18-12. After a basket by Brown cut the lead to 18-14, Byars erupted to score Virginia's next 11 points which included three 3-pointers. When Byars hit the last of those treys, Virginia led 25-20 with 8:47 left before halftime.

"Derrick just gave us a big lift," Gillen said.

Byars entered the game having made just one of his last 11 3-point attempts but his confidence reappeared Wednesday night.

"I've been kind of off with my shot. I just tried to get my stroke back tonight. I had some open looks and I knocked them down," said Byars, who finished with a career-high four 3-pointers.

Clark's scoring came from much closer than Byars' efforts as the 6-foot-8 had three dunks and was the recipient of alley-oop passes from Devin Smith and then Todd Billet.

Billet's halfcourt-lob in particular was not perfectly placed but the athletic Clark still managed to rise enough to slam the ball home, much to the delight of the U-Hall crowd.

"It wasn't that bad a pass. I just tried to go up and get it. That's what you have to do," Clark said.

Clark also sparked UVa's defense as he drew the assignment of guarding FSU leading-scorer Tim Pickett. Pickett, averaging 18.0 points a contest entering the game, had just three points after 1-for-8 shooting in the opening 20 minutes. As a team, the Seminoles shot just 36.7 percent in the first half.

Virginia, as Gillen noted, maintained its halftime advantage and constantly kept the Seminoles at a 12- to 14-point deficit for much of the second half.

Virginia built its biggest lead, 70-52, on a 3-pointer by Mapp with 5:29 remaining. The Seminoles briefly cut the lead to under 10 with two minutes remaining, but would get no closer.

 

 

U.Va.’s Watson makes the difference against FSU
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 30, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE — The boxscore shows that Virginia’s Travis Watson and Florida State’s Tim Pickett, two of the more prolific scorers in the ACC, enjoyed similar evenings Wednesday night.
Don’t believe the type.

True, Pickett scored 21 points, and Watson had 20, but the similarities ended there in Virginia’s 85-72 win at University Hall.

Pickett scored a frustrated 21, many of them late, when the Seminoles tried to cut into Virginia’s double-digit lead. Watson’s scored a difference-making 20, and also grabbed 16 rebounds. In the second half, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior seemed to grab every rebound that mattered.

“If it’s a missed shot, I think I can get it,” Watson said.

There were plenty of missed shots. FSU (10-8, 1-6 ACC) shot 27 of 62, while Virginia (12-6, 3-3) was 28 of 62. Watson missed 9 of 14 attempts, but he made 9 of 13 free throws, and a critical 3-pointer that put the Cavaliers up 74-58 with 4:03 left.

”It seemed like every time we tried to get back in the game, they would hit a big shot,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.

Virginia made 11 of 20 3-pointers and had five players in double figures. Coach Pete Gillen used his 10th different starting lineup.

Afterwards, Gillen sounded almost apologetic, saying he’d like to be able to settle on a starting five.

“It’s tougher to coach a team this way,” he said.

But if Gillen is trying to develop depth, Wednesday’s win provided some encouraging signs. Ten Cavaliers played, all for at least seven minutes. Only Jermaine Harper and Keith Jenifer failed to score, but Jenifer had eight assists and just one turnover.

”We had nice ball movement. We worked, and got good shots,” guard Todd Billet said. “Guys are becoming more comfortable playing with each other.”

Freshman Derrick Byars came off the bench to score 15 points, and made 4 of 6 3-pointers.

Billet and Elton Brown had 14 each, and Jason Clark added 12. Clark, making his second straight start, energized the Cavaliers early. He scored the game’s first basket on a follow-up of a Billet miss, and was fouled. After converting the three-point play, Clark picked off a pass at midcourt and scored on a breakaway dunk to give Virginia a 5-0 lead.

Clark scored again three minutes later on an alley-oop from Devin Smith, and ended a 11-0 run late in the half with another alley-oop slam, on a half-court pass from Billet.

“We didn’t expect Clark to go 4 for 4 from the floor out of the gate,” Hamilton said.

The Seminoles probably didn’t expect Clark to shadow Pickett, either. But the 6-8 sophomore from Virginia Beach helped hold the 6-3 Pickett to three points in the first half.

”I just tried to keep the ball out of his hands,” Clark said. “He’s an exceptional shooter.”

Not to mention a prolific shooter. Pickett, a junior college transfer, shot an ACC-leading 275 times, including 178 3-pointers, coming into the game, and was averaging 18.0 points. Pickett shot just 1 of 8 in the first half. He finished 7 of 18, but by the time he got going, it was too late for the Seminoles.

“Defense was the story tonight,” Gillen said.

The Cavaliers, last in the ACC in scoring defense, have not been able to say that very often this year. Virginia’s next challenge is another first under Gillen: win an ACC game on the road. The Cavaliers play at Georgia Tech Saturday.

”We hope this can carry over,” Billet said. “We’re going to find out Saturday.”

 

 

 

U.Va. extends home rule
Cavs 9-0 at U-Hall after beating'Noles
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 30, 2003
U.VA. 85 FSU 72

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Until it starts winning on the road, the Virginia men's basketball team can't afford to stumble at home. The Cavaliers had no such problems last night against the ACC's last-place team.

"You have to hold serve at home," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said after his team whipped Florida State 85-72 before a sellout crowd at University Hall. "You got to win every home game if you want to be a good team, then try to win two or three on the road."

Virginia (3-3, 12-6) improved to 9-0 at U-Hall, where it won't play again until N.C. State (4-1, 11-4) comes to town Feb. 9. The Cavaliers, 0-3 in ACC road games, visit Georgia Tech (3-3, 10-7) on Saturday and defending NCAA champion Maryland (5-1, 12-4) next Thursday.

"I think we're ready to go, but we'll find out Saturday," junior guard Todd Billet said. "There's no use saying we're going to be ready. We just have to go out and show it on the court Saturday."

Billet (14 points) was one of five Cavaliers to score in double figures, the first time they've had that many since Feb. 28, 2002, against Duke. Senior forward Travis Watson led U.Va. with 20 points and 16 rebounds, his 47th career double-double. Freshman forward Derrick Byars came off the bench to score 15, his first game in double figures since Jan. 2. Sophomore starters Elton Brown and Jason Clark were a combined 11 of 14 from the floor and contributed 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The 6-7 Byars hit a career-high four of Virginia's 11 3-pointers. Starting with his first trey, which came with 11:18 left in the first half, Byars ran off 11 straight points to help U.Va. rally for a 25-20 lead. He'd totaled 12 points in his previous five games.

"Freshmen are going to be up and down," Gillen said. "He's a terrific player. I think he's got as much upside as anybody on our team, tremendous potential. So I wasn't really worried about him. I've got a lot of confidence in him, but sometimes he gets down on himself."

Byars said: "That's how I've been all my life. I get down on myself a lot, but sometimes I think it works out for the best for me. It brings out the best in me."

Florida State (1-6, 10-8) came in allowing 65.3 points per game. Only once in their first 17 games had the Seminoles given up more than 84 points. The Wahoos led by 10 at the break and by 18 with 5:25 remaining following a Majestic Mapp 3-pointer. Behind junior guard Tim Pickett, who scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, FSU cut its deficit to nine with 2 minutes left, but the Cavs never collapsed.

"It seemed like every time we tried to get back in the game, they would hit a big shot," said Leonard Hamilton, FSU's first-year coach. "That's the mark of a team that has the right balance inside and outside."

The Seminoles, who lost their 12th straight ACC road game, shot 43.5 percent from the floor. The 6-8, 234-pound Clark's first-half work on the 6-4 Pickett, the ACC's fifth-leading scorer, set the tone for a U.Va. team not known for its suffocating defense.

"I think defense was the story tonight," Gillen said.

Clark, a post player for the first 42 games of his career, made his second straight start at small forward. He scored the Cavs' first seven points and made all four of his field-goal attempts in the first half.

Point guard Keith Jenifer, who last week against Wake Forest appeared to sulk about losing his starting job, went scoreless for the second straight game, missing five attempts from the floor and two from the line. But the 6-3 sophomore recorded eight assists and only one turnover in 22 minutes.

"He's been much criticized, but that's pretty good: 8 to 1," Gillen said. "I'll take that any day."
 

 

Cavaliers pick up effort on defense
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published January 30, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Wanting to keep the positive vibes going, Virginia had two factors in its favor Wednesday night: The Cavaliers were at home, where they hadn't lost this season, and they were facing the ACC's last-place team.

Virginia shut down Florida State scoring ace Tim Pickett in the first half and got contributions from all over in an 85-72 victory in University Hall. The Cavaliers limited the Seminoles to 37-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and extended their home record to 9-0.

"I thought our defensive effort was the difference," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "It was one of our better games of the year, especially defensively."

Five Cavaliers scored in double figures, led by Travis Watson with 20 to go with 16 rebounds for his 47th double-double. Freshman Derrick Byars broke a month-long shooting slump with 15 points - three fewer than he had scored in his previous six games - on 5-of-8 shooting.

Elton Brown and Todd Billet each had 14 and Jason Clark scored 12, including his team's first seven. Point guard Keith Jenifer missed all five shots he took but contributed eight assists to one turnover in 22 minutes against the Seminoles (10-8, 1-6).

Gillen rotated 10 players, with each seeing at least seven minutes. Only Watson and Billet played more than 24. Gillen substituted 10 times alone in the first half.

"We're kind of going by feel, you know what I mean?" Gillen said. "We've got guys who can do certain things. Certain guys can rebound, certain guys can score. We have some talented players, but it's tougher to coach a team this way. You'd like to have a starting lineup and a veteran group. It's tougher to coach, but it's nice to have some depth when you get foul trouble and injuries."

It might require some ego checks along the way.

"It's hard for anyone," Clark said. "But it's important to keep in mind it's a team game, and it's going to make us stronger. That's really going to help us down the road at tournament time."

Pickett, the ACC's fifth-leading scorer, finished with 21, but 18 of that came in the final 15:16, after the Cavaliers (12-6, 3-3) had built a double-digit lead. With Clark constantly in his face, Picket (7-for-18) scored only a transition layup and a free throw until finding range in the second half.

"We didn't stop him," Gillen said. "But we slowed him down a little, at least in the first half."

Since an embarrassing meltdown at Virginia Tech on Jan. 21, the Cavaliers have rebounded with back-to-back league victories at home. Now, Virginia must find that same intensity for a two-game road swing. The Cavs face Georgia Tech on Saturday in Atlanta, where they have won once since 1995. Then it's on to Maryland, where Virginia has lost its last 10.

"This year, the ACC home teams have won probably 85 percent of the time," said Billet, who was not far off the actual figure of 77.8. "This is the year when road wins are a rarity. But we've just got to try to steal a couple."

 

 

 

ACC race really is a race in '03
SCOTT FOWLER
 

The ACC men's basketball season is drawing toward the halfway mark.

Thankfully, deliciously, we still don't know what we've got.

Too many of the most recent ACC seasons have been horse races featuring Secretariat. In four of the past five years, the team that won the ACC regular season (usually Duke) sped through with either a 15-1 or 16-0 record.

This year everyone already has at least one loss. Duke already has two. N.C. State (4-1 in the ACC) play at Maryland (5-1) at 9 p.m. Thursday in a game that will determine first place.

But maybe not for long. In a league where the mountains aren't as tall nor the valleys as deep in 2003, this race promises to be an actual race.

"The bottom has definitely gotten stronger and the top has lost some in our league," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said Tuesday. "I think the top teams would definitely admit that."

The ACC still boasts three teams in the national Top 25: Duke is No. 5, Maryland No. 10 and Wake Forest No. 17.

But the gaps are closing. Florida State, the league's worst squad, isn't horrible. North Carolina (2-3 ACC) has beaten No. 12 Kansas and No. 14 Connecticut this season but can't break into the ACC's top four. Virginia, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech have yet to lose at home all season -- they are a combined 27-0 -- but remain in a sprint, trying to catch the ACC leaders.

"When one team goes 16-0 or 15-1 in the conference and gobbles up all the wins, that makes their fans happy, but I'm not sure it makes anyone else happy," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "Parity makes the conference more exciting."

So would you trade a few days of March Madness for a few weeks of January and February gladness?

Because that might be the downside to the early exhilaration and the likelihood that the conference winner this season will go no better than 12-4 in the ACC.

The ACC has produced the past two national champions -- Duke in 2001, Maryland in 2002 -- but might not place a team in the Final Four this season.

Duke has a chance, of course, but the Blue Devils have had a little case of the freshman blahs lately. The fact that Duke was the last Division I team in America to lose this season speaks volumes about coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils' spectacular recruiting, but the "D" in Duke no longer stands for "dominant."

Maryland has the best chance to reach the Final Four because of the Terrapins' powerful inside-outside combination. But I'm not sure Maryland has someone like Juan Dixon on this team, someone who absolutely refuses to lose.

It's conceivable someone else in the ACC could turn into a great team and make some NCAA tournament noise. N.C. State's Julius Hodge and Wake Forest's Josh Howard rank as the ACC's two best players at the moment, and they might carry their team for a couple of weekends in March.

That's all guesswork, of course. But here's the sure thing: This ACC season shapes up as the best, most frantic one we've seen for almost a decade.

 

 

 

Too little too late
Pickett's scoring spree in last six minutes not enough to stop Virginia
By Jack Corcoran
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - In this season of inconsistency the fact that Florida State's intensity was spotty at Virginia on Wednesday should come as no shock. That hard-charging Tim Pickett was caught up in the malaise was the surprising twist in the 85-72 defeat.

"I'm taking the blame tonight, because I didn't come out with 110 percent like I usually come out with," Pickett said.

The junior guard finished in familiar fashion, scoring a game-high 21 points on 7 of 18 shooting. But he did most of his damage with the game out of reach, hitting four 3-pointers in the final six minutes. The Cavaliers, who got 20 points and 16 rebounds from senior center Travis Watson, were already up by 18 points when Pickett started his scoring spree.

"I just felt like I didn't bring everything to the table like I should have," Pickett said. "That was a downfall for the team tonight. I feel like we're 10 points better than this team, but we just fell asleep."

Pickett, just 1 for 8 from the field in the first half, couldn't answer a 3-pointer by junior guard Todd Billet with one of his own late in the period. Billet capitalized in transition, setting up sophomore forward Jason Clark for a lob dunk that punctuated a 10-0 run and put Virginia up 36-25.

Sophomore forward Elton Brown had a pair of baskets in a 10-4 run to start the second half, helping the Cavaliers extend their lead to 48-32.

"We played good when things were going our way," said junior point guard Nate Johnson, who snapped his two-game scoring drought with a 3-pointer and had four assists. "But when they made their little run we didn't match their intensity. We kind of laid down a little bit."

The Seminoles, falling for the 12th consecutive time on the road against the Atlantic Coast Conference, allowed the Cavaliers to shoot 45.2 percent from the field, including 11 of 20 (55 percent) from beyond the arc.

Led by Watson, who picked up his 47th career double-double, Virginia had five players score in double figures. Freshman forward Derrick Byars went 4 for 6 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points. Billet and Brown each had 14 while Clark contributed 12.

Pickett, who has made a habit of diving into the stands and scaling press row with contagious energy, said he felt responsible for many of the problems on the defensive end.

"For me, it's the defensive part and knowing my principles," Pickett said. "That (mistakes) breaks down the team. Once I get beat, that opens up a lot of shots for a lot of other players. That happened to me a lot of times. I'm getting tired of the same thing happening. I have to get it done."

FSU's offense couldn't keep up.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton credited Virginia (12-6, 3-3 ACC), which improved to 9-0 at University Hall.

"We just never were able to get in any type of rhythm," said Hamilton, whose team fell to 10-8 overall and 1-6 in the ACC and must deal with No. 5 Duke at the Civic Center on Sunday. "I think a lot of that had to do with them changing their defenses. Our inexperience showed a little bit. We had some indecision, dribbling the ball to the baseline and picking up our dribble about four times in the first half. That caused us to panic a little bit."

Sophomore forward Anthony Richardson had 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting for FSU. Freshman point guard Todd Galloway added 12 points, eight assists and one turnover.

 

 

Cavs Share Wealth in Win
Five Score in Double Figures to Down Florida State: Virginia 85, Florida State 72
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 30, 2003; Page D08

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Jan. 29 -- Throughout the season, opposing coaches have warned of the offensive damage Virginia can do when all of its weapons are firing. Tonight the Cavaliers' attack was more balanced than it has been all season, as five players scored in double figures in an 85-72 win over Florida State.

Senior power forward Travis Watson led Virginia (12-6, 3-3 ACC) with 20 points, followed by Derrick Byars (15), Elton Brown (14), Todd Billet (14) and Jason Clark (12). Maryland is the only team to score more points this season against the Seminoles, who held opponents to 38 percent shooting before tonight.

Byars and Clark, the athletic forwards, did the scoring in the first half, combining for 21 points as Virginia built a 38-28 halftime lead with a pair of 10-0 runs. In the second half, as Florida State (10-8, 1-6) stretched its defense toward the perimeter, Virginia's burly post players, Watson and Brown, put up 25 points.

"Every time we attempted to get back into the game, they would hit a big shot," Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton said. "That's the mark of a team that has the right balance, inside and outside."

The Cavaliers had little problem maintaining their halftime lead, which ballooned to 18 and never shrunk below nine. Florida State fought back by shooting 50 percent in the second half as leading scorer Tim Pickett scored 18 of his 21 points, but the victory was all but sealed when Virginia's Majestic Mapp made a three-pointer for a 70-52 lead with 5 minutes 29 seconds left.

"They had their way for about 10, 12 minutes there" at the start of the second half, Hamilton said. "You can't go on the road and be as ineffective as we were for a long period of time and win games."

Virginia Coach Pete Gillen focused most of his praise on his team's defense, which stifled the often-inefficient Florida State offense by switching through a variety of man and zone defenses.

"Defense was the story tonight," Gillen said. "We held them to 43.5 percent, but they made some shots late. . . . It was one of our better games of the year, I think, especially defensively."

The Seminoles, who dropped to last in the nine-team ACC with their fifth loss in six games, yielded a solid 73.2 points per game in their first six conference games but averaged a conference-worst 61.2 points on offense.

Pickett's performance was typical for the Seminoles tonight. The 6-foot-4 junior college transfer shot 1 for 8 in the first half before turning almost exclusively to three-pointers as the Seminoles attempted a second-half comeback. Nine of his 10 field goal attempts in the half and each of his six successful attempts came from beyond the arc.

"Their changing their defense early put some confusion in our players' minds," Hamilton said. The Seminoles "allowed that to affect them. . . . We didn't move the ball to get [Pickett] easy looks and I thought he forced some shots at the end of the first half."

Gillen said the Cavaliers "had to labor like heck to score," but their work was rewarded. They tied a season high with 11 three-pointers (on 20 attempts), led by Billet's 4-for-7 shooting and Byars's 4 for 6.

Byars's performance was a resurgence after six games in which he totaled 18 points.

"He's a freshman. Freshmen are going to be up and down," Gillen said. "He's a terrific player. I think he's got as much upside as anyone on our team. I had a lot of confidence in him. . . . I think he's his biggest enemy right now."

At the free throw line, Virginia was 18 for 28, whereas FSU, which gets to the line less often than any other ACC team, was 9 for 16.

Notes: Home teams have won 21 of the 27 games in ACC play this season. . . . Florida State has lost its past 12 conference road games. . . . Virginia had not put more than four scorers in double figures in one game before tonight. . . . Watson grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers to a 40-32 advantage on the boards. . . . Virginia is 9-0 at home this season and 47-8 over the past 3½ seasons. . . . Pickett has scored 183 of his 327 points (56 percent) this season on three-pointers.