Cavaliers rally past Iowa State
Smith leads UVa with 25 points
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 31, 2003

After suffering its first loss just days ago, the Virginia men’s basketball team responded Wednesday night by removing another squad from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Using a game-breaking 26-8 run over the game’s final six and a half minutes, the Cavaliers dealt Iowa State its first loss, 85-74, at University Hall.

“The thing I was most proud of was that our guys played with great toughness down the stretch. We played with grit and determination. We battled and banged and made some big plays. It wasn’t Xs and Os,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, whose team trailed 66-59 with 6:50 remaining.

Devin Smith had a season-high 25 points and added a career-high five steals for the Cavaliers (9-1). Derrick Byars finished with 20 points and Donte Minter had 11.

The Cyclones (7-1), who were led by 19 points from Jared Homan, entered the contest as one of only 12 remaining unbeaten Division I teams.

Virginia registered 15 steals and committed just six turnovers, its lowest number of turnovers since a loss to Iowa in the 1997 NCAA tournament. In turn, the Cavaliers forced the Cyclones into 23 turnovers that gave them a 25-5 edge in points off turnovers.

“We had 23 turnovers and they had five. That’s game, set and match,” said Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan, whose team outrebounded Virginia by a 40-23 margin.

The game’s key segment came with just under four minutes remaining with the game knotted at 69. After Smith hit a trey with 3:46 to give Virginia the lead for good, freshman Gary Forbes stole an errant ISU pass, dribbled between his legs to avoid two defenders, and then fed Byars for a high-flying dunk to make it 74-69 with 3:14 left.

The Cyclones would get no closer than five the rest of the way.

“Gary made a great play. That’s Gary for you. He’s real athletic. I just ran the floor and somehow he got me the ball,” Byars said. “It was a big play and in my opinion, that’s Virginia basketball right there.”

The game was by far the best of the season for Smith, who has been suffering from both a herniated disc in his back and the loss of his outside shooting touch.

Smith, eighth in the ACC last season in 3-point percentage (38.6 percent), connected on three of his five attempts from behind the arc after entering the game just 3 for 27 on the season in that department.

“I thought it was a matter of time for me to break out of it. My coaches and teammates have confidence in me. When they have confidence in you, that certainly helps,” Smith said.

Added Gillen: “When Devin is healthy, he’s a different player. He’s still not 100 percent, but he had 25 points and five steals.”

The game was tied at 40 at the half after a somewhat-frenetic opening 20 minutes in which neither team took a lead of more than six points and both squads shot better than 50 percent from the floor.

Iowa State shot a sizzling 62.1 percent as it connected on 18 of its 29 shots from the field.

Virginia shot 55.2 percent and connected on five of its 10 3-point attempts.

Jared Homan led the Cyclones, who outrebounded UVa by a whopping 19-7 margin, with 11 points. The Cyclones also blanked the Cavaliers 11-0 in the second-chance points category.

Minter paced Virginia with eight while Smith and Byars each had seven.

Virginia returns to action Saturday when it hosts Providence, the school where Gillen spent four years before coming to Charlottesville.
 

Cavs hand Cyclones 1st loss
Virginia finishes with 15 steals and forces 23 turnovers, including seven in the final 6:30, to improve to 8-1 on the season.
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Strange as it may sound, Virginia won a basketball game with its defense Wednesday on a night when its opponent shot 55.2 percent.

The Cavaliers forced 23 turnovers, including seven in the last 6 1/2 minutes, and handed Iowa State its first loss of the season 85-74 at University Hall.

Virginia (8-1) trailed by seven points before outscoring the Cyclones 26-8 over the last 6:18. Iowa State (7-1) was one of 12 unbeaten teams in Division I before Wednesday night.

"The thing I'm most proud of is that our guys played with real good toughness down the stretch [and] with grit," UVa coach Pete Gillen said. "It wasn't Xs and Os."

In addition to outshooting the Cavaliers, who hit 48.4 percent from the field, the Cyclones outrebounded UVa 40-23. That should have been good enough to beat Virginia, but the Cavaliers committed only five turnovers.

"Twenty-three to five," Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan said. "Game, set, match."

The Cavaliers finished with 15 steals, their high since the 2000 season, including five by junior forward Devin Smith. Smith also contributed a game-high 25 points.

"When Devin Smith is healthy, he's a different player," Gillen said.

That's not to say Smith is completely healthy now. He has a herniated disk that limits his practice time.

"He's not 100 percent but he gets 25 points and five steals," Gillen said. "Five steals!"

Smith also had three 3-point field goals, matching his total from the first eight games, when he was 3-for-27 from behind the arc.

"We knew he was a good shooter," said Morgan, who may have been aware that Smith had 64 3-point field goals during the 2002-2003 season.

UVa sophomore Derrick Byars had 20 points - one off his career high - and a team-high eight rebounds, but it didn't look like the Cavaliers would have much of a New Year's celebration when Iowa State went up by seven.

"Only 6 1/2 " minutes were left? Gillen asked. "I thought there were nine."

Iowa State enjoyed a tremendous height advantage with 6-foot-10 Jackson Vroman and 6-9, 245-pound Jared Homan, especially on a night when UVa's 6-9, 245-pound Elton Brown was out of sync.

Brown went 5-for-16 from the field, missed all three of his free throws, had his second-lowest rebounding total since November and was assessed a technical foul.

Post man Donte Minter contributed 11 points (but no rebounds) in 17 minutes and his fellow freshman and roommate, J.R. Reynolds, helped keep the Cavaliers in the game in the first half.

Reynolds had missed nearly two weeks with a persistent fever and a suspected case of chickenpox.

"I don't know what it was," said Reynolds, who had eight points, three assists and zero turnovers in 19 minutes. "We go out to California - the first time I've been to California - and I have to fly home the next morning. I'm just glad it's over."

Gillen, who compared Iowa State's visit to a home ACC game, now prepares the Cavaliers for Providence (7-1), a team he coached for four seasons in the 1990s.
 

Subject: SPECIAL ADVISORY to MD, WV and NoFla Residents
Posted by: Split V on Thu Jan 1 2004 3:03:37 AM
Message:

You are strongly urged to secure all furniture and any other
potentially flammable objects prior to the conclusion of Thursday's
Gator Bowl football game.

 

Virginia Hands Iowa State Its First Loss
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 1, 2004; Page D03

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Dec. 31 -- Trailing by seven with 61/2 minutes remaining, the Virginia Cavaliers cranked up their defensive pressure and closed with a 26-8 run to get past Iowa State, 85-74, Wednesday night.

The Cavaliers (9-1) had 15 steals, including six during the decisive run. The win came three days after their defense had breakdowns on the perimeter in a 17-point loss at North Carolina State.

"The thing I'm most proud of is our guys played with real good toughness down the stretch," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "It wasn't X's and O's; it was just determination and toughness. . . . The last 10 minutes of the game we matched their physicalness, their aggressiveness, their toughness."

The Cyclones (7-1) held a 40-23 rebounding advantage but committed 23 turnovers that the Cavs converted into 25 points. Virginia turned the ball over only five times, its fewest since a 1997 NCAA tournament loss to Iowa.

That disparity in turnovers, Iowa State Coach Wayne Morgan said, was key.

"Twenty-three to 5, turnovers -- game, set, match," Morgan said.

Devin Smith led the Cavaliers at both ends of the court with a season-high 25 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks and a career-high 5 steals. He hit 3 of 5 three-point attempts after shooting 3 for 27 in the previous nine games.

Jared Homan led Iowa State with 19 points but scored only two points in the final 171/2 minutes.

Virginia had already chipped three points off what had been a 66-59 Iowa State lead when Smith turned in his first big defensive play, knocking away a pass at the top of the key and cruising in for layup that cut the deficit to two with 6 minutes 14 seconds left.

"We went over their plays in our pregame [meeting], so sometimes we knew what they wanted to run," Smith said. "I was just trying not to let them get the ball."

Iowa State's Marcus Jefferson answered with a pull-up jumper, but Derrick Byars (20 points, eight rebounds) hit a three-pointer and then converted two free throws after another Virginia steal, pushing the Cavs ahead, 69-68.

Then the floodgates opened. Smith hit a three-pointer. Byars dunked in transition after a steal by Gary Forbes. Smith hit a pair of free throws.

Virginia was soon ahead 83-71.

"We were more aggressive," Gillen said. "We got out in the lanes, we got deflections and we got some big-time rebounds by Derrick Byars and Devin and our other guys.
For us to go where we want to go, it was a must-win. This was like an ACC league game. At home, playing a talented team, we've got to dig down and win it. . . . We've got to answer the bell when it's nitty-gritty time, and tonight we did."

 

Cavs finish fast
Virginia's victory over unbeaten Cyclones features a 26-8 run
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 1, 2004
U.VA. 85 IOWA ST. 74

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Strike Iowa State from the list of unbeaten teams in Division I men's basketball.

Virginia, which suffered its first loss Sunday night, wanted to make sure the Cyclones experienced the same feeling last night. The Cavaliers eventually succeeded, staging a late-game run that awoke the long-slumbering fans at University Hall.

In one of its more memorable victories in six seasons under coach Pete Gillen, U.Va. outscored Iowa State 26-8 in the final 6:27 and won going away, 85-74.

"We knew that we had to come out and get this game," said Virginia forward Devin Smith, who played brilliantly. "Everybody just dug down."

The late-arriving crowd of 7,354 supplied a significant home-court advantage in the final minutes as Virginia, playing on New Year's Eve for the first time since 1964, closed 2003 on a high note.

"It wouldn't have been any kind of [New Year's] celebration if we'd lost," Smith said.

The 6-5, 235-pound junior did his best to ensure that didn't happen. Smith made 9 of 14 shots from the floor - 3 for 5 from beyond the arc - and scored a season-high 25 points. This from a guy who'd come in shooting 11.1 percent (3 for 27) on 3-pointers.

Smith, who's been slowed by a bad back, also had a career-high five steals, three assists, three blocked shots and three rebounds last night. His third trey put the Cavaliers (9-1) ahead to stay with 3:42 left.

"Devin was incredible," sophomore forward Derrick Byars said.

Iowa State (7-1) shot 55.2 percent from the floor and outrebounded U.Va. 40-23. But another statistic was more critical, according to the Cyclones' first-year coach.

"Twenty-three turnovers to five," Wayne Morgan said. "Game, set, match."

Not since March 1997 had U.Va. had so few turnovers in a game. More impressive, though, was the Cavaliers' defensive intensity after falling behind 66-59 with 6:50 left. Among the high- lights:

Smith turned a steal into a layup that made it 66-64 with 6:13 remaining.
Byars was fouled on a drive after stealing the ball and sank both free throws to make it 69-68 with 4:52, Virginia's first lead in more than 11 minutes.
Freshman swingman Gary Forbes stole the ball, dribbled through his legs and then passed to Byars for a vicious dunk that stretched the Cavs' lead to 74-69 with 3:16 left.
Nine players had at least one steal for Virginia, which totaled 15. Iowa State guards Will Blalock and Jake Sullivan had six and five turnovers, respectively.

The Cyclones, of the Big 12, have "a lot of talent, a lot of toughness, and we beat a very good team," Gillen said. "The thing I'm most proud of us what that our guys played with real good toughness down the stretch . . . with grit. It wasn't X's and O's. It was determination and toughness."

Byars bounced back from a subpar performance against N.C. State, contributing 20 points, a team-high eight rebounds and two steals.

Elton Brown, U.Va.'s leading scorer, struggled from the floor (5 for 16), as did senior point guard Todd Billet (2 for 8) and Forbes (1 for 4), but freshmen J.R. Reynolds and Donte Minter came off the bench to spark the offense.

The 6-8, 235-pound Minter made 5-of-7 field-goal attempts and scored 11 points. Reynolds, a 6-2 guard from Roanoke who missed two games this month with a viral infection, hit 3 of 5 shots from the field and finished with a career-high eight points. He also had three assists and a steal.

"He was terrific," Gillen said. "He's a very good player. He's considered almost a starter."

Virginia plays another crucial non-conference game Saturday afternoon when Providence (7-1) visits U-Hall.