Yellow Jackets sting Virginia
Cavaliers have lost 14 of 15 ACC road contests
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 16, 2004

ATLANTA - Virginia keeps hitting the road but the road just keeps hitting back and back and back.

No. 12 Georgia Tech cruised past the Cavaliers 75-57 on Thursday night at Alexander Memorial Coliseum to hand the Cavaliers their 14th loss in the last 15 ACC road contests.

The defeat kept the Cavaliers (10-4) winless in the ACC (0-3). Virginia - 0-3 to begin its ACC slate for the first time since 1998-99 – is the only ACC team without a league victory.

“To be successful on the road, you have to rebound, defend and you have to make free throws. Tonight we didn’t do any of them particularly well,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose team has lost four of its past six games with those four losses by an average margin of 18 points.

Gillen was looking at a stat sheet when he said that and the “8 x 11” paper certainly validated his assertions.

Georgia Tech (13-2, 1-1 ACC) shot 46.4 percent compared to 34.8 percent by the Cavaliers. The Jackets outrebounded the Cavaliers, 36-33, and Virginia misfired on 13 of its 31 attempts from the line. Virginia committed 21 turnovers as well, which certainly doesn’t help on the road, either.

Georgia Tech, coming off consecutive losses to Georgia and North Carolina, placed four players in double figures led by 17 from Marvin Lewis and B.J. Elder’s 16 points.

“Obviously we are happy to get our first ACC win. I was pleased with our defensive effort tonight. We did a lot of things well defensively,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who is now 7-1 against Gillen.

Todd Billet led Virginia with 12 points and Devin Smith added 11.

This game unraveled similarly, if not worse than, Virginia’s lost against No. 2 Duke on Sunday in which it essentially lost the game in the waning minutes of the opening half.

The Cavaliers, buoyed by an early seven for eight performance behind the arc, opened a 15-11 lead early and trailed just by one, 30-29, after a basket by Elton Brown with 5:51 left before intermission.

The Cavaliers actually had four chances to grab the lead but misfired on four straight shots.

The Yellow Jackets then removed themselves from danger with an 11-1 run to end the half to take a 41-30 advantage. Virginia missed its last nine shots from the floor and gained its lone point in the last 5:51 on a Brown free throw.

“It’s a game of spurts and talented teams like Duke and Georgia Tech go on spurts, and we get caught up in it,” said Gillen, whose team missed its last 13 3-point attempts after making seven of its first eight. “We get a little frazzled and start playing individually and taking bad shots and the spurt gets bigger.”

In Sunday’s 93-71 loss to Duke, Virginia was outscored 16-6 in the final minutes of the first half.

“We have to have poise and character and we have to put together complete halves. … We got down by four or five and we start panicking. Basketball is a long game and we have to calm down,” said junior Elton Brown, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. “We can’t lose control and end up going down by a lot at halftime.”

Virginia briefly cut the Georgia Tech lead to eight in the first minute and a half of the second half but would get no closer the rest of the way in what became a painstaking slow and ugly second half as referees’ whistles widely outnumbered baskets, 28-15, and the teams combined to shoot 41 free throws.

Virginia will attempt to avoid a 0-4 ACC start Sunday when it hosts Florida State at 1 p.m.

Notes. Georgia Tech has now won four straight over Virginia and eight of the last nine. … Gillen is 2-10 against the Yellow Jackets. … Virginia sophomore Derrick Byars finished with zero points for the second straight game and has scored just seven total points in his past four games. … Gillen had said Monday that Vince Redd, a redshirt freshman linebacker on the Virginia football team, could be added to the roster by Thursday’s contest but Redd was neither in uniform nor with the team in Atlanta.

 

Lack of defense, toughness hurting UVa
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 16, 2004

ATLANTA
Pete Gillen was the picture of a frustrated coach when he showed up for a brief post-game news conference after Thursday night’s 75-57 loss at Georgia Tech.
Writers heard some screaming coming from the Virginia locker room shortly after the game. Gillen has been known to unleash on his team when he believed he wasn’t getting the necessary effort. Last night was one of those nights.

Conference woes
For the record, the Cavaliers dropped to 0-3 in the ACC and have barely been competitive, having lost by 17, 22 and 18 points. While the outcome of this one was fairly predictable - the Cavs have now lost four straight to the Yellow Jackets and eight of the last nine - Gillen didn’t like what he saw on the floor at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
“To win in this league, you have to be mentally tough, you have to defend and rebound,” Gillen said. “We’re not going to win in this league with offense. We’ve got to win with defense.”
The Cavaliers failed to display any efficiency in any of those checkmarked areas. They were killed inside the paint (34-16) and were killed off turnovers where Tech scored 21 points to seven for Virginia. The Jackets outscored UVa 10-0 on fast breaks.
Even though Tech shot only 26 percent (6-23) in the second half and missed all nine attempts from bonusphere, Virginia couldn’t fight its way back into the game. The Cavs trailed by double figures for all but a brief moment in the second half.
Gillen knew going into Atlanta that his team was going to have to take on a tough-guy persona, one that has been missing against ACC opponents thus far. But it’s hard to have much swagger with a history that includes having lost 14 of the last 15 times Virginia has taken to the conference road.
Gillen wanted physical play and aggressiveness. He didn’t get it. For the most part it was heavyweight punching out the featherweight in the paint. The little guy didn’t land many punches.

Still hope left?
To the regular observer of Virginia basketball, it might appear that this season is a lost cause. Picked eighth in the preseason poll, the Cavs haven’t shown much of a lifeline in ACC play thus far and it doesn’t get much easier.
Gillen refuses to buy into that theory.
“It’s not getting away from us,” he insisted after the loss.
The only way out of this nosedive seems to require things that Virginia doesn’t do very well, doesn’t seem to be interested in doing, or doesn’t emphasize.
Gillen’s Cavs haven’t shown much toughness. Nearly every game we hear Pete say how his team needs to defend better.
How much longer is he going to settle for a poor defensive effort? He’s the coach.
If someone isn’t busting their hump on defense, then all Gillen has to do is say, “Let me introduce your fanny to the bench.”
Gillen said he believes this is correctable. Well, not unless he gets tougher with his own players.
Oh-for-three in the ACC is somewhat understandable considering that Duke is No. 2 in the nation, Georgia Tech was a Top 10 team and N.C. State isn’t bad at home.
The bad part has been unraveling late in the first half and not putting anything together in the second half.
“I think it’s correctable,” Gillen said of the poor defense.
There is a lot of pressure on the coach’s shoulders come Sunday when Florida State comes to University Hall.
All of a sudden, only four games into the season, this is a MUST win for Virginia. Dropping to 0-4 in the league, losing at home to an upstart program is not acceptable.

 

U.Va.’s errant shooting leads to another ACC road loss
By DOUG DOUGHTY, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 16, 2004
ATLANTA — Maybe Virginia needs eight-minute quarters.

The Cavaliers can’t seem to get the hang of 20-minute halves.

Georgia Tech pulled away in the closing minutes of the first half Thursday night to win 75-57 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, Virginia’s 14th loss in its last 15 ACC road games.

The Yellow Jackets (13-2 , 1-1) beat Virginia (10-4, 0-3) for the seventh time in eight meetings under fourth-year coach Paul Hewitt. U.Va. coach Pete Gillen, in his sixth year, dropped to 2-10 against Tech.

Virginia has lost 4 of 6 games after an 8-0 start — by margins of 17, 15, 22 and 18 points.

The Cavaliers trailed 30-29 late in the first half and had a chance to take the lead on four consecutive possessions, only to fall victim to an 11-1 Georgia Tech run to end the half.

Virginia was 7 of 8 from the 3-point line before missing all 13 of its 3-point atttempts over the final 27 minutes. “Fatigue sets in,” said Gillen. “The rims in the second half are a little bit smaller.”

Collapses late in the first half proved costly for U.Va. in recent home losses to Providence and Duke, and past road performances did not make a Cavaliers comeback likely against the Yellow Jackets.

“It was almost the same score (Sunday) against Duke,” U.Va. junior Elton Brown said. “We were up 30-28 in the first half, we had a couple chances to score and, the next thing you know, we went into halftime down eight.

“It seems like we get behind by four or five points and we panic.”

When Tech failed to score on 10 of 12 possessions during one stage of the second half, U.Va. only trimmed a 17-point deficit to 14. The Cavaliers shot a season-low 34.8 percent from the field (26.1 in the second half) and committed 21 turnovers.

Tech, coming off a two-game losing streak, wasn’t great, but the Yellow Jackets didn’t have to be.

“To be successful on the road, you have to rebound, you’ve got to defend and you’ve got to make your free throws,” Gillen said. “Tonight, we didn’t do any of them particularly well.’’

Past U.Va. nemesis Marvin Lewis did not start, but scored 17 points in 25 minutes to lead four Yellow Jacket scorers in double figures. Lewis and B.J. Elder, who had 16 points off the bench, started every game before Thursday night.

Tech used full-court pressure most of the game and U.Va. failed to score a single fast-break basket. Sophomore forward Derrick Byars, who entered Thursday night with an 11-point scoring average, went scoreless for the second game in a row and did not have a rebound in 14 minutes. Byars is 3 for 22 from the field in the last four games.

Virginia, the only ACC team without a conference victory, hosts Florida State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Gillen denied the season is getting away from the Cavaliers.

“Georgia Tech is undefeated at home, N.C. State is undefeated at home and Duke’s a killer team that’s ranked No. 2 in the country,” he said. “We’re just struggling a little bit right now.”
 

Cavs struggling on 'front nine'
Rocco goes in on younger Phillips
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

Between the football fans upset with me for raising questions about recruiting and the men’s basketball fans who think I’m too easy on coach Pete Gillen, I’m not sure anybody from Virginia is happy with me these days.
If I might make a comparison to golf, all I was saying about the UVa men’s basketball team is that no team -- or golfer -- should give up on a round after the first hole.

The Cavaliers had a double bogey in their ACC opener at North Carolina and another double bogey in their home ACC opener Sunday against Duke (for me, they’d be triple bogeys). They’ve got a few wide-open par 4s coming up against Florida State and Clemson. If they don’t par those two holes, then it might be time to consider a no-card.

It will be really interesting, come next Tuesday against Clemson, if the Cavaliers can’t contain Tigers’ freshman point guard Vernon Hamilton. Hamilton is from Benedictine High School in Richmond and, presumably, all the Cavaliers needed to do was show a little interest and he might have been theirs.

Without knowing for sure, I’m guessing that Virginia didn’t want to jeopardize its chances with then-Nansemond River junior point guard Marquie Cooke.

Who would have known, at the time, that the Cavaliers would back off Cooke and turn their attention to Sean Singletary, who committed in May. By all accounts, Singletary is a super point guard -- and he better be because of the potential recruits, including Radford High School point guard Darris Nichols, that UVa has chosen not to pursue.

(As I watch the Maryland-North Carolina game, I notice another point guard who left the state, the Terrapins’ John Gilchrist. When Gilchrist was a senior at Salem High School in Virginia Beach, the Cavaliers thought they were set with Roger Mason Jr., Majestic Mapp and Keith Jenifer.

Mason played the point that year as a junior, with Jenifer in reserve and Mapp rehabilitating a surgically repaired knee. The Cavaliers had to think they were set with Mapp coming back in 2002-2003, Mason looking at a senior year and Jenifer getting better.

Not that Gilchrist would have seriously considered the Cavaliers, but as things turned out, he may have even started if he had been at UVa in 2002-2003.)

AS FOR THE football-related complaints, many of them stem from my description of Kecougtan High School linebacker Jerod Mayo as “a longtime N.C. State lean.”

At the time, I had just reread the Virginia bios in SuperPrep’s preseason issue in which Mayo made the observation -- not to me -- that the Wolfpack was a slight favorite.

In subsequently rereading reports on the sabre.com and rivals.com, I see where Mayo no longer favored State after his Virginia visit in early December, but I’m not going to apologize for paying attention to Hampton High School coach Mike Smith. Smith knows a lot more about what’s going on in the Peninsula District than I do.

On a related topic, I think the jury is still out on the Dec. 12-14 Virginia recruiting weekend that so far has yielded one commitment, from Graham High School running back Ahmad Bradshaw. A rival recruiter tells me that prospects have not been raving about their experience in Charlottesville, possibly because of the timing.

Exams did not end till Dec. 15 -- more than a few players were unavailable for interviews that day -- and UVa either may have had a limited number of hosts or not had their full attention.

BATH COUNTY High School coach Will Fields said Wednesday that UVa assistant Danny Rocco was expected in Warm Springs today (Thursday) but not to see senior quarterback and Group A Player of the Year Jacob Phillips.

The Cavaliers have a lot of interest in Phillips’ younger brother, John, a 6-6, 235-pound junior tight end who suffered a knee injury in the final game of the regular season. The Phillips brothers and their father, Gene {“Bugs”), were all at the Virginia-Duke basketball game.

The buzz in the University Hall lobby was that the Cavaliers were taking a serious look at Jacob Phillips, possibly as a safety, maybe after a year in prep school. However, if Phillips wants to play quarterback, UVa is too backlogged for that to be a realistic possibility for the Cavaliers.

Among the other juniors at University Hall on Sunday was Pat Sheil, a 6-7, 270-pound offensive lineman from Centreville High School who is rated the No. 9 junior in Virginia by The Roanoke Times. Centreville coach Mike Skinner said UVa already has offered Sheil.

WITHOUT KNOWING, I’m curious about the reaction in Charlottesville to the news that Andrew Pearman, who committed to the Cavaliers in the fall, will now visit Army. Army is the new home of former running backs coach Kevin Ross, whose father, Bobby, is the new Army head coach.

I don’t know who initiated talk between Army and Pearman, but UVa took a chance on Ross when he didn’t have the credentials of some of Al Groh’s earlier hires. If he is muddying the waters with Pearman, I can’t imagine that’s being very well-received.
 

Schaub's legend will be told by record books
By J.D. Moss, Cavalier Daily
January 15, 2004

(U-WIRE) CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- On a balmy December day at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., Matt Schaub capped off a storybook collegiate career by leading Virginia to a 23-16 win over Pittsburgh in the second Continental Tire Bowl.

Though the man that owns every significant Virginia passing record would finish with far from his best statistical game (20-for-31 for 244 yards), Schaub still won MVP honors, quite fitting for the quarterback that has become the face, heart and soul of Virginia football over the past two seasons.

Yet it has not always been this way. After leading his team to so many wins, it is easy to forget that Schaub went 1-5 as a starter his sophomore year, taking the job into his junior year on his own only because Bryson Spinner transferred.

After all of the records he has set, it is easy to forget that 17 short months ago, Schaub was benched and booed off the field after managing just 73 yards passing in the 2002 season opener against Colorado State.

Yet, there is one thing that will not be easy to forget: What Schaub meant and did for Virginia football. Schaub would bounce back from that rough start and compile the greatest season of any quarterback in school history. He would lead his Cavaliers to a 16-8 record as a starter over the last two seasons, garnering mention as a Heisman candidate after his prolific junior season.

"He joins an elite group of Virginia football players who, through their performance, have made their teams significantly different over a long span of time than what it otherwise would have been," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "I can't imagine that there are very many players in the country that have done as much to carry their team over a long period of time as he has, with some of the throws that he has made and standards he has set."

Schaub finished 2003 by completing 281-of-403 (69.7 percent) passes for 2,952 yards and 18 touchdowns in only 11 games. Despite missing games against three sub-.500 opponents, he threw for over 300 yards four times and completed at least half of his passes in every contest.

These accomplishments came on top of last year, where the ACC Player of the Year threw for a school-record 2,976 yards and 28 touchdowns while tossing only seven interceptions. Though he started fewer games than former Virginia star Shawn Moore, Schaub shattered Moore's career passing record by almost 900 yards.

With his Tire Bowl performance, Schaub also set the school record for touchdown passes with 56, in addition to raising his NFL draft status. ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper rates Schaub as the fifth-best quarterback while Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris, who previously served as quarterbacks coach for the New York Jets, is confident that Schaub will find success at the next level.

"I like Matt Schaub," Harris said. "I liked him when we recruited him. He's obviously got excellent size. I always knew he could throw. What impressed me [at the Continental Tire Bowl] was his mobility. He is a big guy that moves well. He did a nice job for them. I think he'll be a guy to be reckoned with at the next level."

The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder was certainly a guy to be reckoned with at the collegiate level. He started 2003 with high hopes and a Heisman campaign, but Schaub separated his shoulder on the team's first drive in the season opener against Duke and missed almost a month. When Schaub returned, he did not put up quite the same numbers right away, but soon regained his form.

Against N.C. State, Schaub went 41-of-55 for a school-record 393 yards passing, but his team came up short for the third-straight ACC game.

After another loss -- and Schaub's worst game of the season -- at Maryland, the Cavaliers stood at 5-5.

But Schaub rallied his troops, as he has so many times in the past, and led the Cavaliers to three straight wins, capped of by Virginia's second-straight Tire Bowl victory that ended Schaub's career on top.

"Everybody trusts him," Groh said. "Everybody knows that they can depend on him and he steps up when necessary. He does the most important thing that quarterbacks are supposed to do. It's not about velocity or this and that, but it's about playing good in the games. When it needs to be done, he steps up and that's what real quarterbacks are supposed to do."

For now, Schaub's collegiate career is over and the 22-year-old will leave Charlottesville, Va., for an NFL city to be determined in late April. Though Schaub received his degree in economics last spring, the fact that college was over didn't really sink in until last month.

"It has hit me that it's over and done," Schaub said after the Tire Bowl. "I accepted that earlier this month and coming into this game, I tried not to be in too much denial about it. It's something that is a rite of passage and something that all seniors go through. I knew it would come, and it's just a great way to finish up with a win here."

Schaub's legacy will be a tough act to follow, with sophomore quarterback-turned-receiver-turned-quarterback Marques Hagans and sophomore Chris Olsen, a fall transfer from Notre Dame, expected to battle this spring for the job.

"It's going to be real big to lose Matt on offense because he was such a leader for us," sophomore tailback Wali Lundy said. "You always have to have leaders come up out of each class and somebody's going to have to step up and lead the team."

Regardless of who wins the job, one thing is for sure: It will never be difficult for any Wahoo to remember Matt Schaub.

 

New-Look Yellow Jackets Sting Cavs
Lineup Changes Help No. 12 Georgia Tech Beat U.-Va. for 4th Straight Time : Georgia Tech 75, Virginia 57
Associated Press
Friday, January 16, 2004; Page D10

ATLANTA, Jan. 15 -- Senior Marvin Lewis, playing as a reserve for only the fifth time in his career, scored 17 points, and No. 12 Georgia Tech snapped a two-game losing streak Thursday night with a 75-57 victory over Virginia.

The Yellow Jackets (13-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back from losses at Georgia and North Carolina, which had put a damper on their school-record 12-0 start.

Virginia dropped to 10-4, 0-3 after starting the season with eight straight wins.

After his team started sluggishly its last two games, Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt shook up his lineup, giving Isma'il Muhammad, Clarence Moore and Will Bynum their first starts.

Muhammad sparked the Yellow Jackets in the first half with 12 points. Lewis was 6 of 9 from the field, including three baskets from three-point range. Elder scored 16 points in 19 minutes.

"I think the team fed off our energy," Muhammad said. "We had the same feeling we had back when we were 12-0."

Virginia center Elton Brown was hounded with double teams and a sagging perimeter defense, which held him to 10 points. Georgia Tech dominated the lane, outscoring the Cavaliers inside 34-16.

"We've got to be more physical," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. " . . . We're just not as aggressive as we need to be."

Virginia started quickly, doing nearly all its scoring from long range. The Cavaliers missed only once in their first eight shots from outside the three-point arc. But they missed their final 13 three-point attempts.

The Cavaliers also had trouble handling the ball against Georgia Tech's intense pressure, committing 21 turnovers after entering averaging just 12.4 per game.

"Certainly Will [Bynum] and Isma'il [Muhammad], with their energy early in the game, got us off to a pretty good start," Hewitt said. "That's what I was concerned about. The last two games, we started out pretty passive and weren't attacking."

Todd Billet had 12 points for Virginia, which shot just 35 percent (16 of 46).

Georgia Tech went on an 11-1 run to end the first half for a 41-30 lead. Virginia, which drew no closer than eight points in the second half, has lost 15 of 18 games with Georgia Tech, including four in a row.
 

Hewitt shakes up lineup in win over Virginia
By JOHN HOLLIS
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

It's not exactly "Take two of these and call me in the morning," but knowing that Virginia is coming to town has often proved to be just what an ailing program needs.

Georgia Tech, reeling from back-to-back losses, got better in a hurry Thursday night against one of the ACC's worst road teams, blowing past the Cavaliers for a 75-57 victory before 9,191 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Tech, which improved to 13-2, 1-1 ACC with its fourth consecutive victory over Virginia, got back on track after losses to Georgia and North Carolina, slamming the door shut on its guests with a renewed defensive vigor that had been missing.

A revamped starting lineup that included Isma'il Muhammad, Clarence Moore and Will Bynum set the tone early in forcing the Cavaliers into 21 turnovers and 35 percent shooting as the 12th-ranked Jackets won for the 23rd time in the past 25 home games.

"We just wanted to get the confidence back, get that same feeling we had when we were 12-0," Muhammad said.

Senior guard Marvin Lewis came off the bench for the first time this season to score a game-high 17 points and grab five rebounds to pace four Tech players in double figures in scoring.

Junior guard B.J. Elder, also playing his first game in a reserve role, added 16 points and four rebounds as Tech, which plays Maryland on Saturday night, beat the Cavaliers (10-4, 0-3) for the 15th time in the last 18 games.

Virginia, which has lost three of its past four games and four of its previous six following an 8-0 start, was outscored 34-16 in the paint en route to losing for the 14th time in its past 15 ACC road games.

"To be successful on the road," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said, "you have to rebound, defend and make free throws. Tonight we didn't do any of them particularly well."

Guard Todd Billet had a team-best 12 points for the Cavs, who paid dearly for the lack of a true point guard in the form of their turnovers, which led to 21 Tech points.

"Defensively, I thought we did some good things," Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said. "That led to some pretty easy baskets for us."

Virginia made five of its first six shots -- all 3-pointers -- in the game's frenetic first four minutes to enjoy its largest lead at 15-11.

The Yellow Jackets buckled down defensively from that point on, forcing Virginia into turnovers on seven of its next nine possessions to score 13 of the next 15 points and take the lead for good.

The Cavaliers made just two of their final 15 shots from 3-point range after their initial 5-for-6 barrage.

Lewis scored five of his points and junior center Luke Schenscher added four of his seven as the Jackets scored 11 of the half's final 12 points to forge a commanding 41-30 advantage at the break.


 

Hewitt making pieces fit
E-mail Steve Hummer

When Paul Hewitt snapped together Team Lego Sunday, look, he made a plowhorse.

Georgia Tech's coach went back to his large pile of interchangeable parts after losing that night to North Carolina and, as coaches do, began playing with different combinations. Deciding it probably wasn't good strategy to fall behind early (as in 9-0 to the Tar Heels), he went for a new look Thursday against Virginia. Something sportier.

''I thought the last two games, we started out really passive and we weren't attacking,'' said this coach with the blessing of many options. So, after just two losses in 14 games, Hewitt put his lineup in a paint shaker, turning over three-fifths of his starters.

In came Isma'il Muhammad, Will Bynum and Clarence Moore for their first starts of the season. Sitting, most notably, was Tech's leading scorer, B.J. Elder. Nothing personal. No egos need be iced down after this one. These are just the kind of mid-course adjustments that come with trying to hold a season to its promise.

It was time to make this engine run at a little higher pitch, to red-line the thing lest this losing become habitual.

''It doesn't matter who starts,'' Bynum said. ''The big thing for us was that we were getting off to bad starts. We wanted to get the energy up. The big thing was that we kept it up.''

Beating Virginia 75-57 was mandatory. OK, so Georgia Tech might have gotten itself a little over-inflated upon entering that dark and lonely stretch known as the ACC schedule. No harm, the polls are self-correcting. The question Thursday was whether the Yellow Jackets were the same.

They really couldn't lose to Virginia. Not at home, where the living is easy even if the calculus isn't. Not after having lost their last two. Not with Maryland and Wake Forest up in the next five days; and plenty of other rocky ground to plow after that.

Therefore, they didn't.

What was on display this night was the flexibility of Tech's roster. It is the best cure known for timidity or complacency. The title of starter is not as royal as it used to be, especially in Hewitt's system, where the talent lines up like soup cans at Costco. Still, when you are used to being a starter and then suddenly you're not, it does kind of get your attention.

The high energy off the bench became the high energy at the beginning, to mostly good effect.

With Virginia in the house, the baseline was a wide-open diamond lane, and Muhammad was just the load to exploit that. He slashed down that uncrowded thoroughfare for 12 first-half points - 6-of-6 shooting from point-blank range. Much to the delight of those students posted behind the basket with ''Go Ish'' spelled out across their chests. He deserves to have his entire first name splashed across the human billboard. Even if that means enlisting a lot more volunteers, with one especially bony nuclear engineering major to serve as the apostrophe.

A real upwardly mobile Yellow Jacket is Bynum, the transfer from Arizona whose toughness has been shining through since the shift to ACC play. He was the most aggressive in losing to North Carolina, seemingly not a bit cowed by this first conference game on the road. He threw much of the same intensity at Virginia.

There were questions of how the 6-foot Bynum would adjust to his new conference. But a 42-inch vertical and an unwillingness to back down goes a long way in any time zone. Pretty soon, someone will have to ask how the conference will adjust to him.

What a grand situation -- all these combinations and all the possibilities to go with them. And what a challenge for a coach, to keep everyone happily interlocked.
 

Jackets punish Virginia
Cavaliers sit in last place as the only team in the ACC without a win in the league
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 16, 2004

ATLANTA - Not so long ago, this was a series marked by competitive games and dramatic finishes. That was clear to viewers who tuned in yesterday to ESPN Classic, which replayed some of the many memorable basketball games between ACC rivals Virginia and Georgia Tech.

Now, though, the series could hardly be more one-sided. The Yellow Jackets won last night for the 15th time in their past 18 meetings with the Cavaliers, rolling to a 75-57 victory before 9,191 fans at Alexander Memorial Coliseum and an ESPN2 audience.

The 12th-ranked Jackets (1-1, 13-2) snapped a two-game losing streak and boosted their confidence heading into tomorrow night's date with visiting Maryland (1-1, 10-3).

Georgia Tech has won four consecutive over U.Va., the past three by an average of 18.3 points. The 57 points were by far the fewest the Cavaliers (0-3, 10-4) have scored this season. Last-place Virginia is the only ACC team yet to win a conference game.

The Yellow Jackets scored 34 points in the paint, to only 16 for Virginia. The Cavaliers had 21 turnovers, and Georgia Tech turned those mistakes into 21 points. U.Va. point guards Todd Billet, T.J. Bannister and Majestic Mapp combined for one assist and six turnovers.

U.Va. shot a season-low 34.8 percent from the floor and 58.1 percent from the line. No one scored more than 12 points for Virginia, which lost for the 14th time in its past 15 road games.

"To be successful on the road, you gotta defend, you gotta rebound and you gotta make free throws," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said. "Tonight, we didn't do any of them particularly well."

For a substantial part of the first half, Virginia shot remarkably well from 3-point range, making 7 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc. But the Cavaliers failed to hit a 3-pointer in the game's final 27:51, missing 13 attempts during that span.

"We just got tired and missed some shots," Gillen said.

For the second straight game, sophomore forward Derrick Byars failed to score for Virginia. Byars has totaled seven points in his past four games. He had no rebounds in 14 minutes last night.

"It's physical, mental toughness," Gillen said. "He's got to be more aggressive and attack the basket."

U.Va. struck first, on junior forward Devin Smith's trey 23 seconds into the game, and its bombs kept finding the target. The Cavaliers went up 15-11 on a Smith's second 3-pointer - their fifth trey in six attempts - but then abruptly imploded. Virginia turned the ball over on seven of its next nine possessions, allowing Georgia Tech to rally for a 22-16 lead.

"We had some bad spurts," Gillen said.

Between's Smith trey at the 16:10 mark and freshman guard J.R. Reynolds' 3-pointer at 9:01, U.Va. was outscored 13-2. Just when the game seemed to be slipping away from the Cavaliers, though, they rallied, closing to 30-29 on a layup by junior center Elton Brown with 5:51 remaining.

With the Jackets' offense sputtering, Virginia had four shots that would have given it a lead. None fell. U.Va. mustered all of one point in the final 5:51 of the half. Tech had no such problems during that stretch, closing with an 11-1 run to take a 41-30 lead into the break.

"Our whole problem is, when we get down by four or five points, we panic," Brown said. "Basketball is a long game."

A late-first-half swoon is nothing new for Virginia. Duke ended the opening half Sunday night by outscoring U.Va. 16-6 and went on to win 93-71 at University Hall.

"It's especially disappointing, because it's so much harder to come back on the road," said Billet, who led Virginia with 12 points. "When you get down 11 at the half against a team like this, it's very difficult. If it's tied at halftime or you have a two-point lead, your chances of winning are so much greater."

The Cavaliers are 0-3 in ACC play for first time since 1998-99, their first season under Gillen.