One good half not enough against UNC
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 25, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
Roy Williams never masks his emotions when it comes to coaching his basketball team. For the first 23 minutes of Saturday’s game against visiting Virginia, Williams could hardly believe what he was seeing.
The Cavaliers arrived to Tobacco Road desperate for an ACC road win, having packed their confidence from winning six of the last eight against North Carolina. Williams’ Tar Heels were still feeling the effects from the hangover of Thursday night’s upset at Florida State.
So, when Virginia fought seventh-ranked UNC to a near draw the first half, everyone knew this one was up for grabs. This one was all about hunger and defense.
Problem was, Gillen’s Cavaliers spent most of that fuel in the first half.

Tar Heels’ wake up call
After taking its first lead of the game at 49-48 on a Devin Smith steal and dunk with 17:52 remaining in the game, virtually none of the 20,874 witnesses would have predicted that Virginia was done. Maybe that was the wake-up call Williams had awaited.
“I was so mad at them for some of the dumb things they did,” Williams said of his team. “The first half we just didn’t guard anybody. I would tell the guys something and they would do the opposite. I thought I was speaking a foreign language.”
Finally the Tar Heels got the point ... lots of them, actually, as they began to do everything right. Maybe it was Virginia taking the lead. Maybe it was Williams’ screaming.
Whatever it was, the Tar Heels went on a 31-9 blitz that left Virginia stunned as the Cavaliers lost for the 15th time in their last 16 ACC road trips.
Anyone familiar with Carolina basketball knew that the Heels would answer with one of their well-known runs that traditionally has scored knockouts against visitors to the Dean Dome. The Cavaliers heard the ring but couldn’t answer the bell.

Unmatched intensity
Gillen, who saw glimmers of hope until his team unraveled, was disappointed the Cavs didn’t show more fight when the Tar Heels got it going.
“[Carolina] turned up the defensive intensity in the second half ... They just ran by us ...We got a little flustered and hesitant ... At the beginning of the second half we had some opportunities and we got in foul trouble, bing, bang, boom,” were excerpts from Gillen’s post-game press conference. “We couldn’t guard Raymond Felton [11 points, 8 assists], who I think is the best point guard in the country.”
The quick-silver Felton was the trigger man in this second-half, drive-by. When Carolina turned up the defensive heat and forced turnovers, Felton got the ball to the most effective people, i.e. Rashad McCants (26 points), Sean May (17), Jawad Williams (14) ... need we go on?
“Against a team like this you can’t have a bad spurt, but we got a little bit shook,” said Gillen, whose team dropped to 12-5 overall, 2-4 in the ACC.
Virginia picked a bad time and an even worse place to have a breakdown. The Tar Heels are the nation’s highest scoring team and spoonfeeding them layups isn’t the way to play these guys.
For Gillen, it was another bittersweet experience. He had to be encouraged that his team played extremely hard for 23 minutes. His team hit 87 percent of its free throws. The Cavs played their freshmen for extended minutes, giving them valuable experience for the long haul.
But a loss is a loss and the ones in the ACC haven’t been close: 22, 19, 18 and 17.
Somewhere along the way, if Virginia is to disprove its preseason eighth-placed prediction in the league, the Cavaliers are going to have to win somewhere on the road and beat some of the ACC’s uppercrust in Charlottesville.
With home wins against Clemson and Florida State in the rear view mirror, they’re aren’t any patsies coming to town.
“To be successful in the conference you have to win a couple on the road,” said UVa senior point guard Todd Billet. “On the road, you have to be focused the whole game and a lot of our younger guys get a little frazzled when a team like Carolina makes a run like that.”
Elton Brown, who is trying to play his way back into the graces of Gillen, believes the Cavs’ road woes won’t last much longer. Next stop: Wake Forest, where the Deacs have won 24 of their last 25.
“I think we can win at Wake,” Brown said after a 12-point, four rebound performance at UNC.
For the rest of us, it might require a little more convincing.

 

Second half stomper
Heels outscore Cavs 54-37 after halftime, roll to win
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 25, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - It would be mastering the obvious to claim that when Virginia plays there are only two outcomes: It wins or it loses.

With the Cavaliers, however, you can modify that slightly. They win or lose … by a lot.

No. 7 North Carolina, using a game-breaking 26-6 run in the second half, handed Virginia a 96-77 setback Saturday at the Dean E. Smith Center.

It was the 15th loss in the last 16 ACC road games for the Cavaliers (12-5, 2-4 ACC), whose five losses have come at an average margin of 18.2 points a contest. Additionally, the Cavaliers have lost their ACC contests by an average of 19.3 points.

“It was lopsided. We lost by 19. You have to play for forty minutes. We had some bad spurts and you can’t have bad spurts against a team like this,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen.

Rashad McCants led five UNC players in double figures with 26 points as he scored 25 or more for the third straight game. Sean May had 17 points while Raymond Felton had 11 points and eight assists for the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-3 ACC), who lost in overtime at Florida State on Thursday.

“We played with enthusiasm and energy when we needed to today,” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “Those are not things we did the other night for the whole game.”

Devin Smith led Virginia with 16 and J.R. Reynolds finished with a career-high 15 points.

Virginia fell behind early by as many as 13 in the opening half but Virginia finished the half outscoring the Tar Heels 21-10 and when Elton Brown made a layup just before the halftime buzzer, UNC held just a 42-40 advantage.

The way it ended the half was the reverse of what has been a particular Achilles’ heel for the Cavaliers as breakdowns in the waning minutes before the half have yielded losses.

Virginia then grabbed its first lead of the game on a steal and dunk by Devin Smith with 17:52 left in the game that made it 49-48. The moment didn’t last.

Over the next eight and one-half minutes, the enigmatic Tar Heels rattled of a searing stretch of basketball that displayed how good they can be while highlighting Virginia’s deficiencies.

Starting with back-to-back dunks by Jackie Manuel and then McCants and culminating with a McCants trey, the Tar Heels outscored Virginia 26-6 to gain a 77-58 lead with 8:29 left. At that point, it was essentially game, set, match for the Tar Heels.

Felton often collected the ball after UVa turnovers used his lightning quickness to speed down the court, easily knifed through the UVa defense to find open teammates and lead the spurt.

“I haven’t seen [St. Joseph’s] Jameer Nelson play but it’s hard for me to believe there are any point guards in the country better than Felton,” Gillen said. “It was bing, bang, boom and our players got out of sync and they just ran the ball by us. … They run great and you have to give them a ton of credit.”

Virginia briefly got the deficit down to 16 but UNC pushed the advantage up to as many as 22 before settling at the final margin.

Virginia had held its last two opponents - Florida State and Clemson - to under 32 percent shooting but the Tar Heels shot 52.3 percent Saturday, including a 63 percent effort in the second half.

“Our defense wasn’t as good, no. They have unbelievably offensively talented players … when things go bad, you got to dig down and you have to keep competing. You can’t give into frustration,” Gillen said.

Added Reynolds: “We have to play hard for 40 minutes. We can’t take breaks. We saw today what happens when we take breaks. … We had to come out in the second half and play the same way as we ended the first half but we couldn’t do that.”

 

UNC leaves Cavs at heels
UVa grabs a second-half lead, but Carolina takes control with a 26-6 run.
By Doug Doughty

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Until Saturday, Virginia had not lost a men's basketball game this season in which it led during the second half.

That's small consolation now.

On paper, it was just another lopsided loss for the Cavaliers, who dropped a 96-77 decision Saturday at seventh-ranked North Carolina.

It was the 15th loss in the past 16 ACC road games for Virginia, whose four conference losses this year have been by an average of 19 points.

"We felt coming into halftime that we could win this game," said J.R. Reynolds, a freshman from Roanoke who celebrated his first game at the Dean Smith Center by scoring a career-high 15 points. "It was a matter of us coming out in the second half and controlling their run, because we knew they would make a run."

Reynolds got that right.

On the same floor where Carolina had knocked off No.1-ranked Connecticut one week earlier, the Cavaliers (12-5, 2-4 ACC) grabbed a 49-48 lead early in the second half and trailed only 53-52 going into a television timeout with 15:45 left.

UVa coach Pete Gillen took out senior point guard Todd Billet for an extended breather, inserting freshman T.J. Bannister, and, by the time Gillen rushed Billet back into the game, the Tar Heels were on their way.

The Tar Heels outscored Virginia 26-6 over a seven-minute span and there was no letup, not after Carolina had squandered a 24-point lead Thursday night in a 90-81 overtime loss at Florida State.

"I was very concerned in the first half because I didn't feel we were 'into' it," first-year Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "I didn't feel we were challenging things and it was very frustrating.

"Around here, when you lose a game, people start to panic. A loss like we had the other night really sticks with you for a long time. Looking at the tape, we didn't play well against Florida State but they made a ton of big-time shots."

Williams wasn't taking any chances Saturday, playing four of his starters until a stoppage of play with 1:26 remaining. Gillen played his five scholarship freshmen for the final 3:23, except when Donte Minter fouled out with 1:11 to go, at which point Gillen inserted 6-foot-7 scholarship football player Vince Redd, a sixth freshman.

Redd, who blocked a shot, was redshirted in football this past season and had the distinction of playing in a basketball game before making his football debut.

"We knew we weren't going to win the game, so we decided to leave them in the game and get some experience and let them realize what you have to do against great players," Gillen said.

In victories over Florida State and Clemson during the previous week, UVa had held the opposition under 32 percent from the field in back-to-back games. Carolina shot 63 percent in the second half Saturday and 52.3 percent for the game - the fifth opponent in the past nine games to shoot 50 percent or better against the Cavaliers.

"Our defense wasn't as good, no, but they have unbelievably talented offensive players," Gillen said.

The Tar Heels were ranked first in Division I in scoring, with an average of 88.4 points before Saturday, and barely missed their fifth 100-point game of the season despite a 54-point second half.

Carolina had six double-figure scorers, led by sophomore guard Rashad McCants with 26 points, his third consecutive game of 25 points or more.

Junior forward Devin Smith, prevented from starting by a sore back, had a team-high 16 points in 19 minutes for the Cavaliers. Reynolds and junior Elton Brown, who had 12 points, were Virginia's only other double-figure scorers.

"I felt I was going to play more minutes; I played 17," said Brown, who came off the bench for the third straight game. "I had it going. I feel, if I had played 30 minutes ... who knows? Every go-to player is going to have bad games. They have droughts, but you've got to stick with them."

 

U.Va. run over in Chapel Hill
Tar Heels able to seize control during second half
Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published January 25, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- It was as if somebody had flipped a switch.

Five minutes into the second half, Virginia trailed the nation's seventh-ranked team by a point. On the road, no less, where the Cavaliers had become the ACC's version of roadkill. The offense was clicking, the defense at least decent. And nobody seemed to notice, let alone care about, their surroundings.

Ten minutes into the second half, it was over. One of college basketball's most athletic teams had finally awakened, and the Cavs - to use their coach's words - became "a deer in headlights."

Final score: North Carolina 96, Virginia 77. U.Va. has now lost four conference games by a combined 76 points.

"Same old story," point guard Todd Billet said.

Not exactly. Virginia, which has lost 15 of its last 16 ACC road games, played with passion and poise - for about 25 minutes. Devin Smith's steal and dunk with 17:50 remaining gave the Cavaliers (12-5, 2-4) their only lead at 49-48. A minute later, UNC was up one.

But following the first TV timeout of the second half, UNC (12-4, 2-3) was transformed. With a 26-6 run that lasted exactly seven minutes, it was over. North Carolina went 9-of-11 from the field in that stretch and scored on 13 of 14 possessions. Virginia helped by committing six of its 19 turnovers, which UNC converted into nine points - six coming on fast-break dunks.

"They turned the defensive intensity in the second half," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We got a little bit, you know, frustrated and picked up a couple fouls. But you've got to fight through it. That's my disappointment.

"Hey, they've got some great players and a great coach, but when things get a little bad we've got to keep swinging. We get a little flustered, a little hesitant, stunned, whatever. And they just turned it up and ran by us."

Rashad McCants had 10 of his 26 points in the run, which included a 3-pointer and three transition baskets. And Carolina had five of its 11 steals, setting up easy opportunities.

"We started getting our hands up and creating some turnovers," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "And that got our break going. I think we showed more enthusiasm with that stretch."

Virginia withstood a similar situation earlier. Carolina led 32-19 with 8:12 left in the first half and looked to be close to blowout mode when the Cavs answered with seven straight points. And down 42-35 at 1:55 - its danger zone - Virginia closed the half with a 5-0 run.

But this time, there were no answers.

"We played 20, 25 minutes," junior Elton Brown said. "Then we didn't play hard anymore. They hit a lot of big shots and forced us into some turnovers. That was the key point to me, the turnovers. They're an explosive team and they can get it going."

Though the Cavaliers got respectable play at the point from Billet and freshman T.J. Bannister (a combined 10 assists and six turnovers), they couldn't match Carolina's Raymond Felton. Though his numbers were fairly pedestrian - 11 points, eight assists, two turnovers in 33 minutes - he controlled the game.

Virginia has a week off before playing Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.

And after losing their first three conference road games by 17, 18 and 19 points, the Cavs know that pattern is in danger of continuing.

"To win on the road, you have to play like you're possessed," Billet said. "That's how teams win in this league."
 

UNC runs over Virginia, 96-77
Tar Heels get back on track after FSU loss
AARON BEARD
Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL - For the second time in three days, North Carolina watched an opponent erase a double-digit lead.

This time, however, the seventh-ranked Tar Heels had enough to charge back in front.

Rashad McCants scored 26 points to lead six North Carolina players in double figures in a 96-77 win over Virginia on Saturday.

Sean May scored 17 points for the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who improved to 17-2 against the Cavaliers in the Smith Center. Raymond Felton added 11 points and eight assists.

Devin Smith scored 16 points to lead Virginia (12-5, 2-4), which had won six of eight meetings coming in, while J.R. Reynolds added 15.

It was a much-needed win for North Carolina. The Tar Heels were coming off Thursday's 90-81 overtime loss at Florida State, a game in which they blew a 24-point lead. In addition, they were trying to avoid their fourth loss in league play.

North Carolina got off to a fast start Saturday, taking a 13-point lead midway through the first half. Virginia cut into the lead before going ahead early in the second half.

Instead of succumbing to an opponent with momentum on its side, the Tar Heels answered with a 26-6 run, fueled by fastbreak baskets and better defensive intensity.

"We just got upset and decided we were going to play defense and take over the game," Felton said. "It's something that we had to do. Coach (Roy Williams) can't do it for us. ... We've got to have heart and just got to play."

The Tar Heels did that in the second half, shooting 17-for-27 (63 percent). North Carolina also forced 12 second-half turnovers, many of which led to baskets that helped the Tar Heels forget about the loss to the Seminoles.

"Florida State was one of those games that leaves a bad taste in your mouth," said McCants, who was 10-of-14 from the field and broke the 25-point mark for the third straight game. "I don't think nobody got any sleep after that game. But we had to move on."

Virginia trailed 42-40 at halftime, but took a 49-48 lead on Smith's slam off a steal at midcourt with 17:50 to play.

But the Tar Heels finally got their transition game going, fueling the 26-6 spurt. Jackie Manuel got the run going with a fastbreak slam off a feed from McCants for a 55-52 lead with 14:48 to play.

The run featured plenty of easy scores. McCants had two dunks, one coming off an alley-oop pass from Felton and the other off a Virginia turnover. Felton hit a driving layup in transition, then found a cutting Manuel for a layup and a foul on the next possession.

At one point during that spurt, North Carolina hit seven of eight shots. All but one came from inside the paint.

North Carolina ended the run with 15 straight points, the last coming off a fast-break layup by David Noel, for a 79-58 lead with 7:48 left. Virginia got no closer than 15 points after that.

"We had a chance and when adversity strikes, we've got to keep swinging," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We get a little flustered, we get a little hesitant or stunned or whatever, and then they just turned it up and ran by us."

The Cavaliers didn't help themselves by committing 17 personal fouls in the second half. North Carolina took advantage, hitting 17 of 25 free throws.

North Carolina also took a 38-27 rebounding advantage for the game, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive glass.

"We've got to keep pushing," Williams said. "If you want to really get a lead, maintain it and build on it, you've got to keep pushing.

"I thought after the first five or six minutes of the second half, we really got active."

 

UNC's defense doesn't rest
By NEIL AMATO : The Herald-Sun
namato@heraldsun.com
Jan 24, 2004 : 11:26 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- Seconds into Saturday's Virginia-North Carolina game, UNC's Sean May blocked consecutive shots by Donte Minter.

That flurry equaled UNC's team blocks total Thursday at Florida State, giving a hint that the Tar Heels might decide to play some defense at the Smith Center.

Stopping the opponent was job one after Thursday, when FSU shot nearly 56 percent and rallied from a 24-point deficit to win in overtime.

No. 7 UNC again took a double-digit lead -- 13 points in the first half Saturday -- and again the opponent rallied to go ahead. But the Tar Heels dug in defensively in the second half and dug deep when fatigued tempted them to rest. That attitude and solid decision-making on offense contributed to a soothing, 96-77 victory over the Cavaliers before a crowd of 20,874.

UNC shot 63 percent in the second half, the sixth time this year that Coach Roy Williams' team has shot 60 percent or better in a half. Far more important was the Tar Heels' defense. After Virginia made its first four shots of the second half, UNC hounded the Cavaliers into 7-of-21 shooting the rest of the way.

A players-only meeting -- trite these days, but apparently effective -- had one message Friday after practice.

"Play defense," sophomore David Noel said. "It's that simple. We haven't been guarding people the way we know we can guard. That's why we've been getting out to big leads and letting it slip away. We need to play team defense, everybody helping each other."

The first half was more of the same for UNC, with Virginia shooting 50 percent, a smidge under the Tar Heels' average defense in ACC games.

"I thought after the first five or six minutes in the second half, we really got after it," Williams said. "We got our break going and did some really nice things."

Raymond Felton had six assists and no turnovers after halftime, and UNC finished with a season-low 11 turnovers.

"Those good shooting percentages come from good passes," Williams said.

Often, Rashad McCants was on the receiving end of those passes. The sophomore topped the 25-point mark for the 11th time in 51 career games, making 10 field goals for the third consecutive game and finishing with 26 points. But it was a McCants pass -- a plain, old bounce pass -- that started the Tar Heels on their game-breaking run.

After one of Virginia's 19 turnovers, McCants led a fast break with Noel on his left and Jackie Manuel on his right. He looked off the defender and fed Manuel with a bounce pass. That dunk started the Tar Heels on a 26-6 run that turned a 53-52 nail-biter into a 79-58 breather.

When the run ended, on an Elton Brown inside shot with 7:18 to go, UNC kept running its break. Nine seconds after Brown's basket, May was at the other end of the court, having outrun Brown and the rest of the Cavaliers defense for a layup.

"That's ridiculous," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "That can't happen. We scored. That shouldn't be able to happen."

That's not to say the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-3 ACC) weren't tired, too. In the midst of the run -- when UNC made 7 of 8 shots and 6 of 8 free throws -- Felton was gasping as he took an outlet pass and again pushed the ball up the court. Grimacing on the left side, he fired to a cutting Manuel, who scored and was fouled, providing the whistle Felton needed for an exit. Manuel hit the free throw for a 15-point lead, which was as close as Virginia (12-5, 2-4) would get.

"You've got to keep pushing," said Williams, who intends to stick with his fast pace even as UNC gets little bench help beyond Noel and Manuel. "That's the way I've always coached."

Williams used 12 players in the first half -- including center Damion Grant for the first time this season after off-season knee surgery -- but it wasn't for fear of fatigue. "I was very concerned in the first half because I didn't think we were into it," Williams said. "I didn't think we were flying on defense."

Although Williams will yank a player for a bad shot, he's quicker to sub because of poor defense. May was removed several times Saturday, playing just 24 minutes. May is aware of the defensive lapses, saying he took responsibility in the Friday meeting, first suggested by senior walk-on Phillip McLamb. But May also stressed the need for the Tar Heels to think less about individuals and more about the group.

"Everybody's been pointing the finger at Rashad like, 'Rashad's the worst defender on this team,' " May said. "And I stepped forward and said, 'It's both of us.' We both have a lot to work on the defensive end on the floor.

"At the same time, when [FSU's Tim] Pickett got 30, I told Melvin [Scott], that's not you, it's us. He put 30 on us.' We can't point the finger at anybody. It's all of us. We all have to do our part. I think today was a good showing of collective effort."

NOTES -- UNC's next game is Wednesday at home against N.C. State. ... May was 3 of 9 at the free-throw line at FSU, but he made 7 of 8 Saturday. ... Scott had four assists and four steals in the game's first nine minutes. ... UNC outrebounded Virginia 38-27 behind a team-high seven boards in 20 minutes from Manuel. ... Virginia's Todd Billet, who scored 40 points and made 9 of 20 3-pointers in two games last year against the Tar Heels, was 2 of 6 with eight points Saturday. "We knew we had to guard him," Noel said. "He lit us up last year." ... McCants has scored 25 or more points in three straight games. The last UNC player to do that was Joseph Forte three seasons ago. McCants is 30 of 51 from the floor in his last three games.

 

Cavaliers Misstep Against Tar Heels
Defense Unable To Slow No. 7 UNC : North Carolina 96, Virginia 77
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 25, 2004; Page E10

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Jan. 24 -- The Virginia Cavaliers began their toughest stretch of the season with a measure of confidence after consecutive wins against Clemson and Florida State. The good vibes didn't last long.

Seventh-ranked North Carolina made sure of that, dominating the second half Saturday to hand the Cavaliers yet another ACC road loss, 96-77.

Virginia held the mediocre Tigers and Seminoles to a combined 117 points, but that defense was nowhere to be found against a UNC squad that leads the nation with 88.4 points per game. The Tar Heels put six players in double figures, ran the court at will and scored more points than any Virginia opponent this season.

The Cavaliers (12-5, 2-4) briefly led early in the second half and were within 53-52 before North Carolina began a dominant nine-minute stretch. The run began with a flurry of dunks and concluded with the Tar Heels firmly in control, up 79-58 with less than eight minutes remaining.

Virginia Coach Pete Gillen had plenty of worries after the game, but his prime concern was the way his team sagged as North Carolina (12-4, 2-3) began to pull away.

"You've got to keep fighting through it. That's my disappointment," said Gillen, whose team has lost 15 of its past 16 conference road games. "They've got great players, a great coach, but when things get bad, we've got to keep swinging. We can't get frustrated."

"We lost focus a little bit out there," added freshman point guard T.J. Bannister. "We came in and we were talking about coming out and playing hard the whole game. But in the second half you see some players not getting back on defense and it's like, we're going back on our word."

Virginia had no trouble beating Clemson and Florida State, which until recently shared the ACC cellar with the Cavaliers. But knocking off the conference's best teams has been another matter. Virginia lost to North Carolina State by 17 points, to Duke by 22 and to Georgia Tech by 18. Up next is a weekend trip to No. 10 Wake Forest, followed by games against Maryland, N.C. State, No. 1 Duke and No. 11 Georgia Tech.

The Cavaliers threatened the Tar Heels for 25 minutes but led for only 26 seconds after a steal and fast-break dunk by tri-captain Devin Smith, who scored a team-high 16 points in 19 minutes despite coming off the bench because of his nagging back injury.

North Carolina began its decisive burst a few minutes later with a dunk by Jackie Manuel. Rashad McCants (26 points) dunked an alley-oop pass from Raymond Felton, and then got another dunk. Jawad Williams sprinkled in a handful of free throws.

J.R. Reynolds (15 points) and Smith stemmed the tide briefly with three-pointers, but those shots were an oasis in an offensive wasteland for Virginia. UNC scored on 11 straight possessions while the Cavaliers failed on 14 of 16.

"I think we showed a little bit more enthusiasm in that stretch," said North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, whose team blew a 24-point lead at Florida State earlier this week. "I was very concerned in the first half because I didn't think we were into it."

The Tar Heels led by 13 in the first half but let it slip to 42-40 at the break after a strong Virginia run. The second half, though, provided the Cavaliers with frustrations that have become too familiar this season.

"Same story in terms of the [opposing] team going on a run and [us] not being fully aware of what's going on to stop them," Virginia guard Todd Billet said.

Cavaliers Notes: Virginia is 5-59 at North Carolina. . . . Vince Redd, a freshman football player who joined the basketball team last week, made his debut with 1 minute 11 seconds remaining.
 

UNC's better half too much for U.Va.
After Cavaliers take their only lead, Heels pull away to victory
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 25, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Two minutes into the second half, forward Devin Smith stole an ill-advised pass and dribbled in for a dunk that put Virginia ahead for the first time.

It turned out to be the Cavaliers' only lead yesterday at the Dean E. Smith Center. ACC rival North Carolina moved back ahead 27 seconds later on a short jumper by sophomore point guard Raymond Felton, and the rout was on. The seventh-ranked Tar Heels raced to a 96-77 victory before 20,874 fans.

"We played well for a half, but you got to play well for 40 minutes," said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, whose team battled back from a 12-point halftime deficit. "Against a team like this, you can't have a bad spurt."

After closing to 53-52 on guard Todd Billet's 3-pointer with 16:52 left, U.Va. (2-4, 12-5) twice had the ball with a chance to regain the lead. Each possession ended with a turnover. On the second, swingman Jackie Manuel slapped the ball out of Cavaliers center Elton Brown's hands, leading to a UNC fast break. It ended with a Manuel slam that started a 26-6 run in which U.Va. offered little resistance. In all, the Heels scored 54 second-half points.

"We missed a couple 3s, and they got some long rebounds," Billet said, "and they were running and beating us down the court."

Such lapses have plagued Virginia in each of its ACC losses, which have come by an average of 19 points.

"When adversity strikes, we got to keep swinging," Gillen said. "We get a little flustered, we get a little hesitant, stunned, whatever, and then they just turned it up and they ran by us."

U.Va. lost for the 15th time in its past 16 ACC road games. The Cavaliers were coming off home victories over Florida State and Clemson, neither of which shot better than 32 percent from the floor. Carolina (2-3, 12-4), however, hit 63 percent after intermission and 52.3 percent for the game. The 96 points were the most Virginia has allowed this season.

"They're the leading scoring team in the country, so they're a great offensive team, but we didn't do as good a job as we should have," Gillen said.

As has generally been the case this season, U.Va. got whipped on the boards (38-27). Its frontcourt starters - freshman center Donte Minter, sophomore forward Derrick Byars and junior forward Jason Clark - combined for seven rebounds. The Cavs also had more turnovers (19) than assists (16).

Sophomore guard Rashad Felton led UNC with 26 points, his third straight game with at least 25. Felton had 11 points, eight assists and two steals and ran the Heels' fast streak almost flawlessly.

"I haven't seen Jameer Nelson from Saint Joe's this year," Gillen said, "but I can't believe there's a better point guard in the country [than Felton]."

Freshman guard J.R. Reynolds scored a career-best 15 points for Virginia, which doesn't play again until Saturday, when it visits 10th-ranked Wake Forest (2-2, 11-3). Smith's back bothered him so much yesterday morning that he told his coaches he couldn't start. It loosened up, however, and Smith finished with a team-high 16 points in only 19 minutes.

Brown, a former starter, came off the bench to score 12 points in 17 minutes. Brown's basket with 2 seconds left in the first half, off a pass from Billet, pulled the Cavs to 42-40 and sent them into the break shooting 50 percent from the floor. That didn't please UNC's first-year coach, Roy Williams, who had seen his team squander a 24-point lead Thursday night in a overtime loss at Florida State.

On defense, Williams said, the Tar Heels "didn't have the energy level that we needed out there, didn't challenge enough things. I was frustrated at that point, but I thought that after the first five or six minutes in the second half we really got after it."

Gillen agreed.

"They turned it up in the second half," he said. "They turned up the defensive intensity. We got a little frustrated, we got a couple fouls. You got to keep fighting through it. That's my disappointment."
 

There's not even a hint of victory in a U.Va. loss
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jan 25, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Give Virginia's Cavaliers this: They do not keep you in suspense. When they lose, they really lose. No heart palpitations in the audience, no churning stomachs. This may not be the way to win friends and influence boosters, but they won't have to sweat Maalox shortages back home in Charlottesville.

North Carolina strolled into its Dean Dome yesterday seventh in the ACC standings and wobbly from a blown-tire setback two nights earlier at Florida State and whacked U.Va. 96-77. Tar Heels get well, Cavaliers get another worm's-eye view of an avalanche. That's five losses for the Cavs. None has been closer than 15 points. Average margin of defeat: 18 points. Odds of turning rubble into rebirth: Think Howard Dean on Scream Night in Des Moines.

Virginia's season is now entering make-or-crumble territory. It's already played FSU and Clemson at home. Ergo, no gimmes remain on the itinerary. This doesn't mean the Cavs won't win again this season. They will. On the other hand, they weren't picked to finish eighth in this league for no reason.

"It only gets harder," senior guard Majestic Mapp said. "This is the ACC. There's five ranked teams in the ACC. We're going to play all of them in this stretch of our schedule. We've got to get ready to go."

They were up to the task for 25 minutes yesterday. It was a one-point game at that juncture. One seven-minute UNC blitz later, it was 79-58 and done. The Tar Heels rang up 26 points during that surge, missed only 4 of 15 shots, tipped one of them in, dunked at will, zoomed in transition, ratcheted up their defense, forced turnovers and awkward shots, overwhelmed the Cavs.

"It can be like a two- or three-minute stretch, especially in a place like this." said U.Va.'s Todd Billet. "You can lose a game in two or three minutes if you don't play hard or by losing focus."

All the Cavaliers' flaws surfaced and glowed like neon. They were second-best to loose balls and minus-11 on the glass. They yielded 63-percent accuracy to the Tar Heels after the break. Their rookies - J.R. Reynolds excepted - played like it. They had no ballhandler capable of turning down UNC's defensive heat and coughed up 19 turnovers - 12 in the second half. Their offense became a shambles of deflected passes and wild runners.

When UNC punched, they had no counter.

"We had a chance," said U.Va. coach Pete Gillen. "When adversity comes, you've got to keep swinging. We got a little frustrated, and they ran by us. They're a great offensive team, but we didn't do as good a job as we should've."

Gillen, who faces heat of his own, spent the afternoon perspiring freely and vainly urging his troops to make stops and better decisions. He once took time to demonstrate the proper defensive stance to a player (shouldn't they work that out in practice?). He lobbied the refs. He turned to his assistants when UNC was rolling. They shook their heads and then stared at the floor. The dam had burst. There was no holding back the flood.

"We've got to keep improving," Gillen said. "I think we have a good upside. I have confidence in our team. I think any time we have a game, we have a chance to win it. I know a lot of people don't believe that. I do."

Nice of him to keep the faith. But many more of these lopsided setbacks, and he'll be a minority of one.