Cavs' seniors had their moments
U.Va.'s outgoing class finishes with 32 wins, including 3 in bowls
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 1, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some of them were redshirted and didn't make their debuts for the University of Virginia football team until the 2002 season. Others played as true freshmen in'02. Whatever their backgrounds, U.Va.'s outgoing seniors leave an impressive legacy: 32 victories, including a 3-1 record in bowl games.

This group includes such luminaries as quarterback Marques Hagans, tailback Wali Lundy, kickers Connor Hughes and Kurt Smith, offensive tackles D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Brad Butler, center Brian Barthelmes and defensive lineman Brennan Schmidt. Their college careers ended Friday afternoon when Virginia rallied to beat Minnesota 34-31 in the Music City Bowl.

"To win today means everything to me," said Lundy, who scored two touchdowns to raise his career total to 52, an ACC record. "Just to go out and leave Virginia with a win, and just leave my teammates with a win and something to build off for next year, it means everything to me and the program."

Fittingly, perhaps, a senior supplied the game-winning points. With 68 seconds left, Hughes gave U.Va. its first lead, booting a 39-yard field goal to make it 34-31.

"It was just a great way to finish for me," said Hughes, who made his final nine field-goal attempts as a Cavalier.

For the fourth time in Al Groh's five seasons as U.Va.'s coach, his team closed with a victory. The lone season-ending defeat came in 2004, when Virginia blew a 21-10 halftime lead and lost in overtime to Fresno State in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

After his team erased a 21-10 halftime deficit to beat the Golden Gophers, Groh was asked to describe his emotions.

"What I felt good about was 1, the sense of satisfaction, and 2, the fact that I wouldn't have to console anybody," Groh said. "I could just put my arm around a bunch of them, particularly those that are leaving, and tell them how much we appreciate what they did for us and we love them and they're always part of the football family."

Virginia went 9-5 in 2002, 8-5 in '03 and 8-4 in '04. The Cavaliers finished 7-5 in '05, a season marked by injuries and suspensions and disappointment. After becoming bowl-eligible with a Nov. 12 victory over Georgia Tech, U.Va. dropped its final two regular-season games, losing 52-14 to Virginia Tech and 25-17 to Miami. So it was difficult to overstate the importance of the Music City Bowl to Virginia.

"I don't even really want to think about what it would be like to go out with a loss," said Schmidt, whose 51 career starts are a U.Va. record and match the most by an ACC player.

"I think that's why I was trying not to think about it for so long. But [to win is] just great. I'm totally humbled and inspired by the guys on this team and what we were able to do."

Hagans wrote an unforgettable ending to his college career, completing 25 of 32 passes for a career-best 358 yards and two touchdowns. He also lined up at wide receiver -- the position he played regularly in 2002 and'03, when Matt Schaub was U.Va.'s starting QB -- and caught one pass for 7 yards. On the Cavaliers' final scoring drive, Hagans came perilously close to being sacked on a third-down play, only to slip away and complete an 18-yard pass to wideout Emmanuel Byers.

"I don't even know how I got out, what I did," said Hagans, the Music City's MVP. "I feel arms, and my God-given ability just takes over."

And so the departing Cavs always will have memories of their final game to savor.

"It means a lot," Ferguson said. "Last year, we didn't win, but this year we did, and I tell you the feeling is different. It's night and day."

 

U.Va. outworked by Hartford, but win
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 1, 2006
U.VA. 71 HARTFORD 62

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Hartford's Hawks pulled down offensive rebounds by the dozen and, for most of the second half, outhustled and outworked their hosts from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In the end, though, superior talent prevailed in yesterday's matinee at University Hall. Virginia squandered most of its 16-point halftime lead before pulling away for a 71-62 victory before an announced crowd of 7,652.

Hartford totaled 28 offensive boards and outrebounded U.Va. 40-35 overall.

"ACC games are right around the corner," said U.Va. sophomore swingman Adrian Joseph, who contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and one steal. "We can't play like this because it's a different level."

Kenny Adeleke, a 6-9, 245-pound senior who played his first three seasons at Hofstra, finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Hawks (5-6). The Cavaliers (6-4) were fortunate he didn't hurt them more. Adeleke missed 8 of his 17 free throws in a game in which Hartford shot only 56.3 percent from the line.

All three of U.Va.'s post players - 6-10 junior Jason Cain, 6-10 sophomore Tunji Soroye and 6-8 freshman Laurynas Mikalauskas - fouled out, largely because of Adeleke's aggressive play inside.

"He's a workhorse," Hartford coach Larry Harrison said.

The Hawks, down 39-23 at the break, cut their deficit to four with 10:19 remaining, but they got no closer. U.Va. walk-on Drew Shiembob, a 6-4 freshman from St. Christopher's School in Richmond, scored on a stick-back to make it 50-44 with 9:59 to play. About 90 seconds earlier, Shiembob had grabbed his first offensive rebound and passed out to Sean Singletary, who made a 3-pointer to push Virginia's lead to 48-38.

"Is he a long-term answer? I don't know," U.Va. coach Dave Leitao said of Shiembob, who had four points, two boards and one steal in 16 minutes. "But somewhere along the line, we're going to need him to do things like that."

Singletary, a sophomore point guard, snapped a two-game slump by scoring 22 points. He also had seven assists and five rebounds.

"He's so quick and so good with the ball," Harrison said. "It seemed like he could turn it on pretty much whenever he wanted to."

Leitao thought his team looked a step slow in the first four or five minutes, as Hartford beat the Cavaliers to loose balls and rebounds. But a 9-0 run by junior guard J.R. Reynolds gave Virginia 39-20 lead with 2:18 left in the opening half, and a blowout seemed imminent.

That still was the case when Mikalauskas scored inside with 15:04 remaining to push Virginia's lead to 45-27. But Hartford ran off 11 consecutive points, and the Cavs had to work for their final victory of 2005.

"We had an emotional letdown," Singletary said.

Virginia plays tomorrow night at Western Kentucky, which lost in double overtime at U-Hall last season.

 

Cornering a memory
Burned earlier in the game on a long TD pass, Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton breaks Minnesota's hearts thereafter.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If Minnesota thought it could take advantage of Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton, the Gophers were sadly mistaken.

Hamilton was caught out of position on an early Gophers' touchdown pass, but he was a burr in their hides the rest of the afternoon Friday as Virginia prevailed 34-31 in the Music City Bowl.

Even before a game-saving, end-zone interception with 36 seconds left, Hamilton had been credited with four pass breakups.

Hamilton had a total of three pass breakups in 11 regular-season games, and no other UVa defensive back had more than two.

"Pass breakups are nice," said Hamilton, a redshirt junior from Centreville High School in Fairfax County, "but interceptions are better.

"Whenever the ball is in the air, it's my point to get every ball thrown in my direction."

An interception was what Hamilton had in mind when he left the man he was covering and tried to jump in front of another receiver on an out pattern.

Jason Ellerson blew past Hamilton and gathered in a 57-yard pass for the touchdown that put Minnesota ahead 21-7 in the third quarter.

"Where that ball was caught was where he was supposed to be," said UVa coach Al Groh, serving as the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator in the absence of Al Golden, the new head coach at Temple. "He thought he'd be a little cute and jump that one.

"You've heard me talk about being resilient, taking a punch and coming back. I told him, 'Look, hey, what's going on there? I expect a lot more out of you than that. If we're going to get plays like that from you, what is everybody else going to do?' "

Groh added, " 'I expect you to be one of the guys who leads us. Now, do something in the game to prove that true.' He certainly did a wonderful job of that."

One of the best qualities in any cornerback is a short memory.

"I was upset that they got that play on me, but I wouldn't have hung the blame all on myself," said Hamilton, a second-team All-ACC selection. "As a corner, you've got to take chances. I took a chance on him throwing an out and he threw a fade."

Groh was chewing out the defense for most of the first half, when Minnesota rung up 306 of its 461 yards.

"I made a mistake," Hamilton said, "and what was said, basically, was that I had to make up for it."

On Minnesota's final possession before the half, the Gophers threw a fade pattern on third and fourth down and Hamilton was in position to deflect both passes. Virginia took possession and added a field goal that made it a 21-10 game.

On his play at the end of the game, Hamilton was one of five players who were going for the ball. It was his ACC-high sixth interception of the season and the 10th of his career, including eight in the past 15 games.

"In games like this, if your guy makes a play, you win," Groh said. " If their guy makes a play, they win. You've got to step up and make those type of plays. That fell into the category of finding a way to win."
 

Cavaliers nearly drown in the Music
Virginia's cagers grab a big early lead, but have to hold off Hartford in the late going.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The most stirring event involving a Virginia athletic team this weekend did not occur Saturday at University Hall.

Friday's football victory in the Music City Bowl dominated conversation on an afternoon when the men's basketball team extended its longest winning streak of the season to three games.

UVa used a 3-point barrage to jump out to a 19-point lead in the first half, saw Hartford trim the deficit to four and then pulled away late for a 71-62 triumph before a crowd generously listed at 7,652.

It was the second time in four days that UVa (6-4) had been challenged by an opponent from the America East Conference, following a 77-66 victory Wednesday night over Maryland-Baltimore County. Hartford was 8-20 last season.

"The ACC games are right around the corner," said sophomore Adrian Joseph, who came off the bench and hit three first-half 3-pointers. "We can't play like this because it's a different level."

Hartford (5-6) had 28 offensive rebounds and an overall 40-35 rebounding edge.

The Cavaliers also had 17 turnovers, including eight in the first 8:17.

"There were some key moments in the first four or five minutes when they got to a couple of loose balls or got some offensive rebounds when you could see we were a step slow," first-year UVa coach Dave Leitao said.

Hartford, which trailed 39-23 at the half, gradually chipped away until it cut the deficit to 48-44 on a Rich Baker 3-pointer with 10:21 remaining.

The Cavaliers had put themselves in a bind to start the second half, when post men Tunji Soroye, Jason Cain and Lauris Mikalauskas all picked up their fourth fouls within a 2:49 span.

"You got two big guys in there," Leitao said, "and somebody's going to foul somebody. I had to use them one at a time."

In the end, all three fouled out, Soroye after playing only 11 minutes. The Cavaliers committed 10 fouls in the second half before Hartford committed three. Fortunately for UVa, the Hawks made only 18 of 32 free throws, with big man Kenny Adeleke going 9-for-17.

Adeleke, a 6-foot-9, 245-pounder, sat out the 2004-05 season after transferring from Hofstra. He is closing in on 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds for his career and finished with 21 and 15 Saturday.

UVa sophomore point guard Sean Singletary finished with 22 points and seven assists. The Cavaliers were clinging to a 52-47 lead when Singletary scored six points in the span of three possessions.

"I didn't think he hurt us as much as I thought," Hartford coach Larry Harrison said, "but then I look down and I see where he had 22."

Leitao said he's "still waiting for that one day when both he and J.R. [Reynolds] play well together. That hasn't happened yet and now we're 11 games into the season."

Reynolds had 11 of his 13 points in the first half but had an extended stay on the bench in the second half. Virginia, which has had seven scholarship players in uniform for the past four games, used freshman walk-on Drew Shiembob for 16 minutes.

"We got lucky again, just like we did earlier this week," said Shiembob, who got two offensive rebounds at a key stage of the second half.

 

Cavaliers get by Hartford
Singletary drops in 22
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
December 31, 2005

Leading by nine points and with just four seconds to go in the game, some coaches would probably breathe a sigh of relief, share a laugh with an assistant coach, or start thinking about the equivalent of a Red Auerbach victory cigar.
Especially on New Year's Eve.

But University of Virginia coach Dave Leitao wasn't about to fire up any stogies Saturday afternoon at University Hall.

Leitao had the look of a serial killer as he walked off the court, despite UVa's 71-62 victory over Hartford.

"For the first time this year, it didn't look like we were playing the game the way we've tried to organize ourselves from day one," Leitao said. "You could say [it was] foul trouble, or there were a couple guys banged up or a few other things, but at the end of the day, right now at a critical time we're not locked into a rhythm."

The Cavs, who play Western Kentucky on Monday night before getting into the meat of their ACC schedule with a home date versus Clemson on Saturday, were led by Sean Singletary's 22 points and seven assists.

However, they were smoked on the defensive glass. Hartford collected 28 offensive rebounds to the Cavs' 9.

"We didn't box out," Leitao said. "I don't remember seeing somebody saying, 'That was a heck of a box out.' We didn't go after it. We were the less aggressive team on the backboards today."

Virginia, which had outrebounded eight of its last nine opponents, lost the battle of the boards, 40-35.

"We didn't do what we needed to do," said forward Drew Shiembob. "We got lucky tonight."

The Cavs came out of the gates lackluster. Jason Cain and Laurynas Mikalauskas both picked up early fouls, which led to the appearances of Shiembob and fellow walk-on Mike Forkin.

That's when Leitao first sensed that it was probably going to be a long afternoon for his team.

"There are key moments in the first four of five minutes of a game where you can tell a little about the tone of the game," Leitao said. "They got a couple loose balls and a couple of offensive rebounds, and we were a step slow. Anytime a team gets into foul trouble is usually an indicator that a team is a step slow."

But, leading 17-15, the Cavs suddenly woke up. They had one of their best spurts of the year - a 22-5 run that had a little bit of everything.

Singletary hit on a floater in the lane. Adrian Joseph, who finished with 15 points, swished a jumper from the wing after a sweet pump fake. Shiembob - for the second straight game - got into the act, scoring an inside bucket off a nice feed from J.R. Reynolds.

The Cavs led 39-23 at the half. Unfortunately, they seemed to put things into cruise control after the break.

"They smelled out that we weren't playing hard," Singletary said, "and took advantage of it."

The Hawks began pecking away at the deficit. Big man Kenny Adeleke, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds, started having his way in the paint. Nobody seemed to be able to put a body on him. Adeleke got to the free-throw line at will, but was only 9 of 17.

A 3-pointer by Hawks guard Rich Baker cut the Cavs' lead to 48-44 with just over 10 minutes remaining.

That's when the Cavs, behind Singletary, were able to stop the bleeding.

"It seemed like he could turn it on anytime he wanted to," Hartford coach Larry Harrison said.

That's pretty much what Singletary said he did.

"I tried my best to get my teammates involved," Singletary said, "but when I saw that they were struggling, I took it upon myself."

Mainly, Singletary attacked the rim and got to the foul line, where he was 8 of 10.

Ten games into the season, the Cavs stand 6-4. It's their worst start since the 1998-'99 season when Pete Gillen went 6-4 in his first year as coach.

But, truth be told, UVa's record is probably right around what most everybody expected for a team with just eight scholarship players - including no seniors - and a new coach.

With the exception of the home loss to Fordham on Dec. 7, the Cavs have won every game they were favored to. They've lost every game in which they were the underdogs.

And, in the loss to Fordham, UVa played without Singletary.

But none of that stuff matters to Leitao.

"I think we're better than where we were in October and better than the first couple games," Leitao said, "but we're still inconsistent in what we're trying to do every day. Today it was rebounding."

DUNKS: Jason Cain, Laurynas Mikalauskas and Tunji Soroye all fouled out. ...

Cain, who had posted back-to-back double-doubles, finished with just seven points and four rebounds in 19 minutes. ... K.C. Jones, the former Boston Celtics coach, did the color commentary for Hartford's radio broadcast. ... Walk-on Mike Forkin saw his most important court time of the season, playing three minutes in the first half. He didn't score. ... The Cavs shot 50 percent from the field - their highest figure of the season.