Cav men try for sweep of Wolfpack
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
January 24, 2007

Don’t be shocked if Virginia’s Sean Singletary has the ball in his hands, with a chance to win the game in the final seconds, when UVa meets N.C. State tonight.

That’s exactly what has happened when the Cavaliers have played in Raleigh the last two years.

In the 2004-05 season, Singletary followed up his own miss for the game-winning basket. Last season, the guard missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have given Virginia the victory. That was the closest UVa has come to winning a road game outside of the commonwealth in the Dave Leitao era.

This evening, Virginia gets another crack at ending its road woes.

When UVa and N.C. State met earlier this season in Charlottesville, Singletary hit what turned out to be the game-winning jumper with a little more than a minute to play. Although the Cavaliers escaped with the win, it was one of their most erratic performances of the season.

“We struggled at home against them but were able to win,” Singletary said. “If we don’t struggle, we come out prepared and we stay together, then we’ll be fine on the road [tonight].”

In the Dec. 3 meeting against N.C. State - the ACC opener for both teams - Virginia had trouble defending the Wolfpack’s big men. Leitao said that will be a major point of emphasis this time around.

“Having to guard [Brandon] Costner and [Ben] McCauley will be a chore for us because they’re so multi-dimensional,” Leitao said. “Their inside-outside ability and their ability to put the ball on the floor and make shots and play post offense is something we need to be ready for.”

N.C. State (11-7, 1-4) is coming off an embarrassing 23-point home loss to Duke on Saturday. The Wolfpack shot just 34 percent and committed 20 turnovers.

“We had a tough one the other day against Duke,” lamented first-year N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe. “Now we have to bounce back and get ready to play against Virginia, hopefully come out and play a little better.

“… It’s going to be a very difficult task for us. However, we played them pretty good up there - gave them a great game there. Hopefully we can duplicate that.”

Virginia, which has won its last two games, against Maryland and Wake Forest, shot just 38 percent in the first meeting with N.C. State. However, UVa made up for it on the glass, outrebounding the Wolfpack, 47-31.

“They played very close to the vest, very conservatively,” Leitao recalled. “They’re one of the few teams - us being another - that doesn’t come out and deny wings and challenge the ball. They play percentages and make you make shots over the top.

“We didn’t do a really good job of trying to exploit that. I thought we pressed a little bit in terms of trying to get too deep into the defense and make plays.”

Since then, Leitao said his team has evolved offensively.

“There’s a [better] understanding of what we’re trying to do [offensively] than there was when we met earlier,” Leitao said.

Singletary said the ball is in Virginia’s court.

“It’s all in what we do,” he said. “If we do what we need to, we should be able to take care of business.”

Dunks

N.C. State leads the all-time series, 78-52. … Freshman Will Harris had his best game of the season in the earlier meeting against N.C. State. He had 14 points and six rebounds. He has not scored in double figures since then. … Lowe said Monday that he wasn’t sure about guard Engin Atsur’s status. The senior spark plug has been out with a hamstring injury for much of the season. “Right now, it’s still up in the air,” Lowe said. “We’ll see how he feels [on Tuesday] and go from there. I can’t make a prediction right now.” … The Cavaliers are averaging 81.5 points per game. Last season they averaged 67.9. [It’s] a far cry from where we were last year,” Leitao said. “We’ve got to continue to work on that and also tighten up our defensive effort.”

 

Examining Virginia's road woes
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
January 23, 2007

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering when Virginia’s road-win drought will come to an end ...

The Cavaliers stand a good chance of stealing a road win this week either at N.C. State on Wednesday or at Clemson on Sunday. State, by the way, has lost its last five ACC home games dating back to last season.

Yes, Virginia hasn’t won a road game outside its own state the past season and a half and the Cavs have lost 23 of their last 27 road games dating back to the 2004-05 season.

But coach Dave Leitao clearly gets irritated when the topic comes up. Following Sunday’s home win over Wake Forest, Leitao was reminded of this week’s two road games and his team’s 0-3 road mark this season (losses at Purdue, UNC and BC).

“I don’t want make too much of that,” Leitao said. “I watched the game [Georgia Tech’s loss at UNC on Saturday night] and I have a lot of respect for Paul Hewitt, a very good coach and his team has been to the final game [of the NCAA Tournament], and they’ve lost 15 straight road games. So, it’s not anything unique, not something specific to Virginia basketball. It’s something that a lot of teams go through.

“I know the reasons why. It’s more upstairs. We’ve got to prepare ourselves to play through everything, through the crowd, through the opponent and through runs and just maintain our poise, our focus and our energy. If we do that, I am confident whether it’s Wednesday or whenever, we’ll win some games.”

History lesson

History tells us two things about Virginia’s road predicament. One, that Leitao is correct in that falling short on the road isn’t just a Cavalier problem; and, two, if the Cavs have any dreams of making it to the NCAA Tournament, then they had better get busy on the road.

If you’ll examine the graphic above concerning ACC coaching records, be sure to notice the next-to-last column: ACC road wins and losses. Of the 12 coaches in this conference, and there’s some pretty good ones, you will notice that only two of them, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Carolina’s Roy Williams, have winning road records against ACC competition.

That clearly bears out what Leitao has said all along, that normally teams that win on the road have superior talent or are supremely confident.

The second part of this history lesson, is that of the last six UVa basketball teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament (going back to the 1990-91 season), all but one of them had at least four road wins. Four of them had six road wins, one had five and one had four. The lone exception was the 1993-94 Cavalier squad that was 3-8 on the road, but made it to the ACC Tournament championship game.

Tar heeled

It appears that UNC coach Roy Williams used the same strategy to shut down Georgia Tech point guard Javaris Crittenton as he did against UVa’s Sean Singletary a couple of weeks ago.

In both games, the Tar Heels used their superior depth to run fresh bodies at the two point guards to apply pressure and wear down both Crittenton and Singletary. Both times it worked.

Singletary had an atypical eight turnovers and 14 points in an off night and was forced to put the ball in backup point guard J.R. Reynolds’ hands a lot. Crittenton, a freshman, did even worse with three assists and seven turnovers and made just two of 10 shots. Meanwhile, he turned things over to backup point guard Marvin West, who is no offensive threat at all.

Not automatic

You all remember what a horrible free-throw shooting team Clemson was a year ago when the Tigers were a paltry 61.7 percent from the line. Well, that hasn’t changed much.

Clemson is shooting 57.8 percent so far this season, which threatens to break the ACC record for the worst percentage by a team: 59.7 by, you guessed it, Clemson’s 1992 squad.

In fact, over the last four games the Tigers have shot a higher percentage from 3-point range (31 of 73, 42.4 percent) than they have at the free-throw line (20 of 56, 35.7 percent).

Hokie high

While the winter storm that struck Blacksburg on Sunday may have intimidated many of its regular season ticket holders to stay away from the Hokies’ home game against Maryland, school officials still managed to nearly fill Cassell Coliseum.

They wisely e-mailed Tech students at noon and informed them they could attend the game for free and sit wherever they desired as long as someone didn’t show up holding a ticket for those seats.

Hokie players said the crowd was as loud as they’ve had in Cassell in a long time, which helped Tech win yet another close ACC game.

Tech is now 5-4 this season in games decided by six points or less, including a perfect 4-0 mark in ACC games of that ilk. That’s a huge difference from last season when the Hokies were 3-12 in contests decided by six or fewer points.

On the gridiron

Florida State has reshaped its football coaching staff with five new assistants, including former N.C. State head coach Chuck Amato and former LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, both of whom we predicted back in December would be in Tallahassee.

It will be interesting to see how Amato fares because the last time he was there he and defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye.

Fisher’s salary package of more than $400,000 a year raised more than a few eyebrows at FSU, especially among professors. The money was less than LSU offered him to stay and also less than Alabama offered him to come to Tuscaloosa. Fisher will be aided by new line coach Rick Trickett, who worked with him at LSU and Auburn and spent this past season coaching West Virginia’s O-line.

On another note, former UVa wide receiver (Class of 1990) Derek Dooley is following in his legendary father Vince Dooley’s footsteps. Derek is the new head coach at Louisiana Tech after coaching under Nick Saban with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins the past couple of years. He followed Saban to the NFL from LSU where Dooley was an assistant for five seasons.

Free throws ...

... UNC point guard Bobby Frasor is out indefinitely in order to recover from his latest foot injury suffered Jan. 13th at Virginia Tech, and apparently the best treatment for it is rest, leaving Tar Heels coach Roy Williams to say: “We’ll just wait until he starts feeling better ... is that going to be tomorrow, or is it going to be two weeks from now? Nobody knows except his little foot.” ... Maryland hasn’t started the ACC with a 1-4 record since 1992-93, the year between Walt Williams’ departure and Joe Smith’s arrival (The Terps were coming off probation and had four freshmen playing significant minutes that season). ... Krzyzewski is only four wins away from becoming the eighth coach in NCAA history to win 700 games at one school. ... FSU and Clemson are the only two ACC squads that have started the same lineup every game this season. ... Virginia Tech is 3-0 against ranked teams this season. ...Virginia is second in the ACC in free-throw shooting with a percentage of .735.

 

Leitao: No regrets about playing Meyinsse
Coach stands by decision not to give redshirt; Reynolds takes ACC honor
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
January 23, 2007

There was a Jerome Meyinsse sighting in Virginia’s win over Wake Forest on Sunday. The freshman post player, who had not appeared in the previous four games, played three minutes against the Demon Deacons.

The 6-foot-8, 230-pounder did not compile any statistics, except for one foul.

During his teleconference on Monday, Virginia coach Dave Leitao said he had no regrets about not redshirting Meyinsse this season, thus preserving a year of his eligibility.

“I thought he could contribute to us, and early in the season he was,” Leitao said. “As the games have gone on - particularly in conference play - [circumstances] haven’t allowed him to, but I don’t think it’s unique to Jerome.

“I think there are a number of guys on our team, first-years trying to find their way. He’s similar in that way - in that’s he’s trying to figure out a way to continue to earn minutes and play well in those minutes.”

One would have thought that the injury to Ryan Pettinella, coupled with the ineffectiveness of Tunji Soroye, might have opened the door for Meyinsse to receive some more playing time.

However, that hasn’t happened.

Meyinsse’s minutes have actually decreased since Pettinella went down. The Louisiana native has seven DNPs this season.

“It’s been a learning experience for him, trying to get him more and more accustomed to college basketball at this level - the pace and the strength and conditioning, and all those kinds of things,” Leitao said.

“I don’t think any of us as coaches - or even he - is discouraged by his inability to get on the court as much as he would like or we would like, but I think he understands that it’s learning. A lot of this is new to him, so his success will probably be more in the long term.”

Sean from long distance

J.R. Reynolds, who scored a career-high 40 on Sunday, wasn’t the only guy draining 3-pointers from other zip codes.

In the first half, Sean Singletary nailed three straight 3-pointers - all of which were from several feet behind the line.

The last one was taken near the Wachovia logo on the court - from some 8 to 10 feet beyond the arc. Singletary was almost closer to the half-court line than the 3-point line.

Singletary, who finished the game with 19 points and seven assists, said he didn’t realize that he was quite that deep.

“I’ll have to look at that on film,” he said, laughing.

Reynolds takes weekly ACC honor

Reynolds was named the ACC Player of the Week on Monday following his efforts in Virginia’s two wins this past week.

Reynolds averaged 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists as the Cavaliers posted home-court victories over No. 22 Maryland and Wake Forest. The Roanoke native’s 40 points against Wake are the most scored in the ACC this season.

Lars redux

Lars Mikalauskas appears to be all the way back to form following nagging ankle injuries.

After averaging less than 10 minutes per game in his first 11 games, the sophomore has averaged 22.5 minutes in his last six contests.

On Sunday, he grabbed a season-high seven rebounds and was one of the players responsible for holding Wake Forest’s Kyle Visser to just eight points - nine below his season average.

Former Hoos update

Gary Forbes has started 11 of 19 games for the University of Massachusetts. The junior is averaging 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Minutemen (14-5, 4-1 Atlantic 10).

Senior Derrick Byars, who has started every game for Vanderbilt, is averaging a team-leading 15.5 points and 5.0 rebounds. The Commodores (13-6, 3-2 SEC) are coming off an upset win at No. 25 Kentucky on Saturday. Byars led Vandy with 23 points.

Donte Minter, who gave the Cavaliers fits when they saw him in the San Juan Shootout, is averaging 13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for Appalachian State (14-5, 6-2 SoCon). The junior has come off the bench in all 11 games he has played since becoming eligible following his mid-season transfer last year.

 

UVA: Eliminating The Middle Man
Team has no mid-year enrollees on Roster
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 24, 2007

At Virginia Tech, three freshman football players enrolled and started classes this month. At North Carolina, the total was four. At Notre Dame, it was three, including quarterback Jimmy Clausen, one of the nation's most coveted recruits.

At the University of Virginia?

Zero.

In an era when many of his peers routinely add freshmen at midyear, Cavaliers coach Al Groh finds himself at a competitive disadvantage. Recruits looking to enroll in January do not consider Virginia a valid option, but Groh shouldn't take it personally. U.Va. has a longstanding policy that it seems in no hurry to change.

The university usually takes 25 to 30 transfer students each January, said Jack Blackburn, U.Va.'s dean of admissions. Except in rare cases, however, U.Va. doesn't admit freshmen at midyear.

"It's based on the adjustment," Blackburn said of the school's policy. "We have what we call 'the first-year experience.' All first-year students have to live in the dorms. We want to them to feel engaged with the class and, hopefully, with the university from there.

"Those kids bond that first year. We think that's really important, and when somebody shows up in January, the bonds are already created . . . and we don't think they get the typical first-year experience."

Among ACC schools, only Boston College's policy is similar to that of U.Va. The other 10 use midyear admissions to varying degrees, with schools such as Virginia Tech, Florida State, Clemson and Miami employing it to great advantage.

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has 20 players on his 2007 roster who came in at midyear. That the Hokies have numerous options in recruiting is one reason they've dominated their series with U.Va. over the past decade and become a perennial top-20 program.

Then again, Boston College hasn't seemed to suffer much from its admissions policy. The Eagles have won at least nine games four times in the past five seasons.

"We could make a long list of competitive advantages," said Dave Glenn, editor of the ACC Area Sports Journal. "No single disadvantage is going to make the difference between a winning team and a losing team, but when they all add up it can make a difference."

January recruits generally are players who graduated from high school early, players who signed letters of intent the previous February but were late in meeting NCAA eligibility requirements, or players who agreed to delay their enrollment for other reasons.

At Virginia Tech, which has enrolled freshmen at midyear for more than a decade, two of the three players who started classes this month -- Josh Oglesby and Brandon Barden -- graduated early from high school. A football player who begins his freshman year in January gets the benefit of an extra spring practice and essentially has 5½ years in which to play four seasons.

Tech sees it as an opportunity for a recruit to get "ahead academically," said John Ballein, the Hokies' associate director of athletics for football operations.

"At the back end, hopefully he'll have his degree before he leaves."

A Division I-A football program can add a maximum of 25 scholarship recruits at the start of a school year, but January enrollees may be counted as part of the next recruiting class. Such flexibility means the "management of numbers in your incoming class doesn't become an issue," Groh said.

Since returning to his alma mater after the 2000 season, Groh has added one recruit in the middle of an academic year: linebacker Ahmad Brooks in January 2003. Brooks, who spent the fall of 2002 at Hargrave Military Academy, had a tumultuous stay at U.Va. before leaving early for the NFL.

Groh said last week that, because of the school's policy, the Cavaliers have prematurely ended their pursuit of some prospects.

"There have been some players that did look like they'd be really solid U.Va. students who declared their intent to us that they were going to go to school in January," Groh recalled, "and we said, 'Look, that's not going to happen here.'"

Actually, it happens occasionally, though Groh has not presented any candidates to Blackburn recently. Freshman tennis player Houston Barrick enrolled at U.Va. this month and joined men's coach Brian Boland's program.

"We will consider exceptions to the policy," Blackburn said, "but the student has to be exceptional academically."

In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation's public universities, U.Va. and Michigan are tied for second behind Cal-Berkeley. In recent years, Michigan has enrolled several football recruits at midyear, a spokesman said yesterday.

Virginia's athletic director, Craig Littlepage, discusses the topic regularly with Blackburn and other officials. Littlepage said he realizes that the school's policy can make some of his coaches' jobs more difficult.

U.Va. officials "have listened to us," Littlepage said. "That doesn't mean they've necessarily changed, but they have listened."

Littlepage said his coaches' needs "should not necessarily be the only consideration, and we understand that. . . . This has to go beyond what [midyear enrollment] does for the team. It has to include: Will this work to the advantage of the student in terms of his ability to have a successful experience at the University of Virginia beyond athletics?"

That schools such as UNC, Wake Forest and Notre Dame, which also receive high marks in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, offer midyear enrollment hasn't been lost on Littlepage or his staff.

"We have brought that up at least as a justification of having it on our lists of things that we should continue to talk about," Littlepage said, "because other schools have done it successfully. Very good schools. Notre Dame just changed over. I don't think it's had an adverse effect on that institution, and I don't think it's had an adverse effect on those students."


 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jan 24, 2007

STUMBLING BLOCK: That Virginia will finish the season with a sterling record at the new John Paul Jones Arena - where Dave Leitao's team is 10-1 - seems likely. But if the Cavaliers are to make the NCAA tournament, they'll need to play better away from Charlottesville.

In two seasons under Leitao, U.Va. is 1-9 in ACC road games, with the victory coming last season at Virginia Tech.

"I don't want to make too much of that," Leitao said Sunday. He noted that Georgia Tech, which reached the NCAA championship game in 2004, has lost 15 road games in a row.

"So it's not anything unique," Leitao said. "It's not something specific to Virginia basketball. It's something that a lot of teams go through."

U.Va.'s next chance for a road victory comes tonight in Raleigh, N.C. Virginia (3-2, 11-6) plays N.C. State (1-4, 11-7) at RBC Center. The Cavaliers beat the Wolfpack in Charlottesville last month.

Leitao said his team must get mentally tougher on the road.

"We've got to prepare ourselves to play through everything: through the crowd, through the opponent and through runs and through all that, and just maintain our poise and our focus and our energy," he said. "And if we do that, then I'm confident - whether it's [tonight] or whenever - that we'll win some games."

SORE SUBJECT: On the ACC coaches' teleconference Monday, Paul Hewitt, who's in his seventh season at Georgia Tech, was asked how long his team's road woes would be an issue.

"I guess until we win a game and stop answering questions about it," Hewitt said.

The Yellow Jackets' losing streak on the road, Hewitt said, "speaks more to the competition, as opposed to our failings."

He acknowledged, though, that for a team to contend in the ACC, it's "got to win one or two games on the road, and we'd like to win more than that."

TESTY: After 11 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, Maryland had to settle for NIT appearances in 2004-05 and '05-06. With a 1-4 record in ACC play, the Terrapins (15-5 overall) look like candidates to miss the NCAAs again.

"I'm not worried about that at all," Maryland coach Gary Williams told reporters Sunday night after his team's overtime loss at Virginia Tech. That's just for you to write about negative if you want. We're getting ready for Georgia Tech. That's our concern. If we play like we did tonight, we'll be OK in the league."

The Terps host the Jackets (2-3, 13-5) tonight at Comcast Center.

DAUNTING CHALLENGE: These are tough times for Wake Forest, which has lost four games in a row. Wake (1-5, 9-9) plays fourth-ranked North Carolina (4-1, 17-2) tonight in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"As has been documented, it's like Noah's Ark," Demon Deacons coach Skip Prosser said of the Tar Heels. "They have two of everything."

QUICK TURNAROUND: Last night's Virginia Tech-Miami game was scheduled to start at 9 o'clock in Coral Gables, Fla. The Hokies' game with Maryland had ended less than 48 hours earlier.

Asked about having to play again so soon - on the road, no less - Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said, "It's extremely difficult, and I understand the league's predicament, because we have such great television partners, and that's kind of one of the elements that makes the ACC so special, the exposure you receive.

"I think we've got to find a way eventually to look at it and say if you're going to play a Tuesday game, you go Saturday-Tuesday, and you can't play that late-night Sunday game. But that's what it is, that's what we'll deal with, and we're not the only ones doing it."

Miami's previous game was Saturday at Florida State.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Like Greenberg, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski isn't thrilled about the ACC schedule.

His team is coming off a win over N.C. State, and "I think it's the last Saturday we play on for the rest of the [regular] season," Coach K said. "Which is an amazing [statement about] how the game has changed and how many different days you play on. To get away from traditional Saturday games is I'm not sure the best thing overall for fans and the game and the kids playing the games."

No. 10 Duke (3-2, 16-3) hosts No. 19 Clemson (4-2, 18-2) tomorrow night.

COMING AROUND: As an Auburn freshman, he was a shooting guard who averaged 16.9 points. At Florida State, to which he transferred after the 2004-05 season, sophomore Toney Douglas plays point guard. The transition has been rough at times, but Douglas is looking more comfortable at his new position.

Heading into FSU's game at Boston College last night, Douglas had averaged 15.7 points and 5.3 assists in his previous three outings.

"Toney started out the season trying to learn a new system, trying to adjust to new teammates and trying to adjust his game to what we need for this particular team," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. "There has been an adjustment period, but I think he's settling in more." - Jeff White
 

Cavs eye road to improvement
Virginia has to take advantage of its favorable ACC schedule to reverse its road fortunes.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
January 24, 2007

Expansion delivered the ACC its first football championship game, accompanying pile of cash and increased national exposure. The league's basketball teams, long its foundation, got unbalanced schedules that, in some years, could help bolster teams' records and possibly their NCAA tournament resumes.

Case in point: this season's Virginia Cavaliers.

They play three of the league's worst teams (Wake Forest, Miami and North Carolina State) twice each while meeting three of the best (North Carolina, Duke and Boston College) just once each. Their only game against Duke is Feb. 1 in Charlottesville.

Of course, Virginia (11-6, 3-2 ACC) has to make good on its opportunities against ACC bottom feeders, especially if it wants to reverse its road fortunes. The Cavaliers play at N.C. State at 9 tonight, three days after beating Wake Forest at home.

Before expansion, every ACC team played every other team twice. Post-expansion, teams play five opponents twice and six opponents once. Traditionalists loathe the change, but Virginia coach Dave Leitao certainly can't count himself among that lot this season.

The two matchups with Wake, Miami and N.C. State provide him a chance to get some road wins. The Cavaliers are 5-17 away from Charlottesville under Leitao, with just two of those wins coming against ACC teams. Just one of those two was a true road game (last year at Virginia Tech). The other win was against the Hokies in the ACC tournament.

"I don't wanna make too much of that," Leitao said. "It's something that a lot of teams go through. I know the reasons why. It's more upstairs. We've gotta prepare ourselves to play through everything - through the crowd, through the opponent and through runs."

Senior forward Jason Cain thinks the Cavaliers are close to breaking through on the road. He's encouraged by a five-point loss at Boston College and a 10-point loss at then-No. 1 North Carolina. Those hold up well, he said, against last year's road losses: by 26 to Clemson, 30 to Arizona, 45 to North Carolina.

"I felt this year, as compared to last year, we've been more of a tight-knit group on the road," he said. "We were disconnected a lot last year. Last year, we were getting blown out by ridiculous numbers. But now, we just can't get over that small hump."

While winning at N.C. State, Wake and Miami might qualify as small humps, games like Sunday's at Clemson are much larger - and much more important to a NCAA tournament selection committee that figures to scrutinize Virginia's league wins.

Fells trying to keep State upbeat
He'll likely be matched up against offensive star Reynolds of Virginia tonight
By John Delong
JOURNAL REPORTER

Every game is a new adventure for Courtney Fells and the rest of N.C. State's basketball team.

Sometimes the operative word is new.

Sometimes the operative word is adventure.

But Fells, a 6-5 sophomore, is trying to take it all in stride as the Wolfpack continues to deal with a variety of issues - from injuries and lack of depth to inexperience and lack of execution.

"Basically, you just have to stay positive at all times," Fells said. "We know we're all going to have downfalls at particular points of the year, but that's where we have to stay positive and believe in ourselves. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to keep my teammates positive at all times, because it's still a long season.

"We still have a lot of games to play and what we're learning is, we've just got to stick together and play through adversity."

Fells will go into tonight's game against Virginia at the RBC Center averaging 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18 games.

He could be one of the bigger keys to State's success tonight for several reasons. With Engin Atsur still hobbled by a hamstring injury and Gavin Grant uncomfortable at point guard, Fells has taken on more ball-handling and playmaking responsibilities in recent games. He's also likely to be matched up on defense against J.R. Reynolds, who scored 40 points in Virginia's 88-76 win over Wake Forest on Sunday.

And, as Coach Sidney Lowe said after State's 79-56 loss to Duke on Saturday, Fells is always a key because there is so little margin for error for any of the starters.

"We can't afford, really, to have one guy not have a good game," Lowe said.

Fells has been one of the best recent examples of State's inconsistency. He scored 19 in a win over UNC Greensboro, then struggled in losses to Boston College and Clemson. Then he came back to score 20 in a win over Wake Forest, on the day he played point guard most of the game.

Then he had 13 points against Duke, but struggled against Duke's pressure, committing four of State's 20 turnovers. He also missed two dunks, plays that defined State's frustrations.

"I guess that was just indicative of the day," Lowe said. "That's one of those things where you just kind of say, 'Well, nothing's going right today.' Great move, great pass. But you can't be upset about that. You can't get frustrated about that. He can get frustrated, obviously, but the fact that he got there and had the opportunity, that's what you want. You want opportunities."

Another opportunity awaits tonight.

That's why Fells is trying to put the haunting memories of the missed dunks and other breakdowns behind.

"It's tough at times, because you look back at certain times and say, 'We could have done this, we could have done that,'" he said. "But that's where you have stay positive. Let's not have this moment where we always think back to those times. Let's just go ahead and do the right thing now so we don't have to think back to them later."

He likes the idea of playing more point guard as Atsur remains hobbled. He was used at point some in a second-half comeback win over East Carolina in late December, then played there more in the past two games.

"Coach wanted to try something different," Fells said. "Gavin wasn't really comfortable at the point, so Coach asked me one day in practice how did I feel about the one, and I told him I'd do whatever to help the team. I'm comfortable at the one. It's something I did all four years in high school, so I'm comfortable with it, and I kind of like it. I can see myself being a point guard the rest of my college years."

Fells and others in State's backcourt had some success in a 67-62 loss at Virginia on Dec. 3.

Reynolds went 4 of 11 from the field and scored 14 points. Sean Singletary - now Virginia's leading scorer with a 19-point average - was 4 of 12 from the field and 1 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 11 points. The Cavaliers won that game by scoring the last five points in the final 1:25, and by pounding State on the boards 47-31.

State is 11-7 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Virginia is 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the ACC and riding a two-game winning streak.

 

Pack looks to upgrade defense
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VIRGINIA AT NCSUWHEN: 9 p.m. today
Chip Alexander, Staff Writer

RALEIGH - N.C. State's defensive strategy seemed sound enough for Duke.
In theory, that is.

"We wanted to get up on them and pressure their guards," Wolfpack forward Dennis Horner said Tuesday. "We wanted to deny their wings, which would make it tougher to get into their offense. Make it tougher to get the ball down low to [Josh] McRoberts."

Instead, the Blue Devils got pretty much what they wanted -- open 3-pointers, easy drives into the lane for runners, a behind-the-back pass from DeMarcus Nelson to McRoberts for a dunk. Duke shot 52.5 percent from the field in breezing to a 79-56 victory.

What happened?

"I'm not sure why, but we just didn't come out and play as hard as we could," Horner said. "We could have hustled a lot more, played with a lot more intensity."

That's what NCSU coach Sidney Lowe is looking for tonight as the Pack (11-7, 1-4 ACC) faces Virginia (11-6, 3-2) at the RBC Center. State must be more intense and correct its defensive flaws to beat the Cavaliers -- or any other ACC team. To wit:

* Close avenues to the lane

The Pack, Lowe said, must be more physical on the perimeter and keep teams from penetrating and breaking down the defense.

"We need to get better at our guard play and keep people in front of us," Lowe said. "A big problem [against Duke] was our inability to keep the ball in front of us. We couldn't control it."

* Don't fret over fouls

In beating Wake Forest 88-74, the Pack's approach was to be the aggressor on defense and turn to its bench -- as thin as it is -- if a player fell into foul trouble.

Guess what? It worked.

"We jumped on them and had great intensity," Lowe said.

Against Duke, the Pack appeared more timid.

"There are times when we pick up an early foul, the tendency is to not be as aggressive," Lowe said. "We tell our guys all the time, 'Just go play.' "

* More zone needed?

The Pack stymied Boston College at times with a 1-3-1 zone that had the 6-foot-9 Horner at the top and 6-5 guard Courtney Fells on the baseline. State is active in the 1-3-1, and Horner's length cuts down entry-pass angles.

"I love to hustle and try to make plays -- get a couple of steals, get deflections," Horner said.

Fells, who played zone in high school, is comfortable roaming the baseline and has the wingspan and hops to contest shots.

"With Gavin [Grant] and Brandon [Costner] on the sides with their wingspans, and Ben in the middle, it makes it hard for teams to pass the ball around," Horner said of the zone. "But our main defense is still man-to-man."

* Control tempo with defense

Virginia edged the Pack 67-62 on Dec. 3, outrebounding State 47-31. But the Cavaliers shot just 37.9 percent as guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds were a combined 8-for-23 from the field.

"They played it very close to the vest, very conservatively," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said of the Pack. "They're one of the few teams -- us being another -- that doesn't really come out and deny the wings and challenge the ball. They play the percentages and make you make shots. We didn't do a good job of exploiting it."

The Pack controlled the tempo, slowing Virginia's transition game to a crawl. Leitao said the Cavaliers want a "high-octane" attack but State kept it to a half-court game.

"We took away some of their strengths, took away those fast-break points," Lowe said. "We limited their opportunities, which we have to do again."