UVa falters late in loss to No. 3 Terps

By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

The No. 8 Virginia men’s basketball team has lost its last two games at the same place: The free-throw line.
No. 3 Maryland, which made 25 of its 26 attempts from the line, rallied from a nine-point deficit with 3:22 remaining to topple the Cavaliers 91-87 on Thursday night.
Virginia, which was outscored 30-16 from the line in a 94-81 loss at No. 1 Duke on Sunday, could not match Maryland’s effort from the stripe and in fact stumbled there down the stretch.
The Cavaliers (14-4, 4-4 ACC) missed several free throws in the final stretch that could have increased their lead and even possibly put the game out of reach. Instead, those misses kept the Terrapins (17-3, 7-1 ACC) in the game.
“You have to make your free throws. They were 25 for 26 and we were 23 for 31. We missed a couple big ones in the second half and that hurt us,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.
Byron Mouton led Maryland with a season-high 21 points, while Juan Dixon added 16 and Lonny Baxter finished with 14 and 10 rebounds. Roger Mason Jr. led Virginia with a season-high 29 points and Travis Watson had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Virginia. Chris Williams had 13 and freshman forward Elton Brown had 10, his fifth straight game in double figures.
Virginia’s meltdown began, appropriately enough, with a missed free throw by Travis Watson with 3:22 left that would have completed a three-point play and given Virginia an 84-74 advantage.
Two free throws by Juan Dixon and a steal and dunk by Chris Wilcox cut the lead to 83-78 with 2:53 left.
The Cavaliers appeared to have stemmed the tide again when UVa senior forward Chris Williams hit a jumper with 2:40 and was fouled by Wilcox. The ills from the line, however, continued as Williams, who finished 9 of 13 from the stripe, missed his opportunity at a three-point play.
“You have to knock them down from the line at the end or it will come back to haunt you,” said Watson, who made just one of his four shots from the stripe.
The Terps, who blew a 10-point lead in an overtime loss to Duke last season at Cole Field House, quickly hit a 3-pointer by Drew Nicholas that made it 85-81 with 1:48 left.
After Mason and Mouton exchanged a pair of free throws, Nicholas drained a 27-footer with 1:20 left that brought the Terps within one, 87-86. That would be Virginia’s last lead of the game.
On the next possession, Watson collected Mason’s miss with 46 seconds remaining and attempted to go in for the putback, but Maryland’s Lonny Baxter blocked the shot and it deflected out of bounds off Watson, though Watson denied that it did, to give possession back to the Terps.
“I felt I got fouled but the call went the other way,” Watson said. “I just pump-faked and went back up and I thought he [referee Frank Scagliotta] called a foul, but I looked at him and he said it was going the other way.”
Maryland seized the opening and Dixon, who had scored just four points in that second half at that point, hit a runner with 31.8 seconds left that gave Maryland the 88-87 lead, its first since 70-69 with 7:48 remaining.
After a UVa timeout, Williams drove the lane on UVa’s next possession but his off-balance leaner glanced off the rim and was rebounded by Maryland’s Tahj Holden, who was promptly fouled, and then converted both free throws to make it 90-87 with 13.7 left.
Mason sped down the court for Virginia but his tying 3-point attempt was blocked by Nicholas. With three seconds left, Brown’s 3-point attempt also was off the mark, preserving the Terps’ comeback victory.
Asked if he was confident about his team’s ability to comeback from the nine-point deficit, Maryland coach Gary Williams was quite candid.
“I wasn’t confident but I was determined not to get blown out like we did down here last year,” said Williams, whose team lost 99-78 at University Hall last season.
Virginia, which trailed by as many as nine in the first half, rallied to take a 46-44 halftime lead. The Cavaliers managed to build that advantage nine points before those fateful final three minutes.
The loss and the manner in which it came could not have been more devastating for Gillen and his Cavaliers.
“This was a game we had a great opportunity to win but we just couldn’t close the deal,” said a somber Gillen after the game. “We had the game but we just let it slip away. We got tentative and a little hesitant and we were playing not to lose. You have to keep your poise and we did not keep our poise like we needed to in the last three-and-a-half minutes.”
Now a seemingly fragile Virginia team heads to No. 24 Missouri on Sunday then travels to N.C. State next Wednesday. Both games would appear almost must wins for Virginia to avoid a derailment after its 14-2 start to the season.
“You don’t think about losing a game like this, especially after you poured your heart out for 38 of the 40 minutes. The game is never secure until the buzzer goes off and today is proof of that,” Mason said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. ... Obviously, right now we have to turn the page but we let this one slip away and right now it hurts.”

Virginia football gains commitment from cornerback

By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor

After a week of heartbreaking losses on the recruiting trail, Virginia’s football class began to take shape again Thursday night when Centreville cornerback Marcus Hamilton committed to the Cavaliers.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder ended weeks of suspense when he announced on a Richmond radio show that he chose Virginia over Maryland.
Hamilton is UVa’s 20th commitment after the Cavs lost previously committed players Randy Hand to Florida and Antwaun Stewart to Tennessee in the last week.
“Marcus is the best cover corner in the state,” said Hamilton’s high school coach, Mike Skinner. “He gave up four receptions all year and they were all hitches ... you can’t throw against him.”
Hamilton, who has 4.4 speed in the 40, had 17 tackles and only one interception as a senior but that’s because opponents simply chose not to throw in his direction.
“Our opponents threw at him only 20 times all season long,” Skinner said. “One team had an all-region receiver and they threw the ball to him in Hamilton’s area only once in the game. They threw the ball 28 times in the game.”
Hamilton was all-state and all-region. He returned one punt for a touchdown. Although Hamilton narrowed his list to only two schools early in the process, he visited Michigan State and cancelled visits to Tennessee and Georgia.
“He’s arrogant, he’s cocky, everything you need to be a great cornerback,” Skinner said. “His hero is Deion Sanders. He’s a Deion on the field. Off the field, you wouldn’t even know he played football. He’s a computer nerd. He’s a special kid.
“I’ve been coaching 23 years and I have three players in the NFL and Marcus is the best,” said Skinner, who also coached former UVa safety Keith Lyle, who starred for the St. Louis Rams and now plays for the Washington Redskins.
“Marcus is better than Keith at this stage,” Skinner said.
Hamilton said he felt comfortable at Virginia and that an opportunity to get early playing time was another factor in his decision.
Virginia is still waiting to hear from several top prospects, including linebackers Kai Parham and Ahmad Brooks, running back Michael Johnson and quarterback Marcus Vick.
Signing day is Wednesday.

Conference victory slips through Cavaliers’ fingers

By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor

Virginia’s players stood courtside, almost in disbelief after watching third-ranked Maryland storm back from a nine-point deficit with just more than three minutes to play in Thursday night’s ACC showdown between a pair of top-10 teams.
The Cavaliers let this one slip through their collective mitts, a crucial 91-87 home loss that could haunt them down the road. While the loss hurt for a variety of reasons, it was also a learning experience for a team that features six underclassmen among its top eight players.
The old coaches say Final Four-type teams are usually composed of seniors and good guard play. Maryland showed the hoops world why the Terps are a good bet to return to the Final Four this year by making a huge statement in coming back when it appeared the game was over.
With seniors Juan Dixon and Byron Mouton leading the late charge, Maryland (17-3, 7-1) put itself in the driver’s seat in the ACC race. Tied with Duke for first, the Terps hold an advantage in that they play the Blue Devils, N.C. State, Virginia and Wake Forest in Cole Field House in the second half of the season.
“I can’t calculate what got away from us tonight but I could taste the win,” said a dejected Roger Mason Jr. after the game. “When you’re so close to beating a great team and not finishing the deal, it leaves a really bad taste.”
The difference between the Cavaliers and the Terps when it counted was that Maryland made its free throws (25 of 26 for the game, 12 of 13 in the second half) and effectively used its man-trap pressure defense to force some key Virginia turnovers down the home stretch.
One of those mistakes quickly turned into a breakaway slam dunk by Chris Wilcox.
UVa missed two big free throws during that three-and-a-half minute stretch. Both Travis Watson and Chris Williams couldn’t convert free throws after they were fouled on baskets, each time Maryland rebounding. Those mistakes were magnified as was a pull-up floater by freshman point guard Keith Jenifer that was well off-target.
Meanwhile, the Terps were the aggressor, forcing Virginia into situations the Cavaliers didn’t prefer to be in. That’s experience rising to the occasion.
When UVa had Maryland down by nine, the intense sellout crowd at U-Hall and the Cavaliers thought it was just a matter of time before celebrating the upset. Mason was shooting the lights out from beyond the 3-point arch and Watson was cleaning up all the misses.
Even Maryland coach Gary Williams was sweating it big time.
“I wasn’t confident [about a comeback] but I was determined not to get blown out because we got blown out down here last year,” said Williams. “When we started getting the ball inside I felt good. But what’s scary about Virginia is Roger Mason, who can make three’s off-balance.”
But Mason didn’t get many chances late thanks to good defense by the spider-armed Drew Nicholas, who didn’t go for any of Mason’s shot fakes and kept the Cavalier sharpshooter at bay.
“Up nine with 3:14 to play, I’d take that 100 out of 100 times,” said Gillen after watching the eighth-ranked Cavs slip to 14-4, 4-4 in the ACC. “You’ve got to win that game, you’ve got to close the deal.”
Virginia had done a decent job of doing so against teams such as Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Rutgers and Auburn. But Maryland and Duke are different breeds. Let up for a second against a Final Four-caliber team and watch it take your cheese.
“Give Maryland credit for sticking with it,” said Mason, who joined the UVa career 1,000-point club with a 29-point performance. “Everybody was probably thinking the game was over but the game is never really secure.”
Jenifer said Maryland’s suffocating pressure late in the game tested the Cavaliers.
“They started sending people right at you and also from behind,” said the freshman. “On the other end, all we had to do was make some stops. This hurts a lot to see us go down like this.”
Mason said he hoped that every one of his teammates was hurting after the loss because it was a lesson they each needed to remember. He wasn’t excluding himself from the pain.
“I don’t want to hear anybody talking about Missouri or any of that stuff,” said Mason. “I don’t want to talk about Sunday. We need to think about this one for a while.”
His teammates were sharing the pain.
“This one hurts but we’ll have to get over it,” said Watson.
Chris Williams seemed stunned by letting such a big one get away.
“This was a pivotal game and we were up,” said Williams. “We had it and let it go. Every game is crucial because one game can put you out of postseason play. This one hurt tonight.”
Virginia is in the midst of a crucial stretch of the season, having already dropped games to No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Maryland in a four-day span. Next is top 20 Missouri on the road Sunday and then a trip to N.C. State, which defeated UVa in Charlottesville earlier this season.
Who knows what a four-game slide at this point of the campaign might do to a team comprised of so many young players who thrive off success. Gillen doesn’t want to find out and will push the Cavs hard over the next week.
Anything less could make things very interesting for this basketball team.

Maryland's poise quiets U.Va., 91-87
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 1, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The Maryland Terrapins conducted a clinic Thursday night at University Hall.

How to steal an ACC game on the road.

Down nine with 3:14 left, the Terrapins made free throws, tossed in a couple of deep 3-pointers, and came up with a pair of key defensive plays to stun No. 8 Virginia 91-87 and send a raucous crowd of 8,392 home silent.

``We had the game,'' Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. ``If you told me before the game we'd be up nine with 3:14 left, we would have been thrilled. We'd take that every time.''

Virginia was right where it wanted to be. A Roger Mason Jr. 3-pointer and a pair of quick baskets by Travis Watson stretched a two-point lead to nine. Maryland coach Gary Williams said his immediate concern was not getting blown out, like the Terrapins did at University Hall last season.

But the Cavaliers (14-4) couldn't finish, and fell to 4-4 in the ACC, while No. 3 Maryland improved to 7-1.

``I could taste the win,'' Mason said. ``We're that close to beating a great team, and we let it slip away.''

Virginia led 85-78 with 2:40 left. But Maryland's Drew Nicholas, who had been scoreless, made a pair of deep 3-pointers to ignite the Terrapins (17-3). Later, Nicholas made the defensive play of the night, blocking a Mason 3-point attempt with about six seconds left and Virginia down 90-87. The ball deflected to Elton Brown, who missed a 3-pointer that Maryland rebounded to secure the win.

``I've got pretty long arms,'' the 6-foot-3 Nicholas said.

The poise plays all went Maryland's way in the final two minutes. Prior to Nicholas' block, Maryland's Lonny Baxter stripped Travis Watson under the basket. Juan Dixon quickly scored on a runner to put Maryland up 88-87.

Virginia responded with an off-balance shot by Chris Williams.

``We got a little tentative, a little hesitant,'' Gillen said. ``We didn't keep our poise.''

Maryland's poise was evident at the free throw line, where the Terrapins made 25 of 26. Maryland didn't miss until Byron Mouton, who led the Terrapins with 21 points, had one roll out with 1.2 seconds left.

``The guys were on him a little bit for missing that one,'' Williams said. ``We were 25 for 26 and we needed every one.''

The win kept Maryland even with Duke in the ACC. For Virginia, it made a tough week tougher. The Cavaliers, who lost to Duke on Sunday, must travel to Missouri this Sunday and North Carolina State on Wednesday.

``I'm not going to let us let down,'' Mason said.

Mason did his part Thursday, pumping in a game-high 29 points. He was 5 of 11 from 3-point range and 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Watson had 19 points and 12 rebounds.

But Virginia managed just four points over the final 3:14, while Maryland, as Williams put it, ``just did everything right those last four minutes.''

Late run lifts Terps
Cavaliers lose second straight ACC contest

Will missed opportunity lead to more for Virginia?

CHARLOTTESVILLE They had this baby in their pockets, no doubt about it. Three-plus minutes to go. Big lead. No.3 in the country on the ropes. University Hall crowd going nuts. Homies about to take a giant step. All over but the high-fiving. Take it to the bank. Film at 11.

Pfffft.

The sound you just heard was the wind going out of the sails that propelled Virginia's Cavaliers for 37 minutes last night. Carried them to bursts of energy and scoring spurts that kept putting Maryland in their rearview mirror. Pushed them to the brink of raucous celebration, students storming the floor, jubilant embraces all around, the whole nine yards.

Until they ran aground on the shoals of opportunity wasted.

Win this outing, and so much falls in place for the Cavs. Win, and they tie for third in the ACC at the halfway mark and send a message the league isn't Duke and Maryland and a rabble scrambling for loose change. Win, and they start to close in, not just on an NCAA bid, but on a comfy seed that maybe spares them Bracketville anxiety. Win, and they announce to a nationwide TV audience and all the ships at sea that they're legit Top 10 and not some overvalued stock, an Enron in waiting.

Lose, and they place themselves in harm's way.

And lose they somehow did. Ahead by nine with 3:22 to go, the Cavs fell hard to Maryland 91-87. They did this by faltering against the Terps' press, by missing free throws, by tossing up a couple of crummy shots, by managing only four points the closing three minutes, by flunking this midterm exam when it looked like they had all the answers cold.

"We had the game," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said. "If you told me we're up nine with 3:14 to go, we'd be thrilled. We'd take that every time. We'd take that a hundred out of a hundred. We didn't do our job. You got to win that game. You got to close the deal."

Maryland closed the deal. Maryland got a breakaway dunk off a steal from Chris Wilcox, two enormous 3-pointers from Drew Nicholas, money-time blocks from Nicholas and Lonny Baxter, a feathery runner from Juan Dixon to snare the lead for good.

Maryland got a win to build some ego gratification on.

"Oh, it's big-time for us," Terps forward Byron Mouton said. "This could dictate the ACC championship - to win a game like this."

And the Cavaliers? The Cavaliers must sweat some now. Their next two starts are at Missouri and at N.C. State - one a nonconference toughie, the other a league up-and-comer. After that, they still have trips to take to Winston-Salem, to Tallahassee, to College Park - and a visit remains from those Duke worldbeaters.

And, sure, maybe the Cavs win some of those games - beat Mizzou and State back-to-back, for all we know, handle the Blue Devils like they did a season ago, whoosh into postseason feeling good about themselves. But maybe they teeter. Worst-case scenario, they go 3-5 the rest of the way in the league, wind up a shaky 7-9 in the standings, tumble in their ACC tournament opener and drop to 17-11, tune in to Selection Sunday as if they were contestants in "The Chair."

They could've avoided this sort of speculation - could've constructed some feel-good vibes and oodles of momentum - by grabbing this game by the throat when they had the chance. Instead, their grip wasn't nearly firm enough.

"I could taste the win," Roger Mason Jr. said. "I've got a terrible taste in my mouth right now. You could say we got complacent. That we weren't aggressive enough. That we were happy to be up. There are a lot of ways to call it, but the bottom line is we probably thought the game was over."

It wasn't, of course. Not when Chris Williams loses the ball against Maryland's press. Not when freshman Keith Jenifer and Williams toss up wild runners. Not when Watson and Williams miss free throws while the Terps are near-perfect at the line.

"This game was so important for the moment," Mason said. "To let games slip away - you just can't do that."

But Virginia did. It can only hope the wound doesn't heal slowly.

 

 

Terps Top Cavs, 91-87
Maryland 91, Virginia 87

By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 1, 2002; Page D1

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Jan. 31 – Just when third-ranked Maryland seemed to have taken a knockout punch, the Terrapins bounced off the floor and rallied for a 91-87 victory over eighth-ranked Virginia tonight at University Hall.

The Terrapins trailed by nine points with just more than three minutes remaining, but stormed back behind two three-pointers by backup guard Drew Nicholas, his only points of the game. After Nicholas's second basket, from well beyond the top of the key off a pass from Juan Dixon, Dixon floated in a runner along the right baseline for an 88-87 lead with 31 seconds left.

Virginia missed three shots in the final 20 seconds, and Maryland was left standing when time expired. The Terrapins (17-3, 7-1 ACC) are tied for first place in the conference with top-ranked Duke, which defeated North Carolina, 87-58, tonight.

"It was intense out there tonight," Dixon said. "There were a couple altercations. . . . Being down nine points, the crowd was going bonkers. It was crazy. They thought they had the win. But we stayed hungry."

The game was intense throughout, but with 6 minutes 5 seconds left, it took on the feel of a heavyweight title fight, complete with players woofing and coaches screaming.

The commotion started when Maryland Coach Gary Williams called time out with play right in front of the Maryland bench. As Maryland's players started to come toward the bench, Virginia's Travis Watson and Keith Jenifer loitered in the area where the Terrapins would huddle.

Williams appeared to tell the Cavaliers players to leave the area. As events unfolded, Virginia assistant coach Walt Fuller came storming down the sideline toward the brewing controversy. That led to Williams demanding a technical foul for leaving the bench area; it was not called. Soon Williams and Virginia Coach Pete Gillen were in a heated argument near midcourt, with official Frank Scagliotta standing between them.

"Your huddle is your huddle," Williams said, brushing the incident aside. "You don't want other players in your huddle."

After the timeout, officials warned both teams to watch their behavior. When play resumed, Virginia appeared to land decisive blows. With Maryland playing zone defense because of foul problems, Roger Mason Jr. made an open three-pointer from the right corner, and Watson scored two baskets as Virginia forged its biggest lead, 83-74, with 3:22 left.

"They thought they had the momentum, and they did," Nicholas said. "The crowd was really into it."

Said Williams, whose team had lost here the past two seasons, including 99-78 last season: "I wasn't confident [at that point], but I was determined not to get blown out because we got blown out here last year. I saw [the lead was] nine and I didn't want it to go to double figures. That was my first concern."

But with its coach wanting to avert a lopsided defeat, Maryland had a response. Dixon made two free throws. Chris Wilcox made a steal and a dunk. After Chris Williams scored for Virginia, Nicholas made a three-pointer from the right wing and it was 85-81.

The teams traded free throws, then Dixon and Nicholas – who was on the court in place of Steve Blake for defensive purposes, according to Gary Williams – took over. Nicholas's three-pointer brought the Terrapins to 87-86. After Lonny Baxter came from behind to block what appeared to be an easy layup for Watson, the ball went out of bounds off Virginia.

Dixon, who had been just 1 of 3 from the field in the second half, did not hesitate as he made a 12-footer from the right side, giving Maryland its first lead since more than 11 minutes remained.

"We've got a lot of heart," Gary Williams said. "We've been through it [before], too. We know how to act down the stretch. There was no guarantee being down nine, but I thought we could make a run."

While the Terrapins celebrated, Virginia (14-4, 4-4) was left with a devastating defeat that rekindled thoughts of Maryland's 10-point, final-minute collapse against Duke last season.

"Complacent, not aggressive, playing soft, being happy with how things were – there's a lot of ways to call it," said Mason, who made 5 of 11 three-point attempts and scored a season-high 29 points. "But the bottom line is we probably thought the game was over with."

In addition to its splendid play in crunch time, there were several other reasons Maryland won. Forward Byron Mouton scored 16 of his season-high 21 points in the first half to keep the Terrapins within 46-44 at intermission. The Terrapins made 25 of 26 free throws, the third-best effort in school history, and they had a 45-34 rebounding advantage. Backups Tahj Holden and Ryan Randle had significant contributions.

"It's a great win," Nicholas said, smiling. "Seven and one in the first half of the ACC isn't bad."

Staff writer Alan Goldenbach and special correspondent Jim Reedy contributed to this report.

 

 

Under Pressure, Poise Prevails

By William Gildea
Friday, February 1, 2002; Page D10

CHARLOTTESVILLE-There are a few things remaining for Gary Williams to accomplish with the Maryland basketball program, to put it mildly. There are always goals: a No. 1 national ranking, which would be a first; a national title, a long shot, of course, but, hey, there's nothing wrong with dreaming, especially when no one can say with any certainty which team will end up No. 1; there's this other thing about beating Duke more than occasionally – or just maybe late in March when it counts the most. All that will have to wait.

Maryland's business at hand Thursday night was taking care of a slightly less significant matter, but prickly stuff nonetheless to the Terrapins. For two years, winning at Virginia eluded them, and last season they were blown out here. That looked about to happen again when the Cavaliers, playing as if elevated by air alone and junior guard Roger Mason Jr. delivering one of his best games, took a nine-point lead at 83-74 with 3 minutes 22 seconds to play. I guess maybe there could have been more noise in some gym somewhere sometime. Surely there must have been, plenty of times. But for now, this will do – and the roof is still on University Hall.

"If you told me before the game we'd be up nine with three minutes left, over Maryland, we'd take that every time. A hundred out of a hundred," Cavaliers Coach Pete Gillen said. And yet to Virginia's surprise and consternation, it wasn't enough.

How the Terrapins rallied against the nation's No. 8 team and a roaring 8,392 packed into the great round hall is testament to their experience – three senior starters help make them just about the oldest team in the country, one with a Final Four behind them. It took a No. 3 team with its degree of experience to win this rather remarkable game in which both teams battled one another relentlessly until, finally, just when it appeared one had broken through to victory, the other rallied to win.

Mason, the Good Counsel product, was masterful: 29 points, 5 assists, 3 steals. Once, he was surrounded by three Terrapins late in the game and still managed to tap the ball, which he momentarily lost control of, to a teammate. But if ever there was a tape of a game to be marked "team victory" before being placed on the shelf for off-season viewing, this would be it. No one Maryland player made the difference, but many sure helped.

Reserve Drew Nicholas came in to sink two threes down the stretch; he hit from 23 feet and 27 feet. "I knew we needed points in a hurry," he said. "I didn't hesitate."

Virginia missed four free throws late, two on the front end of one-and-ones, and Maryland closed out a 25-of-26 night from the free throw line.

Juan Dixon hit a go-ahead runner from 12 feet with 31 seconds to play.

And Nicholas blocked Mason's three-point attempt to tie the score with 4.5 seconds on the clock.

By 91-87, Maryland certified its ranking, kept pace with Duke atop the ACC and suggested, despite Williams's scarlet and spent look, that the pedal remains not quite all the way to the metal, that this is a team capable of still more and couldn't be better positioned on the first of February for the long stretch drive.

"That's fun playing in front of crowds like this," Steve Blake said. "Experience is a factor. We knew we could still win the game. Some teams might have given up."

When a game has as much combustion as this one had, it was inevitable that the lid would come off at some point. It did with a little more than six minutes to play as Maryland fell behind, 74-70, and called time out with play in front of the Terrapins' bench. Virginia's Travis Watson and Keith Jenifer appeared to linger as Maryland began to assemble for its huddle. At that, Williams popped up and seemed to invite the two Cavaliers to their own bench in a rather direct manner. And with that, a Virginia assistant coach came sprinting toward the dustup. Was this the "Thrilla' in Manila," or what?

But the three officials neatly parted all parties to the two sides, like the sea. They then huddled with Williams and Gillen, together and separately, and even called together several of the players from both teams when they came back onto the court.

Obviously, before this game began, both teams wanted victory badly; and it might even have meant more to the Cavaliers. They don't figure to win later at Cole, and beating the No. 3 team in the country here and now would have been a coup. Gillen had them prepared and believing they could do it. After the confrontation, the game resumed with even a higher degree of purpose.

Mason took charge, Maryland seemed about to unravel and Williams saw the nine-point deficit and thought his team might be headed toward a double-digit deficit like a year ago here. It was then that the difference in the teams became apparent. The younger team was hurt by its inexperience.

"We got a little tentative, a little hesitant," said Gillen, as wrung-out and red-faced as Williams. "We were playing a little not to lose. We didn't keep our poise. Unfortunately, they have a lot of experience."

The Cavaliers gained some Thursday night.

The Terrapins gained still more.

 

 

Cavaliers falter against Maryland

By Jonathan Evans

Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Virginia learned a tough lesson last night at University Hall and junior guard Roger Mason Jr. put it best: "The game is never secure until the buzzer goes off."

The Cavaliers (14-4, 4-4 ACC) simply could not close the deal against Maryland (16-3, 7-1 ACC). Virginia, up by nine with three minutes, 14 seconds to go, wound up on the wrong end of a 13-2 run and fell to the Terrapins, 91-87.

"If you told me before the game that we'd be up nine with 3:14, I'd be thrilled," said a not-so-thrilled Virginia coach Pete Gillen.

In a hotly contested back-and-forth game, Virginia had the largest lead of the night with only minutes left on the clock.

"We just killed ourselves," freshman guard Jermaine Harper said.

"The bottom line is we probably thought the game was over," Mason said. "We got complacent in the last few minutes."

As the Cavaliers' intensity dropped, Maryland made their move. The Terrapins' full-court press helped cut into the Cavaliers' lead.

Maryland reserve guard Drew Nicholas made his name known to all Cavalier fans as he hit two pivotal three pointers, the first of which came with a little over two minutes left on the clock and brought Maryland within four. His second shot was a 27-foot dagger in the Cavaliers' hearts cutting the Terps' deficit to just one.

Virginia junior Travis Watson was forced out-of-bounds and Maryland regained possession with 46 seconds left.

Maryland guard Juan Dixon set up on the wing, got a step on Mason and exploded to the hole. As the defense rotated, Dixon took off from 12 feet, leaned in and nailed a tough jumper to give Maryland a lead they would not relinquish.

"He made a big one at the end," said Maryland coach Gary Williams of his standout guard's game-winning shot. "When it came time, he knew what to do."

Virginia's last chance clanked off the rim, as Chris Williams could not connect on a jumper from the paint with 14 seconds left.

In addition to the heroics of Dixon and Nicholas, the Terrapins escaped the raucous University Hall courtesy of excellent free throw shooting.

"We were 25-for-26, and we needed every one," Williams said.

Unfortunately success at the charity stripe did not go both ways as several crucial Virginia misses cost them the game.

"We had the game and we let it slip away with turnovers and missed free throws," Gillen said.

Virginia certainly had the conference-leading Terrapins cornered behind strong performances from Mason and Watson. Mason led the Cavaliers with 29 points, shooting 5-for-11 from behind the arc. En route to his season-high total, the 6-foot-5 guard earned the 1,000th point of his Virginia career.

Watson made his presence known right from the start as he rebounded a J.C. Mathis miss and slammed it home to open the game. The Cavalier center finished the game with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

The game, which pitted the No. 3 team in the nation against the No. 5 team in the nation, had all the competitiveness and intensity that one would expect, including nine lead changes.

But, in the end, Virginia's collapse was something that even faithful Hooville fans could not help the Cavaliers overcome.

"It was a very hard fought game, we just didn't close the deal," Gillen said. "You have to close the deal."

 

 

Frustrating loss should not tarnish Virginia's accomplishments

By Jeremy Williams

Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Frustration.

That is the only word to describe Virginia's last minute loss to Maryland. Frustrating for the players, frustrating for the fans, frustrating for everyone involved with Virginia.

That being said, the Cavaliers' 91-87 loss to the Terrapins was one hell of a ball game. Of all the quality college basketball games that I have seen this season - and I have seen quite a few - this game ranks up there as one of the best. There is a reason both teams were in the Top 10 going into tonight's contest.

With three minutes, 22 seconds left in the second half, junior Travis Watson took a long pass from senior Chris Williams and made a great play for a lay up and a foul. I sat back and thought to myself, "They are going to win this ball game." Sorry Virginia fans, that was a big mistake. Watson proceeded to miss the free throw and it went straight downhill from there.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Watson's miss was one of quite a few in the last 10 minutes of the game. Both Watson and Williams missed big free throws coming down the stretch, including the front end of three one-and-ones. When you are trying to put a team away, missing free throws is deadly more often than not.

It didn't help matters that Maryland only missed one free throw out of 26 the entire game. That one miss came at the very end and was essentially meaningless.

Neither did the fact that Virginia's defense lost Maryland guards Drew Nicholas and Juan Dixon for three of four plays. Nicholas pulled up and hit two huge three-pointers, one from 27 feet to put the Terrapins down one. In between Nicholas' threes and Dixon's running jumper, Byron Mouton hit two free throws in a one-and-one situation to give the Terps a lead.

"We needed everyone," Maryland coach Gary Williams said after the game. "We knew Virginia was as good a free throw shooting team as there is in the conference. We wanted to try and match that."

It's entirely possible that Maryland will not make 24 free throws in a row for the next 10 years. But tonight they did, and boy, did it sting. You could see it on the players' faces as they sat in the conference room talking to reporters.

"This is a tough one," freshman Jason Clark said. "We played our hardest, but just couldn't seal the deal in the end. We know we are a really good team. We just have to hold on at the end of the game."

Before last night the Cavaliers had always played well down the stretch. They stayed close to Duke in their loss last Friday night and had come back to win big games in the closing minutes against both Florida State and Georgia Tech.

But the Cavaliers shouldn't hang their heads this morning, even if many fans are. The team has two huge road games coming up against Missouri and N.C. State, and if they play like they did tonight, there is no question that the Cavaliers will come up with big wins.

"It's frustrating, but we have to move on," said junior Roger Mason Jr., who scored one below his career high with 29 points. "But we have to just play on. We have some big games coming up, so we can't hang our heads."

Those upcoming big games include an out-of-conference matchup with No. 24 Missouri this Sunday in Columbia, Mo. The Cavaliers will get a chance to strut their stuff on the road, and expect Gillen and his team to bounce back like a boxer off the ropes.

Even though they lost last night, Virginia showed the country that they can go head-to-head with the best. They have a few things to work on but they are close to playing at full potential. When that happens, watch out America, because the Cavaliers are coming.

 

 

All the sweetness turns sour
No. 3 Terps stun U.Va. at the end

By Dave Johnson
Daily Press

Published February 1, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Ahead by nine points as the game's three-minute mark approached, Virginia couldn't have scripted it much better. But somehow, what could have been a resume-building moment for the nation's eighth-ranked team got away.

A couple of missed free throws, two foolish shots, a questionable no-call and the awakening of Drew Nicholas helped Maryland rally to a 91-87 victory Thursday night that stunned a packed house at University Hall. The third-ranked Terrapins scored on all of their final eight possessions, while the Cavaliers missed their last seven shots.

Maryland (17-3, 7-1 ACC) outscored Virginia 17-4 in the final 3:06, capitalizing on the Cavs' shaky endgame and getting two huge 3-pointers from Nicholas. Juan Dixon's second basket of the final half put the Terps ahead for good, leaving a dazed Virginia team wondering how everything went so wrong.

"I could taste the win," said Cavaliers guard Roger Mason Jr., who had a season-best 29 points and five assists. "We were that close to beating a great team, and to let it slip away, that leaves a terrible taste in my mouth right now. There are a lot of ways to call it, but the bottom line is we probably thought the game was over."

Sounds logical. In a game so hotly contested that the two coaching staffs went at it during a 30-second timeout, the Cavaliers (14-4, 4-4) seemed safely ahead when Travis Watson scored in transition to make it 83-74.

"I wasn't confident, but I was determined not to get blown out like last year," said Maryland coach Gary Williams, whose team lost 99-78 here last year. "It was nine points and I didn't want it to get to double figures. That was my main concern."

Trouble began for U.Va. when Watson missed a free throw that would have completed the three-point play and made it a 10-point game. After Dixon went 2-of-2 from the line, Maryland's Chris Wilcox intercepted a Chris Williams pass and dunked to make it 83-78 with 2:51 left.

Williams scored what would be the Cavs' final field goal on a drive 11 seconds later, but he also failed to hit free throw for a three-point play.

Nicholas nailed a 3-pointer from right wing to cut it to four, and Virginia freshman Keith Jenifer then missed a difficult runner with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. After Byron Mouton's two free throws, Maryland trailed 85-83.

Mason's two free throws bumped the lead to four, but Nicholas nailed a 24-footer to make it 87-86 at 1:19. Mason missed a jumper on the other end, and on the follow, Watson appeared to draw contact from Terrapins forward Tahj Holden. Instead, officials ruled the ball to be off Watson's leg.

Dixon, whose last field goal had been less than four minutes into the second half, then shook Mason and buried a 10-foot runner with 31.8 seconds left to put the Terps ahead 88-87. Williams then bricked a foul-line jumper off the glass, and the Cavs were done. Mason and Elton Brown missed 3-point attempts that would have tied the game.

Maryland finished 25-of-26 from the line, 5-of-6 in the final two minutes. Mouton, a 66-percent shooter, was 11-of-12.

"The players were on Mouton for missing that one," Gary Williams said. "Twenty-five of twenty-six, and we needed every one."

Virginia coach Pete Gillen would take eight turnovers any night, especially against one of the nation's most aggressive defensive teams. But the Cavs didn't make plays when it counted.

"We had a great opportunity to win, but we just didn't close the deal," Gillen said.

"If you'd have told me we'd be up nine with 3:14 to go, we'd take that 100 out of 100 times. But we just didn't do our job, and it slipped away."

 

But Heritage's Johnson leaning toward Mich. State
By Norm Wood and Dave Johnson

Daily Press

Published February 1, 2002

It was an eventful day in football recruiting at Virginia and Virginia Tech on Thursday.

The Cavaliers picked up an oral commitment from a top cornerback, and one of the state's top running backs told the Hokies he will be coming to Blacksburg.

Also, Heritage's Michael Johnson, a Parade Magazine All-American running back, said Thursday he would announce his college decision Monday.

Johnson said he favors Michigan State over Virginia, which is a change from last week when he said he was leaning to Miami. The Hurricanes may be out of the race for Johnson.

"I like what I'm hearing from Michigan State," said Johnson, who had an in-home visit from Spartans coaches on Thursday afternoon.

"I looked at the situation (at Miami) all through the recruiting process, and it didn't look too good for me."

Marcus Hamilton, a coveted cornerback from Centreville High in Clifton, said Thursday night he has committed to Virginia.

Hamilton, 6-feet-1 and 180 pounds, made his decision public on WLEE, an AM radio station in Richmond.

He is considered one of the top corners in the state. Hamilton picked the Cavaliers over a long list of schools.

Hamilton's announcement was good news for Virginia, which earlier this week saw another player renounce a commitment.

Antwan Stewart, a defensive back from Dumfries' Potomac High who had said he was going to Charlottesville, now says he will sign with Tennessee.

Virginia Tech received good news from Mike Imoh on Thursday afternoon. A 5-foot-7, 180-pound running back from state Division 6 champion Robinson of Fairfax, Imoh announced at his school that he had chosen Tech over Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.

But linebacker Justin London from Roanoke opted to commit to UCLA over Virginia Tech on Thursday.

 

 

Color of misery: Carolina blue
PETER ST. ONGE
Staff Writer

Observer Photo/David T. Foster III North Carolina students had little to cheer about in a 77-59 home loss to N.C. State last week. The Tar Heels already have tied their all-time record for home losses in a season, with six.

CHAPEL HILL - There are, Susan Worley says, five stages of dealing with a North Carolina Tar Heels basketball defeat. You begin with Questioning the Point of Life. You end with Rationalization. In the middle comes all manner of annoyance, guilt and denial.

But now, on a couch at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill, the 48-year-old social worker is contemplating a new kind of Tar Heel blue.

"This year I'm in a whole different stage," she says. "It's just this bizarre, surreal world."

It's called, simply, losing.

Things are different these days for North Carolina's defining institutions. Jesse Helms isn't returning to the U.S. Senate. Billy Graham is giving the reins of his ministry to his son. Even the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse got moved. So perhaps it is inevitable the state's longtime athletic bellwether, the Tar Heels, have become a bad basketball team.

Certainly, that's true by UNC standards. The Tar Heels, now at 6-11, are pointing toward their first nontournament season in 36 years, their first losing record in 40. Tonight brings rival Duke, which also happens to be the best college basketball team in the country, visiting Chapel Hill (9 p.m., WBTV, Channel 3) to remind the home fans what success looks like -- and how far away it seems.

For the Tar Heels, the problems run deep. They are not particularly quick or particularly big -- deficiencies laid bare by the second-worst shooting percentage in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The result: Each week slaps fans with a notable low -- most UNC losses at home in a season (six so far); most points given up (112 at Maryland); worst loss at the Smith Center (22 points to Wake Forest).

"The Tar Heels have been so consistent for so long that people have been able to depend on it," says Thad Williamson, a Chapel Hill native and Harvard doctoral student who recently wrote "More than a Game," a book on UNC basketball and the effect it has on its hundreds of thousands of fans.

"It's almost an emotional prop," Williamson says.

Now fans across the state find themselves speaking in hopeful platitudes about moral victories. They're turning games off early or thinking the drive to Chapel Hill suddenly seems kind of long. Worse yet, they're taking joy in wins against programs they used to flick aside like lint.

"I always thought God created basketball to help you get through the winter," Worley says. "That's what's been missing this year -- the Tar Heels always have been such a source of joy."

Instead, the joy comes from fans of Tar Heels rivals, who see this season as more fun than a bug, a magnifying glass and a sunny summer day. "It's fun to watch and it's pitiful to watch," says Charlotte architect Jeff Yelton, a 1988 N.C. State grad. "Tar Heel fans are the most obnoxious fans when they're winning -- and they disappear when they're losing."

All of which UNC backers consider a test of their patience -- but more important, their morality.

"Fans have really seen Carolina basketball as an example of how you can be successful and ethical," Williamson says. "Is the ethical more important than the winning?

"For so long, Carolina fans haven't had to choose."

Athletics as a model for life

First, some perspective from The Rest of the Sports World:Teams lose.

Even the most storied college programs -- Alabama and Notre Dame football, UCLA and Kentucky basketball -- battle the occasional stretch of ordinary. So why the wailing from Tar Heels supporters?

"It's just a strong belief that if you do things the right way, that you will be rewarded," says Worley. "We were constantly rewarded with victories. You can't escape that message."

Few loves are like a fan's -- largely powerless yet undeniably powerful. At UNC, the relationship is not unlike other schools; fans talk family and community along with victories and losses. But Tar Heels supporters believe they share something greater with their team.

Such talk begins with Dean Smith, who coached UNC for 36 years before retiring in 1997. Smith not only won two national titles and appeared in 11 NCAA Final Fours, but did so with an integrity that fans believe separates the UNC program from most others.

"It's the loyalty Smith gave to his coaching staff and players and former players," Williamson says. "That's certainly in contrast to the employer-employee relationship we see in the corporate world today. It's also the idea that everyone on the team is equally important in a moral sense. That's an appealing idea to most folks."

Now those values are being challenged. It's easy to be devoted when disappointment is quantified by when you depart the NCAA tournament. But this season, the Tar Heels are offering fans a sort of Eastern philosophical reckoning -- can they understand the purity of loyalty that comes only when you root for a train wreck of a team?

Thus far, the returns are mixed. In-state television ratings of UNC games are similar to last year, says Ken Haines, chief operating officer of Raycom Sports, which produces ACC telecasts. Haines, however, doesn't see the numbers necessarily illustrating Tar Heels loyalty.

"With the intensity of rivalries in North Carolina, we're drawing fans from the other schools because they're the favorite now," he says.

Apparel companies also offer conflicting news. The UNC brand is still the No. 1 national seller for Atlanta-based College Licensing Co., an apparel intermediary for most major colleges and universities. But, says CLC official Joe Hutchinson: "Basketball will have some sort of impact. We just won't know for several months."

Across the state and beyond, the struggle is more visible.

"It's just painful," says Concord's Del McAdams, Class of '83. "Right now, we're not even competing. That's the disappointing thing."

Says Kyle Buffkin, a '91 alum from North Myrtle Beach: "With the way we're playing now, and as bad as we're losing, it's almost not worth going up there for games."

In Chapel Hill, even game days have become somewhat placid affairs. On Jan. 23 against N.C. State, enough tickets found their way to Wolfpack supporters that the Smith Center roiled with bobbing seas of red.

"I think there's a raised eyebrow with what's going on," says David Daly, director of Chapel Hill's Blue Heaven Museum, where the past provides a softer landing for the present. Attendance is down at the museum, says Daly, a former Charlottean and producer for WBTV.

"People come in and see the 1982 championship display or the 1993 display, and they say, `I'll be glad to get back to this,' or `I wish we had James Worthy on this team.' "

On campus, the tone can get decidedly less diplomatic. "Fans will leave halfway through a game," says senior Jason Mills, an economics major from Raleigh. "The next day everyone is complaining or making obscene comments about coaching."

Williamson wonders whether the difference in tone is generational. The further UNC gets from the Smith era, the more danger there is of fans losing touch with his values. Maintaining that connection is critical, he says. "I think it may be the fans themselves who are the ones responsible for holding up the values in the years to come," he says. "If fans say we want to see things done with integrity, that could have an impact."

Says Mills, who was a freshman when Smith assistant Bill Guthridge took over as UNC coach: "I don't know a whole lot about Coach Smith. I heard he was a great guy."

Next year could be the test

Mills believes second-year coach Matt Doherty -- a frequent target of talk show callers and Internet chatters -- is good for UNC basketball. Most older fans, who grumbled at first about Doherty purging Guthridge's assistants -- and also about the new coach cussing during games -- are encouraged by his graceful handling of losses.

Optimists also point to next year's impressive Tar Heels recruiting class, although some warn against expectations -- UNC will lose its top two players, Jason Capel and Kris Lang, from this year's team.

"If we go two years in a row like this, it will be very interesting," says alum Buffkin. "Even if we have an NIT-caliber team, I don't know how the fans will react. I think we get more upset with mediocrity at Carolina than we do with absolute failure."

What's heartening, says Susan Worley, is watching fans dutifully fill the Smith Center, as well as Michael Jordan's "23" restaurant for Doherty's radio show.

"There are plenty of examples of programs who have had bad years and didn't handle it with class and grace," she says. "I've been really impressed that people are sticking with them."

It is, she says, what Tar Heels fans represent -- even in defeat.

This year, they're getting a lot of practice.