Another must-win slips away
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer
Three times in the past two weeks, the No. 22 Virginia men’s basketball team
has been placed in situations in which it faced must-win situations. Perhaps,
those situations are ones that behooved the Cavaliers to win would be more
appropriate because the must-win phrase is a little too cliche.
Whatever those games should be called is irrelevant but what is relevant is that
the Cavaliers lost all three of them — at N.C. State, at Wake Forest and most
recently at Florida State. The first of those two losses are understandable
considering State and Wake currently are the two teams above UVa in the ACC
standings and both were playing on their respective home courts.
Wednesday’s 66-59 setback at Florida State is a little more perplexing
considering it came against a team that did not have equal incentive as UVa to
win the game. Yes, the Seminoles likely would take exception to that but
entering the game, they had lost six straight and stood at 10-13 overall and 3-9
in the ACC. Virginia conversely was coming off a loss at Wake Forest and was in
desperate need of a win, any win in order to maintain hopes of reaching the NCAA
tournament. It was a game it had to have compared to realistically a game
Florida State would have liked to have.
Yet, it was the Seminoles, apparently inspired by being spoilers more than
anything else, who made the plays and did the things it needed to do to win.
“We’re just not playing how we can play and somehow we have to correct
this,” said junior guard Roger Mason Jr., whose team has now lost six of its
past eight games. “We’ve had mental breakdowns on offense and defense. You
are not going to win when you do those things. ... It’s frustrating. We knew
we needed a victory and it’s just frustrating.”
The final decision was just the culmination of an overall frustrating evening
for the Cavaliers. They grabbed the early lead, 13-7, after the game’s first
five minutes. Even after losing that lead and trailing 34-29 at halftime, the
Cavaliers came back to lead on eight separate occasions in the second half,
including a 56-55 advantage with 3:30 to play.
Despite UVa’s turnovers (18), despite its poor shooting against the FSU zone
(40 percent) and despite allowing FSU to shoot more than 50 percent from the
field (51.1), that was the situation with 3:30 to go. It was still a winnable
game for the Cavaliers. In fact, it was almost identical to Virginia’s win
69-66 at Florida State last year where it was able to come back from second-half
deficits to literally pull out a win on Mason’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“We didn’t finish it off and again that’s frustrating,” Mason said.
Added Gillen: “We just didn’t execute offensively or defensively down the
stretch.”
Hall’s return. Senior swingman Adam Hall, who had missed 10 of the last 11
games with torn plantar fascia tissue in his right foot, returned to action and
had six points, three rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Hall’s 3-point
play with 3:30 gave Virginia a 56-55 lead while another basket that would have
cut FSU’s lead to 70-68 with 1:33 left was waved off by a charging call.
“It felt good to be back in a game for the first time in six weeks. Games are
definitely different than practice,” Hall said.
Mason feels that the athletic Hall gave UVa a lift against FSU and could down
the same in their remaining games.
“We’ve missed Adam. He bring a lot of intensity and energy. He did help us
but unfortunately we didn’t win. It was good to see him back,” Mason said.
The noticeable additions Hall brought were not his signature aerial moves but
rather his much-needed movement against the zone.
“The whole thing against the zone that we haven’t done in while is penetrate
against it. You have to penetrate the zone to create open shots,” Hall said.
UVa basketball, at tournatment risk, has reason for optimism next year
By
DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive
to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays
Whenever he senses me becoming overly critical of Pete Gillen, ex-Virginia athletic director Terry Holland likes to tell me, "Well, you hired him."
Late in the winter of 1998, after Holland had made the decision to seek Jeff Jones' resignation, I was trying to cover the hiring process and made the observation to Holland that Gillen might be receptive to a Virginia overture.
Inasmuch as Gillen had rejected the Cavaliers following the Rick Barnes fiasco in 1990, I didn't think that was any foregone conclusion.
I think many of the most important reasons for pursuing Gillen are still valid. He's a class individual, he recruits well and he plays an up-tempo style.
I don't think I would have awarded him a 10-year contract extension after his third season, but, to use one of Gillen's favorite expressions, I'm not going to throw him under the bus.
Nevertheless, no one can deny that these are the darkest days in Gillen's four-year coaching tenure. If the Cavaliers do not make the NCAA Tournament in Year 4 of the Gillen era, you'd have to say that they're behind schedule.
I've said all along that Virginia (16-8 overall, 6-7 ACC) needs to win 19 games to make the NCAA field and I'm not sure that a victory next Thursday against visiting Duke would change that.
The way they're playing, the Cavaliers will have a hard time Saturday with Georgia Tech in Charlottesville.
I don't think there's any question that a second season-ending knee injury to point guard Majestic Mapp has had a major impact on this year's team. Freshman point guard Keith Jenifer has not been the answer and the jury is out as to whether he is or will become an ACC-caliber player.
With the game on the line Wednesday night at Florida State, fellow freshman Elton Brown and Jenifer had back-to-back turnovers inside the three-minute mark. Jenifer's came when he flitted into the lane, got up in the air and was left with nothing to do.
UVa fans might say that things will be better next year, when Mapp plans to return and ex-Rutgers point guard Todd Billet becomes eligible, but other things need to change.
Gillen needs to revise his defensive philosophy.
For the second straight game, it often looked like opponent Florida State was going through a layup drill while shooting 51.1 percent from the field in a 66-59 victory at Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center. The Seminoles became the third team in five games and the fourth team in eight games to shoot 50 percent or better against the Cavaliers.
Gillen believes in a pressing, 94-foot game. But this is not the Atlantic-10, where Gillen's Xavier teams had tremendous success with that philosophy. ACC teams can beat a presss and they can make you pay for pressing.
No team will enjoy prolonged success in the ACC without playing solid full-court defense.
Maybe it will help next year when 6-foot-10 Nick Vander Laan, a transfer from California, becomes eligible. However, I'm not convinced that there will be any playing time available for Vander Laan if UVa remains committed to playing all of its current frontcourt players.
(My greatest criticism of Gillen is his failure to play Colin Ducharme in 1999-2000 and his insistence on playing J.C. Mathis this year. Mathis played only 10 minutes Wednesday night, but when Jason Clark plays less than one minute, Mathis is playing too much.)
What's with Clark playing less than one minute? After starting him in three consecutive games, Gillen leaves the impression of a coach grasping for straws by virtually burying him at the end of the bench.
Although Clark is a post player, the decline in his minutes might have stemmed from the return to action of Adam Hall, who played 24 minutes. Gillen might have believed he couldn't afford to have two defensive-minded players on the floor at the same time.
I'm not sure, at 6-8 and 225 pounds, that Clark might have made much difference against Florida State's 6-10, 340-pound Nigel Dixon, who abused the Cavaliers as he would a submarine sandwich or a plate of ribs.
To be honest, it seemed as if Dixon got a lot of leeway from the officiating crew of Bob Donato, Curtis Shaw and Edward Corbett, who certainly would belong at the bottom end of a weak roster of ACC officials. ACC referees may have been guilty over the years of presuming Dixon's guilt whenever he was involved in a battle for the ball, but there were several occasions when he appeared to be going over the backs of shorter UVa players.
Dixon may be 6-10 but he has no vertical leap.
In its February swoon, Virginia went through a stretch when it couldn't handle the ball. Then, the Cavaliers stopped playing defense. At Florida State, they couldn't handle the ball, they couldn't play defense and were hammered on the boards, 33-22.
After outrebounding the opposition in 18 of the first 22 games, the Cavaliers have lost the battle of the boards by 14 and 11 in the last two games. What's with that?
Maybe it would have helped if the Cavaliers hadn't been rated No. 11 in the preseason or if they had lost some of the early games in which they held off Virginia Tech, Auburn, Georgetown and Rutgers.
If they had lost some of those games -- and they could have lost any of them -- the Cavaliers' fans would not have been happy but UVa's flaws would have become apparent and the letdown would not have been as dramatic.
Better times may be ahead next year, but Gillen and staff would be ill-advised if they don't take a close look at everything they do.
U.VA. NOTEBOOK
CAVS ON BUBBLE: Conventional wisdom holds that the University of Virginia must finish at least 8-8 in ACC regular-season play to earn an at-large berth in next month's NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Wednesday night's loss at Florida State notwithstanding, U.Va. (6-7, 16-8) still can go.500 or better in conference games. The Cavaliers' challenge, however, has grown considerably more daunting. Of Virginia's three remaining regular-season games, one is against No.2 Maryland - in the final game at storied Cole Field House, no less - and another is against defending national champion Duke.
Before playing host Thursday to third-ranked Duke, the Cavaliers must meet Georgia Tech tomorrow afternoon at University Hall, and they're not locks to win. The Yellow Jackets (4-9, 12-15) fell to U.Va. in Atlanta last month, but they've won five of seven and are coming off a victory over N.C. State. The Wolfpack swept its regular-season series with Virginia.
Swingman Adam Hall, who'd missed 10 games with a foot injury, returned against Florida State and had six points and four rebounds in 24 minutes. His three-point play with 3:30 left gave Virginia its final lead, 56-55.
Hall, a 6-5 senior, said U.Va., which has lost six of eight, can still turn around its season.
"We still got three big games and the ACC tournament, so it's never too late," he said. "We got to just keep going out and keep our minds set on winning games."
If it's not too late, Hall was asked, isn't that point fast approaching?
"It's getting there," he admitted. "We put ourselves in a little hole, and now we got to come out fighting."
The ACC tournament champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney, but history suggests Virginia shouldn't count on getting in that way. U.Va. has won the tourney only once, in 1976.
FREE FALL: Virginia was mired in a slump when it arrived in Tallahassee but at least had a solid ranking - in the low 30s - in the Rating Percentage Index. That wasn't the case after U.Va. fell 66-59 at FSU. In yesterday morning's RPI update, the Cavaliers had dropped to No.47.
The NCAA tournament selection committee uses a rating system similar to the RPI in assessing the merits of potential at-large teams.
OFF NIGHT: Junior guard Roger Mason Jr. went 5 for 7 from the foul line against FSU. Many players would happily settle for that, but Mason entered as the ACC's leading free-throw shooter. He no longer holds that distinction. Maryland senior Juan Dixon (91.1 percent) has taken over the ACC lead, and Mason (90.2) is second.
ROLE REVERSAL: Freshman forward Jason Clark, who ranks fourth among ACC shotblockers, played 49.2 seconds against FSU after starting Virginia's previous three games, two of which the Cavs won. Classmate Elton Brown, who had 11 points in his previous four games, started and scored 10 (on 5-for-7 shooting) against the'Noles. Brown (8.4 ppg) leads Virginia's freshmen in scoring.
LOFTY GOALS: His first team at U.Va. went 5-7, but football coach Al Groh remains optimistic, particularly after landing a highly regarded recruiting class.
"I came here with the intention of competing, first, for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on a yearly basis . . . and in doing so, putting ourselves in position to compete for the national championship," he said on signing day.
Groh first spoke of winning a national title when he was hired last winter.
"I'm sure there were some people who snickered when we said that, but those were probably most of the same people who never thought that this would be one of the top-five-rated recruiting classes in the country," he said this month.
COMING TO TOWN: Groh and his assistants will hold a coaching clinic March 5 at the Sheraton Richmond West. Area coaches are invited to attend. For more information, call Leslie Desimini in the U.Va. football office at (800) 444-4882.
PAYING TRIBUTE: Former U.Va. stars James Driscoll and Tom McKnight are among the golfers who'll play in the Canadian Tour's Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Championship, May 9-12 at the Keswick Club near Charlottesville. Each has finished second at the U.S. Amateur and played for the United States in the Walker Cup.
Chitengwa, a 1998 graduate of U.Va., where he was an All-American, died of meningitis last summer while competing on the Canadian Tour. - Jeff White
The Virginia men's basketball team has a last chance to save its disappointing season in its last three games, beginning tomorrow against Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers realize they are in a desperate situation after a loss to Florida State Wednesday, but with only three games left in the season and the team swiftly dropping in the rankings, this attitude reversal may prove too little, too late.
Virginia has dropped six of the past eight games, and Wednesday's loss gave the Cavaliers (16-8, 6-7) a losing record in the ACC. Unless Virginia can defeat Georgia Tech (12-15, 4-9) tomorrow, it will not finish with a winning record in the ACC.
Virginia beat Georgia Tech 69-65 in the teams' first meeting Jan. 22. Freshman forward Elton Brown had a breakout game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. Virginia also benefited by a sub-par game from Georgia Tech senior guard Tony Akins, who scored only two points. Akins averages 16.5 points and 5.38 assists per game and will pose a problem for Virginia and its shallow backcourt.
But when the Cavaliers last faced the Yellow Jackets it was under slightly different circumstances. Virginia had risen to as high as No. 5 in national polls before a four-game losing streak. Although the Cavaliers temporarily got themselves together playing poor quality teams, they soon relapsed into the type of uninspired, turnover-ridden play that defined their season's second half.
Virginia has averaged 15.2 turnovers over the last five games and has gotten into early deficits against less talented opponents.
Wednesday's loss to Florida State marked a new low in the Cavaliers' season. The Seminoles, who hadn't beaten Virginia for two seasons going into the game, broke a six-game losing streak when they beat the No. 22 Cavaliers.
"We're not playing like we could right now," Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "We've got to correct that."
The Cavaliers have not met anyone's expectations this season, but not for lack of talent. Virginia only has two senior scholarship players and has relied heavily on four freshmen to make plays.
"We played hard, but we're playing young guys," coach Pete Gillen said. "It's hard to depend on young guys to make big shots in the ACC on the road."
It has been more than freshmen inexperience, however, that led to disappointment. Inconsistent play from Mason and senior forward Chris Williams also contributed to the skid.
But many players expressed heightened frustration after Wednesday's loss and are determined to emerge victorious from their last three regular season games. Even with such newfound focus, the Cavaliers can't finish better than fifth in the ACC if they lose any of their next three games, and with No. 3 Duke and No. 2 Maryland on the horizon, this seems a more than likely outcome.
"We have three left. Three tough games left," Gillen said. "We've got to go day by day and try to win the next one on Saturday. I think we're capable. The effort was there, the execution wasn't and it's tough to win with 18 turnovers on the road."
Virginia will have both positives and negatives awaiting them in University Hall tomorrow. Although the Cavaliers will boast homecourt advantage and face a team ranked eighth in the ACC, Georgia Tech has given Virginia trouble over the past few years. Last season the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia in both regular season games and again in the first round of the ACC tournament.
Virginia will also tackle another ongoing problem - how to deal with zone defense.
"Everybody's zoning us," Gillen said. "So we got a do a better job attacking it."
In order to attack a zone, the Cavaliers will need to get penetration from their guards. The only true point guard on the team is freshman Keith Jenifer. Because of Jenifer's inability to shoot accurately from the outside, defenders have been able to sag off of him and protect the middle.
"We're just trying to stay focused," Brown said. "The team chemistry is still there, we've just got to follow through. We've got 3 more games and we've got to knock them out."