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Blue Devils manhandle Virginia
By Andrew Joyner  / Daily Progress staff writer
February 16, 2003
 

The weather outside University Hall on Saturday night was frightful, but for a change Duke found the conditions inside delightful.
The No. 8 Blue Devils, losers in their last two appearances here, dispatched Virginia 78-59, as they handed the Cavaliers their first loss at U-Hall this season in 11 games.
Freshman Shelden Williams had 20 and Dantay Jones added 17 for Duke (17-4, 7-4 ACC), which ended a four-game ACC road slide.
“Our kids played great. We knew we had to play well to beat Virginia here,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Elton Brown had 18 while Todd Billet had 13 for Virginia (14-9, 5-6 ACC), which has lost two straight and finds its NCAA tournament hopes in serious jeopardy.
“I thought Duke did a great job. They played terrific defense and were tremendously focused,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose team shot 40 percent for the game. “We might have assumed that playing at home, things might be easier but they came out and stunned us and we never recovered.”
Virginia, which last year staged a furious comeback here from a 17-point deficit in the game’s final nine minutes to beat Duke 87-84, wasn’t able to muster any such effort this time. After trailing 39-22 at the half, Virginia managed to cut that to 13 on four occasions but could get no closer. Each time Virginia made any kind of run in the second half, the Blue Devils responded.
In particular, it was often the 6-foot-9 Williams that stymied the Cavaliers, as he had 14 second-half points, many coming on layups on the interior. The Blue Devils managed to push the lead to as many as 20 on a free throw by Daniel Ewing with 4:27 left.
Duke, coming off a double overtime loss at Wake Forest on Thursday night, led 39-22 at halftime, as Virginia looked like the team that had played a double-overtime game just 48 hours ago.
With conditions worsening outside U-Hall, the Cavaliers first-half appearance was just as bad. On its first 22 possessions, UVa was just 4 of 15 from the field and committed seven turnovers.
The Cavaliers shot 34.6 percent in the first half including a 1 of 7 effort from behind the arc and had 10 turnovers as their 22 points were the fewest in a half this season. For good measure, the Cavaliers were also just three of seven at the stripe.
About the only positive cheers for Virginia after the initial minutes came when UVa football coach Al Groh and quarterback Matt Schaub were honored with 3:52 left before intermission.
Roanoke native J.J. Redick had 15 and Daniel Ewing had 12 for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils led 15-6 after the game’s first eight minutes and twice managed to lead by as many as 18 in the first 20 minutes.
“When you beat a team on your homecourt twice in the last two years, you have a comfort zone and that’s a little bit how we played tonight,” Billet said. “We thought it would happen tonight just because the stars were lined up.”
Virginia returns to action when it hosts Clemson here on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
 

 

 

Cavs can't capitalize on opportunity
By Jerry Ratcliffe  / Daily Progress sports editor
February 16, 2003

 

Virginia had Duke exactly where the Cavaliers wanted them heading into Saturday night’s showdown at University Hall.
The 8th-ranked Blue Devils had dropped their last four straight road games in the league while their stable of sharpshooters had gone stone cold in the process. Duke had not won here in its last two trips to Charlottesville, which bode well for UVa, having entered the game 10-0 within the friendly confines.
A win by Virginia would have tied Duke in the ACC standings at 6-5 for fourth place and brought the Cavaliers one step closer to a return to the NCAA Tournament.
Everything weighed in Virginia’s favor. Somebody forgot to tell Duke.
Clueless at home
The Cavaliers, normally invincible at home, played as if they were still in Chapel Hill where they fell behind early, caught up, then faded in a loss to the Tar Heels on Wednesday.
Likewise, Duke jumped on Virginia early and built an 18-6 lead midway through the first half thanks to a 9-0 run. The Blue Devils built on the lead by outscoring the Cavs 12-3 over the next four minutes for a 17-point advantage, 27-10. Virginia never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game.
“We might have assumed that because we played them tough in Durham and that we were unbeaten at home that we’d be OK,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen. “They came out and stunned us, we went back on our heels and we never recovered.”
Indeed, Duke was the aggressor in this one. The Devils took it to Virginia in every phase of the game and the Cavaliers had no answer.
“We knew we’d have to play great to beat Virginia here,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Our defense was outstanding.”
Stifling defense
The Blue Devils held the Cavaliers to 40 percent from the field, and held UVa’s Travis Watson to only six points. Watson had scored 26 in Virginia’s close loss at Durham last month but was never a factor on the offensive end in this one.
“I would have never guessed Travis wouldn’t get double figures points on us,” said Krzyzewski.
But Duke dominated inside the paint, 38-28, and outrebounded Virginia 43-36. Not only that, the Devils seemed to have caught the Cavaliers flat-footed, blocking seven of UVa’s shots and influencing several others with good defense.
Virginia’s 22 points in the first half was a season low.
One of the reasons why was four first-half blocks by Duke freshman Shelden Williams.
“That’s the reason why [Virginia] scored only 22 points, because Shelden knocked back eight points,” said Krzyzewski.
It was quite an impressive performance by the Blue Devils, who had dropped a physical, emotionally draining, double-overtime loss at Wake Forest on Thursday night. That’s quite a turnaround in such a short span.
By the way the two teams played, it would have been difficult to label Duke as the one that had come off two overtimes.
Virginia’s defense wasn’t there.
“Duke was aggressive and played tenacious defense,” said Gillen, whose team slipped to 5-6 in the conference and 14-9 overall (including one win over an NAIA Chaminade team in the Maui Invitational that likely won’t count toward an NCAA bid).
Gillen’s biggest job now is to rally the Cavaliers for their next game, a home date against Clemson on Tuesday night. It appears that Virginia will have to hold serve at home the rest of the way against the Tigers, Georgia Tech and Maryland to finish at least even in ACC play, or take the gamble of trying to steal a win at Wake Forest or Florida State.

 

 

Devils conjure up early storm
Duke ends a four-game road losing streak with some help from the turnover-prone Cavaliers.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

CHARLOTTESVILLE - For all the concern expressed over fan turnout for Virginia's matchup with eighth-ranked Duke, maybe somebody should have reminded the Cavaliers that there was a game.
For the second game in a row, UVa was hit by an early blitz. This time the Cavaliers could not recover as Duke snapped its four-game road losing streak, 78-59, at University Hall.

It was the Blue Devils' 15th victory in the past 17 games with Virginia, which had won the previous two games between the teams in Charlottesville, threatened by a snow-and-ice storm Saturday night.

"You almost feel like you've got a comfort level," UVa guard Todd Billet said. "That was a little bit how we played tonight: 'Oh, we're at home, we're playing against Duke, we've beaten them the last two years.' It was almost like the stars were lined up.

"But, it doesn't just happen. You've got to make it happen."

The Cavaliers, unbeaten in their first 11 home games this season, were victimized by the same turnover problems that had bedeviled them Wednesday night, when they fell behind by 19 points in the first half in an 81-67 loss at North Carolina.

Of the last six Cavaliers losses, one has been decided by single digits.

Virginia had 10 turnovers at the half Saturday night, many of them on the most basic of offensive plays, the entry pass into the post. Moreover, when the Cavaliers weren't turning the ball over, they were getting their shots blocked - six in all, four by freshman forward Shelden Williams.

Duke was without freshman post man Shavlik Randolph, who scored 17 points when the Blue Devils beat UVa 104-93 in Durham, N.C., but foul-prone Duke got away with basically playing a seven-man rotation. Two Duke players got their fourth fouls late, and nobody fouled out.

The Cavaliers had been lit up by another Duke freshman, J.J. Redick, for 34 points in the first game, and UVa coach Pete Gillen responded by giving sophomore guard Jermaine Harper his first start of the season.

Solid defense enabled the Cavaliers (14-9, 5-6 ACC) to stay close to the Blue Devils, who led 8-6 after the first seven minutes, but Duke took off on a 12-1 run as the Cavaliers repeatedly came up empty at the offensive end.

After the Blue Devils (17-4, 7-4) opened a 27-10 lead, Virginia got no closer than 27-14 on an inside basket by Elton Brown and trailed 39-22 at halftime. It was the Cavaliers' lowest-scoring half of the season.

Brown finished with 18 points.

"The only guy that played really well was Elton Brown," Gillen said. "The other guys just didn't have it. They didn't make shots, didn't do the things they usually do, [but] Duke would have beaten a lot of teams tonight."

Duke's big asset in the second half was the three-point play, not to be confused with the 3-point shot. The Blue Devils had four three-point plays in the second half, two each by Williams and Dahntay Jones, and five in the game.

UVa had trimmed the deficit to 70-57 when Duke called timeout with 3:03 on the game clock and five seconds on the 35-second clock. Jones took the inbounds pass and hesitated only momentarily before driving to the basket and dunking over Nick Vander Laan, who was called for a foul on the play.

Jones, coming off an 0-for-12 shooting performance Thursday in a 94-80 double-overtime loss at Wake Forest, finished with 17 points. Williams, who had six points in Winston-Salem, N.C., had a season-high 20 points in his first double-figure scoring effort in six games.

"As soon as we started practice Friday, I was ready to play UVa," said Redick, who finished with 15 points in front of family and friends from Roanoke. "We really battled against Wake Forest in the second half and everybody was ready to go tonight."

 

 

Virginia snowed under by Duke
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 16, 2003
DUKE 78 U.VA. 59
INSIDE: Clemson clocks UNC, ACC standings, Page C6.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The sellout crowd at University Hall braved sleet and snow to watch Virginia play eighth-ranked Duke last night. The Cavaliers, flat from the opening tip, gave their fans little reason to cheer, getting blown out by a team they'd battled gamely last month at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The loss was U.Va.'s first in 11 games at U-Hall this season.

The final was 78-59 - Virginia's second-worst defeat this season - in a nationally televised game that was all but over by halftime. After scoring only 22 points - its lowest output in a half this season - U.Va. trailed by 17 at the break, and its woes would continue.


The Cavaliers (5-6, 14-9), down 20 with 4:27 left, battled back to 70-57, but the Blue Devils (7-4, 17-4) never panicked. With the shot clock about to expire, 6-6 Dahntay Jones soared and threw down a vicious slam over 6-10 center Nick Vander Laan, who fouled the Duke senior to boot.

Jones' free throw made it 73-57 with 3 minutes left and effectively ended Virginia's hopes of bolstering its NCAA tournament credentials by beating a top-10 team. The Cavaliers, who lost 104-93 at Duke last month, never led last night.

"We might have assumed that, hey, we played them pretty tough down in Durham, we're playing at home, 10-0 coming in, that things would be easier," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said. "They came out and stunned us, and then we just sort of went back on our heels and never recovered.

"We only had one guy that really, really showed up tonight and played well, and that was Elton Brown."

Brown, a 6-9 sophomore, led Virginia with 18 points. Junior guard Todd Billet (13 points) was the only other Cavalier in double figures. U.Va.'s small forwards - starter Derrick Byars and reserve Devin Smith - were a combined 3 for 16 from the floor.

The Cavaliers had won their previous two meetings with Duke at U-Hall, and there seemed to be no reason they couldn't so again, particularly given the Devils' struggles on the road. But three nights after falling behind 10-0 in a loss at North Carolina, U.Va. started slowly again.

Duke led 6-0, 18-6 and, after freshman guard J.J. Redick (15 points) drilled a 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the half, 32-14. The Blue Devils shot only 40.5 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes but built a commanding lead as Virginia broke down repeatedly on offense. The Wahoos made only 9 of 26 field goal attempts (34.6 percent). Five of their shots were blocked, and they turned over the ball 10 times in the first half.

On a night when the Cavaliers shot poorly (40 percent from the floor, 50 from the line), only stifling defense could have kept them close, and they offered little resistance against a fired-up Duke team 48 hours removed from a double-overtime loss at 15th-ranked Wake Forest.

"Our kids played great," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew we would have to play extremely well to beat Virginia here, and we did."

The Blue Devils, who shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, snapped a four-game road losing streak and took sole possession of third place in the ACC. Jones, who missed all 12 of his field goal attempts against Wake, made his first two last night, and Duke followed his lead.

Jones finished with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting. The dominant Devil, however, was 6-9 Shelden Williams. The freshman forward scored a career-high 20 last night and also had eight rebounds, four blocked shots, two assists and two steals.

Senior forward Travis Watson, Virginia's leading scorer, grabbed 10 rebounds but had only six points in 26 minutes. Watson scored 26 against Duke last month.

"I would have never guessed that Travis would not get double-figure points against us," Krzyzewski said. "He usually gets 25 or 30, and I thought we did a really good job on him."

Billet's catch-and-shoot trey with 11:33 remaining pulled Virginia to 53-40 and brought the student-dominated crowd to its feet. A Duke turnover followed, and Virginia had a chance to move closer. But Billet missed a jumper, and Williams converted a three-point play - Duke's third of the half - to make it 56-40.

Virginia, for the fourth straight game, played without point guard Keith Jenifer, who's suspended indefinitely from the team. The 6-3 sophomore had played one of his better games at Duke, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and only two turnovers.

 

 

Blue Devils take it to Hapless Cavaliers

by Jeremy Williams
Feb 16, 2003
Virginia came out assuming their perfect home season would roll on when Duke, a team they had beaten two straight years at home, came to snowy Charlottesville Saturday night. Boy were they wrong. Right from the tip, the Blue Devils controlled the game both on the offensive and defensive sides of the court. Freshman Sheldon Williams shut senior Travis Watson down on defense, while he lit it him up on offense, scoring a career-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

It was a consensus among the coaches and team that Virginia came out assuming a ‘W’ was inevitable.

“We came in assuming a bit too much,” head coach Pete Gillen said. “Duke would have beaten a lot of teams tonight, but we just came out thinking that we would win because we were 10-0 [at home]. We didn’t play very focused, and you are not going to beat a team like Duke when that happens.”

Duke came out as the desperate team needing a win, as they used a 19-4 run to build a 27-10 lead with 7:54 left in the first half, and they never looked back. Having lost four straight on the road in the ACC, the Blue Devils indicated early that that streak would end Saturday night. Daniel Ewing and J.J. Redick sparked the Duke offense, while playing suffocating defense against Todd Billet on the perimeter.

“I was really proud of the way our team played on the defensive end,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Daniel and J.J. sparked us in the first half, and Sheldon picked it up in the second half. They all responded after a tough loss Thursday night [against Wake Forest], and we were happy with how they came out strong early on.”

Virginia never could get going on offense in the first half, as they scored 22, their lowest first half point total of the year. Elton Brown, who scored 18 points and grabbed four boards, tried to get the Cavaliers going on offense in the second stanza, but whenever Virginia tried to string a run together their defense broke down and allowed a basket.

The Cavaliers brought Duke’s lead down to 13 three times in the last minute of the second half, but J.J Redick and Dahntay Jones, who scored a combined 32 points, scored buckets each time down to extend their lead again. Virginia never came closer than 13 at any point in the second half. While Billet chipped in with 13 while running the point, Gillen said Brown was the only player who bothered to show up against the Blue Devils.

“The only guy that played really well was Elton,” Gillen said of his power forward. “For whatever reason, no one else was ready to play tonight. We just couldn’t score and do the things we normally do at home.”

Watson, who has torched Duke over the past few seasons, scored only six points, though he did grab 10 rebounds. Virginia only shot 21 percent from three-point range on the night, which killed the Cavaliers with their lack of production from Watson and Virginia’s other big men, excluding Brown. The 19-point loss marked the worst loss for Virginia at University Hall since a 46-point demolition at the hands of these same Blue Devils several years ago.

“It’s definitely a setback, but we have had them before,” Brown said. “We just have to come back and get another big win sometime. They just wanted it a little bit more tonight.”

Virginia will next face Clemson at home on Tuesday, before going on the road for three in a row, including two critical ACC games. With the Cavaliers' first home loss at the hands of Duke, the matchup against Clemson is once again labeled as a ‘must win.’ The tip off is scheduled for 8:00 at University Hall.


 

 

Devils pummel Cavs to end ACC road skid
Duke's Williams has career-high 20 points

By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.

Duke ended its ACC road losing streak in emphatic fashion last night, dominating Virginia from start to finish for a 78-59 victory at University Hall.

With Shelden Williams, a 6-9 freshman center, leading the way, Duke roared to an 18-point lead with 5:56 left in the first half and settled for a 39-22 lead at the break. Virginia had a mild threat once in the second half - in front of a crowd of 8,392 - and Duke carried a 69-50 lead into the final 4:29.

"We had a great game plan and for the first time in a while we executed," said guard J.J. Redick. "Our backs were against the wall. We had to do it. I can't give you a straight answer other than we buckled down and did the job."

Williams scored 20 points, his career high, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots. He scored 14 of his points after halftime by constantly establishing position next to the basket and powering up for layups and drawing fouls.

Williams said he thought his blocked shots set a menacing tone. He lived up to his nickname of "The Landlord" that he got in high school in Oklahoma after he blocked 16 shots in a game.

"It made our presence felt early," Williams said of his blocked shots. "I wanted to show them that if they were coming inside that I was going to go for their shots. Once I see I'm helping out blocking some shots and doing some rebounding, it helps my offense."

The Blue Devils improved to 17-4 overall and to 7-4 in the ACC and won in Charlottesville for the time in three years. They had lost their last four ACC road games after winning at Clemson in their ACC opener. The Cavaliers fell to 14-9 and 5-6 and lost at home for the first time this season.

Elton Brown led the Cavaliers with 18 points.

The Blue Devils played without Shavlik Randolph, a 6-10 freshman forward sidelined by stomach flu. Randolph made the trip but sat on the bench in street clothes.

Virginia cut Duke's lead to 53-40 with 11:35 left when Todd Billet nailed a 3-point shot from the right wing.

Duke's Dahntay Jones then threw a pass out of bounds and Coach Mike Krzyzewski had seen enough. Sensing that Virginia might be starting a comeback, Krzyzewski called a timeout before further damage could be done.

Billet tried again to bring the Cavaliers closer, but his 16-foot jump shot went in and out. The Blue Devils went inside to Williams on their next play and he scored, painfully for the Cavaliers and Devin Smith.

Williams had the ball to the left of the basket. He caught an entry pass and turned, his left elbow accidentally smacking Smith in the jaw. Smith, stunned, reached up with his hands to his jaw and backed away.

Williams kept right on going to the basket, hit a layup and was fouled by Jason Clark. He made the free throw for a 56-40 lead with 10:46 left and that was it for the Cavaliers.

Krzyzewski said he thought his players' effort was outstanding, given that Duke played a two-overtime game against Wake Forest two days earlier.

"It takes a special group of kids to do as well as they did tonight," Krzyzewski said. "I thought we were full of life."

Duke's pressure was overwhelming at times for Virginia, especially in the first half. Three Virginia shots were blocked in the first four minutes. Anytime the ball went inside Williams, Casey Sanders and Jones went after it, and when they didn't block shots they forced misses.

Virginia shot 34.6 percent from the field in the first half and 40 percent for the game.

"We just couldn't score," Coach Pete Gillen of Virginia said. "They were blocking shots. We usually do a better job of pump faking and using the rim as protection."

Working the ball inside, Duke hit seven of its first 16 shots and went up 15-6. Duke built its lead with the help of only one basket by J.J. Redick in the first 12 minutes.

Redick had scored 34 points, his career high, in Duke's 104-93 win over Virginia in January and Virginia was determined to shut him down. But the concentration on one player allowed the other Duke players to get free and score.

 

 

Duke defeats Virginia
Blue Devils hand Cavs their first home loss
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 16, 2003

For those who insist the stars always fall in line for Duke, consider this past week's schedule: The Blue Devils played at league-leading Wake Forest - a double-overtime, three-hour foulfest - and at Virginia, where they hadn't won since 2000, in a 48-hour span.

But after losing Thursday night to guarantee its worst ACC mark since the 1996-97 season, Duke got plenty better with a 78-59 victory over the Cavaliers Saturday night in University Hall in Charlottesville. It was only the second conference road win of the season for the Blue Devils (17-4, 7-4).

In losing its second straight, Virginia (14-9, 5-6) fell into a tie with Georgia Tech for fifth in the conference standings.

The Cavaliers entered 10-0 at home this season, and the Blue Devils were only 1-3 on the road. Saturday night, those numbers meant nothing. Duke came out crisply from the opening tip, running to a 39-22 halftime lead. It was the Cavaliers' fewest points in a half this season.

"They came out and stunned us, and we went back on our heels," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "They went up 15-5, whatever it was, and we never recovered. We were like, 'How can this happen?' "

Virginia cut the Blue Devils' lead to 13 points four times in the second half but got no closer. Freshman Shelden Williams scored 14 of his 20 points after halftime, and Dahntay Jones (17 points) provided the exclamation point with a spectacular dunk over Nick Vander Laan - check SportsCenter if you missed it - with three minutes left.

"Our kids played great," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew we'd have to play extremely well to beat Virginia here, and we did. I'm really proud of the guys, after the heartbreaking loss at Wake and the quick turnaround. It takes a special group of kids to do as well as they did tonight."

Elton Brown led Virginia with 18 points, his third-highest total of the year, and Todd Billet added 13. Travis Watson, the Cavaliers' leading scorer this season, was held to six.

"Only one of our guys played well tonight, and that was Elton Brown," Gillen said. "We told them, just because you're playing at home doesn't mean you're going to win."

Burned by North Carolina's quickness in a Wednesday night loss in Chapel Hill, Gillen gave sophomore guard Jermaine Harper his first start of the season. It was the 13th different starting lineup in 23 games for the Cavaliers, but it didn't help any.

Playing without freshman Shavlik Randolph (stomach flu), Duke hit its first three shots and led 6-0 only 73 seconds into the game. Brown's layup at 14:46 pulled the Cavaliers to 8-6, but Virginia then went the next 51/2 minutes without a field goal. Daniel Ewing's 3-pointer at 10:51 made it 18-6.

Four minutes later, J.J. Redick's fadeaway made it 27-10. Two minutes after that, Redick hit a 3-pointer to give Duke a 32-14 lead, its biggest of the half.

Its NCAA tournament hopes slipping with each loss, Virginia faces Clemson Tuesday night in University Hall.
 

 

 

Rough road ends
By HANK KURZ Jr. : Associated Press
Feb 16, 2003 : 12:23 am ET

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Shelden Williams has heard the theory throughout his career that offense often comes from defensive intensity.

On Saturday night, he experienced it, using four first-half blocks to get into the game and scoring a career-high 20 points as No. 8 Duke pulled out of its ACC road slide with a 78-59 victory over Virginia.

"It kind of set the tone of the game," the 6-9 freshman said of his defense, especially against Virginia scoring leader Travis Watson. "I made my presence felt early. It was `none of that weak stuff.'"

The fast start fed off itself, helping Williams score 14 of his points in the second half when the Cavaliers never got closer than 13 points.

"Once I see myself helping out and blocking shots and doing some rebounding, I'm more confident getting the ball and making a move to the basket and finishing," said Williams, who made eight of 13 shots.

For the Blue Devils (17-4, 7-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), it was a welcome sight. They ended a four-game road losing streak and now can head into their game at No. 16 Maryland on Wednesday night feeling better.

"This was a very big game for us," said Dahntay Jones, who had 17 points. "We had to get a road win under us and get our confidence up."

Virginia (14-9, 5 (6)- lost for the first time in 11 home games, and for the 15th time in its last 17 meetings with the Blue Devils. The two victories had come in Duke's last two visits to University Hall.

Duke's victory came just two nights after a double-overtime loss to Wake Forest that put the Demon Deacons atop the ACC standings, and coach Mike Krzyzewski said the Blue Devils' energetic start was a good sign.

"I thought we were full of life right from the beginning," he said.

The Cavaliers, instead, looked like they were the worn out team.

"We just couldn't score," coach Pete Gillen said. "We usually do a better job of pump-faking and using the rim as protection."

Duke hit its first three shots, slapped the ball away repeatedly on defense and had Williams reject four others to intimidate the Cavaliers, who had 10 turnovers by halftime and shot just 34.6 percent on 9-for-26.

Duke used a 19-4 run to open a 27-10 lead with 7:54 left in the half, opening a lead the Cavaliers never challenged. Daniel Ewing scored eight points and J.J. Redick finished it with a 3-pointer and a jumper.

"We had to stay focused. We've been in too many tight games on the road," Jones said. "We kept attacking and we never let up."

In the second half, Williams turned offensive. He scored 12 of Duke's 14 points over a five-minute stretch, ending with Duke ahead 60-45.

Redick, the Virginia Group AAA player of the year after leading Cave Spring High School of Roanoke to the state championship last year, added 15 points for the Blue Devils despite being jeered repeatedly.

He also didn't help his popularity here by scoring a Duke freshman record 34 points in the Blue Devils' 104-93 victory at home on Jan. 15.

Elton Brown led Virginia with 18 points and Todd Billet had 13. Foul-plagued scoring leader Travis Watson had six points, almost nine below his average, and 10 rebounds, and was victimized by at least two blocks.

"The only guy that played really well was Elton," Gillen said. "The other guys just didn't have it. They didn't make shots, didn't play well."

 

 

Who will get in from the ACC?
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
Feb 15, 2003 : 10:50 pm ET

There’s a theory out there that the ACC is down and without a legitimate Elite Eight, much less Final Four, contender, and that when the NCAA Tournament begins next month, anti-ACC people will have the last laugh.

I guess we’ll see.

There’s not a dominating team and the latest joke — that no ACC team will win the ACC Tournament because it’s on the road, at Greensboro — is getting a bit old, too. Remember that the last two teams to win the national title, Duke in 2001 and Maryland in 2002, have excellent coaches who know how to prepare for March.

My daily telephone messages usually include at least one question about how many ACC teams will be invited to the NCAA Tournament. I never have been invited on the selection committee but, like all of you experts, I try to look into a crystal ball and figure out who’s in, who’s out, who’s on the fence and who doesn’t have a prayer. It’s a lot of fun.

I really hate to go out on a proverbial limb, but this I know — Clemson and Florida State aren’t going. But everybody else seems to have a chance, and my gut feeling is that Wake Forest, Maryland and Duke are locks — how can they not be? — and two more will get in. Which two from Georgia Tech, Virginia, N.C. State and North Carolina? Which two come on strong? And how important could it be for one of these four to remain alive after Friday, or especially after Saturday, at the ACC Tournament?

It’s not all that unusual to see the ACC shrink in terms of numbers come March. As recent as 1999 and 2000, just three teams made it into the draw — Duke, Maryland and UNC each season. It’s not unusual to see that figure double, as it did in 2001 when six ACC teams — Duke, Maryland, UNC, Virginia, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech — received bids.

What was the difference in 1999 and 2000 compared to 2001? Well, in 1999 and 2000 the ACC was top heavy with Duke dominating and Maryland being the obvious next-best team. When Shane Battier led Duke to its third NCAA title in 2001, the Blue Devils actually lost four times, three in the ACC.

UNC was third in the league in 1999, but no other team finished with a winning league record.

Here’s one mid-February look at the ACC and how it might show up next month:

Wake Forest: The Deacs will go as far as Josh Howard can take them. True, they beat Duke in the most whistled game ever in double-overtime with Howard on the bench with five fouls, but that was in Winston-Salem. Look at the numbers and you’ll see that Wake can rebound — an ACC-best 43.7 per game — but remember, the Deacs couldn’t get to the Final Four with Tim Duncan.

Duke: Face it, the Blue Devils could struggle and right out of the gate in March. They barely survived Notre Dame in the second round last season, then got sent home by Indiana at the Sweet 16. If Duke has an edge on anybody though, it’s the coach.

Maryland: Ask this question: Can these Terps actually get to a third consecutive Final Four? Gary Williams’ team is 10-1 in the last two NCAA Tournament, impressive for sure, but this team lost at home to Virginia.

N.C. State: Put it like this: Herb Sendek is in his seventh season with the Wolfpack, and his NCAA Tournament record is 1-1.

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets have to face the facts. Either win away from home or start thinking about next season.

North Carolina: Matt Doherty’s Tar Heels can be as entertaining as any team in the league, but can freshmen Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants lead them to where they want to go in March?

Virginia: Just so you will know, the Cavaliers haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since being a No. 4 seed way back in 1995.

 

 

Exclamation point caps Duke victory
Jones' emphatic dunk helps Duke get 1st win at Virginia in 3 games
GREGG DOYEL
Raleigh Bureau
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - With a running start, acrobatic Duke forward Dahntay Jones headed for the rim and a confrontation with 6-foot-10 Virginia center Nick Vander Laan. What happened next had Duke freshman Shavlik Randolph, watching from the bench, pretending to black out.

Jones dunked just before being slammed face-first to the ground by Vander Laan. Jones made the most of his time on the floor, squeezing out a few pushups while Randolph was feigning feinting.

That dunk quelled a Virginia uprising in Duke's 78-59 victory Saturday night at University Hall, where the Blue Devils ended a pair of losing streaks. It was their first win in their past five ACC road games, and their first at Virginia in three tries.

Like the Blue Devils' losses at Charlottesville in 2001 and '02, Saturday's outcome probably would be considered an upset. On top of Duke's road woes this season, Virginia had been unbeatable at University Hall, where the Cavaliers were 10-0 entering Saturday.

The victory gave Duke (17-4, 7-4 ACC) sole possession of third place in the league, while dropping Virginia (14-9, 5-6) into a tie for fifth with Georgia Tech.

"(After) that heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Wake Forest (Thursday night), and then a quick turnaround, it takes a special group of kids to do what they did tonight," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Duke's recent trend of poor perimeter shooting continued -- after shooting 28.2 percent on three-pointers in the past four games, Duke was shooting 31.3 percent on threes late into Saturday's game -- but two things were different.

One, the Blue Devils were more patient, trying just 16 three-pointers after averaging 29 attempts in their previous four games. And two, an inside player was unstoppable.

Freshman Shelden Williams, who dominated play in the first half on defense, was equally imposing on offense in the second half.

He scored a season-best 20 points, including 14 over an eight-minute stretch midway through the second half to keep the Cavaliers at bay.

Williams had left the scoring to guards J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing, who had 10 points each, as Duke built a 39-22 halftime lead.

But Williams dictated play from his defensive post position, blocking three of the Cavaliers' first five shots and five in the first half, when the Cavaliers were 9-for-26 from the floor (34.6 percent).

Williams also recorded two steals and forced another turnover by pressuring Vander Laan.

"In the first half, I just did what my team needed me to do -- defending, rebounding," said Williams.

"In the second half, I started getting the ball on the block and finishing."

Duke centers Casey Sanders and Nick Horvath complemented Williams by drawing one charge each and combining for 10 rebounds and a steal.

 

 

Blue Devils Leave Cavaliers No Room for Error
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, February 16, 2003; Page D08

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Feb. 15 -- This time, there was no miracle comeback. Virginia, which beat Duke last season at University Hall after trailing by 15 points in the second half, fell behind early tonight and stayed that way in its first home loss of the season, 78-59.

The eighth-ranked Blue Devils (17-4, 7-4 ACC) led 27-10 after eight minutes and maintained at least a 13-point lead for the rest of the game to break their four-game road losing streak and avenge losses at Virginia in each of the past two seasons.

Virginia (14-9, 5-6) limited Duke guard J.J. Redick to 15 points after he scored 34 in the Devils' 104-93 win on Jan. 15 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But fellow freshman Shelden Williams was the game's best post player, finishing with a career-high 20 points.

Elton Brown led Virginia with 18 points and Todd Billet had 13. The Cavaliers' leading scorer, Travis Watson, was hampered by foul trouble and finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

The Cavaliers fell behind 39-22 at intermission -- their biggest halftime deficit and their lowest point total in any half this season. Only once this season -- an 80-60 loss at Georgia Tech two weeks ago -- have they lost by a bigger margin.

Trailing 53-35 with 12 and 1/2 minutes left, Virginia got an inside basket from Brown and a quick three-pointer from Billet to cut the deficit to 13 points.

Duke's Dahntay Jones lost the ball out of bounds on the next possession, but the Devils quickly called a timeout to stem the run. Billet then rattled out a pull-up jumper, and Williams converted a three-point play on the other end to reestablish the lead at 56-40.

Virginia pushed again a few minutes later, when Devin Smith's three-pointer made the score 58-45, but Williams answered with a putback. With 7 and 1/2 minutes left, Redick quelled another threat with a three-pointer from the left corner, pump-faking Smith out of the way before calmly putting Duke up 63-47.

The Cavaliers made one last charge after falling behind 70-50 and were back within 13 when Duke called time out to escape the Cavaliers' defensive pressure with five seconds left on the shot clock. Jones caught the inbound pass, saw an opening and drove strong to the hoop, dunking emphatically on Nick Vander Laan, Virginia's 6-foot-10 center, while drawing a foul. Up 73-57 after Jones's free throw, Duke was safe for the final three minutes.

The Cavaliers have won at Duke twice since 1983, but they beat the Blue Devils in each of the past two seasons. They broke a 12-game losing streak to the Devils with a 91-89 win in 2001 on a last-second put-back by Adam Hall, then won 87-84 last February. Virginia trailed by 15 with 71/2 minutes remaining in that game before mounting a comeback and prevailing after Duke's Jason Williams missed a free throw that would have tied the score with 12 seconds left.

Tonight, Virginia scored on one of its first eight possessions and fell behind 8-2 when Redick curled around a screen for a jumper over Jermaine Harper. Watson got the Cavaliers within two by posting up in the lane and then finding Brown underneath on the next possession, but Duke answered with three baskets from Daniel Ewing and one from Casey Sanders to take a 18-6 lead with 11 minutes left in the half. Three minutes later, Redick made a three-pointer from the wing and created a jumper for himself to put the Blue Devils up 27-10.

Cavaliers Notes: Duke freshman forward Shavlik Randolph sat out the game with a stomach bug. . . . ACC home teams fell to 37-10 in conference play. . . . Virginia honored football coach Al Groh and quarterback Matt Schaub at a first-half timeout for winning the ACC coach of the year and player of the year awards in 2002.
 

 

 

As Bad As It Gets, Hopefully
By Chris Wallace
Date: Feb 16, 2003

Things were set up so nicely for the Virginia men's basketball team. Even with the loss at North Carolina, a win over road-weary Duke on Saturday night would have given the Cavaliers six ACC wins with three home games left, including contests with Clemson and Georgia Tech, teams yet to win on the road in the league this year.

Beating Duke is never easy, but this year the Blue Devils entered their game in Charlottesville having lost four straight on the road, while the Cavaliers came in at 10-0 at home. But with Mike Krzyzewski leading the charge, everybody knew the Blue Devils would be ready to play on Saturday. The question would be whether or not Virginia was ready to play, and the answer was a resounding: No!!!
In front of a near capacity crowd at University Hall -- on a night when its fans braved treacherous weather to support the team -- Virginia put on one of the least impressive performances by a UVa basketball team in the history of the facility. The Cavaliers rolled over and played dead en route to a 77-58 loss. And in realty, Virginia did not at any point during the game appear to have any chance to win. And don't kid yourself, the Blue Devils played fairly well, but no where near as well as they did in Durham last month. So forget about Duke, forget about the referees, this one's on Virginia.

Sadly, when the 40 minutes on the court mercifully ended, things only got worse. Virginia coach Pete Gillen strolled to the microphone in his post-game press conference and proclaimed that only sophomore forward Elton Brown had played well for his team. In many ways this ludicrous comment was far more disturbing than the outcome of the game.

While Brown did score 18 points on the night in 31 minutes, every other aspect of his game was an embarrassment. The defensively-challenged ACC version of the Pillsbury Doughboy played no defense, showed no heart and clearly gave up significantly more points than he scored. Oh and as for rebounding, he grabbed a grand total of four on the night, despite being the largest player on the floor. The only time anyone's seen Elton Brown blocking out this season has been at the buffet line.

I'm sure no one was happier than Shelden Williams to see Brown play 31 minutes. Williams strolled through the paint and to the glass for a career-high 20 points, a total that would have been even higher with a better effort from the free-throw line. I'm sure Coach K was also happy to see Brown in the game, probably wondering, "Can you believe they ever play that guy." Because rest-assured, Elton wouldn't play a minute for Duke, not ever.

I would argue that the only guy who showed up for Virginia was Todd Billet. The junior guard played with some fire and on several occasions could be seen challenging his teammates. Derrick Byars and Jermaine Harper also appeared to play fairly hard, just not very well. All in all, it was a pathetic loss and there's no other way to describe it. The team owes its fans a collective apology for making them endure the travel hardships that came with attending that game to witness that performance.

So now what? The Virginia we all saw last week looks destined for yet another visit to the Not Invited Tournament. The home-court magic has vanished, and Clemson will probably come to University Hall on Tuesday feeling pretty good about itself after beating North Carolina on Saturday. Then road games follow against Wake Forest and dangerous Florida State. If Virginia plans on going to the Big Dance it has to win two of these three games. That would put the Cavaliers at 7-7 in the league with a chance to punch its ticket with home wins over Georgia Tech and Maryland to close out the season.

So will it happen? Not if what we saw on Saturday is what we can expect the rest of the way. And if I can make a suggestion to Pete and his staff, I would say it's time to trim the rotation and simply play guys who you know will play hard. I don't care how bad his hands are and if he did get posterized by Dahntay Jones, please play Nick Vander Laan. He is one guy you can count on to play hard all the time, and the five minutes he played last night -- in which he grabbed more rebounds than Brown did in 31 minutes -- just aren't enough.

In my opinion, Billet, Harper, Byars, Watson and Vander Laan should be the starting lineup for this team, with Devin Smith and Majestic Mapp seeing the most minutes off the bench. Pete should play a small lineup more often, and Brown less often. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I've seen nothing in two years that would lead me to believe that Virginia can be a big-time winner on the floor with Elton Brown playing a lot of minutes.

The fact remains that it's Pete's job to refuse to play the guys that don't play hard enough. If that means playing walk-ons or running guys off, then do it. But the respect of the Virginia fan base is dwindling rapidly. The sluggish efforts and the lack of intensity will not be tolerated. I expect there will be a lot of empty seats in University Hall on Tuesday night, and who's to blame the fans for that. If Virginia had come out and played as hard as it could and still lost to Duke, complaints would be few and far between. As it stands, however, the Cavaliers are in a position where they have to win their fans back. And much like the Duke game, that's pretty pathetic as well.