UNC completes sweep
Virginia's three-game win streak ends with 24-point loss to Tar Heels
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 17, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - On Retro Night, Virginia reverted to form after a three-game winning streak.

With both teams clad in 1980s-style uniforms, the No. 4 Tar Heels nearly repeated a feat of just two and a half weeks ago - not two decades ago - with an 85-61 decision over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night at the Smith Center.

Rashad McCants had 23 points and Sean May added 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Tar Heels (21-3, 9-2 ACC), who defeated Virginia 110-76 on Jan. 29 in Charlottesville.

Gary Forbes had a career-high 23 points for the Cavaliers (13-10, 4-8 ACC). Forbes made eight of his 11 shots from the floor and connected on a career best three 3-pointers on five attempts.

Forbes was literally the only Cavalier who took his offensive game on the three-plus hour jaunt back in time to Chapel Hill as the new-look spread offense was spread a little too thin.

The Cavaliers shot just 38.5 percent for the game, while allowing the Tar Heels to connect at a clip of 54.4 percent. Both numbers, but specifically North Carolina’s shooting, were certainly reminiscent of that woeful stretch that preceded the three-game winning streak.

Still, perhaps in deference to UNC’s offensive ability as the nation’s highest scoring team, Virginia coach Pete Gillen directed the bulk of his ire at the Cavaliers’ offense.

“They have a scoreboard for a reason. You have to put the ball in the basket and we couldn’t do that today. We shot 29 percent in the first half,” Gillen said. “I think the tone was set in the first half when we missed a wide-open layup. … We only had one guy who could score and that was Gary Forbes.”

It was sophomore point guard T.J. Bannister that missed that layup in the game’s opening minutes. But that was not his last miscue of the game as he committed six of Virginia’s 17 turnovers and made just

1 of 5 shots from the floor. If offensive ineptitude was a category for Wednesday’s game, then Bannister was not the only culprit. Devin Smith had just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting but he was outdone by J.R. Reynolds who was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting.

“T.J. had a tough game and some other guys did as well. We had too many turnovers but again no one shot the ball well. … We had our chances but there were too many turnovers,” Gillen said.

Unlike the contest in Charlottesville when UNC vaulted out the early lead and led 62-24 at halftime, this game was relatively close for the first portion of the first half.

The Tar Heels, playing without freshman reserve Marvin Williams because of a toe injury, led just 17-16 with 11:02 left before intermission.

Moments later, however, the Tar Heels used a 14-0 run to create the distance between them and the Cavaliers as they eventually held a 39-24 advantage at the half.

That spurt was aided by a plethora of Virginia turnovers as North Carolina simply did not allow the Cavaliers to wind down the shot clock without resistance. The Tar Heels pressured the ball and the result was errant passes and turnovers that led to easy baskets.

“We were willing to get out there and play defense for 30 to 35 seconds was something that I was pleased with,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

Virginia made one real attempt to get back into the game and that came at approximately the 11-minute mark of the second half but it vanished in what had to be one of the more forgettable 10-second stretches of Smith’s career.

Trailing 55-41, Smith got free for a dunk inside but missed it. He then somehow got the rebound but missed the relatively easy putback attempt. The Tar Heels got the rebound and the sequence ended with Smith fouling McCants for what became a three-point play.

“Devin is a good player but missed that dunk. We were like ‘Oh, man.’ They come down then a make that three-point play. That was a tough stretch there,” Gillen said.

That play put the Tar Heels up 58-41 and Virginia would never get closer the remainder of the game while falling behind by as many as 26 in the final minutes.

Ask to measure the frustration factor of their two games against Carolina, Forbes actually gave this contest a higher value.

“We were right there and needed some stops but we couldn’t make them. We have to now move on a get ready for Saturday’s game at home against Maryland,” Forbes said.

Poor shooting proves costly for Cavaliers
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 17, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.- Virginia brought its newly devised spread offense and a three-game winning streak across the border for a ‘80s Retro Night on Wednesday. The only thing retro about the evening was the scoreboard ... another North Carolina win in Chapel Hill.
Pete Gillen knew the odds were stacked against his Cavaliers in more ways than one. The Tar Heels were playing at home, where they are undefeated. Carolina is the nation’s highest-scoring team.
UNC was a 23.5-point favorite, perhaps a fact that only the betting public was concerned with as unknown Brooks Foster went to the free-throw line with 36 seconds to play, his Heels up by exactly 23 before he made a free throw for an 85-61 win.
With seemingly everything favoring the Heels, Gillen knew his team would have to enjoy near perfection to pull off the upset. Instead, Virginia’s best shooters struggled throughout the night.

No help for Forbes
Outside of sophomore sixth man Gary Forbes, the Cavaliers couldn’t have hit water if they had fallen out of a boat.
Forbes, who scored 21 points in a home win over Virginia Tech last Saturday, popped in a career-high 23 against the Tar Heels. But he didn’t have much company.
“There’s a scoreboard for a reason,” Gillen said after being swept by the Tar Heels for the first time since the 1998-99 season. “You have to put the ball in the basket and we couldn’t put it in the hoop. We got a lot of good looks. If you don’t put it in the basket against the highest scoring team in the nation ...”
Virginia shot 38.5 percent for the game (20 of 52) and only 29 percent in the first half . The Cavs were 5 of 21 from 3-point range for the game and two of Gillen’s main sharpshooters were off target all evening in the Smith Center, a place UVa rarely has won even when things have gone well.
Senior forward Devin Smith and sophomore shooting guard J.R. Reynolds were a combined 3 of 17 from the field. Smith, who has been fairly consistent all season, was only 3 of 12.

Reynolds’ woes
For Reynolds, it can’t get much worse than this in terms of his shooting stroke.
Since the last loss to Carolina, a 110-76 debacle in Charlottesville six games ago, Reynolds’ shooting touch has abandoned him. Oh-for-five against the Heels last night, Reynolds has hit a mere nine of his last 47 attempts.
Combine those numbers and the fact that point guard Sean Singletary didn’t score any of his nine points in the first half and things looked dim for the Wahoos at halftime.
Gillen had hoped the spread offense would afford his team a chance to slow down the charging Tar Heels so that Virginia could hang around and at least have a chance to make it interesting toward the end. While this wasn’t nearly as bad as the monumental landslide in Charlottesville a few weeks ago, there wasn’t much suspense for the final 10 minutes except for the oddsmakers.
Virginia’s last gasp came with 10:32 to play when Smith
missed a rare dunk, then missed his own follow from near point-blank range. Either shot could have cut the Heels’ lead to a dozen. Instead, UNC raced down the floor with the rebound as Rashad McCants scored inside and was fouled by Smith.
McCants scored three of his team-high 23 as Carolina’s bulge grew to 58-41. Soon the Heels’ lead swelled to 26.
“That took some air out of the balloon,” Gillen said of the sequence. “We would have been down 12 with less than 12 to go. We were right there but we couldn’t make shots. We got good looks, we just couldn’t put it in the basket.”
Afterward UNC coach Roy Williams, who watched his No. 4 Tar Heels improve to
21-3, 9-2, complimented Gillen on his game plan. But Williams deserved a slap on the back as well.
He decided that with his team feeling the effects of a difficult eight-game stretch, including a tough win at UConn last Sunday, and his team and himself plagued with sickness, that he didn’t want his team wasting energy by chasing UVa’s guards in the spread for 30 seconds per possession. Instead, the Heels stayed in a zone, which obviously had a negative impact on the Cavaliers’ shooting performance.
Certainly Reynolds continued to struggle even though the coaching staff has worked with the guard on his shot and confidence.
Coaches have studied film and have found some technical flaws, but have mostly worked with him in practice, giving him extra shooting time, in trying to work out the bugs. Like a baseball player in a hitting slump, Reynolds has been told to be confident, but keep shooting.
Smith just had one of those nights. Forbes, a guy who isn’t called on for scoring, has been the team’s best point producer in the last two outings.
One thing is for sure, Virginia must regain its form and confidence by Saturday when Maryland comes to University Hall if the Cavaliers are going to have any chance at making the NCAA Tournament, which remains the team’s goal.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the whole season, but it’s a giant game,” Gillen said.
The Cavaliers, 13-10, 4-8, desperately need to upset the Terrapins.
“We still have a shot at the NCAAs,” Forbes said. “We can still finish 8-8 in the conference and that should be enough to get us in.”
Now, that would be Retro.

ACC hoops schedule now lacks symmetry
College notebook

Until this year, the ACC men's basketball schedule was like a mirror. The team you played to open the ACC schedule was the same team with which you would open the second half. If the first meeting was at home, the second was on the road.

When the ACC expanded to 11 teams, everybody knew it was the end of the ACC's time-honored, double-round-robin schedule, but that wasn't the only change. In the first half of the ACC schedule, Virginia was Virginia Tech's sixth opponent of the season, and Tech was UVa's seventh opponent. In the second half, they were each other's third opponent.

Sixteen days after the Hokies defeated the Cavaliers 79-73, the Cavaliers returned the favor 65-60 in Charlottesville. Sixteen days!

"The ACC schedule once had a delightful symmetry," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said this week.

The ACC could have had that kind of symmetry again next year, when Boston College enters the league. If there were two divisions, teams could play everybody in their division twice and play everybody in the other division once.

It won't happen. The coaches didn't want it.

"I'll tell you what happens," Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "I went through that in Conference USA. Instead of everyone pulling in the same direction, everyone starts comparing divisions and schedules. You end up with two leagues instead of one league. Really bad! Instead of competing against the [NCAA] field, you're competing against your own league."

ACC associate commissioner Fred Barakat said that the placement of some of the ACC games is directed by television, especially during February, one of TV's sweeps months.

In six instances this year, a team is playing only three games in between its first meeting with an ACC foe and the regular-season rematch.

Getting technical

Duke guard Daniel Ewing probably will be on his best behavior tonight against Tech after picking up two technical fouls in the last five games, not counting an incident at Duke in which he and the Hokies' Deron Washington had to be separated.

"In about 130 games before that, he's probably had one," Blue Devils' coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Daniel is really one of the most mild-mannered kids I've ever coached. He's very competitive and I think he's either the winningest player playing college basketball right now, or in the top two or three.

"In two of the games where he had a technical, it had an impact on the game. He has to be careful he doesn't have reaction. ... If he gets a technical, that counts as a personal. You play a little bit cautious, knowing you have to stay in the ballgame, and it gives your opponent an edge."

Nonrevenue

Virginia men's soccer coach George Gelnovatch faced a critical recruiting year. Virginia lost three senior defenders, including Roanoke's John Hartman and leading scorer Hunter Freeman, who left for Major League Soccer after his junior year. This month's signees include forward Antonio DiMaggio from Bergen (N.J.) Catholic, alma mater of ex-Cavalier Alecko Eskandarian, the 2002 national player of the year. Soccer joins field hockey as the only sports with the same February signing date as football,

• The Virginia men's tennis team, lightly regarded before winning the ACC championship last year, has moved up to ninth in the national rankings. ... The Virginia Tech men's track and field team is 22nd in the Trackwire.com poll.

Cavaliers' Forbes can't stop onslaught
UVa's Gary Forbes posts a career night but does not get much help vs. the balanced Tar Heels.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Virginia might have wondered what would happen if athletic sophomore Gary Forbes ever found a shooting touch.

When it finally happened, every other shooter on the team was firing blanks. After leading the Cavaliers to a come-from-behind victory Saturday against Virginia Tech, Forbes didn't have nearly enough support Wednesday in an 85-61 loss to fourth-ranked North Carolina.

"There's a scoreboard up there for a reason," said UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose Cavaliers had won three games in a row. "You've got to put the ball in the basket."

Virginia (13-10, 4-8 ACC) might have known it would struggle against a Carolina team that led by as many as 50 points before winning 110-76 in Charlottesville last month, but the Tar Heels (21-3, 9-2) never led by more than 26 on Wednesday.

In fact, UVa had a chance to trim a 14-point deficit to 12 before Devin Smith missed a dunk and then failed to convert a stickback with just under 11 minutes remaining.

Smith fouled Jackie Manuel on the ensuing North Carolina fast break, with Manuel converting a three-point play that put the Tar Heels ahead 58-41 and effectively blunted all of UVa's momentum.

"That took some of the air out of the balloon," Gillen said. "That was a tough stretch."

Forbes made eight of 11 shots from the field and finished with a career-high 23 points, but the miseries of sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds continued.

Reynolds, averaging 10.6 points coming into the game, missed all five of his shots from the field and went scoreless for the second time in 11 days. He is 5-of-33 from the field over the past four games, including 1-for-20 on 3-pointers.

"He can't buy one," Gillen said. "We see some things technically - I'm not going to go into specifics - but you've got to keep shooting. We've talked to him about it, but you get in a slump, you've got to keep swinging the bat. You can't talk too much. You've just got to keep taking extra batting practice."

Smith wasn't much better Wednesday night, going 3-for-12 from the field and 1-for-6 on 3-pointers. He is 3-for-16 from behind the arc since hitting a game-winning 3-pointer against Florida State.

"I know what it feels like to be in a slump," Forbes said. "It works tricks with your mind. He's [Reynolds] definitely one of our best shooters. Maybe we need to do a better job of setting him up."

Forbes, who went 1-of-11 on 3-pointers to start the season, had three 3-point field goals in a game for the first time in his career Wednesday night. He is averaging 11.2 points in ACC play, compared to 7.8 out of conference.

Forbes started the second half in place of Reynolds, who did not re-enter the game until 13:17 remained.

"One guy shot it well and that's Gary Forbes," Gillen said, "but that's not Gary's main role. Gary's main role is to defend, penetrate and set up other guys, but we need our scorers to score."

UVa's only other double-figure scorer was senior center Elton Brown, who hit five of seven shots before finishing with 11. Freshman point guard Sean Singletary scored all nine of his points in the second half and played a decent floor game, but the other short guard in the Cavaliers' three-guard alignment, T.J. Bannister, had six turnovers.

"He had a tough night," Gillen said. "He's got to take care of the ball better and make better decisions."

Carolina was without freshman Marvin Williams, its sixth man who has a sprained toe, but had four double-figure scorers led by junior Rashad McCants with 23. Classmate Sean May had 17 points, 16 rebounds and eight of the Tar Heels' 16 turnovers.

"I told him, jokingly, that he had almost had the first triple-double of any player I had ever coached," Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "I don't usually politic, but I was surprised today when somebody told me that we had not had a player of the week in the ACC. I thought after Sean had 31 rebounds in two games [last week] that that would at least deserve something."

Loss is another black eye for Gillen
Published February 17 2005
David Teel

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- In a century of basketball, Virginia has absorbed more than its share of beatings from North Carolina. For those of you scoring at home, the number is 118 - and counting.

But rarely have the Cavaliers been so helpless, yet another indictment of Pete Gillen's program.

Carolina dusted Virginia 85-61 Wednesday at the Smith Center. Couple this with a 110-76 victory in Charlottesville last month and you have a regular-season sweep of epic proportions.

The combined 58-point margin is the most lopsided this series has been since 1962, when the Tar Heels won by 34 and 29.

Yes, Carolina is ranked fourth nationally and leads Division I in scoring. And yes, the Tar Heels are more than capable of winning the NCAA tournament.

That doesn't excuse these margins. This is Gillen's seventh season as Virginia's head coach, and his team ought to be competitive against the ACC's elite.

"The guys got a little undisciplined in what we were trying to do, and they made us pay," Gillen said.

Gillen's plan the last two weeks has been to go small and slow. Play three guards, shorten the game and pray for the best.

Given the Cavaliers' flawed personnel, the concept makes some sense, but it cuts against Gillen's coaching DNA. Few, if any, prefer a frantic pace more.

But when you're fighting (vainly?) to keep your job, everything's on the table. And after small-and-slow produced consecutive victories against North Carolina State, Florida State and Virginia Tech, anything else Wednesday would have been foolhardy.

"I told Pete I thought it was a great game plan," Carolina coach Roy Williams said charitably.

The execution, you might say, needed a little work.

Did Virginia want to mimic Dean Smith's four-corners - Wednesday was, after all, '80s Retro Night at the Dean Dome, complete with throwback uniforms and ESPN analyst Len Elmore donning a large Afro wig - or Loyola Marymount's chuck-and-duck?

The Cavaliers couldn't make up their minds in the first half.

There they were turning the ball over twice on shot-clock violations - hardly a cardinal sin if your aim is to keep the score in the 60s. But there was T.J. Bannister, a 9.1 percent 3-point shooter, yes 9.1, hoisting a three in transition; there he was again on the break, throwing a lob pass to Jason Cain, who reminds no one of Michael Jordan. Even Devin Smith, Virginia's most dependable player, got into the act with a couple of ill-advised shots.

Needless to say, none of these ideas turned out very well for the Cavaliers (13-10, 4-8). They trailed by 15 at halftime and lingered around for 10-plus minutes of the second period before the game got out of hand.

Not that Carolina (21-3, 9-2) looked like the Tar Heels of '82. They appeared a step slow after playing six of their last eight, including the last three, on the road. And they were without Marvin Williams, the ACC's premier freshman. He took the night off to nurse a sprained toe.

But any Virginia chances vanished with 17 turnovers, unacceptable at a measured pace, and 38.5 percent shooting (the Cavaliers are the 20th consecutive Carolina opponent to shoot less than 45 percent).

"We didn't keep our composure and play like we have in the past (three games)," Bannister said. "We've got to regroup, keep our heads and not let this beat us Saturday."

Ah, Saturday. Maryland comes to Charlottesville, and Virginia's NCAA tournament hopes, faint though they may be, hinge on that game.

Lose and the Cavaliers, absent a crazy four-day run at the ACC tournament, are toast.

"I know we're going to be back," Bannister said. "We're still in the hunt."

Virginia's one lifeline: an 8-1 record in games decided by five points or less. That's often the mark of a quality team, a well-coached, confident team capable of a long postseason run.

Not in the Cavaliers' case, not when they're incapable of even a credible challenge against the ACC's best.

Tar Heels punish Cavs
Eighteen days following a humiliating loss, Virginia shows up this time. But the Cavaliers are still no match for No. 4 North Carolina.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published February 17, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- It was '80s Retro Night at the Dean Dome, and the atmosphere reflected the decade that gave us Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Flashdance" and Reaganomics. While North Carolina had no need for Michael Jordan or James Worthy, Virginia sure could have used Ralph Sampson and Othell Wilson.

The Cavaliers were far more competitive than when these teams met 18 days earlier, but that only meant a more-respectable loss Wednesday night. The fourth-ranked Tar Heels, still fighting a flu bug that has now made its way to coach Roy Williams, rolled to an 85-61 victory that ended Virginia's modest winning streak at three.

"I feel horrible physically, but I feel really good mentally," Williams said. "I liked our toughness tonight. I think that's one area we've vastly improved on this year."

The Heels (21-3, 9-2) cruised without freshman Marvin Williams, who is out with a sprained toe. They did it with some players still under the weather, and they did it after playing three road games in eight days.

Rashad McCants broke a 15-of-47 shooting slump with 23 points to go with six assists, and Sean May nearly set a bizarre triple double - 17 points, 16 rebounds and eight turnovers. Carolina shot 54 percent from the floor and held the Cavs to 5-of-21 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.

Virginia (13-10, 4-8) put up more of a fight than it did on Jan. 29, when Carolina won 110-76 in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers trailed by one midway through the first half, but simply didn't have the talent to keep up.

Sixth man Gary Forbes had another solid game with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, but he got little help. The Cavs best perimeter shooters, guard J.R. Reynolds and forward Devin Smith, were a combined 3-of-17 from the floor and 1-of-10 from the 3-point arc. Reynolds has made one of his last 20 3-point tries; Smith is 5 for his last 23.

"Our shots just weren't falling," said point guard Sean Singletary, who was 3-of-9. "That was the bottom line."

Ten minutes into game, Virginia was hanging tough. When Forbes hit his second 3-pointer of the half, Carolina's lead was only 17-16. As it had in their previous three games, the Cavaliers were dictating the tempo. It was their only chance.

With 5:16 remaining, Virginia trailed 24-20 on a pair of T.J. Bannister free throws. But over the next four minutes, Carolina outscored Virginia 14-0. UNC scored on six of seven possessions; U.Va. went 0-for-5 from the field with a turnover.

"There's a scoreboard for a reason: You have to put the ball in the basket," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We couldn't do that today. We had some good looks, but if you don't put the ball in the basket against the highest-scoring team in the country, you're going to have a tough night."

"Sure, part of it was their defense, but I thought we had a lot of good opportunities (that) we missed. If you don't put the ball in the basket, it's tough to win."

Virginia's slow-it-down pace held Carolina to 39 first-half points, 23 fewer than what it had at halftime in last month's game.

"It's tough when you want to run up and down like we do," McCants said. "It was a difficult task handling their spread, but we fought through it."
 

Heels smack Cavs again
By NEIL AMATO : The Herald-Sun
namato@heraldsun.com
Feb 17, 2005 : 12:56 am ET

CHAPEL HILL -- Try as every sneaker and TV executive might, no one could re-create the vintage rivalry that was Virginia-North Carolina.

This was throwback night in the Smith Center, an arena built in the 1980s, back when the teams wore tighter mesh uniforms. ESPN had its on-air talent dolled up '80s-style, though Len Elmore's wig looked more like A) a 1970s afro or B) Lenny Kravitz.

The teams wore uniforms that looked older, except that the shorts still were oversized and Virginia's gear still was shiny.

This rivalry was one of the nation's brightest, when Ralph Sampson battled James Worthy. It used to be a series with two edges; these days, it's dull. North Carolina is the sharper program, and the Tar Heels' shooters were sharp Wednesday in an 85-61 victory over the Cavaliers.

No. 4 North Carolina made 54.4 percent of its field-goal attempts, with leading scorer Rashad McCants knocking in 9 of 12. Virginia shot 29 percent in the first half and finished at 38.5 percent, not nearly enough.

"There's a scoreboard for a reason," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "You have to put the ball in the basket."

The Tar Heels (21-3, 9-2 ACC) did that with ease in the first meeting, cruising 110-76 at University Hall in a game that wasn't that close.

This time, as Virginia had done in its three-game ACC winning streak, the pace was slowed. Maybe Virginia got in the retro mood too often. There was no permanent shot clock until the second half of the '80s; on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers regularly drained that ticker and at times struggled to get a good shot late. The strategy that worked against Clemson, Florida State and Virginia Tech failed against UNC.

"I told our team that I thought this would be good for us because we've got to be able to play against different styles," UNC coach Roy Williams said.

UNC didn't dominate in transition, though it ran in spots thanks to a 38-26 rebound margin.

Sean May alone had four more rebounds than Virginia's starting five. He finished with 17 points and 16 boards, his third consecutive double-double.

UNC tried to get in passing lanes, but it also threw some zone at the Cavaliers (13-10, 4-8). Williams didn't want his team chasing the Cavaliers for 35 seconds. Several Tar Heels and their head coach are under the weather, and standout reserve Marvin Williams sat out with a sore left toe.

Point guard Raymond Felton said the zone took Virginia by surprise.

"You could see it in their eyes," he said. "They were confused."

Other than Gary Forbes, who came off the bench to score 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, Virginia was 12-of-41 overall and 2-of-16 on 3-pointers. In one memorable sequence -- forgettable for the Wahoos -- Devin Smith missed a dunk and then had his follow hang on the front of the rim and fall off. The Tar Heels snared the rebound, got the ball in transition to McCants, who scored inside and was fouled.

He made the free throw for a 58-41 lead with 10:27 left. Virginia, which stayed close until a 21-4 first-half run by the Tar Heels, never got any closer.

McCants' shooting was a big reason for that. He was 2-of-4 on 3-pointers after going a combined 2-of-13 from long range against Duke and Connecticut. The junior also had six assists and would have had more if not for at least two missed layups.

"I really wasn't out there worrying about me," McCants said.

Roy Williams said he wasn't worried about McCants or his shooting.

"I never lost confidence in him for one second," the coach said. "I haven't been disappointed with him. Everybody tries to make it out like he's struggling, but I think he's been playing pretty well."

The Tar Heels went 6-2 in the eight games before Virginia, six of which were on the road. Given the team's health -- UNC practiced 20 minutes Monday because some of the players were feeling ill -- Roy Williams admired his team's grit.

"I like our toughness," he said. "I think that's one area that we are vastly improved over last year."

Marvin Williams hopes to play against Clemson

Freshman Marvin Williams said he hoped to play Saturday against Clemson. But his left toe injury, suffered Sunday at UConn, has been tough to shake.

"It hurts, to be honest, but I'll be OK," said Williams, averaging 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Williams warmed up lightly before the Virginia game but didn't wear his uniform for the game.

"He's a tough youngster and will probably be able to play with it, but it is going to be quite painful for him," Coach Roy Williams said.

Heels treat Cavs to more of the same
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
Feb 16, 2005 : 10:17 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- By now it's common knowledge: The North Carolina-Virginia basketball rivalry is stale. The Tar Heels are too deep, too good, too quick and far too talented for the Cavaliers.

In the first game this season, the Heels won by 34 points. On Wednesday night, they won the regular-season rematch by 24.

Chapel Hill may as well be a nightmare for the Cavaliers. They are 2-18 in the Smith Center, 5-60 in all games played on a UNC home court. There's no way to clean it up except, to be fair, the Cavaliers did win here as recently as 2000 and 2002.

Take your pick which was the most popular Tar Heels highlight in an 85-61 rout of Virginia at the Smith Center.

-- Rashad McCants' 3-pointer with 8:13 remaining, which gave the Tar Heels a 65-44 cushion. As good a choice as any.

-- McCants' six assists, two steals, 23 points (9-of-12 from the field) in 34 minutes.

-- McCants having every reporter either around him after the game or around teammate Raymond Felton, asking the point guard to talk about McCants. One reporter asked Felton if this was McCants' most complete game. Now you've got to know these Tar Heels are as aware of the media as any team in the country, being hounded by a statewide horde at every game.

"Not necessarily," Felton said. "Rashad's had quite a few games like that this year. The last couple of games he just hasn't been the Rashad that I know. We have that bond on the court with each other, like a one-two punch. He got out of a little slump he was in but everybody goes through that during a season."

-- UNC's 54.4 percent field goal shooting.

-- UNC's abilities to deal with Virginia's spread, proving once and for all the Tar Heels can take on different styles and come away with wins.

"We try to emphasize being tough, fight through things, have mental toughness, everybody diving on the floor, fight through injuries," Felton said. "Last year a guy might have an injury and he'd sit out for two games. But now, a guy gets an injury and he's going to try and play."

The talk centered, as everybody knew it would, on McCants.

"Rashad? He did a great job," Felton said. "He hadn't shot the ball like that in awhile. Rashad's an offensive threat. Regardless whether he's hitting the shot or not, teams have to guard him, worry about him, too."

Naturally, Virginia was in trouble from the beginning. In the first half one Cavaliers pass went into the second row, and one shot never touched the iron. When McCants went driving for what would be a hook shot and a 38-20 Tar Heels lead with 1:15 left in the first half, you knew the Wahoos were toast.

The Smith Center crowd made efforts to really get charged for this one. It wasn't easy. But that's understandable. Retro '80s night meant nothing, other than ESPN's Mike Patrick wearing a plaid blazer that Bob Knight might have liked but Wimp Sanderson might have liked even more.

What were we to expect from the visit by Virginia? In the first meeting, Jan. 29 at University Hall, the Heels (21-3, 9-2 ACC) won 110-76. In boxing they still have the technical-knockout rule. College basketball has yet to consider such a ploy. In that first meeting the Heels had 26 assists and shot 60 percent and made 14 3-pointers.

Roy Williams likes the toughness of his team, and he should. Before the Cavs arrived, UNC went 6-2 in an eight-game stretch with six on the road, including at Wake Forest, at Duke and at Connecticut.

"It'd take a really, really good team to do better than we did," Williams said.

Felton's take on the Tar Heels is that when McCants is hitting, this team is very strong.

"We're a versatile team," Felton said. "We can run, we play slowdown, we can play a half-court game, whatever we have to do to get the job done."

Just how good are the Tar Heels?

"Without being cocky, I think we're a national championship caliber-type team, but at the same time we've got to take it one at a time," Felton said.

That's fair, considering it's still February and, oh by the way, Clemson shows up here Saturday afternoon and the Tigers have never won in Chapel Hill.

Retro a no-go for Cavs
U.Va.'s poor shooting gives UNC its first sweep since 1998-99
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Feb 17, 2005
UNC 85 U.VA. 61

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- There were no surprises last night at the Dean Smith Center, other, perhaps, than the retro uniforms each team wore. The game ended with numerous walk-ons on the court, and the North Carolina Tar Heels won in a rout, although the final margin wasn't as large as when they embarrassed Virginia last month at University Hall.

Had U.Va. not shot so poorly, this ACC game might have been competitive. But Virginia made only 38.5 percent of its field-goal attempts and fell 85-61 to fourth-ranked UNC before an ESPN audience and 20,643 fans. The Tar Heels swept their regular-season series with U.Va. for the first time since 1998-99.

"We need our scorers to score," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said.

That wasn't a problem for the nation's best at putting up points. UNC (9-2, 21-3) had four double-figure scorers, including junior center Sean May, who contributed 17 points and 16 rebounds. With eight turnovers, May also came perilously close to collecting an undesirable triple-double, but that didn't negate his -- or his team's -- sterling performance. Junior swingman Rashad McCants scored 23 points and added six assists and two steals for the Heels.

"I feel very good," Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

And why not? His team played without freshman phenom Marvin Williams (turf toe), but the 6-9 forward wasn't needed. UNC improved to 12-0 at home and ended the Cavaliers' three-game winning streak. The Tar Heels outrebounded Virginia 38-26 and shot 54.4 percent from the floor.

In Gillen's eyes, however, U.Va. (4-8, 13-10) lost the game at the offensive end.

"There's a scoreboard for a reason," he said. "You have to put the ball in the basket, and we couldn't do that today. We had some good looks, and if you don't put the ball in against the highest-scoring team in the country, you're going to have a tough night."

Gary Forbes, coming off a 21-point performance against Virginia Tech, sparkled again for U.Va. The sophomore swingman came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and score 23 points, both career highs. Forbes made 8 of 11 shots from the floor.

"One guy shot it well," Gillen said.

Actually, senior center Elton Brown (5 of 7) shot well, too, but the other Cavaliers were a combined 7 for 34. Virginia's best shooters, senior forward Devin Smith and sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds, were 3 for 17 between them.

At least Smith made a shot. Reynolds went 0 for 5, including four misses from beyond the arc. In his past four games, Reynolds is 1 for 20 on 3-pointers.

"Right now he's really having a tough time," Gillen said. "He's a terrific shooter, but he's had some games in a row where he's really struggling."

At University Hall, UNC won 110-76 after leading by 50 points with five minutes remaining. Last night, the Heels led by 15 at the break and by 19 with 14:40 remaining. But back-to-back baskets by Brown made it 52-37, and then freshman point guard Sean Singletary buried a 3-pointer to pull Virginia to 52-40.

It was 55-41 when Singletary found Smith open under the basket. Smith went up for a dunk, but missed. He grabbed the rebound and put up a follow attempt. That missed too. The ensuing fast break by UNC ended with a Smith foul and a McCants three-point play.

"That took some air out of the balloon," Gillen said.

Little more than five minutes later, the Tar Heels led by 25.

"They just came down and were hitting all types of shots, getting to loose balls," Singletary said. "They outhustled us today, and they just outplayed us.

"We still had a chance to win, and we just folded. Granted, they're a talented team, but it seems like we just gave up as a whole."

Gillen said: "It's a game that we had a chance to hang around, if we'd made some shots. I'm not saying we would have won, but we could have made it very interesting. But nobody shot well, so we'll never know."

 

May stays on the double, with assist from McCants
By ROBBI PICKERAL, Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL -- One of the reasons North Carolina center Sean May has managed to post a midseason surge is the addition of 6-foot-9 freshman Marvin Williams, whose 22.3 minutes per game have helped keep UNC's frontcourt fresh.

And one of the reasons that surge continued Wednesday night during the No. 4 Tar Heels' 85-61 victory over Virginia was because UNC had to play without its talented sixth man --and May had the drive, moves and energy to make the absence a non-factor.

With Williams sitting on the bench in street clothes at the Smith Center because of a sprained left toe, May -- though huffing and puffing at times -- recorded his third straight double-double, this time with 17 points and 16 rebounds.

May played 31 minutes, just the third time this season he has been on the court 30 or more. He has now scored 56 points and pulled down 47 rebounds over the past three games.

"I'm a lot fresher," said May, who also made an uncharacteristic eight turnovers against the Cavaliers. "Just by the numbers that I put up recently, last year I don't think I could have done three straight games like that. And just the fact that I didn't have to play 30, 35 minutes at the beginning of the season, it has allowed me to have my legs a little bit more now."

May credited Rashad McCants for setting the defensive tone early -- and he also helped set May's tone early, assisting the big man on two of Carolina's first three baskets to take a 6-4 lead.

UNC (21-3, 9-2 ACC), which along with Virginia donned '80s-style jerseys for the made-for-ESPN "Retro Night," never trailed. But the Cavaliers -- who had won three in a row -- made it interesting for a time, when they cut it to 24-20 with 5:16 left in the first half thanks to two T.J. Bannister free throws.

Interesting, that is, until May scored seven points during a 15-4 half-ending run that gave UNC a comfortable 39-24 lead.

Carolina led by double figures the rest of the way as McCants scored 14 of his game-high 23 points and made two of his game-high six assists in the second half.

Virginia (13-10, 4-8), which made 38.5 percent of its shots and was outrebounded by 12, got 23 points from Gary Forbes. The loss marked UNC's first season sweep of the Cavaliers since the 1998-99 season.

"We've been a little sick, a little tired, a little beat up recently," said UNC coach Roy Williams, who had to visit the doctor again on Tuesday because of a case of pink eye. "And [after] three straight games on the road, it was a big load for us. And to go out and be able to chase people like that and do the job we did, I feel very good."

Marvin Williams, the preseason rookie of the year in the ACC, said he injured his left big toe Sunday at UConn. He was limited in practice Tuesday, and when he showed up at the Smith Center early on Wednesday, "he just didn't feel like he was going to be close to 90-95 percent or anything like that, so I thought it would be best to let the pain tell us not to play him," Roy Williams said.

"It hurts," the freshman said after the game. He was limping noticeably.

Marvin Williams will take today's practice off and be re-evaluated Friday. Coach Williams said he expects the forward to play Saturday against Clemson "but it is going to be quite painful for him."

Having an energized May there should help, however. The junior -- who played in just 11 games his freshman season with a broken bone in his foot and had problems with conditioning his sophomore year -- now has four double-doubles in his last five games, and in six in his last 10.

"He's more mature,'' said McCants, who added that May also has the intelligence and ability to wear opponents down by changing up his moves during a game. "He knows what he has to do to accomplish things. He missed half his freshman year, and last year was kind of tough on his body a little bit. But this year, he's ready to go."

And go.

And go.

"Some of it has to do with the minutes and my body changing, and some of it is the fact that I think about, 'I don't have that many more years left here,' " said May, whose goal is a double-double every game. "I've got this year, next year, and time's going by fast. We've got five games left after tonight, and I just want to end this year on a great note and play a high level of basketball."

May and the Tar Heels return to action Saturday in a 1 p.m. game vs. Clemson in the Smith Center. UNC is 50-0 against the Tigers in Chapel Hill, the longest current home undefeated mark in the nation.

Tar Heels stomp Cavaliers
By Andy Bitter / Lynchburg News & Advance
February 17, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Virginia and North Carolina turned back the clock to the early '80s on Wednesday night, wearing retro uniforms that harkened back to a halcyon basketball era for both schools.

Only North Carolina bore any resemblance to its early '80s hoopsters, however.

The fourth-ranked Tar Heels rolled to an 85-61 win over the Cavaliers at the Dean E. Smith Center, snapping the Cavaliers' three-game winning streak.

Virginia (13-10, 4-8 ACC) kept the game closer than the teams' first matchup in Charlottesville on Jan. 29, when the Tar Heels led at one point by 50 and won by 34, but never threatened North Carolina after halftime.

Offensively, the game was a mismatch. North Carolina (21-3, 9-2) shot 54 percent to Virginia's 38. The Cavaliers shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and were 5 of 21 from 3-point range for the game. UVa's starters scored only 34 points to UNC's 69.

"There's a scoreboard for a reason. You have to put the ball in the basket," Virginia head coach Pete Gillen said. "And we didn't do that today."

The Tar Heels had four players in double figures, led by Rashad McCants' 23 points and Sean May's monster night, a 17-point, 16-rebound effort that overshadowed his eight turnovers.

"I told him jokingly that he almost had the first triple-double of any player I've coached," said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, whose team never trailed by fewer than 12 points in the second half.

Gary Forbes was one of the only highlights for UVa. After scoring 21 points in a win over Virginia Tech last Saturday, Forbes had a career-high 23 off the bench. The sophomore made three 3-pointers and added a team-high six rebounds in 30 minutes.

"He just comes off the bench and some days he's going to score, some days he's going to defend," Gillen said. "He just gives us what we need."

Said Forbes: "Everything offensively is going my way right now. But I'd give that all up for some more victories."

The Cavaliers didn't get much else on the offensive end. Devin Smith and J.R. Reynolds continued to struggle from the field. Smith was just 3 of 12 overall and 1 of 6 from 3-point range for eight points.

Reynolds was even worse. The sophomore shooting guard finished with zero points, missing all five of his shots. In the last four games, Reynolds has 14 points and 13 fouls combined. He is 5 of 33 from the field and 1 of 20 from 3-point range during that stretch.

"Right now he's really having a tough time," Gillen said. "I know he's better than that. We're talking to him, (saying) be confident, keep shooting. But he can't buy one."

The Cavaliers committed 17 turnovers, led by T.J. Bannister's six.

Virginia's effort to revamp North Carolina's pre-shot clock era four corners offense and slow down the tempo worked briefly. UVa kept UNC's transition game in check for almost 10 minutes, pulling within 17-16 on a Forbes 3-pointer.

But the Cavaliers' scoring droughts eventually caught up with them. On three different occasions in the first half, Virginia went scoreless for more than four minutes. North Carolina took advantage, outscoring Virginia 22-8 over the last 10:02 to turn a one-point lead into a 39-24 halftime advantage.

UVa trimmed the lead to 52-40 with 12:40 to go on a Singletary 3-pointer, but the tide quickly turned. Three possessions later, with the Cavaliers down by 14, Smith missed a dunk, got his own rebound and missed a layup before fouling McCants at the other end for a three-point play. It took only 10 seconds, but suddenly UNC was up by 17 and not looking back.

The loss reduces Virginia's margin of error for an NCAA Tournament berth to almost nothing. The Cavaliers host Maryland on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

"We have to move on," Forbes said. "The best we can finish is 8-8 and I think that will be enough to get us into the tournament."

Sea of Orange -- no match for Tar Heel Blue
Jeremy Root, Cavalier Daily Sports Columnist

CHAPEL HILL, NC -- The rafters are Tar Heel blue, the seats are blue, and grown men are all wearing blue dress shirts. Heck, even the stadium speakers are light blue.The only thing that didn't fit in at Dean Smith Center last night was the five men dressed in throwback bright orange jerseys from the Virginia Cavaliers. And it wasn't just aesthetics either. The Virginia's men's basketball team, program and fan base are on a whole different level than their light blue counterparts and that couldn't have been more evident than in the Cavaliers' 85-61 loss to No. 4 North Carolina last night.

While UNC sports six players that could play and prosper in the NBA some day in Rashad McCants, Sean May, Jawad Williams, Raymond Felton, Jackie Manuel and Marvin Williams, finding a couple from the Cavalier roster is no easy task.

The Heels are coached by a legend in Roy Williams, who is the leader in winning percentage among active coaches with at least 10 years experience. Virginia on the other hand, is led by Pete Gillen, whose job seems to always be in jeopardy.

I don't know if any player on the Virginia roster would start for Carolina. It's ironic because sophomore Gary Forbes -- who scored 23 points in a courageous effort -- might have the best chance, but he doesn't even start for Virginia.

The North Carolina athletes are faster, more experienced and more talented. Just look at the shooting percentages from last nights contest. Carolina shot the ball over 50 percent in both halves, while Virginia climbed to 38.5 percent for the game after shooting 29.6 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Last evening in Chapel Hill it was common to see Felton pulling crossovers and spin moves that left Virginia defenders on their heels, McCants pulling up with over 30 seconds left on the shot clock to drain treys with a hand in their face and May dropping easy buckets over the Cavalier postmen. Meanwhile, Virginia held the ball until 10-15 seconds remained on the shot clock and struggled to find offensive rhythm.

The Cavaliers are forced to play that slow style of offense because of North Carolina's explosiveness. Give some credit to Pete Gillen. After being blown out at home over two weeks ago, Gillen's no-shot-allowed-until-10-seconds-on-the-shot-clock offense had his Cavaliers down by four, 24-20, with just over five minutes left in the first half. But Carolina's big three -- May, McCants, and Felton -- scored the next 14 points of the game to give UNC a 16-point advantage.

Even in the second half, when a squad that lost by over thirty at their place could easily have given up, Virginia had a chance to make it a 12-point game with over 10 minutes left when Devin Smith missed a dunk and a one-foot put back. Then, in an unusual loss of composure for the Virginia captain, he fouled McCants on the other end while the junior hit the shot --- resulting in a five point swing that gave a Carolina a 17-point lead it wouldn't relinquish for the night.

"Even though they have great individual players, they just play great as a team and that's why they're winning," Cavalier guard Sean Singletary said.

Virginia may have a 100-year history of basketball, but is hard to compete with a program that has over 60 banners promoting its ACC championships and NCAA tournament appearances since the 1940's hanging from its stadium. Not to mention the jerseys of Jordan, Carter, Stackhouse, Jamison, Worthy, and Perkins -- just to name a few.

Even the Carolina fans have a leg up on their orange-clad counterparts. While Virginia has trouble filling the 8,392 seat University Hall, UNC students and alumni flock to the home of their God, the Dean Smith Center, for a Wednesday night game against a team from the bottom of the ACC. 20,643 fans, virtually all adorned in Tar Heel blue, packed the 21,800 capacity Dean dome.

The Cavaliers may have a new arena and even a new coach to build their program upon in the near future, but don't expect them to catch up with their counterparts in Chapel Hill any time soon.