Singletary's defense carries Cavs
U.Va. guard makes seven steals to key win over N.C. State
Monday, Feb 25, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Whether it was freshman Javier Gonzalez or sophomore Marques Johnson with the basketball, Sean Singletary's eagerness to challenge N.C. State's inexperienced point guards was almost palpable yesterday. The University of Virginia's all-ACC guard pounced whenever one of them tried to initiate the Wolfpack's offense.

Offensive highlights have marked Singletary's illustrious career, but the 13,630 fans who showed up at John Paul Jones Arena likely will remember this game for his defense. The 6-0 senior tied the school record with a career-high seven steals -- the most by an ACC player this season -- to go with 21 points and six assists, and U.Va. routed N.C. State 78-60.

"Whatever I can do to give the team confidence, I try to do it," said Singletary, who had six steals against Boston College last month.

Six of his thefts yesterday came in the first half, after which U.Va. led 38-18. He wasn't the only disruptive Cavalier. State (4-9, 15-12) went into intermission with 17 turnovers, then turned it over eight more times in the second half.

Virginia's third-year coach, Dave Leitao, said he told his players after the game that "at the very least for this year, if not for the previous two, for the first 20 minutes, that was as good a defensive display against obviously very talented players that we've had; I'm extremely proud of them for that."

The Cavaliers (3-9, 13-12) remain last in the ACC, but back-to-back victories have raised their confidence as they head into the season's final month.

This one was surprisingly one-sided. With 14:15 left, U.Va. led 50-23, and the Pack's fabulous freshman center, 6-9, 242-pound J.J. Hickson, had to yet to score. Hickson didn't scratch until the 6:06 mark, and he finished with seven points and five rebounds, well below his averages.

"He's a load," Leitao said. "Along with Tyler Hansbrough, obviously, he presents as big a challenge on the block as anybody that this league has. To be able to keep him off balance, especially in that first half, was a credit not just to the post players who were playing, but the team defense."

Virginia rarely has had the luxury of playing with 20-point leads this season, and Leitao worried that his team would stop attacking in the second half. That's what happened, and it was 56-42 when N.C. State reserve guard Trevor Ferguson went to the line with 8:15 left.

Ferguson scored a career-best 11 points yesterday, but he missed the front end of this one-and-one. At the other end, Singletary passed to sophomore guard Calvin Baker for a 3-pointer to make it 59-42. After two free throws by State forward Brandon Costner, Baker hit another trey -- again off a feed from Singletary -- to push Virginia's lead back to 18.

That sequence left Leitao considerably happier with Baker than he'd been earlier in the half.

"Calvin had gotten a little bit tentative," Leitao said, "and we had a pretty one-way conversation about it."

Baker, a transfer from William and Mary who's not on scholarship at U.Va., finished with 15 points off the bench. Senior forward Adrian Joseph, freshman guard Jeff Jones and junior forward Mamadi Diane added nine points apiece for Virginia.

The game was the first in a week for the Cavaliers, whose Thursday night date with Georgia Tech in Atlanta was rained out. After returning to Charlottesville, Singletary went home to Philadelphia, where one of his close friends had been murdered.

Singletary didn't practice Friday or Saturday, and he played yesterday with an aching heart.

"It's tough," he said of losing a friend, "but it's happened about seven times in my career, so I just deal with it."

 

Cavaliers surge past Wolfpack
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 25, 2008

Heading into Sunday afternoon’s game against N.C. State, Virginia coach Dave Leitao waxed poetic about Wolfpack freshman J.J. Hickson.

“He’s got a tremendous feel for what he’s trying to do,” Leitao said. “He has a pair of the strongest hands you’ll see. He swallows every basketball around him. That’s what makes him the rebounder he is. He’s strong and has a touch.

“You can put a check mark next to a lot of different categories of things that he does very well regardless of the fact that he’s a freshman.”

But at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday, that’s exactly what Hickson looked like - a freshman.

The 6-foot-9, 242-pounder, who came into the game leading State in scoring (15.2 PPG) and rebounding (8.7 RPG), looked nothing like the player that some people have said ought to head to the NBA after this season.

Virginia’s stingiest defense of the season was the reason for that.

UVa notched a JPJ-record 16 steals, forced State into a whopping 25 turnovers and held Hickson to seven points en route to a convincing 78-60 victory in front of an announced crowd of 13,630.

The victory, Virginia’s second straight, pulled the Cavs to within a game of 11th place Florida State in the ACC.

“I’m not going to judge one way or another as to where this puts us or what it does,” said Leitao, when asked about the team’s mini-surge after losing seven straight. “I know we have a ton of work to do. As of today we’re still not anywhere closer to where we were before today. We’re in 12th place out of 12 teams. We have our work cut out from here on out.”

Virginia senior Sean Singletary was the game’s high scorer with 21 points. He also added six assists.

But the captain’s biggest contributions came on the defensive end. Singletary had a career-high seven steals and set the tone with his feistiness.

“You could just tell how passively they were dribbling the ball,” said Virginia sophomore Calvin Baker. “Sean was really aggressive on defense. He could also tell, too. That was as aggressive as I’ve ever seen him play on the ball.”

Singletary, who had missed the last two days of practice while he attended the funeral of a family friend, said it was a collective effort.

“We had good on-the-ball pressure,” Singletary explained, “but the key was the guys off the ball and how they were guarding their man. N.C. State had to make decisions and with our pressure it was tough for them to do that.”

The Wolfpack (15-12, 4-9) looked nothing like a team that boasts at least three future NBA players. They committed 17 turnovers in the first half alone.

After Brandon Costner hit a jumper to pull N.C. State to 17-13, the Wolfpack totally disintegrated.

State committed four turnovers in less than four minutes as Virginia went on a 9-0 run to take a 26-13 lead. The spurt was highlighted by a Jeff Jones steal and pass to Jamil Tucker for an easy fastbreak layup.

“I’m really at a loss for words,” said N.C. State big man Ben McCauley, “because we were really excited about this game. We had a great week of practice and the team was ready, but we didn’t really execute.”

Virginia (13-12, 3-9) closed the half by outscoring State 12-3 to claim a 38-18 lead heading into the break.

One of the prettiest plays of the stanza came when Calvin Baker (15 points) left a pass behind his back for a trailing Adrian Joseph who scored in transition.

Hickson, meanwhile, didn’t score his first basket until just a little over six minutes were left in the contest. He finished with only five rebounds and turned the ball over four times.

“I think, along with Tyler Hansbrough, he presents as big of a challenge on the block as anybody that this league has,” Leitao said. “To be able to keep him off balance - especially in that first half - was a credit to not just the post players that were playing, but the team defense.”

The Wolfpack, who lost their fifth straight, never got any closer than 13 points in the second half.

With the victory, Virginia - which doesn’t play again until a visit to Miami on Saturday - won back-to-back ACC games for the first time this season.

“We’ve been right there in every game,” Singletary said. “[We] just have to continue to have confidence. We played real well today and that gives us confidence going into the next game.”

Dunks

Singletary’s seven steals tied a school record with four other players and were the most since Curtis Staples had seven in 1995…The 6-foot-2 Baker had a game-high six rebounds…Tunji Soroye (back injury) suited up but did not play…N.C. State’s 18 first-half points were the fewest by a team in JPJ history.

 

Virginia goes back to its roots
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com
February 25, 2008

Don’t look now, but Virginia’s basketball team hasn’t lost a game since Feb. 12, a one-point loss to third-ranked North Carolina.

Before you rush out and start making reservations for NCAA Tournament sites, consider that the two wins have come against Boston College, which the Cavaliers swept this season, and against nose-diving N.C. State, a team that has lost 15 of the last 18 times it has visited Charlottesville, including Sunday’s 78-60 decision.

How refreshing it must have been for UVa coach Dave Leitao and his players to hear their counterparts from Raleigh answer the familiar questions about a five-game losing streak and how to pull out of the slump.

Instead, Leitao had an opportunity to joke around a little bit about Thursday night’s postponed game in Atlanta and brag about how well the Cavaliers played defense against the struggling Wolfpack.

Team bonding

Leitao’s Cavs have won back-to-back ACC games for the first time all season and who knows what might have happened in Atlanta last Thursday night if the roof at Alexander Memorial Coliseum hadn’t sprung a leak, causing postponement of the game until March 3.

“That was a heck of a team-building trip,” Leitao deadpanned. “It cost a lot of money to go team building.”

Several Virginia players, including team co-captain Sean Singletary mentioned how the team bonded on that trip to Atlanta and had fun for the first time since early in the season.

While the bonding and the winning are coming late in the season, perhaps too late to make enough of an impact, it’s better late than never.

Back to form

Ever since the blowout home loss to Clemson

(82-51) on Feb. 7, these Cavaliers have started to play the kind of basketball that we all expected back in October.

We thought this would be an NCAA bubble team, but it hasn’t played like one until that cold slap by the Tigers seemed to awaken the Cavs.

Since then, they played hard and had their chances before dropping a 16-point loss at Wake Forest, then nearly knocked off the Tar Heels within the friendly confines of John Paul Jones Arena, before beating Boston College on the road and then continued N.C. State’s freefall on Sunday.

It must make Leitao and his coaching staff play the ‘What If?’ game.

What if Virginia had won half of the six losses it suffered either in overtime or by two points or less?

The Cavs lost to UNC and one of its two overtime losses to Virginia Tech by one point. They lost to Syracuse and at Florida State by two points, then dropped two other overtime games (one at Virginia Tech, the other at home to Georgia Tech).

Let’s see, say they split those six decisions, Virginia (now 13-12 overall and 3-9 in the ACC) would be 16-9, 6-6 in the ACC.

That has bubble written all over it.

But as Leitao aptly pointed out after telling his team that it’s first-half defensive performance against the Wolfpack was perhaps the best 20 minutes he had witnessed as Virginia’s three-year coach, the reality is, “...today we’re not any closer than we were before today ... we’re in 12th place out of 12 teams.”

In the ACC cellar, yes, but nipping at the heels of FSU, N.C. State, Boston College and Georgia Tech, all with four wins.

If Leitao was looking for positive signs as we inch toward the end of the regular season, then he has to like what he is seeing.

Some of the younger players (guard Jeff Jones and forward Mike Scott) are coming around. His team is a little healthier (center Lars Mikalauskas has played in three straight games), which gives the Cavs a few more options.

The most encouraging sign though may be less tangible. His team is actually listening and comprehending what he has been preaching to them about since the opening day of practice and that has made practices better.

If you know Leitao at all, he’s a firm believer in that all a team’s problems can be traced back to practice, can be fixed in practice, particularly on the defensive side of things. Sometimes players don’t listen until they endure hardship, which usually gets their attention.

“We’re beginning to get on the same page,” offered up Singletary, who took advantage of some inexperienced and shaky ball-handling by N.C. State’s backcourt to record a UVa record-tying seven steals to go with 21 points (47 consecutive double-figures games).

“The younger players are coming out to play every day and their practice habits have gotten a lot better and that’s key.”

Off guard Calvin Baker, now coming off the bench in support of a more consistent Jones, believes it has taken this long for the Cavaliers to simply grow up.

“I think that with our success at the beginning of the year (Virginia was 10-2 heading into January) we really didn’t understand how hard we’d have to play because we were getting by in a lot of games without actually having to play hard,” said Baker, who scored 15 points, including two big treys that held the charging Wolfpack at bay late in the second half.

“Then, when we got into ACC play it was different because a lot of our players had never been in ACC games. Now, everybody is starting to buy into what Coach Leitao is saying, that you have to play defense but with a lot of emotion.”

Singletary, who definitely is a glass half-filled guy, doesn’t believe it’s too late to salvage this season. Of the four remaining regular season games, the Cavs will likely be the underdogs in each: at Miami, at Georgia Tech (where they were a five-point underdog last week), and home games against Duke and Maryland.

If nothing else, are the Cavaliers becoming the kind of team that nobody wants to play in the postseason?

“I think we are,” Baker said, “because we are finally starting to get back to our defensive roots and I don’t think any team would want to play against a real good defensive team. We’re starting to get real scrappy, helping each other a lot, and playing with a lot of emotion.”

Usually, those are ingredients to success. Virginia fans are hoping it hasn’t come too late.


 

Sticky fingers
Virginia finishes with 16 steals and forces 25 turnovers in a blowout victory.
Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia didn't know what to do with a 27-point lead Sunday.

Having spent time on the trailing end of such lopsided margins, the Cavaliers clearly prefer the alternative.

North Carolina State got as close as 14 points in the second half, but Virginia's lead proved to be insurmountable and UVa was able to enjoy consecutive ACC victories for the first time this season, 78-60, at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia took advantage of 17 Wolfpack turnovers in grabbing a 38-18 halftime lead and extended its lead to 50-23 early in the second half.

"My memory's not real good, especially not right now," UVa coach Dave Leitao said, "but at the very least for this year, if not the previous two, for the first 20 minutes that was as good a defensive display as we've had.

"To give up 18 points and get that many steals and turnovers is really pleasing."

On top of that, the Cavaliers (13-12, 3-9 ACC) were called for only three personal fouls in the first half. The officiating crew of Ray Natili, Gary Maxwell and Ted Valentine must have noticed that there were only eight fouls in the first half because they called 28 on both teams after halftime.

"I think what happens with a lot of teams [with a big lead] is that you let the gas pedal off," Leitao said. "They went inside and made it a little more interesting."

The Wolfpack (15-12, 4-9) got as close as 56-42 with Trevor Ferguson going to the free-throw line for a one-and-one with 8:15 remaining, but Ferguson missed, UVa got the rebound and Sean Singletary spotted Calvin Baker for a 3-pointer from the right wing.

"I think that took some of the life out of them," said Baker, who finished with 15 points, including 11 in the second half, and a team-high six rebounds.

Baker, a sophomore who is in his first season at UVa after transferring from William and Mary, is averaging 9.4 points per game but has been coming off the bench for the past two weeks.

"More than anything, Calvin had gotten a little tentative," Leitao said. "We had a pretty one-way conversation about it. It's about aggression. Sean made a nice pass to him off penetration and as he's done for most of the year, Calvin put the ball in the basket."

Singletary showed little mercy for the Wolfpack's young point guards and, by halftime, had matched a career high with six steals. He finished with 21 points, six assists and seven steals -- game highs for both teams in all categories.

Singletary was coming off a six-steal afternoon in Virginia's previous game, a 79-74 victory at Boston College, and said his defense has suffered the most when injuries have kept him out of practice.

"He has the tools to be a really good defender," Leitao said. "He's got quickness, he anticipates well, he can go laterally extremely well. But in order for [Singletary to be a great defensive player], he would have had a little less responsibility for other things.

"He's got to conserve himself a little and manage his way through 30 minutes."

The loss was the fifth in a row for the Wolfpack, a preseason choice for third in the ACC. Virginia was fifth.

"It's very tough to win a game when you turn the ball over 25 times," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "I have said it before and I may have to stand up every time and [remind] them, but we are not a running team. We cannot run. We do not make good decisions on the break and, with that, we do not give ourselves an opportunity."

Lowe was quick to praise Virginia, which has not always played defense to Leitao's satisfaction. In addition to the turnovers, Virginia held State to 27.3-percent shooting (6-of-22) in the first half, although State warmed up to shoot 54.2 percent in the second half. Subs Brandon Costner (14 points) and Ferguson (11) were the only 'Pack players in double figures.

"I'd like to think the games are representative of what we've been able to do in practice," said Leitao, whose Cavaliers had nine turnovers, almost five under their average. "I'll take that as a positive. We're still 12th out of 12 [ACC] teams. We've got a ton of work to do."

 

U.Va.'s Singletary steals the show as Cavaliers roll over N.C. State
Posted to: Men's College Basketball Sports
By Ed Miller
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 25, 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE

Sean Singletary was an equal opportunity thief. When it came to ripping the ball from N.C. State players Sunday afternoon, Virginia's senior point guard spread the misery around.

Five minutes into Virginia's 78-60 win over the Wolfpack, Singletary picked the ball cleanly from Marques Johnson near midcourt, then coasted in for a layup.

A few minutes later, he picked the pocket of freshman point guard Javier Gonzales. Another layup. Then he stripped 6-foot-9 freshman J.J. Hickson. Singletary didn't score off that turnover, but by then, he had set a tone.

Known more for his offense, Singletary was a one-man press at times. He finished with a career-high seven steals - six in the first half - to go with 21 points and six assists. He put the fear of humiliation into N.C. State's young point guards, often disrupting the Wolfpack offense before it could get started.

"That was the most aggressive I've ever seen him on the ball," Virginia guard Calvin Baker said.

Singletary was too polite to say it afterward, but the match-up of the Cavalier All-American and N.C. State's two young guards was no match at all.

"A lot of teams in the ACC this year have young point guards," he said. "I just go out there and try to pressure the ball."

Baker put it more bluntly:

"You could just tell how passive they were dribbling the ball, and Sean was real aggressive on defense," he said. "After you rip someone the first time, you smell blood, and after that, you're going to just keep going after them."

Virginia did, holding N.C. State to 18 first-half points while forcing 17 turnovers. The Cavaliers (13-12, 3-9 ACC) did that while committing just three first-half fouls. Coach Dave Leitao said it might have been the finest 20 minutes of defense he's seen in his three years in Charlottesville.

"Our hands were all over the place," he said.

Singletary applied the pressure out front. When N.C. State managed to get the ball inside to Hickson or 6-8 Ben McCauley, the Cavaliers collapsed on them. Instead of passing the ball back out, the big men often forced shots or lost the ball. Hickson committed four turnovers and didn't score until 6:06 left in the game. McCauley and forward Gavin Grant had five turnovers each. Gonzalez had three, and Johnson, a sophomore who has played in just 21 career games, had two.

N.C. State (15-12, 4-9 ACC) committed a season-high 25 turnovers. Not all of them were Virginia's doing. Coach Sidney Lowe said his team made poor decisions on the break and lacked patience in its half-court offense.

Call them growing pains for a careening team that has dropped five straight. Virginia remains the worst team in the standings, but the Wolfpack are arguably playing the worst at the moment.

"I'm really at a loss for words, because we were really excited about this game," McCauley said.

Virginia was too, coming off an empty trip to Atlanta where last Thursday's game against Georgia Tech was postponed due to a leaky roof.

Baker said Leitao had challenged the team to play with more emotion on defense. Singletary's early steals provided all the spark the team needed.

"When you see him just take the ball, that just gives everybody else confidence," Baker said.

For the Wolfpack, the reverse was true. That was no surprise, given the gap in experience between Singletary and the Wolfpack guards, Lowe said.

"He takes control of veteran players," Lowe said. "He certainly felt confident he could get to where he wanted to go against our young guys."

 

Cavs' defense does job
Virginia forces 25 turnovers and coasts past N.C. State. The Cavs won back-to-back games for the first time since late December.
By MELINDA WALDROP | 247-4634
February 25, 2008
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE - There's a different feel to a team that now has won back-to-back games for the first time in almost two months.

There's a different sound, too.

"At the beginning of the season, we were separating practices from games, and our practices were real unenthusiastic," Virginia sophomore guard Calvin Baker said. "...When you come into a gym of a team that's real good, you can hear feet squeaking, you can hear everybody chattering, talking junk to each other, competing. We didn't have that at the beginning of the year, and we've got that now at practice."

It's beginning to show in games, too. Baker scored 15 points, including two late 3-pointers that kept Virginia's lead in double digits, as the Cavaliers defeated N.C. State 78-60 on Sunday. The win followed U.Va.'s 79-74 victory at Boston College on Feb. 17 and gave the Cavaliers (13-12, 3-9 ACC) their first back-to-back wins in ACC play and first since beating Elon on Dec. 22 and Hartford on Dec. 30.

The Wolfpack (15-12, 4-9) lost its fifth straight game after a season-high 25 turnovers led to 25 Virginia points. N.C. State, which came into the game next-to-last in the ACC with a minus-3.75 turnover margin, tied its previous season high of 17 in the first half.

"For the first 20 minutes, that was as good a defensive display against very talented players as we've had," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "Our hands were all over the place. We were pressuring the ball without fouling. We were putting a lot of pressure on the interior guys."

Virginia senior guard Sean Singletary tied his career high of six steals in the first 20 minutes before adding another in the second half for the Cavs, who had a season-best 16 team steals — their highest total since 2000.

Singletary, who had a game-high 21 points and six assists, knows he's not known as a defensive stopper. In fact, he said, "People used to say I didn't play defense at all," a perception fueled by the hip pointer that limited his practice time last season.

"I'd always be beat up, and it's hard to play defense when you're not really doing it that much in practice," Singletary said. "This year I'm practicing a lot. (Playing defense) takes a lot more energy and a lot more heart and hustle. That's just what I'm about. Whatever I can try to do to give the team confidence, I'm gonna do it."

While Singletary was picking the pockets of the Wolfpack's guards, the rotating trio of Mike Scott, Lars Mikalauskas and Ryan Pettinella was trapping J.J. Hickson in the post. Hickson, leading N.C. State with 15 points a game, went 0-for-5 in the first half and didn't score until the 6:06 mark of the second, finishing with seven points to end his 10-game double-digit streak.

The Cavs outscored the Wolfpack 34-14 in the paint.

"Give them credit," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "They obviously knew where we were trying to go. But we have to be smart as well, and just kick the ball out, as we did in the second half."

Virginia's lead, 20 at halftime, stretched to 27 early in the second half before the Wolfpack closed within 15 three times before Hickson's layup made it 65-52 with 4:47 to play. After Virginia's Jeff Jones missed a baseline jumper, N.C. State could have cut it to 10, but Courtney Fells' 3-point try rimmed out, and the Wolfpack got no closer than 12 — on Trevor Ferguson's 3 with 1:50 left — the rest of the way.

 

Cavs gallop past Pack
N.C. State hits its 'low point'
Chip Alexander, Staff Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - A few questions begged to be asked Sunday after N.C. State's miserable 78-60 loss at Virginia.
Was it the low point of the season for the Pack? After all, the Cavaliers are the ACC's last-place team.

"Yeah, it's a very low point," State forward Brandon Costner said.

How did it happen?

"I can't explain it," Costner said. "I'm as puzzled as you are."

Finally, after five straight ACC losses, has the Wolfpack forgotten how to win?

"It may seem like it but we're still trying to," junior forward Ben McCauley said. "We're definitely trying to.

"I don't think we've forgotten how to win [but] I think we're kind of one step behind. We're almost there."

That may be debatable. The Pack (15-12, 4-9 ACC) was a furlong or two behind the Cavs (13-12, 3-9) in the first half at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia, the ACC's worst shooting team, shot almost 55 percent from the field in that half. The Cavs had almost twice as many steals (11) as State had field goals (six), and turned 17 Pack turnovers into 17 points.

"Our hands were all over the place," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

The Pack -- after a 20-minute funk filled with careless, sloppy play, after shooting 6-for-22 from the field, after having the ball stolen 11 times -- went to the locker room down 38-18. Even in a season when State has had some dreadful halves of basketball, it may have been the worst.

"We did not take care of the ball and [Virginia] was very aggressive," NCSU coach Sidney Lowe said. "They were playing very good defense, aggressive and active."

Sean Singletary was good, aggressive and active. The Cavs' senior point guard helped himself to the ball a few times against State guards Javi Gonzalez and Marques Johnson as if he was saying, "Excuse me, I'll have that."

Singletary, always on the move, looking to attack, had 13 of his game-high 21 points in the first half and six of his seven steals. When he wasn't scoring, he would simply dribble through the Pack defense and whip out passes to open shooters, which led to his six assists.

"He puts pressure on you all game," said Costner, who led the Pack with 14 points.

The Cavs kept pressure on State center J.J. Hickson. Virginia used its big bruisers -- 6-foot-9, 250-pound Ryan Pettinella or 6-8, 246-pound Laurynas Mikalauskas -- to be physical with the freshman and keep him away from the basket, then double-teamed him if Hickson did get the ball.

"They trapped him, they came down on him, they were sinking in on him," Lowe said.

Hickson did not score in the first half, going 0-for-5 from the field with three turnovers. He finished with seven points.

"He's a load," Leitao said. "To keep him off-balance is a credit to our team defense."

Virginia's biggest lead was 50-23 with 14:41 left. State responded with a 10-0 run, and with 8:15 to play had trimmed the Cavs' lead to 56-42 and had Trevor Ferguson at the foul line to shoot a one-and-one.

But Ferguson, who scored a career-high 11 points, missed the front-end. Singletary then penetrated and kicked the ball out to guard Calvin Baker for an open 3-pointer, and with a 59-42 cushion, the Wahoos coasted in.

"We missed the front-end of the one-and-one -- that's one thing," Lowe said. "But then to come down and leave a shooter when we're not supposed to, that's another thing."

Virginia had not played in a week, since ending a seven-game skid with a victory at Boston College. Its game Thursday at Georgia Tech was "rained out" because of a leaky roof at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

The Cavs shot just 39.3 percent in the second half. But State's 25 turnovers in the game -- the Cavs had 16 steals -- resulted in 25 Virginia points while the Pack managed just two points off UVa's nine turnovers.

State has three games remaining in the regular season -- at home this week against Florida State and Duke, then at Wake Forest. And there's still some optimism about reaching the NCAA Tournament.

"We have to win these last three games and do very well in the ACC Tournament," McCauley said. "If not win it, get to the finals and hope for the best. But we can't think about the ACC Tournament right now. We got to win these last three games."

 

UVa's defense sacks 'Pack
By Andy Bitter
abitter@newsadvance.com
February 24, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE - For a while Sunday, it looked as though Sean Singletary might get his 12th double-double of the season in a unique way. The Virginia guard was so effective at picking the pockets of N.C. State’s guards that by halftime he had already matched a career-high with six steals.

Alas, he only had one in the second half.

“I ran out of gas,” Singletary joked afterward.

The Cavaliers were all smiles for the first time in months after putting on a defensive clinic in a 78-60 win against N.C. State at the John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia (13-12, 3-9 ACC) forced a season-high 25 turnovers and gave up a season-low 18 first-half points to win back-to-back games for the first time since December.

“For the first 20 minutes, that was as good a defensive display against very talented players as we’ve had,” UVa coach Dave Leitao said.

Singletary led the way with 21 points, six assists and seven of UVa’s season-high 16 steals.

The Cavaliers scored 25 points off turnovers to the Wolfpack’s two and led by 27 at one point.

“I didn’t realize how much we were up, but whenever you’re doing things right, things like that happen,” Singletary said. “We were dictating to them the whole first half and most of the second half. Anytime you dictate to another team, you get positive results.”

The Wolfpack (15-12, 4-9) has lost five straight.

Calvin Baker scored 15 points and Adrian Joseph, Jeff Jones and Mamadi Diane all finished with nine for Virginia, which hadn’t played in a week due to Thursday’s postponement at Georgia Tech because of a leaky roof. The Cavaliers put that down time to good use.

“(Leitao) said the smell of practice is a lot different,” Baker said. “We’re competing a lot harder. We’re talking a lot more on defense. You can just tell we practice like we’re playing a game. At the beginning of the season … our practices were real unenthusiastic.”

Virginia set a defensive tone from the opening tip, harassing N.C. State into 17 first-half turnovers while only committing three fouls.

Singletary was especially bothersome, challenging the Wolfpack’s youthful guards - freshman Javier Gonzalez and sophomore Marques Johnson - before they could even cross halfcourt.

“Sometimes I can’t stand up quick enough to whistle and tell them to slow it down,” N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. “It’s too late and they’ve already turned it over.”

The Cavaliers frustrated J.J. Hickson in the post, getting physical with the ACC’s freshman scoring leader. Ryan Pettinella and Lars Mikalauskas did a solid job of putting a body on Hickson, who was averaging 15.2 points per game. He went 0-for-5 in a scoreless first half and finished with seven points and five rebounds.

“We just wanted to keep him off balance and give him a warm welcome to the JPJ, give him a couple elbows,” Mikalauskas said.

Virginia outscored N.C. State 21-5 in the final 10 minutes of the first half, heading into the locker room with a 38-18 lead.

The Cavaliers relaxed in the second half and N.C. State got within 56-42 with 9:32 left on a 3-pointer by Brandon Costner, who led the Wolfpack with 14 points.

N.C. State could have gotten within 10 a minute later, but Trevor Ferguson missed the from end of a 1-and-1. Baker hit a 3 at the other end that pushed the lead back to a more comfortable 17 and the Wolfpack didn’t challenge again.

The loss didn’t change much in the ACC standings (“We’re still in 12th place of 12 teams,” Leitao said), but it was a welcome boost for a team that didn’t have much go right the last two months and still hopes to accomplish something before the season’s end.

“Nobody in that locker room wants the season to be over,” Singletary said. “Even though a lot of people have counted us out, we’re sticking together. We know what we can do.”

 

Cavs grab victory from N.C. State
Defeating Wolfpack, Cavaliers take their first home victory since Jan. 16, third ACC triumph of season
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

After snapping a seven-game losing streak in its win against Boston College Feb. 17, the Virginia men's basketball team collected its second straight win, and its first victory at home since Jan. 19, against North Carolina State Sunday, 78-60.

The Cavaliers' 18-point final margin came from a dominant first half at both ends of the floor. After four straight sluggish starts, the two teams battled to a 13-11 Virginia lead at the outset before the Cavaliers surged to a 38-18 halftime advantage on the strength of 17 first-half Wolfpack turnovers.

The Cavaliers held the Wolfpack to 18 first-half points on 27.3 percent shooting, which had Virginia coach Dave Leitao remarking that the defense in the first half was as suffocating and active as it had been all season, while committing just three fouls.

"Our hands were all over the place," Leitao said. "We did a really good job of being in the right position without getting caught and having to foul."

In particular, Virginia did an outstanding job on freshman J.J. Hickson, the Wolfpack's leading scorer and rebounder at 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game coming into Sunday's contest. Hickson took five shots in the first half, missing all of them, and did not get to the free-throw line. He ended with 7 points and five rebounds.

"They trapped [Hickson], they came down on him, they were sinking in on him," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "We are not patient enough yet at the beginning of the game to understand that teams are doing that and just kick it out to give our perimeter shooters a chance to make some shots at the beginning of the ball game."

Virginia continued to blow up the lead at the start of the second half, as the margin expanded to as much as 27 with 14:41 remaining. The Wolfpack, however, clawed back, going on a 19-6 run in a 9:32 span to cut the lead to 14 with Wolfpack sophomore Trevor Ferguson at the free-throw line for a one-and-one.

Ferguson, however, would miss his first foul shot, and sophomore Jerome Meyinsse secured the rebound and threw the outlet to Singletary, who flew down court to find a wide-open Calvin Baker for a three. After N.C. State sophomore Brandon Costner made two free throws, Singletary came down and fed Baker once more for another three, pushing the lead to 18.

"That definitely was a point in time that may have set us back a little bit," Lowe said. "We missed the front end of the one-and-one, that's one thing, but then to come back and leave a shooter when we're not supposed to, that's another thing."

Baker's timely 3-point baskets came after Leitao confronted the sophomore in a timeout early in the half, telling him that he wasn't being aggressive enough.

"More than anything, Calvin had gotten tentative, and we had a pretty one-way conversation about it," Leitao said, adding that the first three "gave us a little bit of a cushion, and it made the game a little more manageable."

Singletary continued his stellar play of late, contributing 21 points, six assists and seven steals against a young Wolfpack backcourt.

"That first half, from a defensive standpoint, he took us out of a couple of plays we were trying to run, just by pressuring the guys and being up on them," Lowe said. "He can affect a game that way, from a defensive standpoint and an offensive standpoint."

Virginia has a five-day break before traveling to Miami March 1. This will be the first of three games in a five-day period for Virginia after last Thursday's game against Georgia Tech was postponed to March 3 because of a leak in the roof of Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

 

And the crowd goes wild?
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

For most of this season, as depressing as the Virginia basketball team's performance has been, there was always a lively student section to cheer me up. Yesterday afternoon, however, it was the basketball team that counterbalanced a depression brought on by the low attendance of the students.

There were noticeable holes in the area behind the basket next to the band and even in the highly coveted sideline student seating, there were some empty seats here and there.

So Virginia is having a pretty lousy season. And yes, N.C. State is not quite as prestigious an opponent as a UNC or a Duke. Nevertheless, the fact that students wouldn't come out in droves to watch this team is simply incomprehensible to me.

Out of curiosity, I looked on StubHub to see the going rate on tickets for the home game against Maryland a week from Sunday. The cheapest tickets were going for $39, in section 310, row Y. Don't know where section 310 is? It's in the far corner of the upper deck.

And row Y? I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

Then, I got a little more curious. I decided to meet a few of the people sitting in those areas.

Meet Max Davis, from the depths of section 311. He lives in Charlottesville and got tickets from a friend.

"I just enjoy being around the crowd and the liveliness of the students," Davis said. "I love watching the students jump up on their toes."

Meet Jason Tolley, and his young son Eric -- section 310. They bought their tickets for $30 a pop and drove from Troutman, Va., just outside of Roanoke, to make it to the game.

"Win or lose, we're there," Tolley said.

Eric's favorite player is Sean Singletary.

These guys, who sat closer to the stratosphere than to the basketball court, wouldn't have missed this game for the world. The Tolleys even drove one hour and 43 minutes -- trust me, I Google-mapped it -- to watch their 'Hoos play.

And yet, some of the students of this University, who need only roll out of bed and walk to the arena, who pay zilch for some of the best seats in the house, couldn't make it.

As I've said several times this year in this very column, real fans don't wait until the grass turns green to show their support. They are there for the yellow, the brown and even the barren patches, because when the green finally shines through -- and it inevitably does -- the contrast is that much more striking.

But that's not the only reason why the student section should have been filled. There are other reasons why people shell out hundreds of dollars to watch a last-place team play. There are tangible things that the stay-at-home "fan," missed yesterday while staying in the comfort of his own apartment, house or dormitory.

Those who stayed at home missed two teams from the best conference in Division I college basketball duke it out for 40 exciting minutes.

They missed a guy named Sean Singletary, who for all intensive purposes is a professional basketball player. They missed someone who next year is going to wow millions of viewers with a combination of don't-blink quickness and expert ball-handling.

And the most disappointing part about it is that the 'Hoos finally gave their fans a win. After the Cavs put up a tremendous fight against North Carolina and after they grabbed their first road win in the next game against Boston College, they finally found a well-deserved home victory, their first since Jan. 19.

Want to know a good way to make amends? Come back for Duke over Spring Break. Let those Virginia players know that you are still there for them. Give Coach K hell for not choosing Gilbert Arenas for the Olympic team. Don't let Greg Paulus forget the shot he missed last year that would have won last year's game in this arena. Help Virginia do just about the only thing it can to make this season matter: spoil someone else's season.

Singletary and company still care whether they win or lose. If you are a true fan, you will show them that you still care, too.

 

Virginia senior not feeling any pressure
Somdev Devvarman, who has won an NCAA singles title, welcomes all challenges.
By MELINDA WALDROP | 247-4634
11:32 PM EST, February 23, 2008
 

Pressure? What pressure?

Last year, Somdev Devvarman became the first ACC player to win an NCAA men's tennis singles title. In his senior season at Virginia, all he's done for an encore is lead the Cavaliers to the 2008 ITA National Team Indoor Championship.

Devvarman, a native of Chennai, India, was named the tournament's most outstanding player as the Cavaliers won the first men's tennis team title in ACC history this past weekend in Seattle.

"It's a lot more special," Devvarman said. "It means a lot more when you do it for a whole team instead of just one individual."

Devvarman clinched the Cavaliers' 4-3 quarterfinal win against UCLA with a three-set victory at No. 1 singles, then clinched a 4-2 semifinal victory against Ole Miss with another three-setter. In Virginia's 4-1 championship win against Ohio State, he cruised to a relatively easy 6-1, 6-3 win.

Devvarman, who won two tiebreakers to beat top-seeded John Isner of Georgia for his 2007 singles title, knows that every time he steps on the court, he's going to get his opponent's best shot.

"I definitely have a bulls-eye on my back and I feel like everybody is trying to gun for me, which is great," Devvarman said. " I love it. I love having a tough match every time I go out there. ... If you had the opportunity, wouldn't you want to be the best person in the country, rather than the second-best?"

It's clear Devvarman is enjoying his senior season. Trailing 3-4 in the third set as the Cavaliers played UCLA in Seattle, Devvarman asked Virginia coach Brian Boland, "Isn't this so much fun?"

"He walks into every match with expectations that he's supposed to win the match and the pressure's on him, but he's always been able to look at that as an opportunity and not get caught up in things he has no control over," Boland said.

No. 3 singles player Treat Huey, a senior from Alexandria, clinched Virginia's championship, winning a second-set tiebreaker 10-8.

"It was awesome," Huey said. "Having all the crowd watching my match and having it come down to my match was great."

Among the spectators was a famous Virginia graduate. Seattle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney, whose 141/2 sacks were second in the NFL last season, took a break from rehab of his offseason shoulder surgery to watch his alma mater.

The Cavaliers got a little rest after their red-eye flight back from Seattle, but it was back to the court on Saturday, when they beat Old Dominion and Boston College.

NCAA regional play begins in May, when Devvarman will defend his title. After graduation, Devvarman, Huey and fellow U.Va. senior Ted Angelinos will turn pro, Boland said.

"Somdev Devvarman is going to be an outstanding professional tennis player," Boland said. While it's hard to predict pro rankings or victories, "He never gets caught up in those things," Boland said. "He gets caught up in how to better himself on a daily basis. ... He really keeps his focus and goes about his business."

Right now, Devvarman remains focused on his already impressive college career.

"I'm obviously happy with what's happened so far, but if possible, I'd love to add more on my plate, not just for myself but for my team," he said.

 

Virginia gains 4-game sweep over Lehigh
By Bart Isley / risley@dailyprogress.com | 978-7240
February 25, 2008

Virginia rolled out a huge class of newcomers - 16 in all - in its season-opening series with Lehigh, and the group didn’t disappoint in its debut.

In just the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, Cavalier freshmen had an impact in all phases of the game.

Robert Morey, a freshman from Virginia Beach, threw three no-hit innings of relief and picked up the win.

Jarrett Parker, a freshman from Colonial Forge in Stafford, went 1 for 3 with an RBI and snuffed out one of Lehigh’s best scoring opportunities with a fantastic over the shoulder catch in center field.

Dan Grovatt, a New Jersey freshman, posted a 2 for 4 performance to go with his two RBI.

In the process, Virginia completed a four-game sweep of Lehigh, capping the weekend with a 6-1 victory. Virginia pounded the Mountain Hawks 12-1 in the first Sunday contest.

“They’re advanced for their age and it shows,” said Virginia captain David Adams said. “I think we as veterans had high expectations for them.”

The Cavaliers will rely heavily on the freshmen because six starters, including all four outfielders who started for Virginia and first baseman/pitcher Sean Doolittle, graduated or left via the MLB draft.

Throughout this weekend’s four games though, that class proved that their inexperience may not bemuch of a hindrance at all.

“We’ve known all along it’s a talented group of freshmen and when you mix that with the veterans we have you like what we see,” said Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor. “I was writing up that lineup card this morning and five of the players in the lineup were guys that haven’t played here before.”

The standout performance by the young players only slightly overshadowed an impressive Sunday afternoon by the veterans.

Adams, a junior, posted a six-RBI day that included a home run that sparked Virginia to the blowout of the Mountain Hawks that opened the day.

Junior Greg Miclat, in his first action since a shoulder injury shelved the infielder as a sophomore, knocked in a pair of runs and nabbed two bases during the two wins.

For the weekend, Virginia outscored Lehigh 27-4, dominating a team that finished at the bottom of the six-team Patriot League in 2007.

The Cavaliers got a trio of strong pitching performances in the first three games from junior All-American Jacob Thompson (5 IP, four hits allowed, one earned run), senior Pat McAnaney (six innings, two hits allowed no earned runs) and junior Andrew Carraway (six innings, two hits, no earned runs).

The three veterans should form the core of the Cavalier pitching staff.

“I thought (Carraway and McAnaney) pitched exceptional,” O’Connor said. “They both pitched very, very well.”

The Cavs’ newcomers shined throughout the four-game start too. Ryan Smith, a Notre Dame transfer, led Virginia with a pair of RBI in the season opener Saturday. John Barr, yet another freshman outfielder, also had an RBI in the first game.

Virginia won’t get much of a break. After a day off Monday, the Cavaliers will continue tuning up for ACC play with Coppin State Tuesday and Old Dominion Wednesday.

Senior Robert Poutier will start Tuesday’s contest and Matt Packer will likely get the nod against ODU.

 

Cavaliers get off to strong start, sweeping Mountain Hawks
Strong performances from freshmen, pitchers lead Virginia to four decisivevictories in first series of new season
Eric Kolenich, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Virginia used great pitching, a strong performance from its freshmen and a little bit of luck to complete a four-game sweep of Lehigh (0-4). The No. 17 Cavaliers (4-0) defeated the Mountain Hawks 5-1, 4-1, 12-1 and 6-1, respectively.

The Virginia pitching staff was hot the whole weekend, allowing only four runs on 19 hits throughout the four games. Junior All-American Jacob Thompson started things off, allowing no runs and four hits in five innings during the first game Saturday while walking three and striking out six.

"I'd like to eliminate some of the needless walks that we've had, but for the first time out there in live competition, I thought we pitched very well," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "I thought [junior] Andrew Carraway and [senior] Pat McAnaney this weekend pitched exceptional."

McAnaney pitched the second game Saturday, allowing two hits and no runs in six innings. Carraway started Sunday's opener, also allowing no runs and two hits in six innings. Carraway additionally struck out eight and walked none.

Before the season began, O'Connor said McAnaney and Carraway were coming into the season as Virginia's two strongest pitchers.

Sunday, O'Connor brought in freshman Robert Morey with two on and no out in the fifth inning to relieve sophomore starter Jeff Lorick. In his first appearance at the plate, Morey allowed one run to score, and then got Virginia out of the tight jam and the inning.

"You don't usually, in the first weekend, like to put a freshman in that situation, but I've been really, really impressed with Robert Morey since he's been here," O'Connor said. "He's got a lot of poise and a lot of confidence in himself and it was a good situation for him to come in."

Morey was one of many freshmen who came out strong in his first weekend as a Cavalier. Freshman Dan Grovatt was three for six with two runs scored on the weekend.

"Over the course of these first 10 or 11 games, I'm going to try a bunch of different guys and see who the ones are that we can count on," O'Connor said. "Danny Grovatt definitely stepped up offensively and the great play he made in the first inning was very impressive."

Grovatt is in competition with freshman John Barr and sophomore Mark Riffee for left field. Senior Patrick Wingfield, who is currently sidelined with a wrist injury, will be in the running when he returns. Wingfield is listed as day-to-day.

Freshmen Jarrett Parker and David Coleman also made significant contributions as starting center fielder and right fielder, respectively. Coleman hits fourth in the Virginia lineup.

"We've known all along that it's a talented group of freshmen," O'Connor said. "When you mix that with the good veterans we have on the pitching staff and on our infield, you like what you see. Some of those freshmen stepped up in big situations this weekend; they're going to need to."

The Virginia offense was led mainly by juniors David Adams and Jeremy Farrell. Adams was six for 15 on the weekend, as the Cavaliers totaled 27 runs on the Lehigh pitching staff.

"I'm still rusty," Adams said. "There are a bunch of kinks to work out. I just got lucky a few times."

The Virginia batters hit .308 on the weekend, while the defense allowed four errors in the four games.

"As a group, we're just glad to get four wins out of the way," Adams said.

Virginia returns to action Tuesday to host Coppin State and Old Dominion Wednesday.

 

Cavaliers take victory with final-minute run
Cavaliers barely take second win of season by slim 2-point margin
Megan McDonald, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

The No. 3 Virginia men's lacrosse team narrowly dodged a loss Saturday afternoon with Cavalier senior Peter Lamade and junior Danny Glading each scoring in the final three minutes to secure a 15-13 victory against Stony Brook.

With eight points, Glading led the Cavaliers offensively, tallying five goals and three assists. The preseason All-American helped Virginia get off to an early lead, and by the close of the first quarter, the Cavaliers were up 6-2 and Glading already had a hat trick.

Glading "gave [Stony Brook] trouble last year, and talking to their coach after the game, he said he has had nightmares about Danny," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "He played very well today and made some big plays for us. With Ben [Rubeor] out he has to pick up a little bit more of the load and he is certainly ready and anxious to do that for us."

Although Virginia was up 9-2 in the second quarter, the Seawolves adjusted defensively and capitalized on the Cavaliers' mistakes. Stony Brook scored five in the second to bring the score to 10-7 -- trimming Virginia's lead to three at the half.

The opening second half faceoff provided another scoring opportunity for the Seawolves, and in just over 11 minutes of playing time Virginia had been outscored 6-1.

"I think we stopped taking care of the ball as well as we were at the beginning of the game," Glading said. "So it was a combination of us slacking off a little bit and them tightening up a little bit."

When the Seawolves tied the game 12-12 with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, Starsia replaced his starting goalkeeper, freshman Adam Ghitelman, with fifth-year senior Bud Petit.

With the game tied 13-all in the fourth, the teams traded possession but neither managed to score for a full 7 minutes. Petit gave his team the lift it needed.

"I thought Bud went in the game and gave us a little spark," Starsia said. "Clearly not all of the goals Adam gave up were his fault. Sometimes a young guy just has to come out and gather himself but I am sure he is going to bounce right back."

Lamade ended the 7-minute drought with the game-winner. Still adjusting to his new role on attack, Lamade had been given several opportunities throughout the game but had yet to convert. Off a pass from Glading, Lamade beat his defender to score from 8 yards out.

"My guy had to slide onto Danny [Glading]," Lamade said. "It was a pretty close shot. I would have been pretty mad if I did not finish it."

Virginia won the next faceoff and Glading put a final nail in the Seawolves' coffin with a goal just 11 seconds after Lamade's. With the momentum having shifted and the crowd in full support of the Cavaliers, Virginia maintained possession and ran out the clock.

"It was an exciting lacrosse game and I think people got their money's worth," Starsia said. "We made a couple plays at the end of the game when we had to. We will learn some lessons and move on and hopefully get better from here. But we will certainly take this win over a very good Stony Brook team."