GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia has won postseason games before. Even the school’s media guide says so. But to those Virginia fans under the age of eight, such wins are only the stuff of legend. Daniel Ewing, a late insertion to the starting lineup, scored a career-high 32 points as third-seeded Duke dispatched sixth-seeded Virginia 83-76 in Friday’s final ACC tournament quarterfinal at the Greensboro Coliseum. It was Virginia’s ninth-straight ACC tournament loss and 13th-straight postseason loss overall. Virginia has not won a postseason game since defeating top-seeded Kansas in the NCAA Midwest regionals in 1995. It has not won an ACC tournament game since defeating Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals in 1995. Devin Smith led Virginia (15-15) with 19 points, while Elton Brown had 15 and Derrick Byars had 11. “I was proud of the team’s effort tonight. We played with courage. We’re very disappointed that we lost. Our turnovers hurt us. Especially to begin the second half,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose team shot 56.9 percent but had 19 turnovers. “We didn’t play our best, but we played as hard as we could.” Virginia’s .500 record does make it eligible for the NIT. It will have to wait until Sunday night to see if it will receive a bid to that tournament. “I have no comment for that. I’d like to play again and I think the players would too. We’re eligible for it, but we don’t know what will happen with it,” Gillen said. Duke (22-6) now advances to face seventh-seeded North Carolina in today’s second semifinal at 4 p.m. The Tar Heels upset seventh-seeded Maryland 84-72 on Friday. “This was a good win over a very good team. Daniel was terrific. His assertiveness was a big key for us in the game,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Dahntay Jones, who hit a key 3-pointer down the stretch to halt another late Virginia surge, added 16 for the Blue Devils. Virginia led 30-29 at the half but Duke opened the final 20 minutes with a 16-5 spurt that gave them a 45-35 advantage with 14:57 remaining. A 3-pointer by J.J. Redick sparked the run and it was capped by a Ewing layup. The lead grew to as many as 13 at 53-40 on another trey by Redick with 12:02 to play. A Virginia 8-0 spurt got them back into the game but again Duke, and usually Ewing specifically, thwarted those efforts. After Virginia had cut the deficit to five at 63-58 with 6:39 left, Ewing drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead. When Virginia again cut it to five with just five minutes to play, Ewing hit a jumper to again push the Cavaliers away and this time it would be for good. The Cavaliers managed to cut the lead to five just once more the rest of the way as they left the arena with what is now almost the expected postseason result. The Cavaliers shot 52.4 percent in the opening 20 minutes while Duke shot 46.2 percent. Those stats disguised what otherwise was not a pretty half of basketball. The teams combined for 23 turnovers (Virginia 12, Duke 11) and the Cavaliers had one stretch in went nearly seven and a half minutes without a basket. Virginia led 13-7 after the game’s first five minutes but then suffered through that drought without a basket. A pull-up jumper by Todd Billet with 7:27 ended that stretch and gave Virginia a 16-14 advantage. The game seesawed back and forth the rest of the way. Rogers made his second straight start for the Cavaliers and had four points and two rebounds in 12 first-half minutes.
U.Va. comes up empty again in ACC tourney
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 15, 2003
GREENSBORO — They’ve lost close games, and blowouts.
Lost as the higher seed, and as the underdog.
Lost to five different schools. With a 83-76 loss to Duke Friday night, the
Virginia Cavaliers have now dropped eight straight first-round games in the ACC
tournament, a streak that began in 1996.
Players have come and gone. One coach was let go, and another hired. Through it
all, a nagging record of ACC tournament futility has stuck with the Virginia
program.
“It’s frustrating,” said coach Pete Gillen, who has been in charge in five of
the losses. “I’ve just got to work a little harder.”
To be fair, Virginia (15-15) was seeded No. 6 to Duke’s No\u20093. And the
Cavaliers pushed Duke deep into the second half, before Daniel Ewing and Dhantay
Jones shot the Cavaliers out of the tournament.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Gillen said. “I thought we played with courage and
determination and gave it all we had.”
Duke (22-6) will meet No. 7 seed North Carolina in a tournament semifinal today
at 4 p.m.
Virginia scored just four points in the first seven minutes of the second half,
while committing six early turnovers. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers had no answer for
Duke guard Ewing.
With teammate Chris Duhon scoreless for nearly 39 minutes, Ewing compensated
with a career evening. He scored 32 points, 21 in the second half. Jones added
16.
“We needed him and he carried us,” Duhon said.
Duke opened a 13-point lead on a J.J. Redick 3-pointer with 12:03 left. Virginia
quickly cut it to five, but Duke pushed it back to 11. Virginia responded again,
trimming it back to five.
Virginia center Travis Watson fouled out with eight points with 6:55 left,
leaving 6-9 Elton Brown as the biggest Cavalier on the floor. Brown kept
Virginia close with some slick moves in the low post, before Jones sank
consecutive 3-pointers.
Virginia clung to a 30-29 lead after a half marked by grinding play and poor
ball security. The Cavaliers committed 12 turnovers, Duke 11. Duhon has six by
himself.
Virginia opened leads of 14-9 and 20-14 before Duke closed the gap behind Ewing,
who had 11 first-half points, and Jones, who had eight.
Jason Rogers, a senior who had not started a game in his career before last
Sunday, started his second straight game as Gillen used his 18th different
opening lineup.
Devin Smith led Virginia with 19 points. Brown had 15. Virginia has not won a
post-season game of any kind since 1995, and now awaits a possible NIT bid.
“We would love to play in the NIT, if they think we’re worthy,” Gillen said.
Duke’s win set up the first all “Big Four” semifinal in 40 years. Duke, North
Carolina, Wake Forest and N.C. State have not reached the semifinals together
since 1963.
Cavs lose grip on game
Daniel Ewing scores 32 as the Blue Devils hand UVa its ninth straight loss in
the ACC Tournament.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
GREENSBORO, N.C. - An inspired, if somewhat careless, effort couldn't stop
Virginia from moving closer to a record for ACC Tournament futility.
On a night when they shot 56.9 percent from the field, the Cavaliers committed
19 turnovers Friday in losing their ninth straight ACC Tournament game, 83-76,
to 12th-ranked Duke.
Mostly, Virginia couldn't contain Duke sophomore Daniel Ewing, who celebrated
his first start since Feb.5 by scoring a career-high 32 points.
Ewing became the sixth player to score 30 or more points against Virginia
(15-15) this season, including Ewing's freshman teammate, J.J. Redick from Cave
Spring High School.
The recent ineffectiveness of a unit that included 6-foot-11 senior Casey
Sanders caused Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to send out a unit that included
Ewing, two other guards and small forward Dahntay Jones. The Blue Devils (22-6)
had lost two of their previous three games.
"It wasn't because we were down on Casey," Krzyzewski said. "We were up on
Daniel. We thought we'd try to get faster and put Daniel in there a little more.
Obviously, that was a good thing."
It was the 13th straight postseason loss for the Cavaliers, who haven't won a
game in the ACC Tournament, NCAA Tournament or NIT since they made the 1995
Midwest Region final, although they have played worse than they did Friday
night.
"I hate losing more than I enjoy the winning," said fifth-year UVa coach Pete
Gillen, still searching for his first ACC Tournament victory, "but we played
with grit, we played with heart and gave it our best."
The record for consecutive ACC Tournament losses is 11, established by Virginia
between 1959-69 and approached most recently by Clemson with 10 straight losses
between 1980-89.
Virginia briefly held the lead to start the second half, but twice Duke
increased its lead to 11. The Cavaliers had the deficit to five on five
occasions despite the loss of leading scorer, rebounder and shotblocker Travis
Watson with 6:55 left.
Gillen waved his arms in disgust after official Steve Gordon called Watson for
his fifth foul for chesting Duke freshman Shelden Williams.
Virginia went with the same starting lineup that produced an 80-78 overtime
victory Sunday over Maryland. Senior Jason Rogers, who had played 14 minutes all
season before Sunday, again seized the moment. Rogers scored the Cavaliers'
first two baskets, the first on a dunk.
Virginia made five of its first six shots and tipped in the lone miss for a 13-7
lead that became 14-9 before the Cavaliers started to unravel. UVa had eight
turnovers in the first 12 minutes, but when Todd Billet hit a baseline jumper
with 7:28 left, the Cavs led 16-14.
That ended a 7 1/2 -minute scoring drought from the field, and the Cavaliers
were able to increase their lead to 20-14 on a Derrick Byars 3-pointer. UVa went
nearly six minutes without missing a shot but had six turnovers over the same
span.
Duke was nearly as sloppy with the ball, amassing 11 turnovers in the half,
compared to 12 for the Cavaliers, who took a 30-29 halftime lead on Byars'
tip-in with 20 seconds left, his second tip-in of the half.
Byars also drew the defensive assignment on Redick, who hit a baseline jumper
with 14:07 remaining in the half and did not have another first-half basket.
Redick took six shots from the field overall and finished with 12 points.
Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers after UVa had cut the deficit to 70-65 and
finished with 16 points for the Blue Devils, who shot 57.1 percent in the second
half and 51.9 percent for the game.
Third-seeded Duke advanced to the semifinals today at 3:30 p.m. at the
Greensboro Coliseum, where the Blue Devils will meet North Carolina, an 84-72
winner over Maryland in the first game Friday night. The Tar Heels knocked off
Duke six days ago in the regular-season ACC finale, 82-79.
Cavs need another point guard
There were hugs and handshakes all around Sunday night when Virginia recruiting target T.J. Bannister took his seat in a University Hall section that included Oak Hill Academy standout J.R. Reynolds and Reynolds' coach, Steve Smith.
Nobody was more familiar with Bannister, a 5-foot-11 guard from Jacksonville, Fla., than Smith and Reynolds, who had observed his game this past summer at the Nike Camp in Indianapolis.
"I saw him play probably two [or] three games," said Smith, a coach at Nike. " I liked his attitude on the floor. I liked the way he carried himself. I thought he had a good understanding, a good head for the game, which is very important at the position he plays.
"I liked him because I thought he had the ability to run a team and he had the ability to score. Some guys like that; some guys don't. He also can play and never take a shot. From what I saw, he shoots it pretty well. Obviously, at his position, he's not looking to shoot first, but it helps if a guy can shoot it."
Oak Hill was on spring break and Smith and Reynolds already were coming to the game when they learned that UVa would be bringing Bannister to campus. Reynolds, from Roanoke, has been committed to UVa since the fall of 2001.
"I asked J.R., 'What do you think of him?' " Smith said. "He goes, 'I like the way he plays.' So, J.R.'s automatically going to gravitate to the kid when he sees him.
"He wants Virginia to be good and he thinks it's good to have another guard come in when he comes in, especially a point guard. J.R. likes him as a player and a person a lot. When you go to camp, you kind of hook up with guys. I think J.R. hung out with him a little bit."
Smith said he thinks Bannister, who committed to the Cavaliers on Tuesday, was a good "get" for a UVa program that only started looking for a point guard in earnest when sophomore Keith Jenifer was placed on indefinite suspension Feb. 3. Jenifer received a release from his scholarship March 3.
"I looked -- not for Virginia -- at Clark Francis' list of all the kids who have signed," Smith said. " I think 95 out of the top 100 have signed. It's like 180 out of the top 200. There's very few guys available, period, at any position.
"There's no big guys out there -- very few -- and there's no point guards. Those two positions, to me, are the most important."
Virginia has been using 5-foot-11 junior Todd Billet as its point guard, but Billet is also the Cavaliers' premier perimeter scorer. It doesn't make sense for him only to be setting up other people when what Virginia really needs is the reverse.
"You see what happens when a team is small and you see what happens when a team doesn't have a point guard," Smith said. "At the ACC level, you can't compete. I thought Virginia was struggling, in that stretch when they were losing games, because of both.
"I've seen them twice now in person and I didn't realize just how much Majestic Mapp has been slowed down since that injury. I give him credit for working two years and coming back -- most kids wouldn't have done it -- but he's really not that quick now.
"He does have a calming factor. He's not one of those guys who comes in and goes 100 mph. He's not a jitterbug, but T.J.'s not that way either. He's under control. He's quick and pretty quick with the ball, but he's not a guy like T.J. Ford [of Texas] flying down the floor and making plays all the time.
"You always question if a kid's ready as a freshman, especially in the ACC, so I don't want to be overly confident in my opinion. He's [Bannister] not a big guy physically. He had a sweatsuit on the other night. I couldn't tell if he's put on weight, if he's gotten stronger, but I like him as a player.
BILLET WILL BE GONE after next season and who knows how long Mapp will stay, so look for the Cavaliers to sign another point from this year's junior class, with 6-3 Marquie Cooke from Nansemond River their primary target to date.
At the Group A quarterfinals last week in Castlewood, Radford High School fans expressed surprise that Bobcats' junior point guard Darris Nichols had not heard from Virginia. Nichols had a double-double -- 24 points and 10 rebounds -- and looked like he could have scored 40 if he wanted in a 60-42 victory over Honaker.
Nichols, a stylish left-hander with a great handle, already has scholarship offers from Clemson, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Richmond. On Thursday, Georgia Tech dispatched a scout to Lynchburg, where UVa assistant Walt Fuller was expected for the Bobcats' state semifinal against George Wythe.
Virginia has two scholarships available in this year's recruiting class and has offered scholarships to big men Linas Kleiza from Montrose (Md.) Christian, Jason Cain from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia and Donte Minter from Fork Union.
Cline: Three Tech starters would start for UVa
It has been 15 years since Tech has had a player from Oak Hill. He was Roy Brow, who holds the Tech career record for blocked shots.
In that time, Virginia has had former Oak Hill players Cory Alexander, Junior Burrough, Curtis Staples and Travis Watson. Melvin Whitaker signed with UVa out of Oak Hill but never played for the Cavaliers, and J.R. Reynolds is headed from Oak Hill to UVa next year.
"People around here always say, 'When you going to have a kid go to Tech?' " Oak Hill coach Steve Smith said this week. "Well, the first thing is, we are in Grayson County, Virginia, but these kids are not from here. They don't have any allegiance to Virginia Tech."
How much has Tech recruited Oak Hill, perennially ranked among the top 10 programs in the country.
"Very, very ... little," Smith said. "An assistant came in last year, I called [Mike] Hopkins this year, like two weeks ago, and just said, 'I've got some big guys available. If you need any, you need to come and take a look at them because I've got three who are pretty good.'
"I don't know if Tech felt they needed better players than that. They may not [have scholarships]. They said they were looking for a big guy and if they didn't get this JUCO player, they'd be very interested in Byron Joynes. Who knows now?"
Boston University basketball coach Dennis Wolff, who has a cult following in the media, has Oak Hill ties going back to his recruiting of Burrough while at Virginia. Wolff has been mentioned as a possible Tech coaching target.
"First of all, I wouldn't 'send' players up there," Smith said. "I don't 'send' players anywhere, but I wouldn't be opposed to anybody playing for Dennis. [Of] the previous coaches who have been there, Bobby Hussey tried. He just wasn't there that long as head coach.
"Bill Foster, on occasion, if they thought there was some connection, would come down. It has a lot to do with recruiting. Some people perceive it differently. Dennis tried to lay down the groundwork to recruit down here and build on that.
"One of my assistants heard somebody [at Tech] say one time, 'We're not going to get any of those players down there [and] they're not going to help us.' I could see where he's got a lot of pressure. He's trying to win. He's trying to coach at this level and save his job."
Stokes' feelings about Oak Hill may date from his days as an assistant at Wake Forest, where he recruited against his alma mater, UVa.
"They don't realize, I don't help anybody," Smith said, "not help, help. I don't tell a kid to go to a school. If it's down to two [or] three schools, I'll tell him what I think and I remember telling Junior, I thought Virginia was a great place for him. It was down to Virginia and Wake, but I wasn't knocking Wake.
"It could stem all the way back to that with Ricky, but Ricky was at Virginia, too. I never had a great relationship with Ricky."
I'VE HEARD SOME DISAGREEMENT with Mark Cline's assertion that Virginia Tech had talent comparable to Virginia's this year, but let's not forget that the Hokies beat UVa by 18 points, 73-55, although that game was closer for 37-38 minutes than the final score indicated.
"Truth be known, if you ask me, [Todd] Billet and Travis Watson would have started at Virginia Tech," said Cline, a Tech assistant for four years under Ricky Stokes, who was fired Monday. "But, I just think Carlos Dixon, Bryant Matthews and Terry Taylor would have started for Virginia."
Look at that five and you can see why Tech and UVa had problems this year. There isn't a point guard in the bunch. Billet was Virginia's point guard for the second half of the season and may end up with 100 or more assists for the third straight year, counting two at Rutgers, but he's at his best hunting shots from the wings.
Cline doesn't think he has much of a chance at the Tech job, but he feels he has prepared himself to be a head coach at the Division I level and had increased duties this year for the Hokies.
"I took care of the travel, did all the scheduling, the recruiting part," Cline said. "Everybody does their share of the scouting. I think, the games that I have scouted, the kids have been ready to play.
"I worked my tail off and the talent got better. I did everything I could to help Ricky but an assistant is an assistant. It doesn't say 'head' by my name."
EX-GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Bobby Cremins, subbing on the Georgia Tech radio network while doing work for several syndicators at the ACC Tournament, reiterated that he is enjoying himself in his third year of retirement and would return to coaching "only if the right situation came along," he said.
Cremins said Thursday that he had not been contacted by Virginia Tech and would recommend East Tennessee State coach Ed DeChellis if asked.
Devils show Cavs door
U.Va.'s tournament skid hits nine
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 15, 2003
DUKE 83 VIRGINIA 76
INSIDE: U.Va.'s season wound up gloomy after starting with high hopes. Bob
Lipper's column, Page D4.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The effort was there, but the ballhandling wasn't. Neither
was the defense. Or the foul-shooting. And so Virginia's latest trip to the ACC
tournament ended in numbingly familiar fashion: with an opening-round loss.
Third-seeded Duke blitzed sixth-seeded U.Va. for much of the second half and
then held on to win 83-76 at Greensboro Coliseum in yesterday's last
quarterfinal.
"I'm very proud of our team," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said. "I thought we
played with tremendous courage and determination and gave it all we had . . . We
didn't play our best, but we played as hard as we could play."
Virginia (15-15) shot 56.9 percent from the floor. But it turned the ball over
19 times, made only 11 of 19 free throws and allowed Duke (22-6) to shoot 51.9
percent from the floor. The 12th-ranked Blue Devils made 16 of 28 field goal
attempts in the second half, a blistering 57.1 percent.
Sophomore guard Daniel Ewing, who started for the first time since Feb. 5,
torched the Cavaliers for 32 points. His previous career high was 19 points.
Ewing hit 11 of 16 shots, including 5 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc. That's
the fourth time in the Cavaliers' past seven games that an opposing player has
scored at least 30 points against them.
U.Va. has dropped its past nine games in this tournament, starting with a
semifinal loss to Wake Forest in 1995. Overall, the Wahoos have lost 13
consecutive postseason games, a streak they'll probably get a chance to end in
the NIT next week.
The 12th-ranked Blue Devils, meanwhile, won their 13th straight game in the ACC
tourney, extending their conference. They're shooting for their fifth straight
ACC title.
Duke will meet seventh-seeded North Carolina (17-14) in today's second game. The
semifinalists consist of the conference's Big Four - Duke, UNC, Wake Forest and
N.C. State -- for the first time since 1963.
With last night's defeat, Travis Watson will leave Virginia as perhaps the
finest player in conference history never to win an ACC tournament game. The
6-8, 255-pound senior, a three-time member of the all-ACC second team, fouled
out with 6:55 remaining on a questionable call that incensed Gillen.
"That's a disgrace," he shouted to the officials after Watson went to the bench
with eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore swingman Devin Smith hit four treys and led Virginia with 19 points.
Sophomore center Elton Brown came off the bench to score 15 points, all in the
second half. Twelve came after Brown was called for a technical foul with 12:29
left, an ill-advised burst of emotion that allowed Duke to stretch its lead from
eight to 13 on a single possession.
It was 53-40 after Duke freshman guard J.J. Redick's trey with 12:04 left, but
the Cavaliers battled back behind Smith, who sank two treys in a 8-0 run.
In the final 7:30, Virginia cut its deficit to five points four times but could
get no closer. After Virginia freshman Derrick Byars (11 points), who played
superbly, missed a 3-point attempt, Duke center Shelden Williams dunked to make
it 70-63. That was the first of seven straight possessions on which the Devils
scored at least one point. They got two treys from all-ACC forward Dahntay Jones
during that stretch.
Virginia led 30-29 at halftime, but not because it had played particularly well.
The Cavaliers shot 52.4 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes but
turned the ball over 12 times and missed 5 of 11 free throws.
Duke completes Big Four sweep
Duke wasn't about to be left out of the in-state semifinals party at the 50th ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils, behind a career-high 32 points from guard Daniel Ewing, beat Virginia 83-76 in last night's late game at the Greensboro Coliseum. They advanced to today's semifinals and will play North Carolina at around 4 o'clock.
In the first semifinal, N.C. State will take on Wake Forest, marking only the fourth time in the history of the tournament that all four North Carolina schools will be in the semifinals. The last time it happened was 40 years ago.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who used to coach in the Big Four Tournament when he first took over at Duke in the early 1980s, said that today's atmosphere for the semifinals will be great even if it wasn't an all-North Carolina battle royal.
"It wouldn't matter because the atmosphere in Greensboro is great and they support better than anybody so it will remind me of my first year in the league and the Big Four (Tournament)," Krzyzewski said. "Hopefully, the result will be different."
The Blue Devils, going for an unprecedented fifth straight ACC title, broke open a close game early in the second half behind Ewing, Dahntay Jones (16 points), J.J. Redick (12 points) and Sheldon Williams (10 points).
A 16-5 run to start the second half gave the Blue Devils some breathing room, and the Cavaliers never recovered.
By the time that Ewing knifed in for a layup with less than 15 minutes to go, the Blue Devils' lead was 45-35.
Ewing was making his first start since the North Carolina game on Feb. 5. Krzyzewski said that by making the lineup change, the Blue Devils utilized Ewing's quickness.
"Daniel was terrific and his assertiveness was key to the ballgame," Krzyzewski said.
Ewing was 11 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 7 on 3-pointers, with four rebounds, three assists and just one turnover. He said that he took it as a challenge once he found out he would be starting.
"Today was a big day being inserted into the starting lineup," Ewing said. "I just wanted to be a spark plug, especially on the defensive end. That carried over to my offense and I was able to hit some shots tonight."
It's a good thing that Ewing was on his game because the same could not be said for Chris Duhon, who had six turnovers in the first half, and wound up with just one point in 34 minutes, but did have seven assists.
Krzyzewski benched Duhon for the first three minutes of the second half.
"The guy who was being most assertive was Daniel and Chris didn't have a good first half," Krzyzewski said. "So I just thought it would be good to settle him down, sit him down, and it gave Daniel even more of an opportunity to be assertive."
Duhon praised Ewing for carrying the Blue Devils, but also scolded himself.
"I made a lot of turnovers, silly turnovers," Duhon said. "I guess I wanted it too much."
Tthe Cavaliers were going at a slow pace as they tried to utilize their inside game. When Elton Brown made a short jumper in the lane the Cavaliers were behind by just five with 2:58 to go.
But Jones, who was just 5 of 14 from the field, hit probably the two biggest shots of the game. His 3-pointer from the right baseline and then one from the right wing with 1:38 to go put an end to any hopes of Virginia winning its first tournament game since 1995. Jones' second 3-pointer made it a 9-point Duke advantage.
"J.J. drove the lane and hit me," Jones said about one of his dagger-like 3-pointers. "And I just tried to step up and knock it down. I was wide open so I had to take it."
The Cavaliers fought through the foul trouble of Travis Watson, until he was called for his fifth foul on a questionable call against Williams with 6:55 left. Gillen was in no mood to rip the officials afterwards.
"No comment," he said about Watson's fifth foul. "No comment. I'm a coach. I can't referee."
Despite losing Watson late, the Cavaliers had plenty of chances but Ewing and the rest of the Blue Devils answered every challenge.
Devin Smith led the Cavaliers with 19 points and Brown added 15 points in just 13 minutes. Derrick Byars scored 11 points, and despite shooting 57 percent, the Cavaliers couldn't get over the hump, thanks to Ewing.
"He's a great player," Gillen said about Ewing. "They have so many bullets in their gun and you can only stop so many guys."
Redick was blunt in his assessment of Ewing. "Daniel carried us tonight," he said. "He's probably the reason we won."
The Blue Devils added to its tournament-record win streak with their 13th straight game. And now they have a rematch with the Tar Heels, who beat them 82-79 last Sunday in Chapel Hill.
"Obviously, it will be another great game," Ewing said about today's game. "Unfortunately we lost to them last Sunday but we just have to come out and fight and hopefully we can come out with a win."
Ewing huge in Duke win
By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Mar 15, 2003 : 1:00 am ET
GREENSBORO -- Duke sophomore Daniel Ewing hadn’t started a game in more than a
month, and it seemed like it had been at least that long since Ewing had
finished off one.
But Friday night in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, with his backcourt buddies
struggling much of the game, Ewing started strong against Virginia and finished
off the Cavaliers, pouring in a career-high 32 points to lead Duke to an 83-76
victory at Greensboro Coliseum.
The game, which ended minutes before midnight, set up a historic set of
semifinals for today. The third-seeded Blue Devils (22-6) will get another shot
at heated rival North Carolina today at 4 p.m., six days after the Tar Heels
knocked them off and a couple of hours after top seed Wake Forest and No. 4-seed
N.C. State meet in the first semifinal.
Today’s matchups will mark the first time in 40 years that the four North
Carolina schools have all advanced to the semifinals.
"It will remind me of my first year in the league with the Big Four
[Tournament]," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose first season at Duke
included a sweep at the hands of UNC and N.C. State in the final Big Four
Tournament. "Hopefully the result will be different."
Ewing got his first start since Duke’s first game against UNC on Feb. 5 and
provided 11 first-half points to keep Duke close, then he helped Duke run away
with it after halftime.
Ewing hit 11 of 16 shots — including 5 of 7 from 3-point range — to shatter his
previous career high of 19 points earlier this season against Georgetown.
"Today was big, especially with me being inserted into the starting lineup,"
Ewing said. "I just wanted to be a sparkplug, especially on the defensive end,
and that carried over to my offensive game and I was able to hit some shots and
make some big plays tonight."
The Blue Devils trailed 30-29 after an ugly first half but took control over the
first five minutes of the second half. Duke came out of the locker room with a
different lineup and a different look about them.
Point guard Chris Duhon, who committed six first-half turnovers, started the
second half on the bench, and the Blue Devils started to look a lot better.
After Devin Smith sank a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the half to put
Virginia ahead 33-31, the Blue Devils spurted to score 14 of the game’s next 16
points and lead 45-35.
Ewing, Duke’s lone bright spot in the first half after getting the start over
Casey Sanders, shone even brighter after halftime. Ewing started the run with a
3-pointer to put Duke ahead 34-33, and lead the Blue Devils never relinquished.
Freshman J.J. Redick drilled a 3-pointer a minute later, and after going 2-for-8
as a team on 3-pointers in the first half, Duke was 2-for-2 from long range in
the first two-plus minutes of the second half.
Then, after Virginia’s Travis Watson scored from close range, Sanders scored on
a strong follow shot, Shelden Williams scored on a power move and Nick Horvath
hit a follow shot. Ewing capped the run with a baseline drive as the shot clock
ticked toward zero, pushing the lead to 45-35.
"The guy who was being the most assertive was Daniel, and Chris didn’t have a
good first half," Krzyzewksi said. "So I thought it would be to just settle him
down and sit him down, and it also gave Daniel even more of an opportunity to be
assertive.
"Daniel was terrific. His toughness and his assertiveness was the key to the
ballgame."
The Cavaliers (15-15), who dropped their ninth straight ACC Tournament game,
spent the rest of the game occasionally cutting into the deficit, only to have
Ewing cut out their hearts.
Smith, who paced the Cavs with 19 points, hit a 3-pointer with 10:53 left to
pull Virginia within 53-48. But after a Dahntay Jones free throw, Ewing hit a
floater in the lane to make it 56-48.
Derrick Byars answered with a floater, but Ewing came right back with a
3-pointer from the right corner on a step-back move to push the lead to 59-50.
And later, when big man Elton Brown’s third straight field goal brought the Cavs
within 63-58 with 6:41 left, Ewing missed a 3-pointer but got a second chance on
a rebound by Redick and pushed it back to 66-58.
"He carried us tonight. He really did," Redick said. "He put us on his back, and
we rode him pretty much the whole game."
Brown, who scored all 15 of his points over the final 13 minutes, mounted one
last charge with back-to-back baskets to bring the Cavs within 70-65 with three
minutes left. That’s when Ewing handed the honors to Jones, who hit 3-pointers
on back-to-back possessions as the shot clock whittled away to make it 76-67.
Jones finished with 16 points.
The first half paled in comparison to the second-half fireworks. The teams
combined for 23 first-half turnovers, and it all added up to a 30-29 lead for
Virginia at the break. The 29 points matched a season low for Duke in a half.
The Cavs built a 13-7 lead early, getting a pair of baskets from senior Jason
Rogers, who had totaled 15 points all season before scoring 12 in Virginia’s
season-ending victory over Maryland.
But after a follow shot from Smith at the 15:03 mark, Virginia went 7:35 without
a field goal, misfiring on six shots and mishandling the ball to the tune of
four turnovers during the drought.
Duke didn’t exactly take advantage. After Redick hit a long two-point shot to
pull the Devils within 13-9, Duke went 4:20 without a field goal.
And so it went for much of the half.
But in the second half, with Ewing still surging and Duhon and Jones finally
settling in, the Blue Devils began looking like the higher seed.
Now they must again face a lower seed on a mission — a lower seed named UNC.
"They’re probably the most talented team in the conference," Duhon said.
"They’re just starting to get a feel for each other, and they’re starting to
play better. They’re capable of beating anybody."
Duke Ousts U-Va. for All-Carolina Semifinals
Duke 83, Virginia 76
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, March 15, 2003; Page D07
GREENSBORO, N.C., March 14 -- When they played Duke two months ago, the Virginia
Cavaliers couldn't stop J.J. Redick. One month ago, they couldn't stop Shelden
Williams. Tonight, Daniel Ewing became the third Blue Devil to post a
career-high point total against Virginia, scoring 32 to lead third-seeded Duke
to an 83-76 win in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.
The victory by Duke (22-6) produced the first all-North Carolina semifinals
since 1963 and only the fourth in the 50-year history of the ACC postseason.
From Virginia's perspective, the loss extends the Cavaliers' postseason losing
streak to 13, including an 0-8 record in Pete Gillen's five season as coach. The
Cavaliers (15-15) have not won an ACC tournament game since 1995.
"We gave it our best effort against a great team," Gillen said. "I guess I've
got to coach better and we've got to get our players better."
Sixth-seeded Virginia held a slim 30-29 lead at halftime but fell victim to a
surge by the Blue Devils in the opening minutes of the second half that put the
Cavaliers in a 53-40 hole. They pulled within five points six times in the final
11 minutes, but could not break through. Nineteen Virginia turnovers led to a
20-12 advantage for Duke.
"Turnovers killed us," Virginia's Elton Brown said. "Our offense did good, we
played basically good defense, but turnovers just killed us. Against a team like
that, you can't turn the ball over at all."
Duke moves on to face seventh-seeded North Carolina in Saturday's semifinal
round, while the Cavaliers are left hoping this wasn't their final game of the
season. Though their NCAA tournament hopes were sunk by seven straight losses in
the past month, Virginia's .500 record makes it eligible for a third National
Invitation Tournament bid in four years. But even that might not happen if the
NIT selection committee focuses on Virginia's 2-10 record in road games.
"The NIT, it's not a bad tournament," Virginia senior Travis Watson said. "I
told everybody it's another opportunity for me to play before my [college]
career ends."
Watson became the 19th player in ACC history to reach 1,500 points and 1,000
rebounds, but that was the only good news for the all-ACC power forward in what
may have been his final college game. He fouled out with 6 minutes and 55
seconds left, with eight points and seven rebounds.
In his absence, Brown became Virginia's go-to post player down the stretch, when
he scored most of his 15 points as the Cavaliers attempted a comeback. Devin
Smith added 19 points and Derrick Byars scored 11, but Ewing and teammates
Dahntay Jones (16 points) and Redick (12 points) were too much.
Like Redick in the first Duke-Virginia matchup and Williams in the second, Ewing
topped his previous career high. The sophomore guard hit 11 of 16 field goal
attempts, including 5 of 7 three-pointers, and all five of his free throws.
"He's a great player," Gillen said. "They've got great talent and a great coach.
. . . They've got so many bullets in their gun."
"I guess I've got to coach better," Gillen said, "and we've got to get our players better."
In case you haven't heard, Virginia hasn't won a postseason game under Gillen. Not in the NCAA Tournament. Not in the National Invitation Tournament. Not in the ACC Tournament.
In five years in Charlottesville, Gillen is 0-5 in the ACC Tournament, 0-2 in the NIT and 0-1 in the NCAA. At 15-15, this year's team is no lock to advance further.
In the quiet of the locker room, UVa's early-season victory over Kentucky -- which now looks like a contender for the national title -- seemed a million miles away.
"It was such an up-and-down year," guard Todd Billet said. "We had good times and times when we struggled. That symbolizes our team."
In the hallway, Gillen mulled over the season. He was reminded of Keith Jenifer, the jitterbug of a point guard who was suspended from the team Feb. 3 for violating team rules. He did not return, and he has since asked for, and been granted, a release from his scholarship.
"We needed a quick little point guard to make things better," Gillen said. "We had one. He's no longer with us. I'm not saying we win with him. Don't get me wrong. But we needed a quick little point guard."
Instead, the Cavs lost seven straight games.
"We all took it hard," Billet said. "We all tried to stay positive, to bounce back each time, and we did that last week [when they ended the losing streak by beating Maryland]. We kept trying to do it all year."
They couldn't do it Friday. Virginia turned the ball over 19 times, including crucial mishaps at the start of the second half. They lost center Travis Watson, who fouled out with more than six minutes remaining.
"That's life," Gillen said. "You look around the country. A lot of schools have a lot worse problems."
For Gillen and the Cavs, that didn't make it any easier.
"I hate losing more than anybody," Gillen said. "I hate losing more than I
enjoy winning."