Cavs clobber Colonials
UVa will now face Villanova
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 18, 2004

Virginia’s flows lasted a little longer in an ebb-and-flow game Tuesday night in a first round NIT contest at University Hall.

The Cavaliers, thanks in large part to a 20-5 run in a three-and-a-half minute span in the second half, dispatched George Washington 79-66.

The Cavaliers (18-12), who have now won six of their last nine games, advance to face Villanova in a second-round contest. Villanova dispatched Drexel 85-70 in its first-round game Wednesday night.

Virginia connected on 13 treys, which tied a season’s best mark, and shot 51.9 percent from the floor placed four players in double figures. Todd Billet had 19 and was followed by J.R. Reynolds (17), T.J. Bannister (11, five assists) and Donte Minter (10).

J.R. Pinnock paced George Washington with 19.

“I thought we beat a very talented team and a very athletic team. That’s probably the most athletic team in the Atlantic 10 and they sent four teams to the NCAA tournament,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, who has now won three of his past five postseason games. “We shot the ball well both by our standards and a lot of people’s standards. When the ball goes in the basket, good things happen.”

The ball went in the basket quite frequently during certain stretches and quite infrequently at others for the Cavaliers.

Virginia made 10 of its first 11 shots and jumped out to a 32-17 lead on Gary Forbes’ 3-pointer with 10:23 left in the opening half. Virginia, which made nine of its 13 first-half treys against GW’s zone defense, ultimately took a 48-33 lead at intermission.

That’s when Virginia’s ebb arrived.

From the last two minutes of halftime and the first six minutes of the second half, the Cavaliers went 15 possessions without scoring a single point. The Colonials managed to cut it to 48-43 when Pinnock made the second of two free throws with 14:21 remaining.

The game’s two coaches had varying explanations for that.

“I just said to them at halftime, ‘Fellas, you have to play hard.’ It wasn’t technical or anything. They just needed to play harder,” said George Washington coach Karl Hobbs.

The 15-point halftime advantage was Virginia’s biggest since leading Georgia Tech by eight on Feb. 14.

“I don’t think they were used to leading by 15 points. I think our guys stopped playing. They just didn’t know how to handle a lead like that,” Gillen said.

The Cavaliers certainly showed they could handle rebuilding a lead and did so quickly.

A Billet 3-pointer ignited a 20-5 Virginia run over the next 3:32 and when Reynolds rolled in a layup in transition, the Cavaliers led 68-48 with 10:30 remaining.

“Sometimes that happens. I think we kept our poise when they made that big run to start the second half. Todd made that 3-pointer and that helped get us going,” said Reynolds, who bit his lip demonstratively and rolled his eyes when told his team went 15 possessions without a score.

Accordingly, at least in this game, it wasn’t quite game, set and match at that point.

The Colonials battled back to cut the lead to eight, 74-66, on a 3-pointer by Carl Elliott with 3:06 remaining. They would get no closer, however, as Virginia made five of its final six free throws to seal it.

While an obvious thought might be how Virginia can score 20 points in three-and-a-half minutes and none in over eight minutes, another observation of this game was the enthusiasm the Cavaliers seemed to play with.

A first-round NIT game for a team like Virginia, who had marginal aspirations of receiving a NCAA invitation Sunday night, can be a crapshoot. At times, a team doesn’t look as if its interested in playing at all since not making the NCAAs. Other times, a squad will respond with energy just because it’s still playing at all. The Cavaliers at least seemed to be the latter as their 13-point margin of victory was their largest since defeating William & Mary 84-71 on Jan. 5.

“We all are having a lot of fun playing. We’re just gelling together right now. It’s all coming together and everyone knows their role. … Everyone is out there having fun and doing what they love which is playing basketball,” said Elton Brown. “Certainly when you are winning it’s fun, too.”
 

Cavs don't need luck to top Colonials
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 18, 2004

There were no blarney stones in sight Wednesday night for Virginia’s convincing win over George Washington in the opening round of the NIT. None were needed.

UVa’s most visible Irishman didn’t want to count on lucky charms for his basketball team to survive and advance. Instead, Coach Pete Gillen relied on Virginia just being Virginia.

Offense? Yes, it was there. The Cavaliers’ 48 first-half points tied their best halftime effort of the year as they scorched the nets at a 65.4 percent clip the first 20 minutes against a very athletic GW team. The Cavs’ overall offensive display included included making half of their 26 3-point attempts as Todd Billet, J.R. Reynolds and Gary Forbes turned University Hall into their personal shooting gallery.

Defense? Ditto. Virginia held the Atlantic 10 opponent to 34-percent shooting for the game and shut down the Colonials at crunch time. The Cavs’ big men blocked a season-high 13 shots, preventing GW from finishing several assaults on the UVa basket.

Rebounding? Well, you can’t have everything. The Cavs were killed on the boards, 44-32 as GW’s jack-in-the-box-like athletes claimed 21 rebounds and outscored UVa 23-4 on second chances.

Motivation

The most important question Virginia answered was the one that lingered on everyone’s tongues. Would they be excited about the NIT?

“I don’t think anybody wanted the season to end tonight,” said junior center Elton Brown. “Coach told us, one [loss] and you’re done. We fell apart at the end of the last two seasons, but the way we ended the ACC this year was a beautiful thing for us ... it made us want to keep this thing alive.”

The Cavs’ 79-66 triumph over GW improved their record to 18-12 and set up a second-round game with Big East foe Villanova, a 15-point winner over Drexel last night.

“I think this team’s attitude is, ‘Give us a game and we’ll play anywhere, anytime,’” said senior guard Todd Billet, who led scoring with 19 points. “As a senior, I wanted to keep playing. For me, it’s the end of the road.”

While Billet hopes that road ends at Madison Square Garden on April 1, he nor his team are tempted to look beyond the next game. That has worked well for the Cavs over the past month as they have won six of their last nine games.

One thing was certain, after an eight-minute drought to open the second half, Gillen was screaming at his team to keep competing. GW had cut into UVa’s 15-point bulge and narrowed it to just five (48-43) before Billet got it going.

The Cavs had played dreadful the first eight minutes, missing all seven field goal attempts and committing nine turnovers as the Colonials gained hope. Not if Billet had anything to say about it.

He drilled an open trey from the right corner to ignite an 18-4 run that included four shots from bonusphere, three by him and one by Reynolds.

GW coach Karl Hobbs was impressed.

“The guy [Billet] has a lot of basketball under his belt,” Hobbs said. “You’ve got to have seniors step up for you and tonight, he made big shots. He played like he wanted to extend his season.”

Billet said that he had adjusted his shot in practice, having noticed that he had been extending his elbow too far from his body. He focused on keeping it closer and bingo, his shot was back.

And just in time.

“We had stopped competing,” said Gillen, who admitted his team was a bit unfamiliar with such halftime leads.

GW had choked off Virginia’s passing lanes, causing Gillen to adjust their cuts through the fast-moving defense. The Cavs also had to fight through the quickness of GW’s 1-3-1 traps and fullcourt pressure.

Gillen also chose to go with a zone defense for a large portion of the game, wisely giving his guards an opportunity to get out on the break after a missed GW field goal attempt. Gillen knew his team was too slow to matchup with the Colonials man-to-man defense.

Virginia’s win came in front of 6,512 fans, at least 1,500 more than showed up for last year’s first-round win over Brown.

The victory also kept Gillen’s hopes of returning for his seventh year next season alive. UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage, a member of the NCAA tournament selection committee, was out of town at an NCAA site and missed last night’s win. He said weeks ago that he will not make a decision on Gillen’s fate until after the season is through.

Hobbs, who admittedly has a long relationship with Gillen, unashamedly heaped praise on the veteran UVa coach after the loss.

“With a little bit of patience and a little bit of time, they’re going to be a very, very good basketball team,” Hobbs said of the Cavaliers. “Tonight showed you the character of the coach ... his team was disappointed about not making it to the NCAAs and yet they responded like this. They played like the game was very important to them.”

All Gillen wants is four more just like it, minus that eight-minute lapse.

 

Swats halt sweat at NIT for UVa
A season-high 13 blocked shots and 13 3-pointers help UVa overcome a drought.
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE - As much as he talks about his Irish heritage, Pete Gillen couldn't lose on St.Patrick's Day, could he?

"Tomorrow, I'll celebrate that," Gillen said Wednesday night. "Tonight was business."

Virginia made Gillen sweat - so, what else is new? - but overcame a scoring drought of 8:28 to defeat George Washington 79-66 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

It was the second first-round NIT victory in two seasons for Virginia, which did not win a postseason game in Gillen's first four seasons as coach. Last week, the Cavaliers won their first ACC Tournament game in Gillen's tenure.

Just call him Mr.March.

Fifth-year guard Todd Billet, coming off a two-point outing against Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, had five 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19 points for the Cavaliers (18-12). Freshman J.R. Reynolds had 17 points, including four 3-point field goals.

Freshman guard J.R. Pinnock from Coastal Christian Academy in Virginia Beach led the Colonials (18-12) with 19 points. George Washington outrebounded Virginia 44-32 but shot 34.3 percent from the field.

Some of that might have been attributable to a season-high 13 blocked shots by the Cavaliers, one short of the school record. Virginia also tied a season high with 13 3-point field goals (on 26 attempts).

"It shows you the character of a coach when a team can have the disappointment of not getting in the NCAA tournament - I say that because that's what I read - and then respond in the manner in which they did," GW coach Karl Hobbs said. "I know I'm tooting coach Gillen's horn, but I'm doing it for good reason.

"I thought he did a tremendous job of getting his team physically and mentally ready. They played like the game was very important to them."

After taking a 48-31 lead on two Elton Brown free throws with 2:27 remaining in the first half, the Cavaliers failed to score on 15 consecutive possessions, including nine in a row in the second half as GW closed the deficit to 48-43.

Just when it looked as if Virginia might never score again, the Cavaliers scored 20 points in a 3:32 span, including three Billet 3-pointers. That gave UVa a seemingly comfortable 68-48 lead with less than 10 1/2 minutes left.

"He's a fifth-year guy?" Hobbs asked. "The guy's got a lot of basketball under his belt. You have to have seniors step up for you. He really played like a guy who wanted to extend his season."

Just as quickly, UVa cooled off again, with only two T.J. Bannister field goals to show for a seven-minute stretch in which the Colonials trimmed the deficit to 72-63. If not for two timely blocked shots by Jason Clark, who also drew a charge and had a key steal, it might have been closer than that.

"I thought he was magnificent," Hobbs said. "In some ways, he was the difference in the ballgame. If they don't have those 13 blocks, that's 10 more points on the board for us. I thought [Clark] was huge, which is a real credit to the guy because it looks like he really understands his role."

The Cavaliers will meet Villanova, an 85-70 winner over Drexel, Saturday at a time and site that was to be determined in a conference call late Wednesday night. UVa had a virtual full house, with a paid attendance of 6,512.

"Obviously, we wanted to be playing in the NCAA tournament," Billet said, "but this team has the attitude of, 'Give us a game; we'll play anywhere, any time.'"
 

Cavs finally streak away
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published March 18, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Pick your choice of adjectives - ragged, weird, helter-skelter, bizarre. Each would fit in describing Virginia's 79-66 victory over George Washington in the National Invitation Tournament's first round Wednesday night in University Hall.

How can anyone explain the Cavaliers (a) scoring 32 points in the opening 91/2 minutes, then (b) going an 81/2-minute stretch without a point and then (c) scoring 20 points over the next 31/2 minutes? The winning team had four offensive rebounds and 18 turnovers. The losing team had 14 steals and 23 second-chance points.

"I guess that's basketball," said U.Va. guard Todd Billet, who had 19 points and hit 5-of-11 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. "That's just the way the game was going tonight."

In the end, Virginia (18-12) was good enough to beat a quality team from a conference that sent four teams to the NCAA tournament. Before an energetic crowd of 6,512, the Cavs advanced to a second-round game against Villanova, an 85-60 winner over Drexel. The NIT committee had not set the site or date as of late Wednesday night.

Virginia led by 15 points at halftime and as many as 20 in the second half, though putting away the Colonials (18-12) wasn't easy. The Cavaliers played decent enough defense in holding GW to 34-percent shooting, but gave up 21 offensive rebounds. J.R. Pinnock, the Colonials' 6-foot-5 shooting guard, personally outrebounded U.Va. 5-4 on the offensive end.

Like a team that wanted to keep playing, Virginia missed its first shot of the night but then hit 10 in a row. Billet, 2-for-20 from the 3-point arc in his previous three games, nailed two 3-pointers in the first three minutes. You knew it had to be the Cavs' night when freshman Gary Forbes, 2-for-20 in his last 15 games, hit a jumper from the arc with 10:23 remaining to make it 32-17.

Elton Brown's free throws at 2:27 made it 48-31. But over its next 15 possessions - the final five of the first half and the first 10 of the second period - Virginia went 0-for-7 with eight turnovers. With 14:21 left, the lead had been cut to five and Virginia was in big-time confusion mode.

But just like that, Billet hit a 3-pointer. Forbes made a layup. And the Cavs were off, outscoring the Colonials 20-5 over the next 3:32 to take a 68-48 lead with 10:27 remaining.

"We had a sense of urgency," Billet said.

You could call it that. After missing seven straight shots, Virginia hit 8-of-10.

"It was a game of streaks," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said. "We had a bad streak that almost cost us the game. Then we had a good streak."

And with it, Virginia advanced. The NIT isn't the NCAAs, but the Cavs are at least determined to make the best of it.

"We're two games away from the Garden," said Brown, referring to the semifinals that are played in New York's Madison Square Garden. "But there are good teams in this tournament - Purdue, Oklahoma - so it's not like this is a cupcake tournament. We just want to keep playing, especially since we've been playing good ball."

Cavs cheer treys
Virginia starts fast and finishes strong in triumph over GW
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 18, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia took a step toward Madison Square Garden last night, winning convincingly in the National Invitation Tournament's first round.

The Cavaliers, up 15 on George Washington at the break, saw their lead cut to five early in the second half. The fans who'd rocked University Hall for much of the game murmured uneasily, but their fears proved unfounded. U.Va. answered in emphatic fashion, outscoring the Colonials 20-5 in a span of 3:31 and cruised to a 79-66 victory before 6,512.

"We're two games away from the Garden," junior center Elton Brown said.

Brown, the Cavaliers' leading scorer, had only eight points last night, but his offense wasn't needed. U.Va. starts three guards, and they combined for 47 points. Senior Todd Billet scored 19, and freshmen J.R. Reynolds and T.J. Bannister added 17 and 11, respectively.

U.Va. (18-12), led by Billet (five) and Reynolds (four), tied its season high by making 13 3-pointers. The basket has rarely looked bigger for Virginia, which shot 65.4 percent from the floor in the first half and 51.9 percent overall.

"When the ball goes in the basket, good things happen," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.

The Cavaliers, who hit 10 of their first 11 shots, never trailed. They took the lead for good on a Reynolds trey with 14:20 left in the opening half.

"I thought that Coach Gillen did just a terrific job in getting his team mentally and physically ready for this game," GW coach Karl Hobbs said. "They played like the game was very important for them."

U.Va. players agreed afterward that the NIT is more than a consolation prize to them.

"I think everybody wants to keep playing," Brown said. "Nobody wants the season to end."

Next up for Virginia is a second-round game with Villanova (17-16), which beat Drexel 85-70 last night in Philadelphia. NIT officials were to announce the date and site late last night.

"We're thrilled to play, wherever we play," Gillen said.

Virginia, as has happened so often this season, got hammered on the boards. On a night when U.Va. had only four offensive re- bounds and 32 boards overall, the Colonials (18-12) grabbed 21 of their 44 at the offensive end,

The Cavaliers shot so well on this St. Patrick's Day, though, that it didn't matter. They played solid defense, too, blocking a season-high 13 shots and holding GW to 34.3-percent accuracy from the floor.

Freshman swingman Gary Forbes and junior forward Jason Clark each had three blocks. Clark scored only two points - on a dunk 78 seconds into the game - but he contributed in other ways. He had three rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes.

"I thought he was magnificent," Hobbs said. "In some ways, he was the difference in the ball game."

Virginia, remarkably efficient on offense for much of the first half, sputtered after Brown's two free throws made it 48-31 with 2:27 remaining. The Cavaliers didn't score on their next 15 possessions, a drought that stretched well into the second half and allowed the Colonials to pull to 48-43.

"There was a sense of urgency," Billet said, and the fifth-year senior who had game-winning shots against Georgia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina delivered again.

Billet's trey with 13:59 left started the blitzkrieg. Forbes followed with a layup off a steal. Then came another Billet 3-pointer, which made it 56-43 at the 13:23 mark. The Colonials tried to keep pace but couldn't, as Billet hit another trey, reserve Donte Minter scored twice inside, and Reynolds bombed in a 3-pointer. Reynolds then added a layup to make it 68-48 with 10:28 left.

In Billet's previous three games, he'd gone 2 for 20 from beyond the arc, but he was 5 for 11 last night.

"I really thought he played like a senior tonight," Hobbs said. "I really thought he played like a guy who wanted to extend his season."

Forbes went 2 for 2 on 3-pointers, the first time since Jan. 3 he'd made more than one trey. Along with his three blocks, he had three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 21 minutes.

 

Serious shooters showed up for Cavs
Jonathan Evans
Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

As his team took the court in their opening game of the NIT tournament, Virginia coach Pete Gillen probably wondered what type of effort he would get from his team. He's seen his team mail in a haphazard effort in 2002 in a 74-67 home loss to South Carolina and he's seen them pull out an 89-73 home victory over Brown in 2003. When it comes time to tip it off and start a game in the NIT, you never really know what kind of performance you'll see out of a team.Will they just go through the motions, or will the team positively respond to the chance at winning meaningful post-season games? Thankfully for Gillen, against George Washington, it was the latter. Virginia stepped up to the plate in their opening round game of the NIT tournament, beating the Colonials, 79-66.

Virginia received a welcomed surprise as U-Hall proved to be a loud and electric environment as fans displayed the energy and enthusiasm usually reserved just for Duke and North Carolina.

"It was a great turnout, it gave us a boost," freshman J.R. Reynolds said.

The Cavaliers came out of the gates on fire, busting the game open by shooting nearly 70 percent from behind the arc in the first half. Virginia kept the intensity level up, forcing the tempo and executing in transition. This inspired play resulted in a 15-point halftime advantage for the Cavaliers.

Though the Colonials closed to within five, Reynolds and Todd Billet made sure that Virginia would not let the game and the season slip away.Reynolds found Billet three times for three connections from behind the arc in a pivotal stretch in the second half. Reynolds himself also had five points as the Cavaliers dropped 20 points in the four-minute second half stretch.

The 6,512 fans in U-Hall stayed on their feet as Jason Clark invited everyone to his own block party. With six minutes left in the game, Clark sent a Colonial lay-up sailing into the fourth row of the crowd. Trailing the play, Clark went all out to put himself in a position to make the spectacular block. Clark finished the game credited with just three of Virginia's 13 blocks.

"J. Clark was great," Gillen said. "He came out of nowhere on some of those blocks. He does a lot that doesn't show up in the box score."

The energy and passion exhibited by Clark and the Cavaliers is a welcome surprise to those who feared the team may be on an emotional low following their quarterfinal loss in the ACC tournament. On the contrary, the Cavaliers are proving to be a team that is coming together and saving their best basketball for when it matters most.

"We're just taking advantage of the opportunity to play in the post-season," Reynolds said. "I think it was the best offensive game we've had in a while."

Indeed, shooting 52 percent from the filed isn't too shabby for a team coming off of a loss that sent lofty post-season aspirations out of the window.

"It shows you the character of the coach," George Washington coach Kevin Hobbs said. "The team suffered a disappointment and was able to respond in the matter that they did. He got his team prepared to play."

While the Cavaliers positively responded, their performance was far from perfect. Going scoreless for the first six minutes of the second half certainly won't get the Cavaliers to the finals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden. Yet the Cavaliers did regain their composure and made big plays when they had to. The 20-5 run speaks volumes as the Cavaliers got back to attacking, forcing the tempo and playing with an unbridled intensity. Indeed, Virginia gave Gillen very little reason to worry as they played like a team that took the NIT seriously.