Cavaliers ousted from NIT
Villanova guards too much for UVa
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 21, 2004

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Virginia made a season-tying high 13 3-pointers in its 79-66 win against George Washington on Wednesday. It should have saved some of them for this game.

Virginia, making just 1 of 10 attempts from behind the arc and shooting 38.6 percent overall, was defeated by Villanova 73-63 in a second round NIT contest at the Pavilion.

Villanova (18-16) advances to face the Rutgers-West Virginia winner in a quarterfinal contest Wednesday. The Cavaliers’ season finished at 18-13.

“We had some tired legs today. We weren’t sharp early. Villanova has a heck of a squad. … We dug ourselves a hole a couple of times today and you can’t do that. You can’t do that especially when you are on the road,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen.

Allan Ray finished with 23 points while Randy Foye, who made a key leaner in the lane with just over a minute remaining with his team’s lead teetering at four, added 21.

Gary Forbes led Virginia with 19 points while Elton Brown added 13, all in the second half. Senior guard Todd Billet, playing his final collegiate game, was scoreless after a 0 for 6 performance from the floor (0-2 on 3s). It was just the second time in Billet’s career he had been held scoreless, the first since his sophomore year at Rutgers.

Devin Smith did not play because of continued pain in his back.

Villanova coach Jay Wright certainly devised the proper defense on Virginia’s shooters after watching their 13-for-26 performance against GW on Wednesday.

“It was definitely a point of emphasis. You know that have really good players but we felt that Billet and [J.R.] Reynolds could bust open the game. That was a big concern because their guards have the ability to make the shots and control the game,” Wright said. “I think we did a good job on Billet. He only had, well, actually he didn’t score. That’s amazing.”

Actually, it was Wright’s guard that controlled and won the game.

The trio of Ray, Foye and Mike Nardi (14 points) outscored Virginia’s triumvirate of Billet, Reynolds and T.J. Bannister, 58-12. In addition, Villanova’s guards snared 15 rebounds compared to just three for the UVa threesome.

“Our backcourt had to hold them off a little bit. We didn’t have our best game today. We just weren’t sharp today,” Gillen said.

Added Billet: “It was definitely a frustrating day.”

Villanova led 37-28 at intermission after Ray drained a 24-foot, leaning 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Wildcats only managed to get that final shot when Minter took an ill-advised shot with eight seconds remaining in the half and the shot clock off. Minter’s shot was partially blocked and Villanova secured the rebound to setup Ray’s heave.

“We were trying to hold the ball for the last shot but we are too inexperienced and we went too soon. We started the play at 13 seconds and we should have started it at eight or nine and then they end up with a shot at the buzzer,” Gillen said.

Villanova quickly pushed that lead to 17 when a Ray jumper with 16:40 remaining made it 45-28.

The Cavaliers certainly made inroads in a comeback effort by their frigid shooting touch hampered those efforts. It was only when it managed to get the ball to Brown on the interior that Virginia found any success.

A three-point play by Brown cut the deficit to 61-55 with 3:10 remaining and then moments later, Brown hit a driving layup to cut it to four, 63-59, with 1:51 left.

That, however, would be the closest the Cavaliers got to continuing their season.

Foye made the off-balance leaner over Bannister with 1:12 left that pushed the lead back to six and spurred a 10-4 run over the final minute that ended Virginia’s up-and-down 2003-04 campaign.

Gillen, who has not received a vote of confidence from Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage about his return for next season, insisted he wants to be Virginia’s coach next season.

“I don’t want to really comment on that. I hope to be here a long time but that’s an administrative decision. We are excited about the future and I think we will have a great future. Hopefully the school will have confidence in me because I have confidence in myself,” Gillen said.
 

Cats put an end to Cavs' wild season
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 21, 2004

VILLANOVA, Pa.
Rest in peace, Virginia. After a month of cheating the reaper and playing its best, the Cavaliers’ roller-coaster season expired early Saturday afternoon in a building where their coach has never won.
Villanova’s Pavilion, known in these parts as the “Cathouse,” has not been kind to Pete Gillen during his coaching career. He is Oh-for-Forever here, five collective losses with three programs he has brought to this part of Philly.
This one had to rate as one of the ugliest. The Cavs, physically and mentally drained from a trying season and hobbled in the fact that top player Devin Smith’s injured back kept him on the bench, arrived at this Big East destination DOA.
The Virginians’ shooting touch, which had resulted in 13 treys against GW in Wednesday night’s opening round win of the NIT, had abandoned them on this short trip northward. UVa’s guards were almost Hobbitt-esque compared to Villanova’s taller and more athletic backcourt, which made it difficult for the shorter Hoos to get off good shots.
The Wildcats’ three-guard offense outscored Virginia’s guards 58-12 and the rest was history as Villanova ended the Cavaliers’ season, 73-63.

Will Gillen return?
Afterward, Gillen headed back to Virginia without knowing whether he will be back to coach the Cavaliers next season. He expressed confidence that the team will be better next season.
“I hope to be here a long time,” Gillen said after his Cavaliers finished 18-13, winning six of their last 10 games. “Hopefully the school will have confidence in me.”
Virginia trailed by as many as 17 early in the second half, but steadily battled back to within four on an Elton Brown layup (63-59) with 1:50 to play. However, the Cavs missed their next four field-goal attempts and turned the ball over on another possession as Villanova finished off the game with a parade of free throws.
The Cathouse has been good to Nova, but it was anything less than an intimidating place to play on this day. Only 3,714 fans bothered to show up and Virginia had a healthy following behind its bench.
The only thing intimidating about the joint was the Wildcats’ guard play.

Bad ending for Billet
Any basketball fan had to feel bad for UVa senior Todd Billet, who had almost single-handedly salvaged the Cavs’ season with a trio of miraculous, winning 3-pointers in the stretch run. On this day, he couldn’t have hit water had he fallen out of a boat.
The diminutive guard was
0 for 6 and missed both 3-point attempts.
“He didn’t score?” remarked Villanova coach Jay Wright. “That’s unbelievable.”
Wright’s strategy was to hound Billet and freshman guard J.R. Reynolds all game long. His film study convinced him that the two were capable
of breaking open games with their long-range shooting and he wisely used bigger athletes on the two to limit their looks.
As a result, UVa’s bigger players gained opportunities in the paint and took advantage by outscoring the Wildcats, 40-20, inside. Still, the Cavs couldn’t rebound and couldn’t buy an outside shot when they needed one.
Gillen believes much of UVa’s problems will be remedied next season with a healthier Smith, due to undergo back surgery in the off-season, a more experienced team, and a squad with more athletic ability.
Philadelphia product Sean Singletary is expected to give next year’s Cavaliers a much stronger presence at point guard, which the coach believes will allow UVa to return to more of an up-tempo game. That, in turn, should help players like freshman small forward Gary Forbes, thrive in such an environment.
Forbes was one of the few bright spots for Virginia on this season-ender. He scored a team-high 19 points and connected on 8 of 11 field-goal attempts.
“The quicker the pace, the better Gary is,” Gillen said afterward, looking ahead to next season, when everyone but Billet returns.
UVa’s players agreed with their coach’s assessment about the future. Brown said that everyone knows their roles on the team and that the freshmen grew up in the final month of the season.
Freshman guard T.J. Bannister said the team’s chemistry is good and that it gained valuable confidence late in the season.
“We feel like we’re right there,” Bannister said.
“The program is going in the right direction,” Billet said. “The young guys developed and now it’s on their shoulders to work hard and get even better.”
The biggest question of all, though, remains unanswered by Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage. Will Gillen be back?
While Littlepage doesn’t necessarily have to hold a press conference about the issue, certainly there has to be some message delivered to the Wahoo Nation now that everything is done.
The wait begins.

 

Cavs cruise past Tar Heels
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
March 21, 2004

The first time Virginia junior Amy Appelt sprinted downfield Saturday afternoon, she started to see spots. Even after scoring an early goal, she felt dizzy and weak, so she took herself out of the game against North Carolina.

“I thought I was going to pass out,” she said.

On other days, that might have been a significant problem for the fifth-ranked Cavaliers. After all, Appelt leads the nation in scoring and had accounted for nearly 40 percent of her team’s offense this season.

But this time UVa was just fine without her. Getting balanced scoring with a new offensive strategy, the Cavaliers overwhelmed the No. 12 Tar Heels, 16-9, at Klockner Stadium.

Six different players scored the first six goals as Virginia (5-2, 2-0 ACC) jumped to a 7-0 lead and easily put away North Carolina (4-3, 0-2). Andrea Pfeiffer made 11 saves to key a defensive effort that was more than sufficient.

“People were a little bit more involved offensively and I thought our defense played really tough,” said UVa coach Julie Myers. “So I think all over the field everyone really stepped up and did their job.”

Despite her early sickness, Appelt returned to the game and finished with four goals. She has recorded a hat trick (at least three goals) in every game this season and has 33 goals, three times as many as any of her teammates, but she did not have to carry the offensive burden Saturday.

As Appelt drank water and regained strength on the sideline, “I don’t think we showed down or missed a beat,” Myers said. Tyler Leachman and Courtney Young scored to give the Cavaliers a 4-0 lead before six minutes had elapsed. Appelt only scored once in the first half as Virginia built a

9-3 lead.

Leachman, Young, Caitlin Banks, Kate Breslin and Kim Connors finished with two goals apiece, while Morgan Thalenberg and Ashleigh Haas each scored once.

“That’s really great. It means more people want the ball, more people want to go to goal,” Appelt said. “That takes a lot of the load off me. It’s harder to scout a team when you have six or seven people scoring, and not only scoring but scoring multiple goals.”

It was a promising debut for Virginia’s new offense, which Myers and her assistants installed during practice this week. With the graduation of Lauren Aumiller and season-ending injuries to Cary Chasney and Meredith Lazarus, the Cavaliers no longer have as many dangerous one-on-one attackers.

So the coaches changed the offense to focus more on passing and cutting, and the players executed it superbly.

“I thought we did a good job using the crease and cuts, and also back-dooring it on both sides,” Myers said. “It gets people a little more involved, it makes them more accountable for making good cuts to the goal and it shares [the ball] a little bit more. … I think Carolina was shocked by it because nobody’s seen it yet and they weren’t prepared.”

Still, it was Appelt who slammed the door.

After the Tar Heels scored twice in the opening minute of the second half to make it 9-5, Appelt answered with two straight goals of her own to spark a game-clinching 5-0 run.

“Amy’s our leader. We all look to her for motivation,” Leachman said. “But when other teams focus on Amy, that leaves a lot of people open. She breaks down the defense and helps the rest of us score.”
 

UVa's key cogs conk out
Devin Smith doesn't play, Todd Billet doesn't score, and Elton Brown struggles.
By Doug Doughty

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Virginia entered the second round of the National Invitation Tournament with three double-figure scorers. With 8:45 remaining Saturday at Villanova, one of them actually scored from the field.

Second-leading scorer Devin Smith didn't play, and third-leading scorer Todd Billet failed to score as the Cavaliers' season ended on the home floor of a Big East opponent for the second year in a row.

After seeing Virginia trim a 15-point second-half deficit to four, Villanova pulled away for a 73-63 victory before a paying crowd of 3,714.

Poor rebounding and a lackluster offensive performance may have reopened the debate over the future of six-year UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose Cavaliers won six of their last 10 games to finish 18-13.

"I don't want to comment on that," Gillen said. "I hope to be here a long time. But, that's certainly the administration's decision. We're excited about the future. I think we have a great future and hopefully the school will have confidence in me because I have confidence in myself."

Four UVa freshmen combined for 39 points, including 6-foot-6 Gary Forbes, who was 8-for-11 from the field and finished with 19 points, his high since Dec.3. Forbes had scored in double figures once in the previous 18 games.

The Cavaliers' only other double-figure scorer was center Elton Brown, who had one free throw to show for his day until he scored 12 points in the final 8:45.

"We just needed our veterans to give us a little bit more," said Gillen, who had made that observation on previous occasions. "When we didn't play well this season, that's what happened."

Villanova coach Jay Wright was preparing to say the Wildcats (18-16) had held Billet scoreless for a half when he looked at the final box score and saw that Billet had not scored in the game - for only the second time in his 121-game college career and the first time in 63 games at Virginia.

"Oh, he didn't score!" Wright said. "Unbelievable. That's unbelievable."

In his last five games, Billet's scoring totals were two, 20, two, 19 and zero.

"It didn't seem like our night, uh, morning," said Billet, referring to an 11a.m. start requested by ESPN2. "I thought we had some great looks. We just weren't getting the bounces."

Virginia had gone 13-for-26 on 3-pointers Wednesday night in a 79-66 victory over George Washington in Charlottesville, but the Cavaliers were 1-for-10 at Villanova, missing seven in a row before Derrick Byars connected on a 3 that made it 56-50 with 5:12 left.

Virginia, which had trailed 52-37 with less than nine minutes remaining, got as close as 63-59 on a Brown layup with 1:51 remaining. On the ensuing possession, 6-3 sophomore Randy Foye backed 5-10 1/2 UVa freshman T.J. Bannister into the lane and made a jumper to give Villanova a six-point lead with 1:12 left.

Both teams started three guards. Villanova's trio of Foye, Allan Ray and Mike Nardi outscored their UVa counterparts 58-12, and the Wildcats were able to pound Virginia 44-31 on the boards. The Cavaliers especially could have used Smith in that department, although they had him Wednesday night and were outrebounded 44-32.

Smith played 15 minutes against GW and did not score. When he was unable to play down the stretch against the Colonials, he knew chances were slim that he would play at Villanova. Gillen said he expects Smith to undergo surgery for a herniated disk as soon as his academic schedule will allow.

"You lose him, that's devastating," said Gillen, who didn't know until Saturday morning that Smith was a no-go. "He said it had been hurting for two or three days. Give Villanova all the credit in the world. [The Wildcats] might have beaten us, certainly, with him. He's our best player. It's a miracle we got out of him what we did."

 

Villanova eliminates Cavaliers
Gillen endures status questions
By Tim Shoemaker
Correspondent
Published March 21, 2004

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- The questions came at Virginia coach Pete Gillen from two directions early Saturday afternoon in the media room at Villanova.

The first round of questioning, although difficult to swallow, was easy for him.

The Cavaliers did not have second-leading scorer Devin Smith available because of back problems. They shot 1-for-10 from 3-point range. They lost the rebounding battle by 13. They got zero points from senior guard Todd Billet. So Gillen did not have trouble explaining why Villanova beat his Cavaliers 73-63 in a nationally televised, round-of-16 NIT game in a rare Saturday morning start.

But despite starting the season 10-0, beating three ranked teams and winning an NIT game - in his fifth straight postseason trip with Virginia - Gillen was asked about his future at U.Va.

"I don't want to comment on that," Gillen said. "I hope to be here a long time, but that's the administration's decision. I'm excited about the future. I hope the school will have confidence in me because I have confidence in myself."

Villanova (18-16), which will play either Rutgers or West Virginia in a quarterfinal Wednesday, led 52-37 after Allan Ray made two free throws with 9:26 left. But Virginia (18-13) scored the next seven points - four from Warwick High product Elton Brown - to make it 52-44 with seven minutes left. The Cavs closed to 63-59 when Derrick Byars fed Brown for a layup with 1:48 left.

But the next time downcourt, Villanova's Randy Foye made a jumper in the lane to push the lead back to six, and Virginia didn't score again until Brown's putback with 18.2 seconds left was too late to make a difference, because by then Villanova led 69-61.

"We were physically tired, emotionally tired," Gillen said. "It's a long season. Today we just didn't have the gas we needed. The effort was there. The character was there, but the execution wasn't."

Gary Forbes led the Cavs with 19 points, and Brown finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Ray led all scorers with 23 points.

"I'm proud of our guys, even though some of them didn't have it today," Gillen said.

Brown said he didn't know anything about Gillen's status as coach.

"That's not my call," Brown said. "I can't say if he's coming back or if his job is on the line. I play for the University of Virginia."
 

Fatigue, poor shooting close door on Cavs
Long distance fails Virginia as Villanova seizes early lead, holds on for victory
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 21, 2004

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The University of Virginia basketball team ended its sixth - and perhaps final - season under Pete Gillen with a forgettable performance in the National Invitation Tournament's second round.

Three days after making 13 3-pointers in a first-round victory over George Washington at University Hall, U.Va. went 1 for 10 from beyond the arc against Villanova at the Pavilion. The Wildcats, meanwhile, hit six treys in a 73-63 victory.

"It just didn't seem like it was . . . our morning," U.Va. guard Todd Billet said after a game that started at 11 a.m.

The crowd of 3,714, which included a sizeable Virginia cheering section, saw Villanova take the lead for good with 8:35 left in the first half. The Wildcats led by 15 with 9 minutes remaining, but the Cavaliers rallied and pulled to 63-59 with 1:51 remaining.

They got no closer. Villanova guard Randy Foye answered with an off-balance jumper over 5-10 T.J. Bannister to make it a six-point game with 1:12 left, and Virginia didn't score again until 18.3 seconds remained.

The Wildcats (18-16) will meet Rutgers or West Virginia in the NIT's third round. The Wahoos finished 18-13.

"I think we were just physically, mentally tired, emotionally tired," Gillen said. "It's a long season, a lot of games, and today we just didn't have the gas we needed."

Virginia closed by winning five of its final eight games. The Cavaliers' postsea- son record under Gillen, though, dropped to 3-11, including a 2-4 mark in the NIT. His overall record at U.Va. is 104-78.

Athletic Director Craig Littlepage, who's been in Denver this weekend for the NCAA tournament, has declined to say if Gillen, who has seven years left on his contract, will return in 2004-05.

Asked yesterday about his status, Gillen said, "I don't want to comment on that. I hope to be here a long time, but that's certainly the administration's decision. We're excited about the future. I think we have a great future, and hopefully the school will have confidence in me, because I have confidence in myself."

Each team started three guards yesterday, and Villanova's overwhelming superiority in the backcourt proved decisive. Allan Ray (23), Foye (21) and Mike Nardi (14) combined for 58 points, to only 12 for U.Va.'s J.R. Reynolds, Bannister and Billet.

"You know they've got many really good players," 'Nova coach Jay Wright said, "but we felt that Billet or Reynolds could bust open the game."

The Wildcats' fears proved unfounded. Billet, Virginia's lone senior starter, missed all six of his field-goal attempts. He finished scoreless for only the second time in his college career, the other occasion coming in his sophomore year at Rutgers.

"That's unbelievable," Wright said after seeing Billet's line in the box score.

Reynolds, a freshman who'd emerged as the team's most consistent perimeter player, scored all eight of his points in the first half.

"We just didn't have the legs [today], the freshness that we needed," Gillen said.

Worse for the Cavaliers, they were short-handed. The team's best all-around player, junior forward Devin Smith, didn't play because of a back injury that troubled him all season.

"That's devastating," Gillen said.

The 6-5 Smith is a superb rebounder, and his absence contributed to another homely effort on the boards. Villanova outrebounded Virginia 44-31. Sophomore forward Curtis Sumpter, a one-time U.Va. recruiting target, pulled down a game-high 11 boards and undoubtedly would have had more if foul trouble hadn't kept him on the bench for much of the second half.

Freshman swingman Gary Forbes led U.Va. with 19 points, his first game in double figures since Feb. 7. Forbes had played well against GW, too, scoring eight points and blocking three shots.

"I'm glad that I ended the year like this on a good note," Forbes said. "It can only lead to better things [at U.Va. next season]."

Junior forward Jason Clark contributed eight points, six rebounds, four blocks, one assist and one steal for Virginia. Classmate Elton Brown added 13 points and six rebounds, but the 6-9 center failed to score in the first half.

"It took me a while to get going," Brown said, "and me being one of the key players, I can't do that."

Reserve center Donte Minter scored eight points, all in the first half, but his lack of court sense hurt the Cavaliers. Late in the first half, Virginia had the ball with the shot clock off and could have - should have - gone into intermission trailing by no more than six points. Reynolds passed to Minter in the low post. Despite being double-teamed, Minter forced up a shot with 8 seconds left.

It missed. Villanova rebounded and, after a scramble for a loose ball at the other end, Ray tossed in a 30-footer at the buzzer to make it 37-28.

"We didn't play smart at times," Gillen said.
 

'Nova does away with Cavs, moves to NIT quarterfinals
By Ron Reid
Inquirer Staff Writer

The Villanova Wildcats hung tough to beat Virginia, 73-63, yesterday at the Pavilion and advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

Villanova, sporting an 18-16 overall record, will meet the winner of tomorrow night's matchup between Rutgers and West Virginiaon Thursday at 7 p.m. at a site to be determined.

"Obviously this is a very good win for us," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "Virginia is a good team. They were an NCAA bubble team. They are a lot like us in that they are very young and their best days are ahead of them. This was a great test to see where we are."

Wright also praised a Villanova defensive effort that made the contest a pointless exercise for Todd Billet, the Cavs' senior guard.

"Mike Nardi and Allan Ray chased around Billet and [J.R.] Reynolds all day," Wright said. "Billet didn't score. That's unbelievable."

To accommodate the television cameras of ESPN2, yesterday's game started at the unlikely hour of 11 a.m. and might have served as a wake-up call for Villanova.

Although the Wildcats outplayed, outshot and outrebounded their visitors from the Atlantic Coast Conference, they again showed the lack of killer instinct against a team they should have put away early in the second half.

At about 51/2 minutes past intermission, 'Nova led by 15 points and appeared to have the game firmly in hand.

But ensuing fouls, missed free throws and the Cavaliers' success at scoring in the paint eroded the Wildcats' lead to four points, 63-59, with not quite two minutes to go.

Much to the delight of the partisan Pavilion crowd of 3,714, Randy Foye came to the rescue.

The sophomore guard scored eight of his 21 points in the final 72 seconds to keep 'Nova alive for another contest.

"It's tough to get down 13, 14 points and come back," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "I was proud of our kids' effort. We just couldn't quite turn the corner."

Ray, the Wildcats' other sophomore guard, led all scorers with 23 points and hit three three-pointers, as did Nardi, the freshman point guard.

Villanova made good on 23 of 54 field-goal tries (42.6 percent) and sank 6 of 18 from three-point range. Virginia made 22 of 57 from the field, including one three-pointer in 10 attempts, and got 19 points from Gary Forbes, a 6-foot-6 center.

Thanks to Ray's buzzer-beater that brought down the house, and the inept offensive play by Virginia, Villanova went into the locker room with rising confidence and a 37-28 lead at the half.

While the Cavaliers (18-13) made 10 free throws in 10 first-half attempts, they connected on only 9 of 27 field-goal tries and missed badly on three three-point attempts.

The Cavs also played with a discernible lack of urgency, as if points would be awarded for wasting time.

Notes. While television exposure dictated the early start of yesterday's tilt, money was the primary reason it was contested at Villanova rather than Charlottesville, Va.

The home venue for second-round NIT games is usually based on the first-round attendance. The Cavs drew a crowd of 6,512 for their 79-66 win over George Washington on Wednesday night, shortly before the Wildcats beat Drexel, 85-70, before 3,229 at the Pavilion.

But 'Nova won the battle of the box office by selling tickets for $20 and $10, while the Virginia tickets all went for $8. Gate receipts convinced NIT officials that another game at Villanova would be more enriching.