UVa drops fourth straight
Cavaliers fall to .500 with loss to N.C. State
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 3, 2005

This finale received no encore. It didn’t deserve one and may never get one.

In what was the final regular season home game for seniors Elton Brown and Devin Smith and perhaps for UVa coach Pete Gillen as well, N.C. State dispatched the Cavaliers 82-72 on Wednesday night at U-Hall.

Julius Hodge had 17 points and eight assists while Jordan Collins and Tony Bethel each had 16 points for the Wolfpack (17-11, 7-8 ACC), who enhanced their NCAA Tournament chances with the win.

“Certainly we’re very proud of our guys. This was certainly a very important game for us,” said N.C. State coach Herb Sendek.

Sean Singletary had 17 for the Cavaliers (13-13, 4-11 ACC), who lost their fourth straight game. Devin Smith added 13 and Jason Cain also had a career-high 13 points.

“We just didn’t have it tonight. We weren’t hitting our shots and we weren’t defending like we needed to,” said a beleaguered Gillen.

The oft-maligned Brown, who received a pleasantly warm reception from the

U-Hall crowd in pregame ceremonies, finished with five points and seven rebounds, including a 1-of-6 performance from his perpetual nemesis: the free-throw line. Brown finished his career at U-Hall missing 15 of his last 19 attempts from the stripe in the building.

“He missed five in a row at one point. … He’s not trying to miss. He just has trouble making them,” Gillen said.

Brown, Smith and Gillen technically have a chance for another home game in the NIT. That, however, will require a win in their regular season finale at Florida State on Sunday - a game that will be a battle to avoid last place in the league - or a deep run in the ACC Tournament. A .500 record is necessary to receive a NIT invitation.

When asked if he felt that he had coached his last game in this building, Gillen had few words in response.

“We will see. Time will tell,” Gillen murmured several times.

The Wolfpack widened a five-point halftime advantage to a 50-40 lead on two free throws from Tony Bethel with 14:50 left in the contest. N.C. State then maintained a comfortable cushion until a Smith trey with nine minutes remaining cut it to

58-54. The Cavaliers, however, were never able to break that four-point barrier thereafter as fans began trickling out of U-Hall.

In total, the Wolfpack shot 55 percent in the second half.

“They just carved us up in the second half. We didn’t defend,” Gillen said.

N.C. State led 36-31 at intermission after opening the game with a 12-2 spurt. The Cavaliers rallied to tie the game at 20 on a 3-pointer by Forbes with just less than seven minutes before halftime. The Cavaliers knotted the score again at 31 with 1:54 left before the break on a bank shot by Singletary. The Wolfpack, however, ended the half with a 5-0 run and when Illian Evtimov buried a trey just before the buzzer they had the 36-31 advantage.

“I thought that was the play of the game. We were down two, grab an offensive rebound but then rush our shot. We should have pulled the ball out and then they come down and hit the 3,” Gillen said.

With Gillen likely out, is Barnes next?
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 3, 2005

With rumors swirling out of Texas all day long Wednesday that Rick Barnes would become Virginia’s next basketball coach, Pete Gillen fought for his coaching life in what could have been his last appearance at University Hall.
The Cavaliers dropped to 13-13 overall and 4-11 in the ACC in a 82-72 home loss to North Carolina State. A three-point underdog on their own court on Senior Night, Virginia quickly fell behind 8-0 and never held the lead in the game.
N.C. State used to be a gimme at U-Hall. The Wolfpack, which once lost 16 straight here, has now won three of their last four in Charlottesville.

All but out
The loss left Gillen’s chances of returning as Virginia’s coach about as thin as an Amish phone book. Nearing the end of his seventh season at the helm of the Cavaliers, it was a given that the embattled coach would have to take his team to the NCAA Tournament in order to save his bacon.
Now it seems just a matter of time before UVa Athletic Director Craig Littlepage announces a change in direction for the program.
In his shortest postgame press conference in seven years here Wednesday night, Gillen was asked if he thought he had coached his last game at University Hall.
“We’ll see ... we’ll see,” Gillen said. “Time will tell ... time will tell ... alright ... time will tell.”
Gillen answered three questions and quickly left the pressroom, obviously dismayed over his predicament.
It was a tough night to be a Cavalier. Hoping to win both against the Wolfpack and at Florida State on Sunday, Virginia now risks finishing dead last in the ACC if it loses in Tallahassee. That would cap a disastrous season after an 8-1 beginning.
Predicted to finish eighth in the 11-team league, the Cavs could fall three places lower and not qualify for the postseason for the first time since Gillen’s first year here when he had only seven scholarship players in the program.
Making matters worse, Senior Night didn’t work out in storybook fashion. Center Elton Brown scored five points and went 1 for 6 from the free throw line, meaning he missed 15 of his last 19 foul shots in his last two home games. Devin Smith fared better, scoring 13 points in a losing cause.

Barnes rumors
While Littlepage said this week that no decision has been reached on Gillen’s fate and that such a decision will be made after the season, there were strong rumors out of Austin earlier in the day that Barnes, who once accepted the Virginia job, only to renege under pressure from his superiors at Providence, might be Charlottesville bound.
Barnes once agreed to take the Virginia job in the early ‘90’s when Terry Holland was on his way out. Then-UVa Athletic Director Jim Copeland had flown Barnes to Charlottesville and persuaded him to succeed Holland, with
the two men then flying back to Providence where Barnes wanted to personally resign. However, Providence College officials persuaded him to stay.
A Texas source said that Barnes would be leaving the Longhorns after the season and would likely end up at Virginia.
It was the one-jillionth rumor concerning the Virginia job and possible successors to Gillen, should he get the axe. However, this one seemed to carry more validity than the run-of-the-mill variety.
Losing to State didn’t do much for Gillen’s job security. After springing a surprise on the Wolfpack in Raleigh on Feb. 5, using a newly-devised spread offense, Gillen didn’t have another ace up his sleeve this time around.
Instead, Virginia shot poorly from outside (6 of 21 from Bonusphere) and defended even worse, particularly in the second half when the Wolfpack converted on 55 percent of its field goal attempts. State also hit 26 of 38 free throws.
“We didn’t expect them to do that,” State coach Herb Sendek said of the first encounter with the spread. “This time we had film to study.”
Gillen said that when his team can’t make its outside shots it makes it difficult to run the spread offensive efficiently.
“Some guys just didn’t have it tonight,” Gillen said. “They started carving us up defensively.”
That is a refrain that has become too familiar with Virginia fans in recent years.
Meanwhile, State (7-8 ACC, 17-11) kept its postseason hopes alive.
“This was a very important game for us,” Sendek said. “We’re excited about the win. This isn’t an easy place to play.”
Well, it used to be that way.

Cavaliers fall flat in home finale
A slow start and more struggles from the free-throw line leave UVa on the losing side on senior night.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Concerns over the reception that fans would give Virginia center Elton Brown on senior night proved unfounded Wednesday.

The crowd reserved its biggest ovation for Brown when he made a free throw with 5:21 remaining. Unfortunately, he had gone 0-for-5 from the line before that point. Brown missed both ends of a two-shot opportunity that could have forced a tie early in the second half and North Carolina State never looked back in an 82-72 victory at University Hall.

The only way Virginia (13-13, 4-11 ACC) could play at home again this season is if the Cavaliers receive a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, but UVa would need to end a losing streak that stretched to four games with their latest setback.

It was the final home game for UVa's two seniors, Brown and Devin Smith, and, in all likelihood, seven-year coach Pete Gillen has coached his final game at University Hall. Athletic director Craig Littlepage has indicated that an NCAA bid would represent the kind of improvement he wants to see from the program.

The Cavaliers had defeated State 66-64 when the teams played in Raleigh, N.C., in early February, but the Wolfpack (17-11, 7-8) entered Wednesday night's game as a four-point favorite and had little trouble solving the slowdown offense that UVa unveiled in the first game.

The Wolfpack hit its first three shots - two of them 3-pointers - and jumped to a 12-2 lead before UVa scored its second field goal of the game on a Jason Cain stickback with 13:30 remaining before halftime. The Cavaliers had missed nine of their first 10 shots, with the only basket coming on a dunk.

When the shots finally started falling, UVa forced a 31-31 tie before going to the locker room down 36-31. The Cavaliers never took the lead in the second half, but it was 38-38 and 40-40 before Brown missed the two free throws that would have made it 42-42.

Cain went 5-for-5 from the field and made all three of his free throws to finish with a career-high 13 points for the Cavaliers. Freshman point guard Sean Singletary scored 17 points to lead UVa before fouling out for the third game in a row.

Smith, coming off back-to-back 22-point outings, made only five of 13 shots from the field and closed with 13 points. Brown, replaced after each of his free-throw misadventures, finished with five points and seven rebounds. He was 1-for-6 from the line.

"That took something out of us," Gillen said. "They're not going to let him shoot it. They're going to mug him. He gets the foul called and then he goes to the line. He's not trying to miss. He just has trouble making them."

It was UVa's first home game since Brown went 3-for-13 from the line Feb.19 in a 92-89 double-overtime loss to Maryland. Brown was shooting better than 63 percent from the line before an eight-game stretch in which he has gone 16-for-47.

Brown had no answer for journeyman Jordan Collins, a 6-10 senior who finished with 16 points, one off his career high, before fouling out. Collins came into the game averaging 3.3 points for his career and had gone scoreless while playing only five minutes in State's first game with UVa.

"He's been playing his career-best basketball lately," State coach Herb Sendek said. "To his credit, he just stuck with it."

State moved into a four-way tie for sixth place in the ACC at 7-8, with a home game remaining Sunday against Wake Forest. Sendek said he didn't feel a need to tell the team about the importance of going 8-8 in the regular season if it hopes to get an NCAA bid.

Cavs keep Gillen sweating
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 3, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE — If Wednesday night’s 82-72 loss to N.C. State was Virginia coach Pete Gillen’s final game at University Hall, it’s because Gillen coached too many before it that played out the same way.

Virginia defended poorly, especially on the perimeter. Its offense lacked cohesion. The Cavaliers were beaten on the boards by one of the ACC’s worst rebounding teams.

Gillen sweated through his shirt on the sideline, wearing a harried look.

The result was another conference loss. The number of them over the last three seasons could cost Gillen his job.

''We’ll see. Time will tell. Time will tell,’’ Gillen said. ''We still got one game left and the ACC tournament.’’

The loss dropped the Cavaliers to 4-11 in the ACC, with a game to play, Sunday at Florida State. Virginia fell to 13-13 overall, meaning it would have to win Sunday, then win a game in the ACC tournament, to qualify for a bid to the NIT.

All in all, another discouraging night. The biggest cheer from the Virginia faithful came when center Elton Brown, working on an 0-for-5 streak at the foul line, finally made a free throw. By the time the game ended, most fans had left.

It was senior night, and Brown was greeted with polite applause when honored before the game. On an Internet message board devoted to Virginia basketball, some fans had urged that the 6-foot-9 center not be booed in his final home game.

Brown’s career has been marked by flashes of brilliance, offset by bouts of inconsistency and displays of emotion that some have read as immaturity, but Brown and Gillen said it was simply frustration over losing. A gifted scorer in the low post, Brown has been criticized for his subpar defense and rebounding, although his work on the boards has improved this season.

The team’s other senior, Devin Smith, suffered through a poor shooting night, going 5 for 13 from the floor.

A trio of underclassmen — forwards Jason Cain and Gary Forbes and point guard Sean Singletary — kept Virginia in the game.

Though he didn’t shoot well, Singletary went all out on both ends, driving to the basket with abandon, finishing with 17 points.

Cain didn’t miss a shot, going 5 for 5 and 3 for 3 from the line for 13. Forbes provided energy off the bench.

The statistics suggested it might be a tough night for Virginia. N.C. State leads the ACC in 3-point shooting percentage in conference play. Virginia ranks last in defending the 3.

The Wolfpack took a 50-40 lead early in the second half on 3-pointers by Engin Atsur and Jason Collins. Brown missed four straight free throws during the same stretch.

Julius Hodge led N.C. State with 17 points. Collins scored 16 points before fouling out. Point guard Tony Bethel also had 16.

N.C. State led 36-31 at halftime after going 6 for 13 from 3-point range. Bethel went 3 for 5.

N.C. State had won three of four coming in. Coach Herb Sendek said his team was playing better than at any time during the season.

Virginia played as it too often has under Gillen.

Wolfpack dumps Cavaliers
Hoping to send its senior class out on a positive note, Virginia instead loses its fourth in a row.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published March 3, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- N.C. State stayed alive, albeit barely, in the NCAA tournament picture. Virginia's season slid further into a ditch.

Despite foul trouble that saw one starter disqualified and three more on the brink, the Wolfpack led virtually wire-to-wire in an 82-72 victory over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night in University Hall. State (17-11, 7-8 ACC) won for the fourth time in five games; Virginia (13-13, 4-11 ACC) lost its fourth in row.

"Some guys just didn't have it tonight," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said. "You know, just didn't have it."

So it appeared. In a game they never led, the Cavaliers shot 42 percent from the floor and showed no life. If not for a career game from sophomore Jason Cain (13 points, eight rebounds) and another pearl from freshman Sean Singletary (17 points, one turnover in 34 minutes), it might have gotten ugly.

"I felt there was no fight on our behalf," Singletary said. "We just didn't try hard enough."

N.C. State joins a logjam in the middle of the ACC's standings. The Wolfpack is tied with Georgia Tech, Miami, Maryland and Virginia Tech for fourth place in the standings with one game remaining in the regular season.

Virginia remains stuck in 10th place, a game ahead of cellar-dweller Florida State. The loser of Saturday's game between the Cavaliers and Seminoles in Tallahassee will be the 11th seed in the ACC tournament.

Virginia still needs another win to guarantee a .500 record by Selection Sunday, which is necessary to be eligible for an NIT bid.

Though State led the entire way, save for four ties, it had trouble putting the Cavs away. That was due in part to foul trouble, which became a serious issue in the second half. For the final 11:36, State had three starters - Jordan Collins, Engin Atsur and Ilian Evtimov - with four fouls. Guard Tony Bethel picked up his fourth at the game's 6-minute mark.

Collins fouled out with 5:21 remaining after scoring 16 points, a career high for an ACC game. The other three avoided their fifth.

"Obviously we weathered some excruciating foul trouble," State coach Herb Sendek said. "I thought our three freshmen - Cedric (Simmons), Andrew (Brackman) and Gavin (Grant) - gave us valuable minutes and did an exceptional job."

The critical stretch came early in the second half, after T.J. Bannister's jumper in the lane made it 40-40 with 17:03 left. State scored the game's next 10 points, with Collins contributing a bucket in the post and a 3-pointer from the left wing. Bethel's free throws with 14:50 left put the Pack ahead 50-40.

Virginia never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

It was Senior Night in University Hall, and it marked the final home game for forward Devin Smith and center Elton Brown.

Neither had a game to remember - Smith had 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting; Brown finished with five and was 1-of-6 from the free throw line.

But the obvious question now is: Was it the last game in University Hall for Gillen?

"We'll see. We'll see," he said. "Time will tell. Time will tell."
 

Cavaliers flat in defeat
Loss to Wolfpack may be the last at U-Hall for U.Va. coach Gillen
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Mar 3, 2005
N.C. STATE 82 VIRGINIA 72

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Once the ceremony honoring University of Virginia seniors Elton Brown and Devin Smith ended, the sparse crowd at University Hall had little to cheer last night.

During the Cavaliers' final regular-season home game, in fact, the loudest applause from the announced crowd of 7,482 might have come with 5:21 remaining. That's when Brown, who'd missed his first five free throws, finally made one from the line.

Brown's free throw cut N.C. State's lead to 66-58. But Virginia never got closer the rest of the way and lost 82-72 in what was probably Pete Gillen's last game at U-Hall.

"The second half we just didn't defend," Gillen said. "Some guys didn't have it tonight."

The victory boosted the Wolfpack's chances of earning an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. N.C. State (7-8, 17-11) closes the regular season Sunday at home against Wake Forest (12-3, 24-4).

"Clearly this was a very important game for us," Pack coach Herb Sendek said. "We are playing some of our better basketball as we come down the home stretch."

The loss dropped the Wahoos (4-11, 13-13) into 10th place in the ACC, a half-game ahead of last-place Florida State (3-11, 11-17) and increases the likelihood that they'll fail to qualify for the NIT, their postseason destination the past three seasons.

U.Va.'s regular-season finale is Sunday afternoon at FSU. If the Cavs lose to Florida State, they'll finish with their worst conference record in Gillen's seven seasons as their coach.

Virginia surrendered the game's first eight points last night and never led. The game was tied four times: at 20-20, 31-31, 38-38 and 40-40.

In perhaps the game's decisive sequence, Brown went to the line with 16:34 left and U.Va. trailing 42-40. He missed both free throws, and Engin Atsur buried a 3-pointer to make it 45-40. After Virginia guard T.J. Bannister turned the ball over, senior center Jordan Collins hit his second trey to stretch the Wolfpack's lead to 48-40.

Freshman point guard Sean Singletary led Virginia with 17 points. Smith added 13, but the team's other senior continued to struggle. Brown finished with five points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes. He was 1 for 6 from the line.

"He's not trying to miss," Gillen said. "He just has trouble making them."

Jason Cain, an improbable hero in U.Va.'s win at N.C. State last month, sparkled again last night. The 6-10 sophomore went 5 for 5 from the floor and 3 for 3 from the line. He finished with a career-best 13 points and added eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

Wolfpack senior Julius Hodge, the reigning ACC player of the year, had 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

With 7:40 left in the first half, sophomore swingman Gary Forbes' NBA-length trey pulled Virginia to 20-20. The Cavaliers had chances to take the lead on their next two possessions, but Smith missed a 3-point attempt on the first, and Brown's shot was blocked on the second.

N.C. State went into the break leading 36-31, thanks to a 3-pointer by Ilian Evtimov as the half ended.

"That took some wind out of our sails," Gillen said.

Against the ACC's worst 3-point defense, State hit 8 of 20 shots from beyond the arc.

Pack keeps hope alive
By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. -- With less than 10 minutes left in the game Wednesday night, N.C. State senior Julius Hodge huddled the Wolfpack together before a pair of Virginia free throws.

Wrapping his long arms around his teammates' shoulders, Hodge said, "Let's go, freshmen."

To which freshman Gavin Grant quickly replied, "Jules, we aren't freshmen anymore. We're just regular players."

The Wolfpack would go on to beat the Cavaliers 82-72 at University Hall, keeping alive its hopes of securing a fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid. And the Pack's fourth ACC road victory of the basketball season would come, in large part, because its three freshmen -- Grant, Andrew Brackman and Cedric Simmons -- kept their poise and produced during the game's most critical minutes, when the three were on the court together for the Pack.

"They definitely played a huge role in this win," said Hodge, who had a team-high 17 points and eight assists. "We had some guys in serious, serious foul trouble, but they held their weight out there.

"They had to play some really big minutes in a game we had to win, and they came through for us, big-time."

In the second half, the Pack (17-11, 7-8 ACC) had Jordan Collins, Engin Atsur and Ilian Evtimov benched with four personal fouls each. State had the lead, but its chances of finishing 8-8 in the ACC, perhaps enough to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee, were in doubt with the Cavaliers (13-13, 4-11) intent on pulling out a victory on "Senior Night."

But Grant hit a jumper in the lane, then muscled to the basket for a 3-point play. Brackman scored inside off a feed from Grant and snatched away some key rebounds. Simmons was big in the middle, active on defense.

With State leading 68-60, Hodge had the ball with the shot clock ticking down. Ten, nine, eight, seven ...

Hodge looked Virginia's Gary Forbes in the eyes, dribbling between his legs, freezing Forbes. He then zipped a pass through traffic to Brackman for a layup with a second left on the shot clock and 4:04 to play.

After that, it was a matter of the Pack hitting enough free throws to seal it. That was a problem for State early in the ACC season, but the Wolfpack knocked in enough this night to prevent a Virginia comeback.

With the victory, the Pack moved into a five-way tie for fourth place in the ACC at 7-8 with one league game left.

Collins, a senior center playing the best basketball of his career, had 16 points for the Pack, which finishes up the regular season Sunday night at the RBC Center against No. 4 Wake Forest.

So did junior guard Tony Bethel, whose 12 first-half points helped State take a 36-31 halftime lead.

"Sunday is going to be a special night for the Wolfpack, for our seniors," Bethel said. "We're a team that has never counted ourselves out, that has kept fighting.

"We believe in ourselves. We control our destiny."

Virginia coach Pete Gillen isn't sure about his future. There has been constant speculation that his seventh year at UVa will be his last, meaning Wednesday's game could have been his last at U-Hall.

"We'll see," Gillen said. "Time will tell. We have one more game left and the ACC Tournament."

The Wahoos hoped to duplicate their 64-62 win over the Pack earlier in the season, when Virginia turned to a smaller lineup, spread the floor on offense and used the shot clock.

But State jumped to an 8-0 lead in the rematch and then pushed it 12-2, forcing the Cavs to play catch-up. Virginia would never lead.

"We couldn't get into our deliberate game because we weren't hitting shots," Gillen said. "We had to pick up the tempo of the game and they got into an offensive rhythm and did a good job executing.

"Some guys didn't have it for us tonight. State started carving us up."

The Pack ended the first half on an up note. Hodge hit an open Evtimov, who drained a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

"That was the key play," Gillen said. "That took some wind out of our sails.

"As for the second half, we just didn't defend."

Wolfpack guard Cameron Bennerman did not play in the game, with NCSU coach Herb Sendek calling it a "coach's decision." But the freshmen did their part when the veterans had to go to the bench.

"This isn't an easy place to play," Sendek said. "We knew we'd have to battle through a hard-fought 40 minutes.

"Clearly this was an important game for us. Everyone knows where we've been, where we stand and what lies ahead of us. We are playing some of our better basketball, and we certainly need to continue to do that."

Wolfpack chews up Cavaliers on Senior Night
Crowd honors seniors, freshman Singletary leads Virginia with 17 points, followed by Devin Smith, Jason Cain, who put up career-high 13 points
Joey Mancini, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

It may have been a symbolic final stand as Virginia coach Pete Gillen still had his players fouling while down 78-69 with 1:10 remaining in last night's game against N.C. State. Eternally optimistic, he may have been trying to show the fans at University Hall that it was never too late for a new beginning. His Cavaliers had tied the game at 40 points each three minutes into the second half, prepping Virginia fans for a marathon finish.

Yet, from that point, the home team struggled with defensive pressure and fell to the Wolfpack, 82-72.

N.C. State jumped ahead to an 8-0 lead within the first three minutes of the game but was outscored 20-12 in the next eight minutes as the Cavaliers switched from possession to motion offense.

"We tried to control the tempo early, but we couldn't make a shot -- we couldn't score," Gillen said. "We had to pick up the tempo of the game, and that worked more effectively for them."

From the 7:41 mark until the break, the teams played evenly, but the Wolfpack entered the locker room with a 36-31 lead.

In the first half, Virginia forward Jason Cain scored six of the first eight of his team's points, and guard T.J. Bannister tallied four assists on just one turnover. Cavalier point guard Sean Singletary led all Virginia scorers with eight points, three times proving his ability to drive into the paint to convert a short field goal.

The Cavaliers tied the score four times throughout the contest, but were never able to muster a lead change.

By the 15:20 mark in the second half, however, the Wolfpack pulled ahead for good, 48-40.

After halftime, the Virginia defense faltered, allowing the Wolfpack to shoot 55 percent from the field. The Cavaliers also accumulated 22 fouls between the break and the buzzer to put N.C. State on the free throw line 34 times.

Cain notched a stellar performance in 21 minutes of play, knocking down a career-high 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

For the Wolfpack, forward Julius Hodge attempted just five field goals but made 11-of-15 free throws to amass 17 points. When Hodge could not get an open shot, center Jordan Collins and point guard Tony Bethel stepped into the scoring role. Each totaled 16 points with just four combined turnovers.

With the loss, the Cavaliers fell to 3-9 when trailing at halftime and 13-13 overall (4-11 ACC).

Following the game, the rumble of conversation anticipated that last night's matchup may have been Gillen's final coaching appearance at Virginia.

"We'll see," Gillen said when approached with that prospect. "Time will tell. We still have one more game left and the ACC tournament."

Singletary, who fouled out late in the second half with a team-high 17 points, was quick to cut into the speculation.

"I don't really take a liking to that," he said in defense of his coach. "He's doing his best, and you can't blame any of the losses on him because he's not out there playing. He's preparing us well, but we're not going out there and getting it done."

Nearing the end of the third-toughest schedule in the nation, the debate on Gillen's future continues to escalate.

His final arguments will be made at Florida State this weekend and in next week's ACC tournament, with an ultimate decision undoubtedly imminent this offseason.

The lone horseman clip-clops off the court
Becky Piedel, Cavalier Daily Sports Columnist

Four years ago four horsemen set out on a mission. Four freshmen galloped onto the court with the aplomb of seasoned veterans. Their chief ambition was defined from the start: get Virginia men's basketball back on the ACC radar -- get back to the top.

Virginia fans knew the road would be long and bumpy -- such a young team is bound to hit a few rough spots along the way. But no one ever though things would be this hard or that the four horsemen would make a mad dash into a brick wall. No one could have expected that the assembled foursome would be represented by a lone rider come senior night.

Elton Brown, Jason Clark, Jermaine Harper and Keith Jenifer never reigned together at Virginia. An assault charge and a DUI in their sophomore season left two of the Cavaliers' clip-clopping quartet in limbo: Jenifer faced indefinite suspension, and Harper was looking at a not-so-comfy seat on the bench. Neither was happy with his situation at Virginia -- after the season, both were released from the team and opted to transfer to other programs.

And then there were two.

In 2003, Clark and Brown looked to guide the Cavaliers as upperclassmen, but academic mishaps held Clark out of action for the fall semester. Devin Smith, who joined the team as a transfer a year earlier, assumed Clark's leadership role, but Virginia only managed an NIT berth.

The story was the same again this year. Brown and Clark mounted their stallions in November, prepared to find a way to go out on top. But no, it just wasn't meant to be. Academics tackled Clark again, this time for the spring semester and the duration of his career.

And then there was one -- one lone rider left to limp into the sunset alone on his crippled horse.

Elton Brown made it. It hasn't been an easy four years, and it surely hasn't been pretty for anyone who's been watching, but he's still here and he's going to graduate. He can leave with dignity, if not for his career accomplishments than for the fact that he at least stuck it out for four years.

Now Brown is clutching onto sparse strands of hope, looking for a miracle, looking to find a way -- any way -- to grab just one more game, 40 more minutes of playing time.

Brown avoided the sink hole that the other three horsemen were sucked into. He somehow avoided off-court skirmishes and survived classroom woes. Last night he was honored with a replica No. 43 jersey as one of two seniors on the team.

As Brown walked to center court with his mother and grandmother, I couldn't help but think of the first time I saw him trot onto the University Hall hardwood with his comrades.

On Jan. 5, 2002, the four horsemen played their first home ACC game. They lost 81-74 to N.C. State. Last night, the lone rider played his final ACC home game. The Cavaliers lost to the Wolfpack, 82-72. Fitting, don't you think?