UVa spoils VMI's anniversary fete
The Cavaliers clobber the Keydets on the 22nd anniversary of Cameron Hall's opening, just as they did in 1981.
By Doug Doughty

LEXINGTON - On the 22nd anniversary of the opening of Cameron Hall, VMI welcomed the basketball team that helped christen its building.

Virginia wasn't much more polite Friday night than it was in 1981.

The Cavaliers, playing away from home for the first time this season, survived an early VMI salvo and defeated the Keydets 78-56 before a crowd of 3,724.

It was Virginia's 23rd straight victory and 100th overall against the Keydets, 76-49 losers to UVa on the night Cameron Hall opened.

The Cavaliers raised their record to 5-0 as they headed into an 11-game exam break. The Keydets dropped to 1-4, with their lone victory over Division III Southern Virginia.

Virginia coach Pete Gillen, a VMI assistant for two years in the 1970s, saw the Cavaliers take command with a 17-1 run that gave them a 40-19 halftime lead.

"Two things disappointed me," VMI coach Bart Bellairs said. "We had talked all week about not giving up second shots; then, they had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half. We didn't block out and also, over a three-minute stretch, we took some of the wildest shots. And, it wasn't just our younger players. It was some of our juniors and seniors, too."

UVa had failed to outrebound any of its first four opponents but quickly established control on the boards. Elton Brown, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior, was averaging 4.8 rebounds before grabbing 12 in the first half against the Keydets.

Just over two minutes into the second half, Brown had registered his second career double-double and finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds in 21 minutes.

The Cavaliers used stifling defense to pull away during a first half when they shot only 37.8 percent (14-of-37) from the field. VMI was only 8-of-32 during the same stretch.

Virginia had shot 29.1 percent on 3-pointers in its first four games and continued to struggle Friday night, going 2-of-11 from behind the arc before freshman J.R. Reynolds from Roanoke connected moments before the half.

A large contingent of fans and players from Roanoke Catholic were on hand to watch Reynolds and his former Celtics teammate, VMI's 6-9 sophomore postman Tadas Mankevicius, wearing a plastic mask to protect a broken nose.

Gillen substituted liberally, with three walk-ons getting their first playing time of the season. No UVa player played more than 24 minutes.

Derrick Byars made both of his 3-point attempts and shared UVa scoring honors with Brown with 14 points. Donte Minter finished with 13 points. VMI senior Radee Skipworth led all scorers with 16 points on a night when only four players were in double figures.

UVa shot 42.9 percent from the field, compared to 33.3 for the Keydets. The Cavaliers had single-digit turnovers, nine, for the second game in a row but were outrebounded 25-13 in the second half. UVa's final edge in that department was a slim 45-44.
 

Weather can play havoc with recruiting plans
Bell could join Hokies in time for spring
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Fridays

The first snowfall of the season shows just how dicey that football recruiting can be at this time of year.
Virginia Tech is scheduled to entertain nine football prospects this weekend, including seven players from Hargrave Military Academy, two of whom (Cory Holt and D.J. Parker) already have committed to the Hokies.

The most prominent uncommitted players on the list made available by virginiapreps.com are safety Kent Hicks from Culpeper and defensive end Clint Sintim from Gar-Field. On the other hand, a recruiter for another program involved with Hicks said it was his understanding that Hicks was at Maryland.

Hicks and Sintim were rated the Nos. 2 and 12 prospects in Virginia by The Roanoke Times before the season.

Also taking official visits this weekend are linebacker Andrew Bowman from Hermitage in Richmond and linebacker Jerod Mayo from Kecoughtan in Hampton. Bowman is visiting Purdue and Mayo is going to N.C. State. They were Nos. 5 and 7, respectively, on The Roanoke Times’ preseason list.

The five uncommitted players from Hargrave include wide receivers Armand Cauthen (6-0, 190) from Douglasville, Ga., and Justin Harper (6-4, 195) from Catawba, N.C., as well as linebacker Antonio Reynolds (6-4, 225) from Akron, Ohio, defensive end Brandon Setzer (6-5, 275) from Thomasville, N.C., and defensive back Brandon Flowers (6-1, 195) from Del Ray Beach, Fla.

"Tech has offered everybody on that list," Hargrave coach Bob Prunty said Friday.

It’s worth noting that Harper and Setzer are from the same area as Holt, a Lexington, N.C., product who is characterized as a strong leader by Prunty.

The Hargrave players are scheduled to leave Chatham at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, after they complete the Scholastic Assessment Test, “but we're trying to find out a little bit more about the weather,” Prunty said.

Weather won't be a factor for Virginia, which will not have any recruits on campus this weekend. UVa currently is planning to entertain between 10-15 prospects on official visits next weekend and may bring in as many as 20.

Mayo and Sintim are among those expected on campus, but Hicks already has taken an official visit to UVa that coincided with a Nov. 27 game with Florida State. Bowman reportedly will be at Tech next weekend.

The state's No. 1-ranked prospect, defensive end Olu Hall from Robinson High School in Fairfax, told rivals.com that he will visit Virginia Tech next weekend and will go to UVa officially at a later date.

I DIDN'T REALIZE before reading some old posts on rivals.com that Fayetteville, N.C., running back George Bell is planning to enroll at Virginia Tech for the second semester.

Although Bell’s early enrollment will get him an even start in the battle for Kevin Jones' starting job, it is significant for another reason. The more time that elapses before the signing date, the greater the opportunity for other schools, such as runner-up North Carolina State, to re-enter the picture.

COLUMN CONTRIBUTOR Nappy King has related a humorous anecdote from Tech head coach Frank Beamer, scheduled to speak Thursday night at the annual meeting of the Roanoke Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce.

After lining up Beamer as guest speaker, the chamber of commerce sent out invitations with the notation that the topic of Beamer’s talk would be "Winning." At the time, the Hokies were 6-0, only to finish the regular season at 8-4.

When asked by King about his upcoming speech, Beamer said earlier this week that he had a file of about 10 or 11 speeches and would change his topic to, "Things aren't always as bleak as they seem."

Beamer certainly had ample support for that premise, judging by the records posted by such perennially strong programs as Penn State (3-9), Stanford (4-7), BYU (4-8), Alabama (4-9) and Notre Dame (5-6).

On the other hand, the situation WAS as bleak as it appeared Thursday night, when even the Blacksburg police couldn’t retrieve Beamer from his snowbound Ellett Valley home and get him to Roanoke.

FORMER LONGTIME Roanoke Times prep editor Bob Teitlebaum stopped by the sports department the other day and his old cohorts almost didn't recognize him. Teitlebaum, whose weight was always a secret during his working days, says he is down to 225 pounds from an all-time high of 320. Noted Halifax County chowhound Tucker McLaughlin Jr. could to take a lesson.

SPEAKING OF PORTLY ex-sportswriters, Bill Brill told me this week that Ted Roof played for Bobby Ross at Georgia Tech, which is why Duke might have hired Ross as its head football coach -- because he then could have hired interim coach Roof as his defensive coordinator.

That's how I wrote it. It made for a good story, but it wasn't true. Roof never played for Ross. Brill needs to stick to what he knows best, Duke women’s basketball.
 

Cavaliers control Keydets
Brown registers 13 boards
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 5, 2003

LEXINGTON - Virginia hit the century mark on Friday night against VMI at Cameron Hall and it didn’t need to score 100 points to do so.

Behind 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds by junior center Elton Brown, Virginia downed the Keydets 78-56 to record the program’s 100th victory over its in-state rival. Virginia is now 100-15 all-time against VMI, including wins in the last 23 straight contests. The 100 wins are by far the most recorded by the Cavaliers against any opponent. Second is Virginia Tech, which the Cavaliers have defeated 73 times.

Derrick Byars had 14 and Donte Minter had 13 for the Cavaliers, who held the Keydets to 33.3 percent shooting for the game despite shooting just 42.9 percent themselves.

“We played good defense and that was the key. Our defense was good and I thought Elton really played well,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, whose team improved to 5-0 with the win. “We were a little worried if we would have the legs physically and emotionally playing our fourth game in eight days but we were able to respond.”

Brown’s performance - just the second double-double of his UVa career –- followed a 26-point, six-rebound against Minnesota on Wednesday.

“Elton really played well. He backed up the game Wednesday. He had a bunch of rebounds at the half and felt he did a real good job overall,” said Gillen, whose team outrebounded the Keydets 45-44 - the first time it has outrebounded an opponent this season.

Added Brown: “Coach told us we had to rebound. The last couple games we’ve been getting outrebounded and we don’t want to keep having that happen throughout the season. We can rebound with the best teams.”

Radee Skipworth led VMI (1-4) with 16 points.

After leading 40-19 at the half, the Cavaliers expanded that margin to as many as 31 in the second half on a free throw by Minter that made it 70-39 with 7:43 to play.

Virginia’s shooting to open the game was colder than the temperatures outside Cameron Hall. The Cavaliers connected on just three of their first 16 shots as the game was knotted at 11 after the game’s first eight minutes.

Ever so slowly, the Cavaliers began to find their touch from the floor and accordingly gained control of the game.

The Cavaliers, who ultimately shot 37.8 percent from the floor in the first half, finished the half outscoring the Keydets 29-8. A

3-pointer by J.R. Reynolds just before the halftime buzzer capped the methodical spurt and gave UVa a 40-19 halftime lead.

“Our defense really held it together early. We couldn’t buy shots early. They were juiced because of the in-state rivalry but luckily our defense came through for us,” Brown said.

Brown led the Cavaliers with nine points and 12 rebounds in the opening half. The 12 first-half boards eclipsed his previous career-high of 10.

Virginia now enters an

11-day break for exams. The Cavaliers return to action Dec. 16 when they host James Madison.
 

Cavaliers ease past Keydets
With Brown and Byars leading way, U.Va. makes it 23 straight over Gillen's former employer
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 6, 2003

LEXINGTON - Pete Gillen enjoyed another triumphant return to Cameron Hall, a gym he knows well and remembers fondly.

Gillen, Virginia's sixth-year head coach, was U.VA. 78 VMI 56an assistant at Virginia Military Institute in 1976-77 and'77-78. He first took the Cavaliers to VMI in 2000-01, and they won by 18. They went back to Cameron Hall last night and, as snow fell outside, won convincingly again.

Before a crowd of 3,724 that included a number of U.Va. fans, Gillen's club romped 78-56.

"I love being here," Gillen said. "I love being at Virginia now, but VMI's a special place."

U.Va. (5-0) ended the first half with a 17-1 run and led 40-19 at the break. The Cavaliers shot only 37.8 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes - they were 3 for 12 from beyond the arc - but played stifling defense and dominated the backboards, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds and 32 overall.

VMI (1-4) shot 25 percent from the floor in the first half and 33 percent for the game. Only one Keydet - freshman guard Matt Coward - made at least half of his field-goal attempts, and the former Hermitage High star was a modest 1 for 2.

"That's what we're going to hang our hat on," Gillen said, "our halfcourt man defense and our halfcourt zone, and then a sprinkling of pressure. I thought we did a solid job defensively."

The Cavaliers' victory was their 100th - against only 15 losses - in a series that began in January 1909. Virginia has taken 23 straight from the Keydets, whose last win in the series came Dec. 9, 1964.

Three players scored in double figures for U.Va., led by junior center Elton Brown and sophomore forward Derrick Byars with 14 points apiece. In 18 minutes off the bench, freshman center Donte Minter hit all six of his field-goal attempts and matched his career high with 13 points.

Senior forward Radee Skipworth paced VMI with 16 points and seven rebounds. Less talented and athletic than their guests, the Keydets needed to play nearly flawless ball to have any chance at an upset, and they didn't come close. VMI turned the ball over 17 times, and "some of them were unforced," said coach Bart Bellairs, shaking his head.

The Keydets made it 11-11 on Fred Robinson's 3-pointer with 11:39 left in the opening half, but the Corps of Cadets' elation proved short-lived. Virginia answered with eight straight points - six by Minter - and wasn't seriously threatened thereafter.

Skipworth's 3-pointer pulled the Keydets to 23-18 at the 7:07 mark, but they managed only a single point, on a Richard Little free throw, the rest of the half.

For the first time this season, Virginia outrebounded its opponent, but only barely: 45-44. By halftime, Brown had 12 rebounds - two more than his previous career high - but grabbed only one more after intermission. VMI outrebounded U.Va. 25-13 in the second half.

The Cavaliers' largest lead, 31 points, came on a Minter free throw that made it 70-39 with 7:43 remaining.

"They're a better club [than a season ago]," Bellairs said. "I think there's no egos out there, and that's huge. I think they look like a team."

Exams are next for Virginia. The Cavaliers don't play again until Dec. 16, when James Madison visits University Hall for the first time in 20 years.

Next up for the Keydets is another date with a longtime state rival. VMI plays at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.