Virginia holds off Dukes
Second-half run by JMU
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 17, 2003

James Madison waited 20 years for another chance to face Virginia. Then it waited just a little too long to literally start playing Tuesday night.

Virginia held off a frenetic late second-half comeback by James Madison to notch a 90-80 victory and improve to 6-0 on the season.

Virginia had built a 29-point advantage early in the second half but the Dukes’ hot shooting from the perimeter kept things more than interesting.

James Madison finished the game connecting on 13 of its 28 3-point attempts, including a sizzling 10-18 from behind the arc in the second half. JMU freshman Ray Barbosa, who finished with 33 points, and Dwayne Broyles (23 points) combined to make all but one of those second-half treys.

“You have to give James Madison a lot of credit. They kept playing. We had a good-sized lead but they kept playing and it’s a 40-minute game,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, whose program was playing its in-state rival for the first time since Dec. 3, 1983. “They got hot and hit some 3s and made it close. … We stumbled to the finish line. We have to learn a game is never over.”

The Dukes hit on 56.3 percent of its second-half shots in totaling 52 points in the second half. While Gillen expressed obvious dismay in his defense - which entered the game having not allowed an opponent to shoot better than 38 percent on the young season - many of Barbosa and Broyles’ treys came from several feet behind the arc.

“From their perspective, it’s a lot easier to shoot when you are down. You have nothing to lose,” said Virginia guard Todd Billet, who finished with a team-high 20 points. “To be honest, a lot of those shots were contested but it’s hard to contest shots from 28 feet.”

Elton Brown had 19 points and nine rebounds and Devin Smith also had 19 for the Cavaliers. Freshman Gary Forbes added 13.

Virginia led 43-28 at intermission as it ended the half on a 21-6 run with Brown having nine points during the spurt.

The Cavaliers seemed well on their way to a lopsided victory as they opened the half with a 10-2 run that was aided by a pair of Forbes’ treys. The Cavaliers would eventually push that lead to that 29-point cushion at 67-38 with 12:19 remaining.

Keying that run were back-to-back 3-pointers by Billet and Smith, Virginia’s two best 3-point shooters for a year ago who entered the game struggling.

Billet had made just three of his last 15 3-pointers while Smith, suffering from a herniated disc in his back, was just 1 of 14 from behind the arc.

While it was suspected Billet’s touch would return, the injury left some doubts about Smith. The 6-foot-5 sophomore finished 2 of 5 on treys and also displayed a series of athletic moves around the basket that culminated in clearly his best and perhaps most pain-free performance of the season.

“It was good for me to play well because it definitely gives you confidence. As a player and a shooter, it’s definitely easy to get down on yourself,” Smith said.

The feel-good portion of the evening for the Cavaliers, however, essentially ended after those shots.

Barbosa and Broyles began to unleash long-range heaves and as each flew threw the basket, Virginia’s once seemingly insurmountable lead quickly got smaller and smaller.

A 3-pointer by Chris Clarke with 3:38 left made it 79-68 in favor of Virginia and when Barbosa converted three free throws with 2:45 left it was a 10-point game at 81-71.

“Our guys certainly didn’t quit and they found a way to fight back,” said JMU coach Sherman Dillard.

Virginia stemmed the tide briefly and momentarily pushed the lead back to 15 before settling at the final 10-point margin.

“I think we beat ourselves a little tonight. We can’t have this. If we’re up like that, especially against the ACC, we have to put teams away and punish them,” Brown said. “We held on for the win and we’re 6-0. As long as we win, I’m happy whether it’s by one point or 30.”
 

Chalk it up: Cavs get win, learn lesson
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
December 17, 2003

It’s an age-old axiom: Law of the jungle. Never leave a wounded lion.

Most teams have to learn it, particularly young teams like Virginia, trying to feel its way through the early December portion of its schedule before the real season begins. Tuesday night’s lesson against visiting James Madison was an important one for the Cavaliers.

After building a 29-point, first-half lead, the Cavs lost interest, as Coach Pete Gillen was forced to send starters back into the game to hold off the pesky Dukes and a heavy barrage from bonusphere.

Score it, 90-80 for UVa as the Cavaliers improved to 6-0. More importantly, mark it as part of this team’s growing up.

“A young team has to understand that games are never over with the 3-point shot,” said Gillen. “We didn’t quit playing ... we quit playing defense. You get up 29, you put it away.”

A lesson for the future

In the basketball-rich ACC, quickly establishing itself as the strongest league in the nation this season, such lessons will come in hand. There are no free lunches against ACC teams.

Picked to finish eighth in the league, the Cavs’ steady diet of cupcakes will soon end and the giants of the game will be invading University Hall. Seldom do ACC teams show the kind of mercy the young Wahoos did.

But as Virginia prepares to face the Tar Heels and Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets of the hoops world, the Cavaliers have other things on the agenda. Things like discovering their own identity and about taking care of business.

Veterans step up

Some of that surfaced last night against an opponent UVa had not faced in two decades. The Cavaliers’ veteran players came through when they had to.

When Virginia needed a bucket, it went to Elton Brown in the middle. While he could’ve had 40 had he finished all his opportunities, he still scored 19, some key ones coming on set plays designed to fight off JMU’s 13 treys.

For the first time this season, senior Devin Smith looked like his old self as he knocked down 19. Plagued by a back injury, Smith has tried everything from the whirlpool to visits to the chiropractor to eliminate the pain.

Still, he showed character to the underclassmen by dunking and playing aggressively.

Tangibles

Point guard Todd Billet’s quick release accounted for a season-high 20, something UVa is going to need when ACC play begins.

“This team has a new identity with new personnel and new leadership,” Billet said. “Each game is going to be a unique experience with such a young team. We have to play one-game seasons right now.”

Only one player on UVa’s roster - Brown - has more than two years of ACC experience, so every night is a new adventure.

That’s exactly what’s disturbing Gillen’s sleep patterns these days.

With a somewhat more athletic team than the past two years, he has attempted to invigorate the program by returning to what he knows best: the run-and-run, chuck-and-duck, chaotic, up-tempo basketball.

He has placed more emphasis on defense and the jury is still out. Up until last night, none of UVa’s first five opponents had bested 40 percent shooting. Nor had JMU until Ray Barbosa (33 points) and Dwayne Broyles (23 points) opened up like “The Guns of Navarone.”

The duo scored a combined 43 points in the second half as the Cavs napped on defense, sending Gillen reaching for the Pepto.

Still, Virginia fans will be encouraged by this baby-steppin’ bunches’ attitude. While last year’s team dwelled on the negative, that is no longer acceptable.

PMA, baby. Positive mental attitude. These guys looked for the silver linings and generally play hard. They don’t make excuses.

“We like to think that a mature team is one that can hold onto a lead and win in situations like this,” Brown said.

“If you look at the positive side, this was a learning experience for this team,” said senior Billet. “When we hit conference play, teams aren’t going to roll over and let us win. They’re going to come back at us.”

Good that these guys found that out now so there won’t be any surprises come Dec. 28 when they venture to Raleigh for the ACC opener.

Until then, Gillen must feel like he’s walking on eggshells. He doesn’t want this team to have to live and die with the 3-pointer. He holds his breathe about Smith’s back problems. He worries about giving up 52 points as his defense lapses.

And, oh, yeah. He worries about the mysteries the road holds. The Cavs have been dreadful outside the city limits for the past two years, one reason their postseason resume is almost nil.

So far, the longest trip this squad has taken is over Afton Mountain to VMI. This weekend’s journey to LaLa Land to Loyola Marymount will present yet another challenge for Gillen’s guys.

No wonder Virginia is flying out today. Maybe Pete can get some sleep before that 10 p.m. Eastern start Friday night.
 

Cavs' large lead holds up
With a barrage of second-half 3-pointers, Virginia builds a 29-point lead that proves necessary as the Dukes rally. Virginia 90 JMU 80 Next game Virginia at Loyola Marymount Friday 10 p.m.
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Sherman Dillard's first visit to Virginia as a head coach had the same outcome as his only trip to University Hall as a player.

Dillard, a former James Madison player in his seventh season as the Dukes' coach, couldn't complain about his team's effort after a spirited comeback Tuesday night in a 90-80 loss to the Cavaliers.

It was the third of seven straight road games for James Madison, which had ample support from fans who had made a one-hour drive from Harrisonburg. Neither the team nor the fans lost heart despite a 3-point barrage that enabled Virginia to stretch its lead to 68-39 early in the second half.

UVa's first five field goals of the second half were 3-pointers, but that was nothing compared to the exhibition put on by the Dukes' Ray Barbosa and Dwayne Broyles. The Dukes got to 81-71 with 2:45 remaining behind a game-high 33 points from Barbosa, a 6-foot-2 freshman, and 23 points by 6-6 senior Dwayne Broyles, who had five second-half 3-pointers.

Senior guard Todd Billet had a season-high 20 points for Virginia, which got 19 apiece from center Elton Brown and forward Devin Smith, a pair of juniors.

Virginia improved its record to 8-0 against the Dukes, matching its largest victory total without a loss against any team. The Cavaliers were 8-0 against Bridgewater in a series that was discontinued in 1941.

The game was the first between Virginia and James Madison since December 1983. Dillard, a former Bassett High School star, was a fifth-year senior when he scored 23 points in the first UVa-JMU game, won by the Cavaliers 83-63 in 1977.

After falling behind 9-2 to start the game Tuesday night, James Madison gamely fought back and forced a 22-22 tie on a basket by Eddie Greene-Long with seven minutes remaining in the half. From that point, the Cavaliers outscored the Dukes 21-6 until halftime, including another 9-2 run over the final two minutes.

Virginia (6-0) and JMU (2-4) had not played since Dec.5 and Dec.6, respectively, and the layoff was evident in their early shooting. UVa needed to make five of its last six shots in the first half to finish at 44.4 percent from the field, while JMU shot 34.4 percent in the first half.

UVa's run to end the first half coincided with the entry of freshman T.J. Bannister, a 5-foot-10 1/2 point guard who had averaged 5.6 minutes in the Cavaliers' first five games. Bannister played 11 minutes against the Dukes, including eight in the first half.

Several trends continued for the Cavaliers, who committed 10 turnovers - compared to 17 for the Dukes - but barely held off the Dukes, 39-37, on the boards. UVa has committed a total of 29 turnovers in its last three games.

It was the fifth home game for the Cavaliers, whose longest trip in six games was a 48-mile excursion to Lexington to play VMI. Virginia will travel to California later this week to play Loyola Marymount in a game originally scheduled for the benefit of a couple of Californians no longer with the team.

 

Cavaliers Improve To 6-0
Virginia 90, James Madison 80
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, December 17, 2003; Page D03

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Dec. 16 -- The schedule so far hasn't been terribly challenging, but the Virginia Cavaliers will take a 6-0 record any way they can get it.

Tuesday night they got there with a 90-80 win over James Madison, a neighbor 60 miles to the west, in the teams' first meeting in 20 years. But the Cavs won't dwell for long on this victory -- not after letting a 29-point second-half lead wither to 10 in the closing minutes.

"We got a little tired," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "Felt a little sorry for ourselves, maybe, because we missed a shot. We just got to grow up a little bit. But it's a win; that's the best thing about it. We just got to forget it and learn from the experience."

The Cavaliers led 43-28 at halftime and nearly doubled the margin in the first eight minutes of the second half, but they had to sweat out the final minutes as Ray Barbosa (33 points) and Dwayne Broyles (23 points) fired away from behind the three-point arc, leading the Dukes (2-4) toward a 52-point second half.

In the end, Virginia had just enough to stave off the upset.

Guard Todd Billet led the Cavs with a season-high 20 points and tied a career high with six rebounds, while Elton Brown and Devin Smith each added 19 points.

"We got kind of lackadaisical and they started hitting big shots," Brown said. "We weren't really rebounding, we weren't playing D, missing free throws, and they clawed their way back in the game. It's only human nature -- you're up 30, you're like, 'Okay, we got it.' "

"We didn't quit playing, but we stopped playing defense," Gillen said. "We didn't play as hard as we needed to in the second half. We didn't defend as well."

The Cavaliers opened the game with four possessions that was as good as any sequence they've had this season: three free throws, two three-pointers, a fast-break dunk and a 11-2 lead. But Barbosa, who began his college career with a 28-point effort in the season opener, brought the visitors back, and with 7˝ minutes remaining before halftime, the score was tied at 22.

The Dukes managed just six points for the rest of the half, swooning under the force of a 21-6 run that gave Virginia a 43-28 halftime lead. The margin ballooned past 20 early in the second half, but JMU wasn't dead yet.

"This game was a learning experience," Smith said. "We have to know we can't take anything for granted."

Cavaliers Notes: Virginia forward Jason Clark continues to watch from the stands, waiting for his fall semester grades and -- he expects -- an end to the academic suspension that has kept him out of practices and games all season. He said he hopes to debut in one of Virginia's two remaining games before a six-day Christmas break: Friday at Loyola Marymount or Monday against Coastal Carolina. . . . The Cavs got a scare midway through the second half when Forbes fell to the court in pain after injuring his right ankle, but he returned to the game after getting the ankle re-taped. Brown was hit in the face and knocked out of the game less than a minute after Forbes, but he also returned.
 

Ticket sales weak
N.C. State has sold less than half of its 12,500 tickets for the Tangerine Bowl. Kansas is doing even worse
By LORENZO PEREZ, Staff Writer

The N.C. State and Kansas convoys to Orlando, Fla., will be awfully light for Monday's Tangerine Bowl unless ticket sales spike at the last minute.
Tangerine Bowl officials were hoping to sell as many as 40,000 tickets for Monday's game at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, but Wolfpack and Jayhawks fans have bought less than a quarter of that amount through their universities' ticket offices.

N.C. State has sold about 5,000 of its allotted 12,500 tickets. Kansas has sold about 2,000 of its 12,000 tickets. Both schools are responsible for selling the tickets.

Also, more than 12,500 tickets have been sold locally in Orlando, Tangerine Bowl officials reported.

"Kansas is a little farther away, so we didn't expect the Big 12 side to do as well," said Tom Mickle, the executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, which operates the bowl. "We're just trying to understand. We need to figure out the lack of interest. ... We thought N.C. State would do better."

Kansas was offering free bowl-game tickets to its students. But its Student Union Activities group canceled a chartered bus for the trip after only 12 students signed up for the ride, The Lawrence-Journal-World reported. The bowl game also will be played a day after the Kansas basketball team's trip to Reno, Nev., for the Dec. 21 Wolf Pack Holiday Classic game against Nevada.

N.C. State sold more than 26,500 tickets for its Jan. 1 Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame. Estimates for N.C. State fans who attended that sold-out game in Jacksonville, Fla., climbed as high as 40,000.

But holding a bowl game three days before Christmas has its drawbacks, Mickle acknowledged.

Tangerine Bowl officials were hoping just to fill their stadium's lower bowl, but that would take about 48,000 fans, Mickle said.

N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler said of slow ticket sales: "It's timing as much as anything, and I hate it for the bowl. With school letting out Friday, I thought it would help. But apparently with many of our fans, there's so much going on before Christmas."

Two years ago, about 8,200 N.C. State fans traveled to Orlando for the Wolfpack's 34-19 Tangerine Bowl loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 20, 2001.

Wolfpack fan Lewis A. Saintsing, 60, of Thomasville said he and his family made the Tangerine trip two years ago. After a season that began with Bowl Championship Series aspirations but ended with a 7-5 record, Saintsing said he wasn't ready to make a return trip.

"I was just a little too disappointed to think about going again," Saintsing said.

The Tangerine Bowl payout is $812,000 per team. N.C. State associate athletics director Diane B. Moose said that the university could end up using as much as $125,000 from its share to cover the cost of unsold tickets in its allotment.

The ACC would help cover the cost of those unsold tickets as well, however.

Tuesday, Vance Holt and a trickle of N.C. State fans showed up at the Wolfpack Club to pick up Tangerine Bowl tickets they had purchased.

A 1975 graduate of N.C. State, Holt said that he and his wife were flying to Orlando with their children for the game. Unlike N.C. State's last bowl trip, the Fuquay-Varina resident said that not too many of their friends were joining them in Orlando.

"Probably the biggest difference is the competition," Holt said. "Notre Dame is a big draw, anytime."


 

Cavs hold off Dukes' charge
Gillen calls Virginia 'too nice' after trouble putting away JMU
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 17, 2003

Virginia's Elton Brown (right) works against James Madison defender Eddie Green-Long. AP PHOTO/Rachel Zahumensky
U.VA. 90 JMU 80

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The blowout victory that seemed imminent midway never materialized for Virginia last night. James Madison's bomb squad made sure of that.

In the first men's basketball game between these schools in 20 years, JMU launched 18 shots from behind the 3-point arc after intermission. The Dukes hit 10 of them, a display of marksmanship that probably cost Virginia coach Pete Gillen whatever sleep he might have gotten last night.

A crowd of 7,645 saw the Cavaliers squander most of a 29-point second-half lead before staggering off the University Hall court with a 90-80 victory. The Dukes (2-4), playing the third of seven straight road games, scored 52 points and shot 56.3 percent from the floor in the second half.

"You got to put it away," Gillen said. "A top-notch team, a veteran team, puts it away and you win by 24 or 25, not backing in and winning by 10."

U.Va. stretched its series lead to 8-0 but looked helpless at times against Ray Barbosa and Dwayne Broyles, who combined for 56 points. JMU's 45.3-percent field goal accuracy was the highest by a U.Va. opponent this season. Until last night, no foe had shot better than 40 percent against the Cavaliers (6-0).

Virginia led 43-28 at the break after holding JMU to 34.4-percent shooting from the field.

"When you have a team down, you've got to kick them," Gillen said. "You have to have a mean streak. We're too nice."

Broyles, a 6-6 senior, made 5 of his 6 treys and scored 20 of his 23 points after intermission. Barbosa, a 6-2 freshman, finished with a career-best 33 points. He made 5 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

"He's a terrific player, but he should not have had 33 points," said Gillen, unhappy with his team's defense.

Four players scored in double figures for U.Va., led by Todd Billet. The senior point guard had a season-best 20 points, matched his career high with six rebounds and handed out three assists. He didn't turn the ball over. Junior center Elton Brown and junior forward Devin Smith scored 19 points apiece, and freshman swingman Gary Forbes added 13.

Smith, who's been battling a back injury, had scored more than six points only once this season before last night. He'd also missed 13 of 14 shots from 3-point range. Against JMU, he was 5 for 10 from the floor - 2 for 5 on 3-pointers - and 7 for 7 from the line. He grabbed six rebounds.

Brown paced the Cavs with nine boards, but it wasn't one of his better games. He missed 9 of 17 shots from the floor - many of them open looks around the basket - and 4 of 7 from the foul line.

"He had 19, but I thought he could have had 40," Gillen said. "He missed some point-blank shots that he's not trying to miss, but he's got to be able to finish a little better inside."

Virginia took its largest lead, 67-38, on a Brown free throw with 12:19 remaining. The Dukes could have quit, but they didn't. Barbosa capped a 12-4 run with a trey that pulled JMU to 71-50 at the 9:02 mark. U.Va. stretched its lead back to 24, only to see Broyles turn, without warning, into The Player Who Could Not Be Stopped.

Three 3-pointers by Broyles in a span of 80 seconds made it 77-61. The Dukes kept coming, and a trey by reserve guard Chris Clarke made it 79-68 with 3:35 left. Barbosa, fouled attempting a 3-pointer, made three free throws at the 2:45 mark, and the Cavaliers' lead was down to 10.

"We showed we're not a team that's going to fold under pressure," Barbosa said.

In the end, U.Va. didn't fold either. A layup by Brown made it 83-71 with 2:18 left, and the Dukes never got their deficit under 10.

"Elton Brown is just a monster," said Dukes coach Sherman Dillard, who on Nov. 25, 1977, as a JMU senior, scored 23 points against U.Va. in the series opener.
 

Cavs fatten their record, but are lean times ahead?
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Dec 17, 2003
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia's Cavaliers breezed past James Madison 90-80 in their sixth outing of the season last night, and here's what we've learned about this bunch so far:

We've learned it's nice to know you always can count on your neighbors. Including wins over Virginia Tech and VMI, the Cavs are now 3-0 against state opponents this year and 109-15 since 1977-78, when Jeff Lamp's arrival booster-rocketed them above the competition. They hover there still.
We've learned Pete Gillen has taken no risks in fashioning this schedule. Wolves at the door will do that to you. With the boss' future up for grabs, the Cavs are playing the ACC's softest nonleague schedule and are facing no one of consequence on the road. They're an unscathed (and not altogether impressive) 6-0 heading toward Loyola Marymount and - you'd suspect - 7-0. Then again, they won their first nine starts in 2001-02 and finished 17-12 and were 9-2 entering ACC competition last season and wound up 16-16.
We've learned a zippier pace suits this U.Va. edition. Pushing the ball and trapping from the get-go last night, the Cavs were in control at both ends till sagging defensively during the closing 12 minutes. They're averaging 82.2 points on 47.2-percent marksmanship and are forcing 15.3 turnovers per game. The comparable numbers last season were 73.9, 45.1 and 13.0. Even against marginal competition, the trends are at least favorable.
"We want to play faster and get some easier baskets," said Gillen. Eighteen points off fast breaks underscored that emphasis.

We've learned less of Elton Brown means there's more to like. He failed to finish on numerous occasions last night, a noticeable void. But he's 30 pounds lighter at 251, more agile and active, and he hurt JMU badly with 19 points and nine rebounds.
"I feel much quicker - more agile on my feet," he said. "It's paying off for me now."

We've learned the Cavs miss Travis Watson's hands and bulk more than they miss his shooting eye. Watson is No. 2 on U.Va.'s career rebounding list and averaged 10.4 per game as a senior. Without him, the Cavs have beaten only VMI and JMU (by a scant 39-37) off the glass. They were outrebounded by Mt. St. Mary's and tied in that department by High Point. They allowed JMU 15 offensive recoveries. Sheldon Williams, Scott May, Eric Williams and Jamar Smith are sharpening their elbows as we speak.
We've learned (speaking of the ACC) that U.Va.'s family-feud itinerary looms as a potential minefield. The Cavs were picked eighth in the league. The team picked seventh (Georgia Tech - and is Paul Hewitt good or what?) is fifth in the latest AP poll. Florida State is unbeaten and making the sort of noise normally restricted to 'Noles cornerbacks. Maryland just won at Florida. Wake Forest remains a contender even with Josh Howard gone. North Carolina - assuming it stays healthy - is back among the elite. And have I mentioned Duke yet?
"Top to bottom, the league is as good as it's been in a long time," said swingman Derrick Byars. "We've got a lot to improve on."

We've learned, along those lines, that the Cavs better not yield many 52-point halves against steelier opposition. That'll soon enough come Dec. 28 at N.C. State and in January when they're on the road at Georgia Tech, UNC and Wake. Up-and-comer Providence and always-up Duke are among that month's visitors.
We've learned we'll learn a lot more in the weeks to come.