Virginia finds way to slow down Douglas
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
December 4, 2004

RICHMOND

It was halftime with Virginia’s 24th-ranked basketball team hunkered down in its locker room, shellshocked by Auburn’s barrage of 3-point field goals that led to a 44-38 lead by the Tigers.

Toney Douglas, an unheralded Auburn freshman, had particularly proven to be a burr in the Cavaliers’ saddle as he had bombed away for 19 points, hardly missing a shot. Even more frustrating was that Virginia had no answer.

UVa’s coaching brain trust had to find something to stop the Auburn guard, or at least slow him down. Sean Singletary, the Cavaliers’ phenomenal freshman, had trouble guarding Douglas. Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds, a solid defender, couldn’t keep up because of cramps in both legs.

Meanwhile, Douglas was lighting up the Siegel Center scoreboard at the neutral court of Virginia Commonwealth University. The offensive-minded freshman from Jonesboro, Ga., who had committed to Auburn under previous coach Cliff Ellis, had given present coach Jeff Lebo unlimited firepower as he connected on 8 of 12 field goal attempts (3 of 5 from beyond the arch) for 19 points in the first half.

Forbes speaks up

Unexpectedly, during coach Pete Gillen’s halftime meeting with players, Virginia sophomore Gary Forbes provided the answer the coaches were searching for.

“Gary looked me in the eye and said, ‘I want to guard him,’” Gillen said.

“I’ll live and die with that,” said Gillen. “Win or lose, I love the fact that he had the courage to say ‘I want to guard him.’ Adverse situation, this guy is killing us, and he says, ‘I want to guard him.’”

From that moment on, perhaps a defining one for the undefeated Cavaliers, Gillen was confident that Douglas would be slowed by Forbes.

Auburn had forced Virginia to go small with power forward Devin Smith at center, Forbes and Adrian Joseph at forwards and Singletary with either T.J. Bannister or J.R. Reynolds inserted to keep pace with the Tigers’ Smurf-sized lineup. The Cavs alternated between man-to-man and a 1-2-2 zone, cheating on the corners to get a hand in shooters’ faces.

Size, weight difference

Forbes, at 6-foot-6, and quicker than most guys his size, proved to be just the defensive stopper Gillen was looking for. He has long arms and at 220 pounds, he has an advantage over guards who don’t matchup well against him. Douglas is 6-1, 190.

It was that type of athletic ability that helped contain Auburn’s Rolling-Ball-of-Butcher-Knives. While no one was going to shut Douglas down completely - he’s just too good for that to happen - Forbes slapped some suffocating defense on the Tiger.

In the first few minutes of the second half, Forbes was whistled for fouls a couple of times in an attempt to match Douglas’ quickness. But that soon changed.

“I think I got jerked on one of those times,” Forbes said about one of the fouls. “On the one where I blocked his shot. He even told me himself.”

Shortly afterward the frustration turned.

Forbes had worked hard in the film room, studying Douglas, looking for weaknesses he could exploit if he had the opportunity.

The Virginia guard knew exactly what he wanted to do: make Douglas, who is really a shooting guard and not a point guard, put the ball on the floor and contain him when he was off the dribble. His Achilles’ Heel was putting the ball on the floor. Once he passed it off, that’s when he became more dangerous, getting open for the 3-pointer.

Forbes exploited that weakness in perhaps the play that turned the game for Virginia.

Games can turn on a single play and this one may have turned on the width of Forbes’ willpower as he carried out his assignment of containing Douglas.

The Cavaliers had taken an 81-78 lead with 2:56 to play in the battle of the unbeatens and Gillen ordered a fullcourt press. Forbes stuck to Douglas, contesting every inch of the floor until the Auburn guard reached midcourt.

That’s where Forbes made his move and forced a huge turnover. Virginia took advantage of the possession as Devin Smith struck from the left wing for a big 3-point basket, stretching the Cavs’ lead to 84-78.

“I think that was momentum. The crowd was loud and I was putting pressure on the ball,” Forbes said. “We work a lot on that in practice, turning the dribbler. He lost the ball.”

“That’s what won us the game,” said Singletary.

“If it wasn’t for Gary’s defense, there’s no telling what the outcome of the game might have been,” Reynolds added.

Gillen was impressed by Forbes’ courage.

“The job he did on Douglas was terrific,” Gillen said. “That was a big turnover. He made [Douglas] earn everything the second half. Before that [Douglas] was just roaming free. That was a big key to the game, Gary locking that guy up.”

For the record, Forbes drastically cut down on Douglas’ production the second half. The Auburn guard scored 13 points in the second half, six from the free-throw line. Douglas got off only six shots in the second half and hit half of ’em (2 of 4 from behind the arc). In addition, the Tiger guard committed three second-half turnovers.

“Forbes is a very talented defensive player,” Lebo said. “And he’s got size. He did a good job on [Douglas]. He forced a turnover at a crucial time.”

This wasn’t the first time Forbes had taken the big step forward when a lot was at stake. Last year, when Maryland came to Charlottesville and another freshman guard, John Gilchrist, had bombed away for 21 points in the first half, Forbes volunteered for the assignment at halftime.

Gilchrist scored five points in the second half, although Maryland won the game.

“I feel like I’m one of the best defenders on the team and I think I can stop just about anybody,” Forbes said confidently.

When the dust had settled and Virginia improved to 6-0 with an 89-87 win played at greyhound pace, Forbes got the ultimate compliment ... from his defeated foe.

“He told me that I play hard and I’m tough,” Forbes revealed of Douglas’ comment to him.

That’s all he needed to hear.

“Coach Gillen was going to give the assignment to another guard, but when Gary stepped up you could see it in his eyes,” Singletary said. “That’s what we need for this team. That gives us all confidence in each other and team confidence that we can win these games.”

That comment, was a bonus.

Rising to the occasion
Singletary scores 25 as Cavs move to 6-0
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 4, 2004

RICHMOND - After beating the tortoise Wednesday, No. 24 Virginia beat the hare on Friday night.

The Cavaliers, coming off a 48-44 win over a methodical Northwestern team on Wednesday night, outlasted quick and hot-shooting Auburn 89-87 on Friday night at the Siegel Center.

UVa freshman point guard Sean Singletary scored a career-high 25 and Devin Smith, who hit a key 3-pointer with two and a half minutes remaining, added 23 as the Cavaliers improved to 6-0 on the season.

Freshman guard Toney Douglas, who had already scored 38 points in a contest earlier this season, led Auburn with 33. The Tigers, whose tallest starter is 6-foot-6, fell to 5-1 with the loss.

Offense was a rarity in Wednesday’s contest but it was quite plentiful Friday.

Each team shot over 50 percent from the field (UVa 53.2, Auburn 52.6) and each nearly hit on 50 percent on their 3-pointers. Virginia finished 10 of 21 from behind the arc and Auburn was 13 of 25.

“I thought this was a terrific college basketball game. Auburn is an outstanding team. They are very tough to defend because they are so quick and shoot 3s so well … At times, we couldn’t stop them,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “The other night was water torture and we knew with the way Auburn can score, this would be a different game.”

In both the marathon (Northwestern) and the sprint (Auburn), the Cavaliers edged out the competition just before the finish line. Each time they made things more interesting than they needed to be.

Smith’s trey with 2:38 remaining vaulted Virginia to an 84-78 advantage. The shot came result of a nifty cross-court bounce pass by Elton Brown from inside the post, something that was an unusual sight in itself.

“It was a big shot. Elton made just a great pass to me there in the corner. It’s a pass he throws a lot in practice,” Smith said with a grin.

Virginia still held an 87-82 advantage with 29.5 seconds left after two free throws from J.R. Reynolds. That’s when the game became a little bizarre.

First, Auburn’s Ian Young scored a layup to make it 87-84 with 23.1 seconds left. The Tigers fouled immediately and this time Reynolds could convert just 1 of 2. After Smith blocked a 3-point attempt from Nathan Watson, Singletary went to the line and also made just 1 of 2 for an 89-84 lead with 7.3 seconds left.

The game was over right? Not exactly.

Singletary fouled Young coming up the court. Young made just 1 of 2 from the line but teammate Quinnel Brown snared the rebound, made the putback and was fouled to make it 89-87 with 1.7 seconds remaining. The almost unnecessary drama ended with Brown missing his free throw and Virginia holding on for the win.

“We made mistakes which I was quite upset about. We still had some young guys who were celebrating when the game wasn’t quite over,” Gillen said. “Digger Phelps always said the game is 40 minutes long, not 39 minutes. We made some foolish mistakes and we have to learn from them.”

One of those young guys, however, was a big reason that Gillen and his team could leave Richmond a winner.

Singletary finished 9 of 16 from the field and connected on 3 of 7 3-point attempts, while also grabbing seven rebounds.

He might have had a better overall game against Arizona two weeks ago, but this game revealed much more of his offensive repertoire. Two baskets in the final stretch highlighted that.

First, Singletary buried a trey with 6:19 left that made it 74-70. Minutes later, Singletary drove the lane, faked a pass and then scooted in for a layup to give UVa a 78-74 lead.

“Every game I am getting more and more comfortable and confident out there. I know when to pick my spots and I know when to get everyone involved,” Singletary said.

Auburn led 44-38 after a first half defined by distinct runs from each team and also Virginia’s first halftime deficit of the season.

The Cavaliers opened the game with an 11-0 spurt and led 17-3 when Smith made a layup with 15:17 left in the opening half.

It seemed that the game was in hand, but that proved to be a very poor assumption.

Behind Douglas and a barrage of 3-pointers, the Tigers went on a 19-5 run over the next four minutes and tied the game at 22 with 11:12 left before the half.

“I’ve seen that before from this team. Against Temple, we were down 21-5 before I could sit down,” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. “We went on a big run after that, made 17 of our next 20 3-pointers and ended up leading by 10 with five minutes to go.”

The Tigers, who connected on 8 of 13 first-half 3-pointers, kept their surge going, gained the lead and built it to as many as nine, 44-35, in the half’s final minute.

Douglas finished with 19 points in the opening 20 minutes and connected on 3 of 5 attempts from behind the arc.

While arriving in opposite fashions and separated by less than 48 hours, the Cavaliers seemed quite content to walk away from both games with the wins by just a handful of points.

“These wins have been about character. It’s that plain and simple,” Brown said.

 Doughty attempts to measure up to highly paid on-line colleague
Out-of-staters headline official Blacksburg visitors
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Not too long after last week’s Notebook Plus posting, an e-mail arrived from my colleague, Randy King, saying that he would like to have a column where all he had to do was “cut and paste.”

In the course of a later conversation, I came to find out that Mr. King is more handsomely compensated for his Virginia Tech Insider than I am for either of my columns -- the difference, I believe, is an exorbitant $1.32 per column -- so I’ll just stick with the scissors and glue stick.

Actually, I have some more Tech-UVa Tales to share with the readers, but, first, as the recruiting season starts to heat up, some updates on that front:

From the various Web sites devoted to UVa football, it now seems likely that as many as four players who have committed to UVa will be taking other visits. They are Salem, N.J., linebacker Lamont Robinson; Roanoke linebacker Darryl Gresham; Durham, N.C., wide receiver Brandon Woods, and Jersey City, N.J., running back Rashawn Jackson.

Jackson told thesabre.com that he was under the impression Virginia would take one running back and was upset, after he committed, when the Cavaliers continued to recruit the likes of Toney Baker from High Point, N.C. At 6-1 and 250 pounds, Jackson makes for some intriguing possibilities, but to think that the Cavaliers would stop recruiting Baker was unrealistic.

In a subsequent interview with the same Web site, Jackson said he had reached an understanding with UVa assistants Al Golden and Mark D’Onofrio and remained 100-percent committed. On the other hand, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that UVa will lose one or more of the 24 players who have made oral commitments.

A name that has entered the mix in recent weeks is Andrew Pearman, younger brother of Virginia tailback Alvin Pearman. The Pearmans’ father told the Honolulu Intelligencer that Andrew, who was redshirted this fall, has become homesick and wants to transfer to Virginia.

Whether head coach Al Groh would take the younger Pearman after being jilted once is an interesting question, but given Groh’s unmistakable admiration for Alvin Pearman, it’s hard to believe he could tell the Pearman family “no.”

I’M TOLD THAT the most impressive aspect of the group who attended the Virginia Tech-Virginia game last weekend was the players -- seniors and juniors -- who were not on official visits. Yet, the list of players who were on official visits was not without big names.

Two of the most prominent were a pair of preseason SuperPrep All-Americans from North Carolina, linebacker Derek Nicholson (6 foot 2, 225 pounds) from Winston-Salem and running back Montario Hardesty (6-0, 196) from New Bern. Nicholson and Hardesty were rated the Nos. 3 and 7 prospects in North Carolina before the season. Nicholson and Hardesty are at UNC this weekend.

(Baker, the No. 2-rated prospect on SuperPrep’s list, also attended the game, but was not on an official visit and has been more involved with the Cavaliers to date.).

Other players who were at Tech officially included Hardesty’s teammate, New Bern offensive lineman Julian Williams (6-4, 291); Atlanta running back James Davis (5-11, 185); Knoxville, Tenn., offensive lineman Garrett Reynolds (6-7, 255); Sumter, S.C., running back J.C. Neal (6-1, 180), and Murray, Ky., offensive lineman Corey Zirbel (6-7, 292).

Zirbel and Neal were preseason SuperPrep All-Americans, rated the Nos. 3 and 8 players in their states, respectively. Williams, once thought headed to N.C. State, was rated the No. 23 prospect in North Carolina, according to SuperPrep. Davis was the No. 25 prospect in Georgia and was close to a commitment last weekend, according to hokiehaven.com, a Virginia Tech site affiliated with rivals.com.

Among those visiting unofficially was Highland Springs running back-defensive back Victor “Macho” Harris, rated the No. 1 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times. I would be stunned if Harris did not select Virginia Tech, home to three other former Highland Springs players this past season.

Official visitors included a player who already has made an oral commitment to the Hokies, Dorian Porch, a 5-10, 185-pound all-purpose threat from Calhoun, Ga.

IN KEEPING with my policy of voting for a Heisman Trophy candidate who has made his team into something it otherwise would not have become, I voted today for Utah quarterback Alex Smith.

My next two choices were Southern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart and Louisville quarterback Stefan Lefors. Lefors compares to Smith in his impact for an overachieving team, and, while Southern Cal started out as the No. 1 team in the country, it was Leinart’s performance on TV last week against Notre Dame that won me over.

I can’t remember most of my past votes, but my first-place choice last year was Ben Roethlisberger of Miami of Ohio, whose performance this year for the Pittsburgh Steelers would suggest that he was for real.

U.Va. gets big win vs. small Auburn and improves to 6-0
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 4, 2004

RICHMOND — The Auburn Tigers started four guards and no player taller than 6-foot-6 Friday night against Virginia.

That was their big lineup.

On several occasions the Tigers went “small” or more accurately, smaller, using five players listed as guards. No matter the lineup, Auburn pushed the ball hard, drove fearlessly to the basket and fired up 3-pointers by the bushel.

It was frantic and fun to watch. But as Virginia learned in an 89-87 win in front of 7,237 at VCU’s Siegel Center, no fun to defend.

“They’re quick, they shoot the ball, that freshman’s unbelievable,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said, summing up a few of Auburn’s strengths.

“That freshman” was guard Toney Douglas, a lights-out shooter who scored 33 points before fouling out with six seconds left. All that stood between Douglas and a 40-point night was Virginia’s Gary Forbes, who asked to guard him and held him to three points over the final 5:16.

About the same time Douglas was cooling off, Virginia’s own freshman guard, Sean Singletary, began heating up. Singletary scored 10 of the Cavaliers’ 14 points in five-minute stretch in which they built a four-point lead.

Singletary finished with 25 points and seven rebounds. He and his first-year counterpart, Douglas, were the best players on the Siegel Center floor.

“It was fun,” Singletary said of the game’s frenetic pace. “It fits our style of play.”

It certainly fit better than Wednesday night’s game against Northwestern, a tractor pull of a contest won by the Cavaliers 48-44. It took Auburn just 20 minutes to reach that total Friday night, although at the beginning, it looked as if the Tigers would never find their touch.

Virginia led 17-3 under five minutes into the game, but the rest of the half belonged to Auburn. The Tigers began dropping in 3 -pointers from all over, while Virginia defenders scrambled to get hands in shooter’s faces. By the final minute of the half, Auburn had turned a 14-point deficit into an eight-point lead.

Virginia began the second half by lobbing the ball inside to 6-foot-9 Elton Brown, the focus of Auburn’s collapsing zone defense. Brown scored six quick points and the Cavaliers pulled even. Later, Singletary took over. His free throw with 7.3 seconds left gave Virginia a five-point margin.

“We’re fortunate we were able to score,” Gillen said. “Because we couldn’t stop them.”

Virginia (6-0) , had held its first five opponents to 60 points or less. It was apparent early that Auburn ( 5-1) would be different.

“We’re a hard match-up for teams,” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. “We’re so different than most teams are going to see.”

Lebo, the former North Carolina player, is in his first year at Auburn. He took over a program that is playing under NCAA sanctions, and is not only short-handed but just plain short.

“We are what we are,” Lebo said. “We’ve got to play a certain way.”

Said Douglas: “I love when teams think because we’re small they can just blow us out.”

Cavs win wild one
Virginia survives a shootout two nights after "water torture."
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published December 4, 2004

RICHMOND -- As freshmen Sean Singletary and Toney Douglas went at each other, basket for basket, you had to wonder who would blink first. In the end, neither did.

Virginia survived a torrid night by perhaps the Southeastern Conference's best freshman and escaped with an 89-87 victory over Auburn Friday night at the Siegel Center. Douglas lit up the 24th-ranked Cavaliers for 33 points on 11-of-18 shooting, but Singletary kept his team in it with a season-best 25 points on 9-of-16 accuracy.

Virginia (6-0) jumped to a 17-3 less than four minutes into the game but, in a 23-point swing, trailed by nine near the end of the first half. Yet behind Singletary and senior Devin Smith, who had 23 points and eight rebounds, the Cavs pulled it out.

It was nothing like Wednesday night's 48-44 win at Northwestern.

"The other night was water torture," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "This was a different game."

Singletary is a good example of how different it was. At Northwestern, Singletary attempted eight shots. Friday night, he set season highs with 16 shots and seven 3-point tries.

"You've got to take what the defense gives you," Singletary said. "They were keying on J.R. (Reynolds) and Devin, and I had a lot of open opportunities."

As did Douglas, whom Singletary first met at basketball camp when they were 12. It's not like Virginia didn't know about him: Douglas torched Nicholls State for 38 points, a school record for a freshman. Friday night, he missed his first three shots but nailed nine of his next 10. Gillen tried a zone, a man-to-man, but nothing mattered.

"Toney can flat-out score," said Auburn coach Jeff Lebo, who inherited Douglas from the previous staff's recruiting efforts. "And he scores in odd ways."

There was nothing odd about his 5-of-9 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. His fourth trey of the night came with 7:51 remaining and put the Tigers ahead 69-67 for their final lead. After Elton Brown tied it with a basket in the post, Singletary went 2-for-2 from the foul line to put the Cavs ahead for good at 71-69 with 7:08 left.

Not that it was that simple. Virginia led 89-84 with 7.3 seconds left, but as Auburn's Ian Young raced down the floor, Singletary was whistled for a reaching foul with 3.8 seconds left. Young made the first attempt but missed the second. Quinnel Brown, the Tigers' starting center at 6-feet-6, stuck the quick follow to make it 89-87 and was fouled by Smith with 1.7 seconds left.

Brown intentionally missed the free throw, which was batted out about 30 feet from the basket. His heave, which would not have counted, bounced off the rim.

"We had some young guys celebrating when the game wasn't quite over," Gillen said. "We made some foolish mistakes, and we need to learn from that."

Freshman orientation
Douglas, Singletary light up the Siegel Center as Virginia remains unbeaten
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA 89 AUBURN 87
INSIDE: Can these Cavs end a trend of fast starts, slow finishes? John Markon's column, Page D8

The best freshman at the Siegel Center last night? How about Auburn's Toney Douglas? The 6-1 shooting guard from Jonesboro, Ga., scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed six rebounds in 38 minutes.

Then again, how about Virginia's Sean Singletary? The 6-0 point guard from Philadelphia scored a career-best 25 points and added seven rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and one steal in 30 minutes.

Some might argue about which freshman had the better game, but there was no question about which one left Virginia Commonwealth's arena in better spirits. The 24th-ranked Cavaliers rallied in the second half to edge previously unbeaten Auburn 89-87 in a thrill-a-minute game before a near-sellout crowd of 7,237.

"I'm just glad we came together in the second half, because we were asleep in the first half," Singletary said.
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Virtually all of Virginia's scoring came from four players: Singletary, senior forward Devin Smith (23 points), senior center Elton Brown (17) and sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds (12). But swingman Gary Forbes' contribution was enormous. As well as Douglas played after intermission, when he scored 14 points, he might have done more damage had Forbes, a 6-6, 210-pound sophomore, not been shadowing him.

With 2:47 left and Virginia clinging to a three-point lead, Forbes forced Douglas into a turnover near midcourt. On the Cavs' next possession, Smith's fourth 3-pointer made it 84-78.

Forbes, a reserve whom U.Va. coach Pete Gillen considers a starter, had requested his assignment at halftime.

"Win or lose, I love the fact that he had the courage to say, 'I want to guard him,'" Gillen said. "He didn't shut him out, but I thought it was a big key to the game, Gary locking that guy up."

The game couldn't have started much better for Virginia (6-0), which scored the first 11 points and led 17-3 with 15 minutes left in the half. But Auburn (5-1) stormed back with a remarkable display of 3-point shooting and led 44-38 at the break. In the first 20 minutes, the Tigers, whose rotation includes no one taller than 6-6, hit 8 of 13 attempts from beyond the arc.

"I was just like, 'Man, this can't be happening,'" Brown said of the Tigers' marksmanship.

The Cavaliers were nearly as accurate. They shot 7 of 12 from long range in the first half and 10 of 21 for the game. Auburn finished 13 of 27 on 3-pointers, with Douglas connecting on 5 of 9.

Overall, U.Va. shot 53.2 percent from the floor; the Tigers, 52.6 percent.

"They're very tough to defend because they're so quick and they shoot 3's so well," said Gillen, who mixed zone and man-to-man defenses. "We were fortunate that offensively we were able to score because we weren't able to stop them."

Singletary put the Cavaliers ahead for good at the 7:08 mark, with two free throws that made it 71-69, but Auburn never surrendered. Not after a Singletary layup made it 78-74, and not after Smith's trey made it 84-78 with 2:33 left.

Poor free throw shooting by Virginia kept Auburn in the game. In the final 1:44, the Cavs hit only 5 of 10 from the line.

Singletary made 1 of 2 to make it 89-84 with 7.3 seconds, and Virginia's win should have been secure. Yet the Cavaliers, to the dismay of the crowd, seemed determined to add drama to the closing seconds.

First, Singletary, trying for a steal, fouled Ian Young. The Tigers were in the double-bonus, and Young made his first three throw with 3.8 seconds left. He missed his second, but teammate Quinnel Brown grabbed the rebound and was fouled while hitting a short jumper.

That made it 89-87 with 1.7 seconds remaining, and Brown intentionally missed his free throw. Had the Tigers been able to control the rebound, they could have forced overtime - or won - with a last-second shot. Fortunately for Virginia, the ball caromed off the rim and out toward midcourt, and Auburn couldn't get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.

"We made some foolish mistakes, some fouls," Gillen said. "We've got to learn from that."