UVa wins, Leitao goes kicking and screaming
Coach gets early ejection; Cavaliers cruise behind Singletary's 27 points
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 17, 2006

You might want to go ahead and scratch the names of Duke Edsall, Manny Upton and Curtis Blair off of Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s Christmas list.

The trio of officials probably won’t be feeling any yuletide spirit from Leitao - or the 12,217 fans that were in attendance at John Paul Jones Arena.

Not after Saturday’s game against Hampton.

Following a series of debatable offensive foul calls in the first half, Leitao received two technical fouls and was kicked out of a game for the first time in his career.

It is believed to be the first time that a Virginia coach has been tossed since Terry Holland got the boot in 1976.

Luckily, Leitao picked a good time to get ejected. Virginia didn’t really need him against an overmatched Hampton squad.

UVa, behind 27 points from Sean Singletary, and a 14-point, 10-rebound performance from Ryan Pettinella, defeated its in-state neighbor from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, 91-69.

Mike Freeman and Demario Mattox paced Hampton (2-8) with 17 points apiece.

The Cavaliers (6-1), who notched their second-straight win, leave for the San Juan Shootout today. They play three games in three days beginning on Tuesday against Appalachian State.

“I just want to apologize to the University for getting kicked out of the game and my actions that led to it,” said Leitao, during his postgame press conference. “Although I’m demonstrative and try and challenge everybody, it’s not to leave my players without some level of leadership. That’s not why I came here and not what I’m about.

“So to [school] President [John] Casteen and {Athletic Director] Craig Littlepage my boss, and everybody included, I apologize.”

Virginia started the game extremely slowly. Hampton’s helter-skelter style of play seemed to take the Cavaliers out of their rhythm.

There were nine lead changes before Virginia went on a 9-0 run to take a 27-18 lead.

Leitao’s troubles with the officials hit a zenith with 4:43 to go in the half and his team leading 33-22.

Jason Cain was called for an offensive foul - the team’s fourth offensive of the game - and Leitao went ballistic.

First, he kicked the scorer’s table. That netted him his first technical.

Then, he began waving his arms in an effort to incite the crowd and was hit with a second technical, resulting in an automatic ejection.

Leitao didn’t want to talk about any of the specifics regarding his spat with the officials.

“It doesn’t serve any purpose, other than to create something that really isn’t an issue,” he said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Hampton coach Kevin Nickelberry said he didn’t know what was going on.

“All I know was that I was yelling at my team and then I look up and Dave’s gone,” Nickelberry said. “He’s got his jacket off and he’s out. I’m not sure what happened.”

Virginia players took it in stride.

“Coach Leitao is a real intense guy and he wants to win and wants us to play hard and wants us to want to win,” said freshman Will Harris. “When he did that, I wasn’t really surprised because I know throughout the game he has a lot of energy. For him to do that, it just kind of instilled a lot of energy into the rest of the team.”

Several Virginia players were puzzled as to how a coach waving his arms could lead to a technical foul. They noted last year’s game against Virginia Tech when Hokies coach Seth Greenberg got on a courtside microphone and implored fans to got nuts. He suffered no penalty.

After Leitao left, assistant coach Rob Lanier - the former head coach at Siena - took over.

Hampton’s Rashad West proceeded to hit three of four technical free throws to make it 33-25.

Initially, Virginia seemed to play with fire. A Pettinella fastbreak layup pushed the lead back to 10.

“It inspired us to play hard, said Pettinella, “and sent a message to us and our fans and to Hampton that we meant business after that.”

However, Hampton outscored Virginia 11-7 over the next 3:36 to close to 42-36 at the break.

“They wanted to rat the game,” said Leitao, who watched the remainder of the contest on a television in the Virginia locker room. “In the first half, they were successful. There were a lot of whistles and stop-action. It took a long time to play the first half because it was that type of game. I thought once we settled in, the game became easier to manage.”

Hampton stayed within striking distance for the first few minutes of the second half before Virginia was able to take command.

A Harris three-point play and Singletary 3-pointer, sandwiched around some good defensive sequences, pushed the lead to 65-48. Virginia was able to cruise from there.

“The only way we would have won that game was if Rob [Lanier] got kicked out,” Nickelberry joked. “Maybe then we would have had a shot.”

Dunks

Singletary had his consecutive free-throw streak snapped at 39. If you don’t count his 14 of 16 free throws (career highs for makes and attempts), Virginia was just 15 of 28 from the stripe. … Leitao on his team’s upcoming trip to San Juan: “It’s my hope that, one, we can come back after 120 minutes with a championship. Two, that we can use our bench and know that over three days we can depend on other people to make plays for you.” … Mamadi Diane notched the first double-double of his career - 10 points and a career-best 11 rebounds. … Solomon Tat (groin injury) missed his sixth straight game. Leitao said he will not play in Puerto Rico. … Tunji Soroye played just one minute. Lars Mikalauskas, for the second straight game, played only three minutes. Leitao said the duo’s lack of playing time had to due with Hampton’s frenentic style of play.
 

Cavs answer the call
Ejection of Leitao in the first half inspires team in win over Hampton
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 17, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Dave Leitao raised his foot and raised his arms moves that resulted in his ejection. Eventually, his team raised its level of intensity.

The University of Virginia's second-year coach witnessed only 15:17 of the Cavaliers' 91-69 win over Hampton yesterday. Before 12,217 at John Paul Jones Arena, the liveliest episode of VIRGINIA 91 HAMPTON 69the afternoon began with Leitao objecting to a call underneath Virginia's hoop with 4:43 left in the first half. U.Va.'s Jason Cain rebounded his miss and cleared space with his right hip before trying a follow.

Official Duke Edsall whistled Cain for an offensive foul. Leitao responded with a kick to the scorer's table. That earned a technical foul from Edsall. Leitao smiled and clapped. Then he turned toward the Virginia student section and began raising and dropping his arms, a plea for amplification. That drew technical foul No.2, from official Curtis Blair, and the automatic ejection.

Leitao began his postgame comments by apologizing for his actions.

"Although I'm demonstrative, and try to challenge everybody, it's not to leave my players without some level of leadership," he said. "That's not why I came here. That's not what I'm about."

Assistant Rob Lanier directed the Cavaliers (6-1) for the remainder of the game, in which U.Va. guard Sean Singletary scored 27 points and Virginia took 44 free throws. Leitao's ejection is believed to be the first for a Virginia coach since January 1976, when Terry Holland was asked to leave the Cavaliers' 91-69 loss to Virginia Tech at the Richmond Coliseum.

Virginia led the scrappy, foul-prone Pirates 33-22 when Leitao walked from the bench to the U.Va. locker room and began watching the game on closed-circuit TV. The Cavaliers were ahead 42-36 at halftime, 49-43 with 17:30 left. Then Singletary asserted himself, fighting through the pressure Hampton (2-8) consistently concentrated on him. Virginia also became busier on the boards. The Pirates, picked to finish fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, faded physically and were outrebounded 49-33, with U.Va. grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.

"That was really a wake-up call when coach left the game," said Virginia's Ryan Pettinella, a 6-9 junior transfer from Pennsylvania who scored 14 and collected 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. "It really inspired us to play harder. We saw his energy, his care for the game."

Pettinella demonstrated what can happen when a big man simply hustles and stays alert for passes from penetrating guards.

"Didn't necessarily even make a basket [from farther than] four feet out. It was just energy on both ends, running the floor," Leitao said of Pettinella. "The more times you put yourself in position through work, the more times you get results by being in the right place at the right time."

Virginia, coming off a 13-day exam break, prepared for Hampton's open-floor pressure and trapping but did not initially respond well to it. Leitao said the Pirates "wanted to rat the game, and in the first half, they were successful." Ultimately, Hampton couldn't keep up with Singletary, whose quickness with the ball led to his 16 foul shots. The 6-0 junior made 14.

"He took over," first-year HU coach Kevin Nickelberry said of Singletary.


 

UVa routs Hampton despite Leitao's antics
The Cavaliers' coach watched the second half of the team's victory from his office after being ejected.
By Ed Miller

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Hampton coach Kevin Nickelberry wasn't sure who to congratulate at the postgame press conference.

"My hats off," he said after Virginia beat his scrappy but outmanned team 91-69 Saturday afternoon. "I'm not sure if I should say Dave, or Rob Lanier."

Dave is Virginia coach Dave Leitao, who watched the final 25 minutes of his team's sixth victory on a television in his office, after being assessed two technical fouls and ejected from the game with 4:43 left in the first half. Lanier, his top assistant, coached the Cavaliers the rest of the way.

Leitao became the first Virginia coach to be ejected since Terry Holland was tossed against Virginia Tech on Jan. 14, 1976.

"I want to apologize to the university for getting kicked out of the game," he said. "And my actions that led to it."

Action number one was a kick to the scorer's table, done in protest of an offensive foul call against Jason Cain. That earned Leitao his first technical, from referee Duke Edsall.

He picked up his second just moments later, when Curtis Blair whistled him for waving his arms to exhort the crowd, which was already howling in protest.

So much for a quiet little mid-December nonconference game.

Leitao's tantrum turned up the heat on an already ugly game, exactly the type Hampton wanted. Nickelberry, a former Clemson assistant in his first year at Hampton, has dubbed the team's style of play "The Frantic 40." The Pirates press full court, toss up lots of 3-pointers and are not shy about fouling. Coming in, Hampton's opponents had shot 32 free throws per game.

"My team is going to fight in every game," Nickelberry said.

They did for a half Saturday. Virginia led by 11 after Leitao's ejection. By halftime, Hampton (2-8) had trimmed the lead to six. The Pirates were within seven when a 15-5 run pushed the margin to 17 with 12:53 left in the second half.

Virginia committed 12 turnovers in the first half, just four in the second, after adjusting to Hampton's frenetic style.

"There were a lot of whistles. There was a lot of stop action," Leitao said. "I thought once we settled in that the game became a little easier to manage because you knew where people were coming and where to attack."

Virginia (6-1) made 29 of 44 free throws, including 14-of-16 from point guard Sean Singletary, who finished with 27 points. Ryan Pettinella added 14, and 10 rebounds.

Pettinella threw his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame around in 24 rugged minutes. The 6-10 Cain chipped in with 12 points. Virginia grabbed 49 rebounds to Hampton's 33.

That's not surprising considering Virginia's size and depth advantages. But Hampton was more aggressive early.

"We started out kind of slow and then coach got us riled up a little bit," Singletary said.

Leitao had shed his coat and was already working the officials when he was ejected. It was the first of his coaching career, he said.

"That's not why I came here, and that's not what I'm about," he said.

For his part, Nickelberry said he didn't see what happened.

"All I know is that I was yelling at my team, and the next thing I know, I look up and Dave's gone," he said.

Nickelberry said the ejection gave his team a lift, too. Rashad West hit three of four free throws to start a 9-4 Hampton run.

It wasn't enough.

"The only way we would have won that game maybe is if Rob got kicked out," Nickelberry said. "Then we would have had a shot."

 

After Leitao tossed, Cavs cast aside HU
Virginia recovers from a sloppy first half that includes coach Dave Leitao's ejection and defeats Hampton.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
December 17, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Dave Leitao steamed his way through the first half, shedding his suit coat, bickering with the officials as Hampton's pesky style frustrated his Virginia team. Then his temper billowed over, sparked by an offensive foul called on forward Jason Cain with 4:43 left in the half.

Leitao kicked the scorers' table, drawing a technical foul from referee Duke Edsall, the object of his ire throughout the half Saturday afternoon. Leitao reacted by waving his arms to encourage the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena. That earned him a second technical and his first career ejection. He glared at Edsall before walking off the court.

Leitao watched the rest of Virginia's 91-69 victory from the locker room.

Virginia won by building on a six-point halftime lead and settling into its offense.

The Cavaliers (6-1) had 12 first-half turnovers but just four in the second, as assistant Rob Lanier - head coach at Siena before coming to Charlottesville - took Leitao's place.

Leitao's ejection is believed to be the first by a Virginia coach since 1976, when Terry Holland was tossed from a 91-69 loss to Virginia Tech. Leitao apologized in his postgame press conference and wouldn't elaborate on his dispute with the officials.

The Cavaliers weren't surprised by Leitao's reaction. He is given to sideline histrionics and often steps onto the court to state his case to officials. Freshman Will Harris said he hasn't seen worse from Leitao in practice, but, "I've seen him throw balls."

Though Leitao's ejection was the highlight of an otherwise ho-hum game, the Cavaliers' win had less to do with their inspiration from that moment than it did with their superiority to Hampton (2-8).

"The only way we would've won that game is maybe if Rob got kicked out," Hampton coach Kevin Nickelberry said. "Then we'd have a shot.

"We've gotta be tougher. We weren't real tough tonight."

The Cavaliers led 42-36 after a first half that included 10 lead changes, 30 fouls and 25 turnovers. "Our goal was not to let them run the offense," Nickelberry said. "We thought if we could keep them out of their flow, like we did in the first half, and make them score the way we play, make it ugly ... that we could stay in the game."

The Pirates, in part because of fatigue, couldn't continue that in the second half. Virginia's lead increased from 10 points with 16:07 left in the game to 17 points about three minutes later. "I thought once we settled in, the game became easier to manage," Leitao said.

Virginia knew Hampton would play a scrappy style and prepared in practice scrimmages by having reserves triple-team and antagonize the starters. Though the Pirates wanted to attack, they also wanted to keep Virginia point guard Sean Singletary off the free-throw line.

They failed. Singletary, who made 41 of 42 free-throw attempts this season before Saturday, had 27 points and made 14 of 16 free-throw attempts. His streak of 39 consecutive successful free throws ended early in the second half.

Virginia also got a surprising performance from center Ryan Pettinella, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Leitao started him instead of Tunji Soroye, who started Virginia's last game. Leitao is searching for a consistent option in the post. Pettinella knows that. "I've had my mind on that aspect of it for a while," he said.

In Hampton's front court, the Pirates debuted highly regarded freshman Matthew Pilgrim, who was sidelined with a broken foot. The forward started and played 21 minutes. He had 13 points, 11 in the second half, but committed five turnovers and fouled out.

"He just wasn't ready for the minutes," Nickelberry said. "He hurt us a little bit (in the second half), just because he didn't know what we were doing."
 

Leitao's tirade fires up Cavaliers
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
December 17, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Dave Leitao didn't mean to get ejected. Honest. The Virginia coach just wanted to get the attention of the refs, or at the very least his team.
So after one too many offensive foul calls against his Cavaliers, he imprinted his size 16 shoe on the 'A' in the Wachovia ad on the scorer's table, waved his arms in the air to incite a dormant holiday student crowd and earned the heave-ho.

"It really inspired us to play hard," junior forward Ryan Pettinella said. "It really sent a message to the fans, us and Hampton that we meant business after that."

It took a while, but Virginia got its act together after a sloppy first half on Saturday, pulling away for a 91-69 win over Hampton at the John Paul Jones Arena in its final tune-up before the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico next week.

It won't be one for the highlight reels. Virginia (6-1) committed 12 of its 16 turnovers in the first half, thrown off by the feverish pace Hampton (2-8) prefers to play, dubbed the "Frantic Forty" in the team media guide.

"We expected it to be crazy," guard J.R. Reynolds said. "As coach said, they'd throw the whole sink at us."

Things were made worse by officials who called every ticky-tack foul. The teams combined for 54 fouls in the game and UVa shot 44 free throws, making 29.

The last straw for Leitao was an offensive foul called against forward Jason Cain in the post. Leitao's kick of the court sponsor's advertisement earned him his first technical. He then tried to pump up the crowd by waving his arms, drawing the second T and earning the gate with 4:43 left in the first half.

It was the first ejection of his career and the first of a Virginia basketball coach since Terry Holland was thrown out of a loss to Virginia Tech in Richmond in 1976.

"I just want to apologize to the university for getting kicked out of the game and my actions that led up to it," Leitao said afterward. "Although I'm demonstrative and try to challenge everybody, it's not by leaving my players without some level of leadership. That's not why I came here and that's not what I'm about."

Assistant coach Rob Lanier took over and calmed down the Cavaliers, who figured out Hampton's fullcourt pressure after the break.

Sean Singletary led the way, scoring a season-high 27 points and going 14-for-16 from the free throw line (though his consecutive free throw streak ended at 39, nine shy of Jeff Lamp's school record set during the 1979-80 season).

UVa got plenty of other contributors, including Mamadi Diane (10 points, 11 rebounds), Cain (12 points), Adrian Joseph (12 points off the bench) and Pettinella, who recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs.

A 6-foot-9 transfer who last played at the University of Pennsylvania during the 2004-05 season, Pettinella has been a pleasant surprise in the post, where UVa has been short on bodies with Tunji Soroye (groin) and Laurynas Mikalauskas (ankles) slowed by injuries.

Free from the rigidity of the Pennsylvania offense, Pettinella has been able to let loose with the energized game that suits him best. He's quickly become a crowd and team favorite with his hustle at both ends of the floor, getting back on defense with his arms flailing in the air and hitting the offensive boards with reckless abandon.

"He's wild," Reynolds said. "He goes to the basket harder than anybody I've ever seen."

There are very few style points to his game, particularly at the free throw line, where he's a dreadful 5-for-19 (26 percent) this season. But he gets his baskets anyway.

In the last two games, he's scored 21 points, most of which have come from within an arm's length of the hoop.

"The more times you put yourself in position to work, the more times you get results by being in the right place at the right time," Leitao said. "I think he does that more consistently than even I expected him to do."