Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290174
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
LOUISVILLE LIGHTS UP HOKIES
It must have been Opposites Day at Cassell Coliseum on Tuesday.Louisville entered its college basketball game against Virginia Tech coming off its worst shooting performance of the season. No opponent of the Hokies had shot better than 42 percent from the field since the season opener 14 games ago.
So, unnaturally, Louisville had its best shooting game and shot better than any team has against Tech this season en route to a 78-68 Metro Conference victory.
Twenty-five Hokie turnovers helped the Cardinals, whose 51-point second half overcame a four-point Tech halftime lead. Louisville shot 73.9 percent (17-of-23) from the field in the second half and 54.9 percent (28-of-51) for the game after making 32.4 percent of its shots in a loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Hokies (7-9 overall, 1-4 in the Metro) failed in an attempt to beat Louisville (12-4, 3-2) three straight times for the first time in seven years.
"Too many mistakes and a little too much impatience, and that's because of inexperience," Tech coach Bill Foster said.
Tech's two victories over a lowly Cardinals team last year might have given the Hokies confidence, but it apparently affected Louisville more.
"They did what they wanted on us, took advantage of us," Sullivan said. "We wanted to show it wasn't supposed to happen like that."
Sullivan and fellow senior Cornelius Holden combined for 39 points, 31 in the second half, partly a response to coach Denny Crum's recent heart-to-heart chats with them.
"We had a long talk . . . about what they needed to do as the leaders of our team," Crum said.
Sullivan gave the Cardinals a booster shot to end the first half when he hit a 50-foot 3-pointer. Tech had held Louisville to 39 percent (11-of-28) from the field in the first half.
"I can't remember us making a shot like that since I've been at Louisville, not from behind the half-court line," said Crum, in his 21st year there. "Obviously, we needed it. It's something I think gave us a lot more momentum to start the second half. Down four is a lot different than down seven."
Sullivan said the shot wasn't any great shakes to him; better defensive pressure was the key to the victory, he said. Tech had three straight turnovers to start the second half and Louisville tied it at 35 on Sullivan's 3-pointer with 16:27 left.
Including that shot, Sullivan scored Louisville's next eight points, ending the run with a three-point play that gave his team a 40-37 edge with 15:44 to go.
Thomas Elliott's 3-pointer tied it for Tech, but Cardinals seniors Cornelius Holden and Sullivan combined for another eight points as the Cardinals took a 48-42 lead with 13:20 left.
Tech never got closer than that, going on to lose to Louisville for the 20th time in 28 meetings, including the 10th in 13 games at Cassell. A season-high crowd of 6,738 fans watched the game; it was, however, the smallest crowd to see a Louisville game this year.
The Cardinals sent players cutting down the lane or on the baseline, and 17 of Louisville's first 25 second-half points came off layups, dunks or free throws after layups. Louisville made 13 of its first 14 field goals after intermission.
"They were easier to defend in the first half," Tech center Erik Wilson said. "They took some shots they didn't take in the first half. . . . [Holden] shot the ball maybe one time in the first half; I was surprised. In the second half, most of his baskets were layups in the post."
Crum said the idea was to try to spread out Tech's defense, minimizing Tech's height advantage and maximizing Louisville's quickness.
Foster said Tech prepared for Louisville's off-the-ball cuts, even holding a walk-through practice before the game. However, the Hokies, who lead the Metro in field-goal defense and were 6-1 at home before Tuesday, couldn't stop the Cardinals.
Foul trouble didn't help. Elliott got his third with 17:38 left in the game; Jay Purcell got his third about two minutes later, and John Rivers his third with 12:23 to go. Louisville's first foul after the break came with 11:18 left.
"It's like two steps forward, one step backward," Foster said. "One night you're plugging this; the next night you've got to plug that. You just hope you don't have to keep plugging the same things all year." \
see microfilm for box score