Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993 TAG: 9312240058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From staff and Associated Press reports
DATELINE: PALO ALTO, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
An 11-day break apparently caused Virginia to forget everything it had learned against Old Dominion.
Virginia coach Jeff Jones said the Cavaliers made all the same mistakes Wednesday night in an 84-72 loss to unbeaten Stanford.
In both games, UVa led by seven points with less than 10 minutes remaining.
"It was a different type of game," Jones said Thursday. "ODU was more fast-paced, but it was similar in that we had an opportunity to put our opponent in a really serious situation. We got away from doing the things that got us the lead."
The Cavaliers, who trailed 35-30 at the half, took control by pounding the ball inside to junior forward Junior Burrough. Burrough had eight points in the first 6:07 of the second half and drew the fourth foul on three different Stanford defenders.
"It was almost like their inside players were under directions to foul," Jones said.
A three-point play by freshman Jamal Robinson with 10:39 left gave UVa its biggest lead at 53-46, but the Cavaliers did not score on their next five possessions, failing to get off a shot on three of them.
Stanford was equally inept, but UVa's dry spell enabled the Cardinal to stay in the game. It was 53-48 when a TV timeout stopped play with 7:57 left.
Most teams are happy if they can average more than one point per possession. In its first 12 possessions after the timeout, Stanford had 26 points, including four 3-pointers and a three-point play.
The Cardinal, down 60-59 with 5:08 left, outscored the Cavaliers 15-3 over a span of 2:10.
As far as Jones was concerned, it was not the late Stanford spurt that was UVa's downfall; rather, it was the Cavaliers' earlier inability to build their lead into double figures.
"We started to play too fast; the same thing happened at ODU," Jones said. "At crunch time, we need to make better decisions at the offensive end."
Jones also was not pleased with UVa's defense down the stretch, with Stanford overcoming a 4-for-16 start in the second half to make eight of its last nine shots.
Most of the damage was done by guards Brevin Knight and Dion Cross. Knight, a freshman, had 14 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. Cross was 4-for-4 on 3-pointers, three during the second-half comeback.
UVa point guard Harold Deane hit two of his first three shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, but finished 3-for-11 from the field. Deane and fellow freshman Mike Powell are a combined 21-for-87 (24.1 percent) for the season.
"To have that kind of percentage for that many shots . . . we can't have that," Jones said.
The Cavaliers missed their last 11 3-point shots and are 3-for-38 on 3-pointers in their three losses.
"The truth is, we didn't need the 3s, " Jones said. "If we didn't rush things and turn the ball over, Junior was getting good shots. If they double-team him, he can kick it back outside for open shots."
Burrough finished with team highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds, his fourth straight double-figure rebounding game. Jason Williford added 14 points and Cornel Parker had 12 despite foul problems.
The Cardinal shot 47 free throws, the most by a UVa opponent since the 1983-84 season. The previous high against a Jones-coached Virginia team was 38 by Stanford two years ago at Maples Pavilion.
Normally, the Cavaliers don't want to get in a free-throw shooting contest, but they were 20-for-25 in the second half and hit 71 percent for the game - considerably better than their 57.5 percentage from the first five games.
One consolation for Jones as the Cavaliers (3-3) entered a six-day Christmas break was the play of reserve centers Shawn Wilson and Chris Alexander. Wilson had four rebounds before suffering a broken nose. Alexander, in the longest stint of his career, had three rebounds in 14 minutes.
"He played the way we've been talking about him playing for a long time," Jones said. "He had a string of three outstanding defensive plays on one series."
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB