Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403130162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Out near midcourt, freshman Jamal Robinson was dribbling the basketball lazily between his legs, paying scant attention to his increasingly impatient coach.
"I was telling him to go," Jones said. "He was like, `I'm all right.' Or, at least that's the way I took it. So, I shut up."
Jones held his breath - along with 23,532 spectators - as Robinson faked left, drove right, spun back to his left and went around Duke senior Marty Clark as if Clark were a statue.
Robinson's layup was the biggest of a series of big shots by the Cavaliers, who rallied from a six-point second-half deficit to beat fifth-ranked Duke 66-61 on Saturday at the Charlotte Coliseum.
The Blue Devils (23-5) were looking to add an ACC tournament championship to their first-place finish in the regular season, but they made only two field-goal attempts in the final 11 minutes and shot 36.2 percent.
Virginia (17-11) didn't exactly singe the nets, but the Cavaliers shot 44.1 percent, marking the first time all season they have shot 40 percent or better in four consecutive games.
The improved offense was a big factor, but defense was the primary ingredient as Virginia advanced to the ACC title game for the sixth time overall and first time since 1990.
UVa will go for its second title and first since 1976 today when it meets fourth-ranked North Carolina at 3:05 p.m. The Tar Heels (26-6) came from behind to defeat Wake Forest 86-84 in overtime on Saturday.
Virginia was coming off two regular-season shellackings by the Blue Devils, who less than a month earlier had hammered the Cavaliers 84-54 in Durham, N.C. It was that memory that prompted Jones to start in a zone defense for the first time this season.
"We started in a 2-3 because we weren't sure who they were going to start," said Jones, who held a walk-through Friday night in the ballroom of his team's hotel.
"We remembered how good Grant [Hill] was against us in Durham, [but] when they play against a zone, Grant tends to play mostly on the perimeter. He's the one directing the offense."
Hill, a leading candidate for ACC player of the year, made only one of seven 3-point shots and finished 6-of-20 from the field. He missed 10 consecutive shots before converting an offensive rebound with 7.6 seconds left that cut the deficit to 64-61.
"When we were getting on the bus, Chris Havlicek told me that Dick Vitale said [on ESPN] that I was the best defensive player in the country and this was the rematch," said Cornell Parker, victim of a 25-point outing by Hill at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "That pumped me up."
Virginia spent most of the afternoon in man-to-man but played some zone and switched defenses enough to keep the Blue Devils guessing. Duke was one of two teams to shoot 50 percent against UVa during the regular season.
"We were more of a two-man team today with Grant and Cherokee [Parks]," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Grant has done it all year long for us, and I felt bad for him because he missed a couple of easy ones.
"We missed a lot of shots near the goal - probably four - and when you miss those, there's not much to talk about. We couldn't put the ball in the basket, and our defense couldn't save us this time."
The Blue Devils trailed 30-28 at the half because they couldn't stop UVa freshman Harold Deane, who had 13 points by halftime. That was enough for Krzyzewski, who created a 7-inch height advantage for Duke when he put Hill on Deane to start the second half.
The Devils quickly seized the momentum, leading by six points on three occasions, but the Cavaliers wouldn't go away. UVa regained the lead, 60-59, when Deane hit a three-footer on a fast break with 3:40 remaining.
It was the only basket by either team until the Cavaliers gave the ball to Robinson on a clear-out and he blew past Clark for the basket that made it 62-59 with 52.3 seconds left.
"I was worried there for a second," Jones said. "Jamal has a tendency just to mess around with the ball rather than taking off to the hoop. I guess it's the New York in him."
Deane's 3-pointer was his only field goal of the second half, but he added a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds left and finished with 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Robinson, whose first start of the season came Friday in UVa's 69-63 semifinal victory over Maryland, finished with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The freshman guards had combined for 48 points against the Terrapins.
"It is important for us to control our emotion for the next 24 hours," Jones said. "I want us to enjoy this one - it's a heck of a win for our program - but I also want them to know there's more out there."
by CNB