Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403200072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SACRAMENTO, CALIF. LENGTH: Long
The Cavaliers rarely press full-court and they don't emphasize 3-pointers, yet no ACC team has been more dangerous when it's down.
Virginia's 57-54 victory Friday over New Mexico was the 10th game this season the Cavaliers have won after trailing in the second half. In four of the games, they trailed by 10 points or more.
"It does seem unusual, especially for a team that shoots as badly as we do," said UVa coach Jeff Jones, whose Cavaliers meet Arizona in an NCAA Tournament second-round game at 3 p.m. today.
To provide some perspective, UVa has won 44 of the past 45 games it has led by 10 points or more, including the past 16. In 1992-93, the Cavaliers did not overcome a 10-point deficit in any game.
"I've heard TV people say, `Virginia is like a running team in football; they've got to stay close because if they get down, they can't come back,' " Jones said. "Hell, we've come back a bunch. It doesn't make sense. It isn't logical, but we have come back. We didn't play well enough to beat New Mexico, but we fought through it and didn't panic."
In the ACC, only North Carolina State trailed at halftime in as many games (17) as Virginia (16). The Cavaliers are 8-8 in those games; no other conference team had more comeback victories than North Carolina's five.
"We know you can do it with defense because we've done it before," Jones said. "When you shoot as poorly as we have, you look for ways to win and not hang your heads.
"We'll hit the offensive boards, we'll get out on transition, we'll go to the free-throw line. That's probably the biggest thing."
\ EXTRA DUTY: Junior Burrough, the Cavaliers' 6-foot-8, 248-pound center, played a season-high 38 minutes against New Mexico and had his 10th 20-point game of the season.
"Junior was terrible in practice [Thursday]," said Jones, no doubt aware that Burrough has scored 10 points or fewer in nine games. "I'm done guessing why Junior plays well or not."
Burrough got a few funny looks Friday when he said Virginia won because it played 40 minutes of basketball. Said Jones: "If that's the case, then some of the 40 minutes was bad basketball."
\ RECRUITS HONORED: Curtis Staples and Norman Nolan are the first pair of Virginia signees to make the Parade All-America team in the same year since Richard Morgan and Lance Blanks in 1985.
Morgan, an assistant coach under his brother, Charlie, for Group AA state champion Salem, became a first-team All-ACC player. Blanks transferred to Texas and later played in the National Basketball Association.
Staples, Nolan and UVa's third fall signee, 7-3 Chase Metheney, have accepted invitations to the Capital Classic in College Park, Md., on April 8. Staples and Nolan will play for the Capital All-Stars and Metheney for the U.S. All-Stars.
Metheney averaged 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds, with 111 blocked shots, in helping Charlotte (N.C.) Latin School win its second consecutive state championship. The team was 53-5 the past two seasons.
\ RECRUITING UPDATE: The departure of 7-footer Mark Bogosh, who will transfer to Chaminade, leaves the Cavaliers with two scholarships available for the spring.
Virginia is focusing its attention on 6-8 Michael Maddox from Atlanta and 6-7 Leron Williams from Bradenton, Fla.
Florida will be tough to beat for Williams, the state player of the year in his classification. He will visit UVa on the first weekend in April.
Georgia Tech remains the leader for Maddox, who took all of his visits in the fall.
\ NICE CONSOLATION PRIZE: Arizona point guard Damon Stoudamire, a first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference selection, was the point guard to be chosen later when the Wildcats lost Cory Alexander to Virginia.
"We basically had cut our recruiting down to those two guys," said Lute Olson, Arizona's coach. "We felt we had a very good shot, and I don't blame [Alexander's] mother for this, but she was our greatest concern all along."
\ ODDS AND ENDS: Freshman guard Harold Deane, whose high after 26 regular-season games was 19 points, has averaged 19.2 points in four postseason games. . . . Mike Powell, who has not received the acclaim of fellow freshmen Deane and Jamal Robinson, played five minutes Friday to reach the 100-minute mark for the season. . . . Although Virginia has shot 40 percent or better in each of its past six games, the Cavaliers have shot worse than 41 percent in three of the games, including Friday's 40.4 percent effort. . . . UVa's opposition has shot worse than 40 percent in five of the past six games. . . . New Mexico missed its last 10 3-point attempts to finish 6-for-25, the most 3-pointers taken against the Cavs this season. . . . Unranked UVa is 5-5 against Top 25 teams going into day's meeting against ninth-ranked Arizona. . . . With its appearance in the West Regional, Virginia made its third trip to the Pacific time zone this season. It also played at Stanford and at Nevada-Las Vegas.
by CNB