ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601150057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Are there times, Courtney Alexander was asked, when he feels nobody can stop him?
``Yeah,'' Alexander said. ``Today.''
Alexander came off the bench to score 19 points and grab eight rebounds Saturday afternoon as Virginia rallied for a 77-66 men's basketball victory over Duke.
``It was great to see our team respond by playing what could be our best game of the year,'' said UVa coach Jeff Jones, the picture of dejection Wednesday night after an 89-79 loss at Clemson.
The Cavaliers shot 51 percent from the field - the first time they've shot better than 50 percent this season - and outrebounded Duke 44-31 in raising their record to 7-5 overall and 2-2 in the ACC.
The University Hall crowd chanted ``Oh-and-four, oh-and-four,'' in the closing seconds as the Blue Devils fell to 9-6 overall and 0-4 in the ACC. Duke is 2-18 in conference games the past two seasons.
Alexander, who moved to Durham, N.C., before his junior year of high school, once dreamed of playing for the Blue Devils and said he felt sympathy for his hometown program.
``I love those guys,'' said Alexander. ``I have a real close relationship with Jeff Capel and Trajan Langdon. To see them struggle doesn't make me feel any better.''
Alexander has played pick-up ball against the Duke players on numerous occasions, but he didn't see faces Saturday. He didn't see uniforms or numbers, either.
``I didn't care who was guarding me,'' said Alexander, who hit nine of 12 shots from the floor. ``There's a feeling you get that, `You can't stop me. Your team can't stop me.'
``My numbers might not show it. I might make some mistakes, but that's just the way I approach it. You might call it cockiness or arrogance, but I don't consider myself a freshman or a rookie.''
By his admission, however, Alexander had become complacent after starting the first nine games. Jamal Robinson took his place in the lineup Wednesday, although that was more a reaction to the Cavaliers' first ACC road game.
``Courtney actually had been playing better in the games leading up to the Clemson trip,'' Jones said, ``[but] we did some things to shake up some people and they worked.''
The reference was to Jones' decision to replace fifth-year senior Chris Alexander with Chase Metheney, a 7-foot-4 redshirt freshman. Metheney gave way to Alexander with 16:58 to go before halftime and played a total of five minutes.
Alexander, who had one point and one rebound against Clemson, made both of his field-goal attempts and contributed five rebounds and four blocks. Duke center Greg Newton, averaging 13.6 points, finished with eight.
``I thought Chris really anchored our defense,'' Jones said. ``He was a warrior in there. It may have been our best effort, but it was clearly his best effort.''
The Blue Devils, who led 40-34 at the half, shot 28.1 percent from the field in the second half and 34.8 for the game. Capel, a junior guard, was 1-for-10 in the second half and 5-for-20 overall.
``I thought [Virginia] played a lot harder, a lot more together than what I'd seen on tape,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ``They're more physical than we are and it's headed by [Harold] Deane. Deane's just an exceptional player.''
Deane was close to a ``triple-double'' with 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, but his biggest contribution may have come when he called a team meeting Friday night.
``He told us that we had problems that they've never had here before - that we were together when we won, but not when we lost,'' Courtney Alexander said. ``It's why I'd rather not talk about my performance.''
Nevertheless, Alexander conceded there was added incentive going up against the Blue Devils, whose surplus of perimeter players was a factor in his decision to attend Virginia.
``I've known Courtney Alexander for a long time,'' Krzyzewski said. ``He played very, very well. I don't want to go into my whole relationship with him. But I respect him, he's a great kid and he had a heck of a game against us.''
The Cavaliers also got a big second half from Curtis Staples, whose 3-pointer with 4:22 left put the Cavaliers ahead for good, 66-64. It was the start of a 12-0 UVa run.
``We dreaded coming to practice Thursday - not because we didn't want to practice - but because we couldn't live with ourselves and the way we'd been playing,'' said Staples, who had 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
``If we don't win this game today, who knows what would have happened to us. I don't think it would be wrong to say this was a must-win situation.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Harold Deane drives by Duke's Ricky Price duringby CNBaction Saturday. color