Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210217
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SYRACUSE, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
UVA'S WILLIFORD MAKING TRANSITION TO SCORER
When Jason Williford scored 13 points in Virginia's early season upset of then-No. 1 Duke, many felt he had arrived as an ACC-caliber basketball player.So did Williford.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore was slow getting going on offense this season, but signs over the past month show that he is ready to take off.
Williford scored nine points Friday in the Cavaliers' 78-66 victory over Manhattan, and he seems to be gaining confidence with every game.
"I thought I was out of my shell after that first Duke game, but it just didn't happen that way," said Williford, who, during one seven-game stretch, went scoreless three times. "I go home [to Richmond] and people say, `Jay, what's wrong? Why aren't you scoring?'
"I tell them, `This is still my rookie year.' I didn't play a lot last year. I'm still learning what I can do."
Williford says he has no regrets that he wasn't redshirted last season. And he can't see himself staying in school for five seasons.
"It was fun," he said. "I enjoyed being on the team. I enjoyed coming to practice, even though I could have done that as a redshirt."
Although he played for a total of only 36 minutes as a freshman, Williford has been a starter since the opening game this year, even though non-starters Doug Smith and Yuri Barnes had more experience.
Coach Jeff Jones felt Williford was more of a natural small forward than the other candidates and has never hesitated to applaud the positive aspects of his play. Saturday, he called Williford the most improved player on the team.
"I thought toward the middle of the season that the coaches would reconsider and put Doug into the starting spot," Williford said. "I'm glad they stuck with me. That helped a lot."
Williford isn't sure where his late-season turnaround started, but it may have come in the second half of UVa's game at Georgia Tech, where he had 10 points. He has averaged 6.9 points over the past seven games, up from 5.2.
"Honestly, I know I have the ability to score," said Williford, who thinks he eventually can average 15 points per game. "I always thought of myself as a scorer."
That's why Williford took it as an insult in the first round of the ACC Tournament when Wake Forest's Rodney Rogers was playing 6 feet away from him.
"I said to myself after the second [regular-season] Wake Forest game, `If they're going to play me that way, I've got to shoot the ball,' " said Williford, who hit two early 3-pointers in UVa's 61-57 win over Wake Forest in the tournament.
"If teams are going to not play me and not respect my offensive ability," he said, "then I'm going to have to let them know I can still play. I'm not starting for nothing."
Williford averaged 22 points as a senior at John Marshall High School in Richmond. In college, he at times has seemed reluctant to shoot and has shot poorly (35.6 percent) when he has had the urge.
"I couldn't tell you why I didn't put it up earlier," Williford said. "The coaches never told me not to shoot. It was just something where, if I didn't feel comfortable with a shot, I didn't take it. I was just out there, being a garbage man."
Williford was so unproductive during one stretch that he received a nickname, "The Goatee Guy," that had more to do with his appearance than any aspect of the game.
Sources report that when Williford was introduced before UVa's first game against Georgia Tech, Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Cremins turned to his assistants and asked, "Who's that?"
Massachusetts coach John Calipari, whose Minutemen play Virginia today in the second round of the East Regional, called him "Willingford."
Manhattan knows all about Williford after he hit a 3-pointer, two stickbacks and both of his free-throw attempts against the Jaspers.
Jones said last week that it was too early for Williford to become a dependable offensive player but that he expects him to blossom as a junior.
"I hope I blossom before that - maybe tomorrow," Williford said. "It's been an up-and-down season, but the past two weeks I've played the best I have all season."
Keywords:
BASKETBALL