Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992 TAG: 9201190099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
CAVS BURY IRISH
What Virginia feared was the Notre Dame basketball team that, in the space of six days, had upset two Top 25 teams on the road.What the Cavaliers got was the Fighting Irish team that had lost at West Virginia by 20 points and had an overall record of 4-6.
It was no contest Saturday afternoon at University Hall as UVa shot 63.8 percent from the field - its highest percentage in nearly six years - and buried the Irish 83-56.
It was the third victory in four games for Virginia, which raised its record to 7-6, the first time since Dec. 21 that the Cavaliers have been over .500.
"This is a good win over a good team for a team that needed a victory very badly," Virginia coach Jeff Jones said. "It wouldn't have been the end of the season if we had lost, but we would have been in a pretty serious hole."
The Cavaliers were 17-of-24 (70.8 percent) from the field in grabbing a 42-26 halftime lead and the margin got no closer than 12 points in the second half, enabling Jones to use 13 players.
"I was very impressed with Virginia," Notre Dame's first-year coach John MacLeod said. "I thought for a while they were going to shoot 110 percent. Thank goodness they cooled off to 71."
Notre Dame was one of the only teams to use a man-to-man exclusively against Virginia, which wasn't surprising in light of MacLeod's background. He has spent the past 18 years in the NBA, where zone defense is not allowed.
"I wish we could play against it every day," said Jones, who has seen a succession of gimmick defenses designed to stop two-time All-ACC selection Bryant Stith.
The Irish frequently double-teamed Stith, but all he did was toss the ball back outside to freshman point guard Cory Alexander for open jumpers. Alexander finished with a career-high 22 points.
"Scoring is something I think I can do every night," said Alexander, who made four of his six 3-point shots. "Coach Jones has told me I need to do that for us to win."
Stith wasn't as spectacular as he was in last year's game at Notre Dame, when he scored UVa's last 19 points in a 68-67 come-from-behind victory, but he was no less solid.
Stith finished with 19 points, hitting seven of 10 shots from the field and all five of his free throws. The Cavaliers hit 16 of their first 17 free throws after going 7-of-14 from the line in a 75-71 loss Wednesday night at Georgia Tech.
One of the biggest ovations of the day was reserved for Virginia junior Doug Smith when he entered the game with 15:56 remaining - six days after the removal of his appendix.
Smith played only eight minutes, but scored seven points, which had been his career high until he had 12 points against Wake Forest in the game before his operation.
"When I was in the hospital, they were talking about four or five weeks [out]," said Smith, who was 3-of-3 from the field Saturday. "I was pretty torn up about that. But the doctor pretty much left it up to me."
Virginia's offensive performance overshadowed a solid defensive effort - by the whole team in the first half, when Notre Dame shot 34.8 percent, and by sophomore swingman Cornel Parker for the whole game.
Daimon Sweet, who scored 30 points in Notre Dame's 88-76 upset of No. 8-ranked North Carolina, hit two shots to start the second half and didn't have another field goal after Parker started guarding him. Sweet finished with 11 points.
LaPhonso Ellis, who led the Irish with 14 points, was 3-of-12 from the field. Notre Dame controlled the backboards against North Carolina, but Virginia had a 29-20 rebounding advantage Saturday.
It was only the fifth home game of the season for Virginia; however, the Cavaliers won't get much sympathy from Notre Dame. It was the eighth of nine consecutive road games for the Irish, who last played at home Dec. 5.
The victory over North Carolina was preceded by wins at LaSalle and No. 23-ranked Southern Cal, but West Virginia routed the Irish 87-67 on Monday night.
"We won three in a row and, prior to that, nobody was paying any attention to us," MacLeod said. "They had written us off. Then, as we moved up the flagpole, we started to get some focus.
"Earlier, they were sending limousines to get us. Now, people are coming after us a lot harder and I think that's what we saw happen here today."
\ see microfilm for box score