Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 20, 1992 TAG: 9201200078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
CAVS BREATHE EASY
It has been a rare game in which Virginia basketball coach Jeff Jones has had the luxury of resting Bryant Stith for the last 11 1/2 minutes.Jones gave momentary thought to returning his starters to the floor Sunday when Marshall whittled a 26-point deficit to 15, but he let the Lynch leads North Carolina past Villanova. B3 Basketball roundup. B3 UVa reserves put the finishing touches on a 73-53 victory at University Hall.
"The fact we won puts us two-thirds of the way where we want to be before next weekend," said Jones, who had challenged his team to win three games in a row before visiting North Carolina. "I don't know a whole lot more to say about it."
Stith, who scored a game-high 18 points, left after hitting two free throws that put UVa ahead 52-30 with 11:35 remaining. It might have been the earliest exit of his college career.
"At least this season it was," Stith said. "By far."
Jones had the other starters out of the game with more than seven minutes left.
"When Stith came out, he had taken a pretty hard lick," Jones said. "I didn't want him to take more of a pounding than was necessary. He's been playing a lot of minutes, and I thought he could use a little rest."
The Cavaliers led 64-40 before Marshall went on an 11-2 run and closed to 66-51 with 2:53 left. If the Thundering Herd hadn't stayed in a zone and allowed the UVa reserves to run some time off the clock, Jones said, he might have called for the starters.
"With 10 minutes left in the second half, it looked like our team was ready to have the game over with," Jones said. "I was a little surprised that some of the guys off the bench weren't anymore inspired than they were."
One day earlier, the Cavaliers had played perhaps their best offensive game of the season in an 83-56 victory over Notre Dame. Marshall, on the other hand, had lost to VMI at home for its seventh straight defeat.
It was one of the few games this season in which Virginia would have been considered a prohibitive favorite.
"Maybe so," Jones said, "but from my own experience as a player and coach, the best teams look at this as an opportunity to pound somebody. I'm not sure we looked at it that way, which showed a little bit of a lack of respect for Marshall."
Jones wasn't blaming the starters, whose early defensive intensity led to five straight turnovers to start the game. Indeed, the Thundering Herd had seven turnovers and an air ball in its first eight possessions.
Virginia, which led 7-0 to start the game, increased its lead to 16-4 before Marshall coach Dwight Freeman called his second timeout with 10:59 left. The Thundering Herd (3-11) shot 29.6 percent from the field in falling behind 40-20 at halftime.
"Virginia came out very aggressively," Freeman said. "They were reaching for the ball and our players were looking at the referees."
Jones made special mention of senior guard Anthony Oliver, who said he felt like shooting himself in the leg after playing a season-low nine minutes against Notre Dame.
"I thought about it all night," Oliver said. "I was just not playing well and not giving myself a chance to play well. A lot of times, I've been more worried about taking care of the ball instead of looking for my shot and not attacking the defense."
After shooting a season-high 63.8 percent against Notre Dame, the Cavaliers cooled off to 46.2 percent against the Thundering Herd. They had a 42-24 rebounding advantage and hit 19 of 24 free throws, finishing 36-of-44 for the weekend.
Virginia returns to action Wednesday, when it visits Clemson, winless in three ACC games this season. When UVa dropped to 6-6 after a 75-71 loss at Georgia Tech, Jones told his players that it was imperative the Cavaliers take a 9-6 record to Chapel Hill, N.C.
"Clemson is big," Jones said. "It's a road conference game against a team that's been a little up-and-down. I don't want to term it an NCAA game, but ultimately that's where we want to be in March." \
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