Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201260182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
UVA GOES ONLY HALFWAY IN 77-56 LOSS TO CAROLINA
Virginia should have known it was in trouble Saturday when it led No. 10 North Carolina at the half.The Cavaliers almost always lead at the half - at least in their losses.
Carolina came out in the second half as if awakened by an alarm and handed Virginia its worst loss of the college basketball season, 77-56 at the Dean Smith Center.
The Cavaliers led 34-32 at halftime and remained on top until Carolina's Hubert Davis made a pair of free throws with 16:19 left to make it 40-39. It was the 14th time in 16 games UVa has led at some point in the second half.
"I think, if you go back, you'll find the same thing happened last season," second-year UVa coach Jeff Jones said. "There may be some sort of common thread; but, in this game, I'm inclined to credit North Carolina."
The Tar Heels (14-3 overall, 4-2 ACC) shot 58.6 percent from the field in the second half and, during one stretch, grabbed 13 consecutive rebounds after being outrebounded 21-15 in the first half.
"We were very disappointed as a team and surprised to be outrebounded by as much as we were in the first half," said 7-foot Kevin Salvadori, who had 10 points and three rebounds in the second half.
Salvadori made an infrequent start in place of 7-foot classmate Eric Montross, one of three players who started Wednesday night in a 99-88 loss to North Carolina State but did not grade high enough on defense to keep their spots in the lineup.
"One of us is always out there," Salvadori said. "It tends to wear a person down."
In this case, Salvadori and Montross nullified Virginia center Ted Jeffries, who had seven of his game-high nine rebounds in the first half. The Tar Heels ended up with a 37-31 rebounding margin for the game.
Carolina forced Virginia (8-8 overall, 2-4 ACC) into a season-high 23 turnovers, six by Jeffries. UVa has had problems against zone defenses for the most part, but Carolina's trapping man-to-man was just as lethal.
"It's a different type of defense because they're always trapping and they rotate so well to the open man," said Bryant Stith, who led Virginia with 17 points. "They had us on our heels."
Virginia took a 7-0 lead, just as it did Wednesday in a 51-48 loss at Clemson, and held a 29-22 advantage with 6:18 remaining after the fourth consecutive UNC turnover.
"If we had taken advantage of our opportunities, we could have been up by 10 or 15 at the half," Stith said. "Carolina did to us what we did to Carolina in the first half, except [the Tar Heels] took advantage."
As a result, Virginia remained winless at the Smith Center, which opened in 1986. UVa has lost 11 straight games in Chapel Hill, N.C., where it is 4-48 in the history of the series.
The high scorer Saturday was Davis, one of Wednesday night's defensive delinquents. He made his first appearance with 17:08 left in the first half and scored nine points in a little more than four minutes. He finished with 19.
Jones also made a change in his starting lineup for the first time this season, inserting sophomore Cornel Parker in place of freshman forward Junior Burrough, who was 0-of-7 from the field at Clemson.
"It was a combination of reasons," Jones said. "We needed a lift and we were hoping that might motivate Junior a little bit.
"He's had some ankle problems and hasn't been able to practice a number of days before the Clemson game and leading up to today. We knew he would play. I don't think we can play without Junior."
Junior guard Doug Smith came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points and was the only UVa player to make more than half his shots. The Cavaliers shot 36.2 percent (21-of-58) from the field, 28.6 (8-of-28) in the second half.
"We really had trouble scoring," said Jones, whose team had 27 points in the last 26 minutes. "It was one of those situations that just started to snowball. We had to rely for most of the game on jump shots."
\ see microfilm for box score