Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 23, 1992 TAG: 9203230038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's not like the NCAA Tournament, where you have a No. 1 seed against a [No.] 16," Tennessee coach Wade Houston said. "In the NIT, they're all tough games. Every time out, you have a legitimate match-up."
The Volunteers, coming off a 71-68 victory over Alabama-Birmingham in the first round, will furnish the opposition tonight at 7:30 as Virginia makes its second straight appearance on ESPN.
Like the Cavaliers, Tennessee (19-14) was hopeful of making the NCAA field before watching in agony as 64 other teams went up on the board.
"I thought [the chances] were pretty good," Houston said. "We had won 18 games against a tough schedule. They took two teams out of our conference [the Southeastern] last year with 17 wins and the conference was tougher this year with two new teams, including Arkansas."
It should be mentioned that Tennessee had the benefit of three extra games in the San Juan Shootout, although the Vols finished 8-8 in the SEC and defeated South Carolina in the first round of the tournament.
"We're happy still to be playing," said Houston, repeating a standard coaching line. "A lot of teams have the uniforms in mothballs right now."
It appeared as if Tennessee might be headed for an early NIT exit when the Vols trailed UAB by 10 points with 8:03 remaining, but the Volunteers rallied behind guard Allan Houston's 33 points.
Houston, the coach's son, is one of the few college players to have scored more than 2,000 points by the end of his junior year.
"He scores almost effortlessly," UVa coach Jeff Jones said. "He's not very demonstrative. At the end of the night, if you're not paying attention, you may not realize he has 30, [but] Allan Houston is as good as anybody in the country at shooting the basketball."
In his approach to the game, Houston is similar to UVa senior Bryant Stith, who has scored more than 2,400 points in his career. However, Stith does much of his scoring inside and at the free-throw line.
Stith was 12-of-15 from the line Wednesday night and finished with a game-high 29 points as the Cavaliers beatVillanova 83-80. It was Stith's sixth game this season between 28 and 30 points.
Virginia also got 22 points from freshman forward Junior Burrough and a season-high 15 from Cornel Parker, who also had six steals, the most by a Virginia player this season.
"He very well could have been the difference in the game," Jones said. "Junior played extremely well [and] Stith came through at the end, but Cornel really gave us a lift off the bench. As usual, he played outstanding defense, but he made some nice passes and got some big baskets when we needed them."
The Cavaliers shot 58.3 percent from the field, the first time in 15 games they had been over 50 percent, but committed 19 turnovers. Several came after UVa had taken a seemingly insurmountable lead at 76-64 with 1:11 left.
Jones credited the team's improved shooting partly to Villanova's lack of height and shot-blocking ability. Tennessee's tallest starter is 6-foot-7, 240-pound Carlus Groves, who missed the UAB game while serving a one-game suspension for fighting with LSU's Shaquille O'Neal in the SEC Tournament.
Tennessee has a 12-7 record in NIT play, including a 61-54 victory over Virginia in the 1985 quarterfinals. That was the lone loss in the past nine NIT games for UVa, which won the 1980 championship.
\ NOTES: Jones said on his call-in radio show Sunday night that UVa would be unable to serve as host for a third-round NIT game because of the NCAA Women's Tournament East Regional at University Hall... The school announced that parking will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Many tickets remained Sunday.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB