Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301100134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
SCHEDULE GIVES UVA HEAD START
For real or a fraud.The nation's second-longest men's basketball winning streak was on the line Saturday night in Reynolds Coliseum, and Virginia preserved that mark with a deceiving 17-point win over North Carolina State that made the Cavaliers 9-0 this year and 14 games overall without a loss.
What's more, they should beat Clemson at home Wednesday and bring a 10-0 record to Duke next Sunday.
Is Virginia that good? Hardly. Are the Cavs in great position? You betcha.
With William and Mary, Charleston and Virginia Tech left among non-ACC opponents, UVa almost surely can go 5-9 the rest of the way in the ACC and waltz into the NCAA Tournament.
That's the difference between this year's schedule and last year's, which found UVa losing December games at Alabama, New Orleans and Stanford and to Richmond in Richmond.
From that point, even an 8-8 ACC season couldn't save the Cavs. They wound up in the NIT, which was a very good thing, because they won it, thus finishing the season with five wins.
Now, the pressure is off before it's on. As one of the three remaining unbeaten teams - Duke and Kentucky are the others - the Cavs have their season in front of them.
"I don't want them talking about being unbeaten," said coach Jeff Jones, pointing at his locker room. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to be where we are. Some of the media have talked about being 10-0 going to Duke, but it's sort of like that's what we should be."
Eight of the first 10, counting Clemson, were at home. The road dates were at Penn and N.C. State, almost a lock for the ACC cellar. The good wins were over Florida State and Alabama.
"We stunk in the first half," Jones said. "We had a couple of guys who didn't give us much."
Even leading scorer Junior Burrough was embarrassed by freshman Todd Fuller.
"He just got out-hustled," Jones admitted.
But Burrough responded with 13 second-half points and a huge offensive rebound with two minutes left and UVa holding to a six-point lead.
In the second half, Virginia turned up the pressure defensively. N.C. State, which had five turnovers in 25 minutes, turned it over nine times when the game was on the line.
"We were flat and I don't know why," Jones said of the first road game in 40 nights. But a team built mostly around sophomores had poise in the clutch.
Cory Alexander is a budding star, if he isn't one already. In two ACC games, he has scored 48 points, getting 20 in the second half against the Wolfpack and 11 in the final 1:41.
Virginia came here rated 25th in the nation and hardly tested. That will come later, when the big boys of the ACC come calling.
But what this early season has done is make it possible to play confidently, almost without worrying about the postseason.
"I think we should have won the home games," Jones said. "I think we should have won tonight. But it has made it a lot easier than it was last year."
Despite its record, UVa went into the game as the worst-shooting team in the ACC at 45.9 percent and shot only 40.6 percent against the 'Pack.
But the team that in the past has treated offense like a trip to the doctor's office has scored at least 72 points in every game, and, by averaging 84 points, is scoring at a higher clip than any UVa team in at least 25 years.
Only in the last two of Ralph Sampson's four years did the Cavs average 80.
The honeymoon ends after Clemson, but Virginia has built a strong base for the future. There's nothing like winning.