Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993 TAG: 9301140168
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
CAVALIERS TROUNCE TIGERS
There may have been times in the history of Virginia's men's basketball program when the Cavaliers gave up 66 points in a half.It's unlikely UVa ever has given up 66 points in a half and won.
By 18!
That's what happened Wednesday night at University Hall, however, when the Cavaliers extended the nation's longest winning streak to 15 games with a 100-82 victory over Clemson.
UVa held Clemson to three points in the first 14 minutes and led 41-16 at the half, when the Tigers missed 23 of their first 24 shots.
"I was sitting on the bench [with two fouls]," UVa guard Cory Alexander said, "so I had a lot of time to watch the scoreboard. When they were stuck on `3' for so long, I was trying to figure out how many points they would score in the game."
The Tigers were 0-for-6 before Devin Gray hit a breakaway layup to make it 4-3 with 15:22 left. By the time Clemson scored again, on Chris Whitney's 3-pointer with 5:17 to go, it was 24-3.
"I don't recall this ever happening before," said Clemson coach Cliff Ellis, whose team won its first nine games before falling 110-67 at Duke. "It's mind-boggling when you can score 16 points in one half and 66 the next."
Clemson's football team overcame a 28-0 deficit to beat Virginia 29-28 in the fall, but there was to be no such comeback Wednesday. The Tigers (9-2 overall, 0-2 ACC) never got closer than 17 points in the second half.
"You don't get too many like that," said UVa coach Jeff Jones, whose team will face three top 10 teams in a six-day stretch, starting Sunday at two-time national champion Duke.
It seemed as if the Cavaliers (10-0, 3-0) might be looking ahead to Duke when they scored two field goals on their first nine possessions, but they came back to shoot 57.1 percent.
Seven UVa players scored in double figures, led by junior Cornel Parker with 20 points, his career high in an ACC game. Junior Burrough had 15 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Devin Gray and Sharone Wright, Clemson's top scorers for the season, were a combined 1-for-18 from the field in the first half. The Tigers were 6-of-36 as a team and trailed at one point 41-12.
"I think you have to give Virginia credit," Ellis said. "[Ted] Jeffries and Burrough and those guys had our number. It was frustrating and we played frustrated.
"We took 36 shots in the first half and 23 of those were inside the paint. Of those 23, we made two. After the Duke game, people told us, `You have to go inside.' Well, if you go inside, you've got to make the shots."
Jones praised his players for their concentration despite the Cavaliers' 20 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season. They led 96-67 before being outscored 15-4 over the last 2:54.
The Cavaliers, favorites in every game this season, were an 11-point choice over Clemson. That's likely to change when UVa visits Duke, followed by games with North Carolina and Georgia Tech.
"I looked at the early part of our schedule, before Jan. 1, and felt we had a good opportunity to be 7-0," Jeffries said. "Then, I thought we had a good chance to be 10-0 when we went to Duke."
Jones said the media started talking about a possible 10-0 record long before it would have occurred to him. Virginia did not enter the national rankings before last week.
"I think our guys enjoy the attention," Jones said, "but, as I said a couple of weeks ago when we weren't in the Top 25, people don't know a lot about our basketball team. They still don't.
"Those kind of things [like rankings and streaks] are kind of irrelevant right now. I don't think our players think they're invincible. The Duke game isn't going to make or break our season in any way." \
see microfilm for box score