Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090144
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES FAIL TO SCORE A VICTORY
Bill Foster didn't argue much, yell much, stomp much or do much of anything Monday except fiddle with his rolled-up program."I think I knew what was going on," he said. "I've been there before."
His latest journey to basketball's netherworld ended with his Virginia Tech team losing to Florida International 57-44, the Hokies' lowest points total in a dozen years.
Ten days removed from their invigorating upset of then-15th ranked Virginia in Richmond, the passive Hokies (8-10) slogged to their third straight loss and fifth defeat in their last six home games.
Florida International, the Trans America Conference leader, is 16-6.
Tech scored 43 points in a home loss to William and Mary in 1980-81. Monday's total was Tech's lowest since the shot clock was introduced in 1986 and the third-lowest since the 1966-67 season, when East Carolina beat the Hokies 43-33.
With 7:06 left, the Hokies had scored seven points in the second half.
"If I was a fan for Virginia Tech, I wouldn't want to come and see that," Hokie Jim Jackson said. "It was terrible. I hated watching it on the bench."
Only 2,307 endured it.
Tech groped as if in a half-lighted gym. Florida International cutters slid through the Hokies' defense as if possessed of Stealth technology, and Tech's numb offense produced its worst first-half total this year.
"Act like you know how to play!" screeched one tortured fan in a breaking voice.
It was Florida International that did, leading by 16 in the first half and 18 in the second half and making Tech look like the relative newcomer to Division I. Florida International is in its sixth year in the upper division.
Florida International won for the 10th time in 11 games. In the first meeting between the teams, Florida International became the 15th team to win on its first visit to Cassell Coliseum.
"It's embarrassing," Tech senior forward Thomas Elliott said. "In my four years here that's the worst loss we've ever had, the worst we've ever played, the lowest points we've ever scored and the smallest crowd we've ever had."
It was the tiniest turnout at Tech since 2,066 showed up to watch the Hokies beat San Francisco State by 37 points Jan. 3, 1987. The students were on Christmas break for that game; Monday, they just wanted to break some Hokies necks.
They saw Florida International center Sean Prude and forward Chuck Stuart combine for 25 rebounds and watched the Golden Panthers dominate Tech despite shooting 44 percent and committing 24 turnovers, a season-high for a Tech opponent.
Virginia had 23.
Tech succeeded at nothing on Monday. Only freshman Travis Jackson scored in double figures. The Hokies had a season-low seven assists. Starters Jim Jackson, Elliott, Shawn Smith, Shawn Good and Jay Purcell were a combined 8-for-27 on field-goal attempts.
Smith, averaging 11.5 points per game, took one shot in 20 minutes. Don Corker, who hadn't played in seven games, was Tech's second-leading scorer with nine points.
"We played well and had a lot to do with what they didn't do," said Florida International coach Bob Weltlich, a former boss at Mississippi and Texas who began as an assistant to Indiana's Bob Knight.
Tech went scoreless for a 4:07 span of the first half, falling behind 27-12, then scored five points in the first 11:23 of the second half as the Golden Panthers built a 41-23 lead.
Tech never rallied. Jim Jackson gave Tech's offensive dirge some lyrics.
"Non-existent? Is that a good word?" he said. "People aren't going to the right places. People who are supposed to aren't setting screens. People who are supposed to come off screens aren't coming through them right. [Defenders] are getting through, and we're overdenied."
Weltlich praised his team for winning in a physical game. That says much about Tech's lack of an inside game, and its effort.
"It's by far our poorest mental effort of the year as far as getting ready to play," Foster said.
After Travis Jackson's five points sandwiched around a steal pulled Tech to four points down early in the game, Florida International scored six straight points and never led by fewer than eight points the rest of the way.
Tech played its eighth game in 17 days, but Foster dismissed talk of a tired team and questions about his inactivity on the sidelines.
"Me jumping up and down doing cartwheels and cursing guys out wasn't going to make us play any better," he said. "It's driving me crazy.
"If we had played a team supposedly at our level and played like that, we'd have gotten beat by 40 or 50." \
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