Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140131
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CLEMSON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
A BIG VICTORY FOR UVA
Junior Burrough, missing in action for February, was located late Saturday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum.Burrough scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to lead Virginia's comeback in an 83-78 basketball victory over Clemson.
It was the fourth ACC road victory for 24th-ranked UVa (15-5 overall, 7-4 in the conference), which is tied with Duke for fourth place in the ACC standings.
"Quite simply, this was a heck of a win," said UVa coach Jeff Jones, who reportedly had to wipe away tears after the game. "This year I don't know if I've been any more proud of our team than I am right now."
The Cavaliers went 14 possessions without a field goal in the first half and trailed 39-31 at halftime. The deficit twice reached nine points early in the second half.
Virginia didn't take the lead until Yuri Barnes made the first of two free throws with 8:57 left, then the Cavs made 14 of their next 16 free throws in holding off the Tigers, who were one-point underdogs.
"Flat," Clemson coach Cliff Ellis snapped. "That's about as good as I can say it. I think we played satisfied. We've been playing well here the last two or three weeks, [but] we were never able to get in sync."
Clemson had won three of its previous five games and lost 93-84 Monday night to Duke in a game the Tigers led with 12 minutes remaining. Virginia, on the other hand, had struggled Thursday night in a 75-66 win over North Carolina State.
It appeared there was some carryover when Virginia jumped to a 4-0 lead and then missed its next 10 shots. Clemson missed nine shots in a row but led for most of the first half, in large part because of 10 Virginia turnovers.
"We certainly responded to the challenge at halftime," Jones said. "Just maybe, some guys took a big step toward growing up."
No one played a bigger role than Burrough, who averaged 17.5 points in the first 13 games of the season but only 11.3 over the next six. He hit less than 40 percent of his field-goal attempts over that span.
"I feel I'm one of the better players in the ACC," said Burrough, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound sophomore, "but if I don't come out for our basketball team, we're not going to win a lot of the games.
"I've been one of those players who other teams key on and I've just accepted that. I've watched the way Cory [Alexander] has played lately and I just thought, `Maybe it's time for me to play my game.' "
One sequence told it all. After his close-in shot was blocked by 6-foot-11 Sharone Wright, Burrough tracked down the rebound, drove the lane, scored and was fouled by Andre Bovain with 4:26 left.
Burrough's three-point play broke a 65-65 tie, and he added two more free throws after Clemson had closed to 76-74 on a 3-pointer by Chris Whitney with 38 seconds left.
"Junior showed a lot of heart and played with a lot of pride," Jones said. "A lot of people are going to notice the points - and that's not lost on the coaching staff - but more important is the attitude he had in the second half."
Translated: Burrough did the job defensively on Clemson sophomore Devin Gray, who had 15 points in the first half, two in the second. Just as critical was the work Barnes did against Wright.
Barnes, normally Burrough's back-up at big forward, played center for long stretches of the second half when Ted Jeffries was sidelined by foul trouble. Wright, despite a sizable height advantage, had one field goal in the final 17:58.
"Yuri responded with maybe his best half of basketball all season [or] certainly in a long time," Jones said. "Those two guys [Burrough and Barnes] and Jason Williford - things just haven't been going that well for them."
It was the largest deficit Virginia has overcome in a victory this season. To rally, the Cavaliers needed a near-perfect second half: 57.1 percent field-goal shooting, 80 percent free-throw shooting, only four turnovers and a 24-15 rebounding advantage.
\ see microfilm for box score