Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190179
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
WIN MAKES CAVS NCAA MATERIAL
University Hall, where the emotion too often comes in dribbles and evaporates among empty seats, had its cavalier tradition floored Thursday night.The giddiness that spilled onto the hardwood after Virginia got a very sweet 16th men's basketball victory was for the wrong reason, however.
The Wahoos were celebrating the first double-downing of Duke in one season in a decade. What the defending NIT champions really did, however, was clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
In a 58-55 survival, Virginia climbed to 8-4 in the ACC standings, where it is looking down at the Devils. That means the Cavaliers will finish no worse than .500 in a league that has sent worse to the 64-team field in the past.
UVa (16-5) continues to win because it doesn't play tight when things are that way. Virginia is 5-1 in games decided by five points or fewer, and just as the Cavaliers were ready to hand Duke a game it had no reason to expect to win, the home team finally played like it was familiar with the surroundings.
The euphoria of doubling on Duke should be doubly tempered, however.
First, check the standings. A UVa-Duke rematch is probable in the first-round of the ACC Tournament, with a fourth-fifth finish no remote possibility.
If that happens, it won't be at U-Hall, where Duke, despite its recent dominant position in college hoops, hasn't had fun. Bobby Hurley won't have been a player-of-the-year candidate if he'd played here.
In four games at UVa, Hurley's team is 1-3. The Duke point guard has hit only nine of 45 shots in those games. His February struggles continued in this loss with a 3-for-11 night. He wasn't alone.
The Blue Devils, already overranked at No. 7 this week, face a struggle with leading scorer Grant Hill expected to miss at least two more games with a badly sprained toe.
With its true go-to guy gone, Duke will have to win with smarts and defense, which it almost did against the Cavaliers. During one stretch of the second half, the Devils' attack consisted of 3-point bombs off freshman Chris Collins' flashing.
Thomas Hill didn't score in the last 16 minutes. Hurley had one basket in the last 14 minutes. He's gone from impressing to pressing - 8-for-35 in the past three games and 24-for-78 in the past seven.
Duke saved its really foul shooting for the free-throw line. Is it little wonder the Blue Devils scored their fewest points in a game since the 1982 ACC Tournament?
In eclipsing last winter's regular-season win total of 15, Virginia won the only way it could, with defense and second-half offensive rebounding.
Duke's two lowest shooting efforts of the season have come against the Cavaliers. The turnover column proves Virginia tried too often to force things offensively, but it can get away with that when it forces something at the other end of the floor, too.
"Our players were probably too up for the game," said UVa coach Jeff Jones.
If that sounds like NIT-picking, the Cavaliers shouldn't worry about it.