Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
How about the Cavaliers suffering their worst home loss and losing their best player?
Almost as painful as the score after a 77-36 pounding by Connecticut was the sight of junior point guard Cory Alexander leaving University Hall on crutches.
"It's not an obvious fracture," said Ethan Saliba, Virginia's trainer.
Who said anything about a fracture?
"I really am concerned," said Cavaliers forward Junior Burrough. "His locker is right beside mine and you could tell he wasn't himself.
"Whatever's wrong with his foot, it looks bad. It doesn't look like he's going to play for a while. That's definite, as far as I can tell, but I'm not a doctor."
Alexander had to be helped from the court with 8 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the first half, after the Huskies' Donyell Marshall had fallen across his foot. The Cavaliers already were in big trouble, trailing 24-10.
Connecticut, coming off a 107-67 victory over Towson State, had scored the first 10 points of the game and raced to a 44-15 halftime lead.
"I'm not ashamed of our team," Burrough said, "but I'm very ashamed of what happened out there tonight. It started out bad and ended bad. . . . No, it got worse.
"It not only leaves a bad taste in our mouth, but it's going to make people not want to come and see us. It was a great crowd, they were really into the game early and we let them down."
The Cavaliers' biggest previous loss at home was in 1965, when they fell to Kentucky 99-63 in the first game played at University Hall. They had not scored as few as 36 points in any game since a 60-32 loss to Navy in 1951.
"I want to apologize to everybody who was here tonight and had to sit through something like that," said Jeff Jones, UVa's coach. "We stunk the place up."
The Cavaliers shot 22.6 percent (13-of-53) from the field, 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from the free-throw line and were outrebounded 59-25. The Huskies had more than twice as many offensive rebounds as Virginia had defensive rebounds.
And remember, 12th-ranked UVa has four starters returning from a team that reached the final 16 in the NCAA Tournament. In the preseason, the Cavaliers beat the Australian National Team two nights before the Aussies beat No. 1 Kentucky.
Connecticut, on the other hand, lost Scott Burrell - a first-round NBA draft pick - from a team that finished 15-13 and had lost to Marathon Oil during the preseason.
"It was a game that is very difficult to explain," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who is 2-0 at University Hall, where non-ACC teams are 7-95 since 1978-79.
"I think we hit them with a flash knockout and they had trouble getting their legs. By the time they did get their legs, they didn't have Cory Alexander."
He was being kind. Freshman Harold Deane Jr., who took over for Alexander at the point, led the Cavaliers with 10 points and may have been the best UVa player on the floor.
Virginia's starting front line of Burrough, Jason Williford and Yuri Barnes - all juniors - shot 3-for-20 from the field and combined for two defensive rebounds in 83 minutes.
"We deserve any bad comment anybody wants to make about us," Burrough said. "I'm not surprised to hear it was the biggest [home] loss ever. I've never been down that many points in my life."
The halftime break was little relief for the Cavaliers, who did not have a field goal in the second half until Chris Havlicek's 3-pointer that made it 55-19 with 14:10 left.
It was the first college 3-pointer for Havlicek, who was the backup point guard in the absence of Alexander and freshman Michael Powell, who spent four days in University Hospital last week with a viral infection.
Havlicek's 3-pointer was the only UVa field goal that was not a layup, a stickback or a dunk. The Cavaliers needed a goaltending call against the Huskies to score their first basket of the game.
The Huskies shot 46.3 percent from the field (35.3 in the second half) and committed 23 turnovers, but seldom has UVa been outrebounded by such a wide margin.
"I've been there," Calhoun said. "We took a 16-1 team into Madison Square Garden [in 1991] and lost by 33 points [to St. John's], so I sympathize with Jeff. But I must say that during the game I wasn't feeling any sympathy."
by CNB