Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 3, 1993 TAG: 9312030189
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The Cavaliers never quite buried William and Mary, but at least they put some points on the board Wednesday night in an 84-71 victory at University Hall.
No. 12 Virginia's output represented a 48-point improvement from Monday night, when Connecticut humiliated the Cavaliers 77-36 in a game that probably will live in UVa infamy.
"I hope you don't mind, but I'd just as soon not talk about Monday night," said UVa coach Jeff Jones early in his postgame news conference. "This was a step in the right direction."
The Cavaliers were without Cory Alexander as their starting point guard for the first time in 65 games, but his replacement, freshman Harold Deane, had the good sense to rely on a veteran frontcourt.
Small forward Jason Williford looked like a different player in more ways than one, scoring a career-high 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field.
Williford, dubbed the "goatee guy" last season, showed up for the first game with hair sprouting all over his face. Wednesday, his cheeks were as smooth as his jump shot.
"My mom was here," said Williford, indicating his mother preferred that he look less like a ragamuffin.
Williford, who had earned raves for his play in the preseason, missed all five of his shots from the field and finished with one point, three rebounds and four turnovers in 27 minutes on Monday night.
"I was frustrated after the game, I was embarrassed, I was mad," Williford said, "but I thought about it [and] everybody goes through it. You can't win 'em all, and some nights you just don't show up."
Williford had a couple of those no-show nights last season, when he failed to score in four games, but he averaged 11.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games and had 14 points - his high before Wednesday night - against Massachusetts.
"I was surprised [to get 26], but I knew it would happen sooner or later," Williford said. "I'm not going to score 26 every night. My shot was falling early, which got my confidence up, and I got some easy buckets inside."
Williford, who went 10-for-40 from 3-point range last season, was 4-for-6 from beyond the line against the Tribe.
"He didn't surprise me," said Chuck Swenson, William and Mary's coach. "Jason Williford may not be All-ACC, but he's very underrated. He does all the little things that go unnoticed."
William and Mary took Virginia into overtime before losing 93-84 last season in Charlottesville, but the Tribe came into Wednesday night's game as a 20-point underdog.
"We weren't playing against Virginia; we were playing against ourselves," said Swenson, shocked by a 97-84 loss Monday night to Loyola, Md., which was 2-25 last season.
Swenson was particularly disturbed by the play of junior Kurt Small, who did not enter the game Monday until 10 minutes, 20 seconds remained. He finished with a game-high 27 points, 20 in the second half.
"He didn't start not because he broke a team rule, but because he wasn't playing offense the way he wanted," Swenson said. "We felt we would keep him out for as long as we possibly could without it costing us the game."
The Tribe, down 20-18 when Small entered the game, fell behind 38-25 as Virginia scored more points by the half than it did in the whole game against Connecticut.
UVa extended its margin to 51-31 before William and Mary closed to 52-42 with 11:56 left. The Cavaliers twice worked the lead to 19 after that, but the Tribe got as close as 76-55 with 2:34 remaining.
"There were a number of positive things, but that certainly was one of the negatives," Jones said.
by CNB