Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501130116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Louisville still is awfully tough to beat.
Virginia Tech played wonderful-if-weary defense and outrebounded the Cardinals on Thursday night at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies committed only 11 fouls and had no more than their season average of 14 turnovers.
Louisville shot less than 40 percent - the 10th Tech foe in 14 games under that figure - but left with a 62-61 victory, despite scoring only one field goal in the final eight minutes.
It was the Cardinals' eighth consecutive triumph over Tech. The Cassell roof may have cracked, but neither team did, despite no seniors on either side. The Cardinals (9-4) are younger than the Hokies, but they also are bigger and quicker.
This game came down to the last hand. Tech had Ace Custis, but Louisville had more good Cards.
The numbers that meant the most to Tech - and will continue to do so - were 40, 40, 38, 37 and 34. Those are the minutes played by Damon Watlington, Shawn Good, Shawn Smith, Custis and David Jackson, respectively.
It was only a couple of years ago that Bill Foster, the Hokies' coach, legitimately moaned he was having to play hometown point guard Jay Purcell way too many minutes.
Now, Foster has five players with Purcell-like averages in floor time. Denny Crum has the youngest of his 24 Louisville teams, and while it clearly isn't the most talented in a program that has achieved six Final Four bids and two NCAA titles with the Hall of Fame coach, he is playing more players than usual.
Crum used 10 in the first half. If Foster goes that deep on his bench, he's down to trainer Jimmy Lawrence and Dr. Duane Lagan. Frank Beamer's offensive backfield has more depth than Foster's team.
Tech (11-3) must play better than it practices, because if that wasn't the case, what might have been Louisville's last Cassell visit would have been decided long before Samaki Walker's two free throws with 7.8 seconds left.
Walker threw up so many bombs from the stripe Saturday in the Cardinals' victory over Notre Dame that the Louisville radio network considered using the Emergency Broadcast System siren when he went to the line.
He was 2-for-16, and he missed his last 10. That is really foul shooting. Late in the game against the Fighting Irish, Walker was telling the officials he wasn't fouled because he was fearful of what would happen at the line.
He shot more than one hour of free throws Sunday and again on Monday, and stayed after practice Tuesday to shoot even more.
``I thought, after what he went through, what Samaki did at the end was a great, great thing,'' Crum said.
Walker also had a double-double, as did Custis for Tech. The difference is that while the young Louisville pivotman will only get better, the Hokies' stellar sophomore might get worse.
A stress fracture in Custis' right foot means he won't be practicing much. The Hokies' stutter start against the Cards was predictable, because, as Foster explained, it takes Tech time to get physical because it can't afford that in practice.
In the first few minutes, Louisville showed why it has 158 steals this season. The Hokies were having difficulty completing a guard-forward pass, much less entering their offense.
The Cardinals were playing bump-and-run. And although this likely is Crum's quickest team, it also showed its youth against the Hokies with some horrendous shot selection. Tech couldn't match Louisville inside, yet the Cardinals kept firing 3-pointers.
Still, Crum's team found an unlikely way to win, although anything that happens in the Metro these days shouldn't surprise anyone.
Foster's team simply will be trying to find a way to practice.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB