Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503280022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Medium
The clincher was a commentary by former University of Southern California basketball coach George Raveling, who observed on CBS television that the Virginia-Kansas game ``had the potential for a blowout.''
``That's when I turned off the TV,'' UVa senior forward Jason Williford said. ``I got on the bus and told the guys what I had just heard, and some of them had heard the same thing.
``I knew right then that we were ready. We would have played right out front of the hotel if Kansas had been there. We'd have played them with our ties on. That's how pumped up we were.''
The parking lot might have provided a more neutral atmosphere than Kemper Arena, but nothing was stopping the Cavaliers as they dismantled top-seeded Kansas 67-58.
First, Virginia took the crowd out of the game. Then, the Cavaliers sent the Kansas fans heading for the exits early in anticipation of the Jayhawks' first non-Big Eight loss at Kemper since 1983.
Kansas (25-6) had lost only one non-conference game at Kemper since its opening, but Virginia (25-8) controlled the game from the opening moments and provided the Jayhawks with a season's worth of negatives.
It was the low scoring output of the season for Kansas, which also shot a season-low 33.9 percent, including 9.5 percent (2-of-21) on 3-pointers. The Jayhawks made only seven of their first 18 free throws and finished 14-of-27 from the line.
``Tonight, Virginia beat our tails,'' Kansas coach Roy Williams said. ``I congratulate Jeff [Jones] and his club. I think they outplayed us [and] outcoached us. I think they were focused and came out ready to play.''
Fourth-seeded Virginia advanced to a regional final for the fifth time in the past 15 years - only North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky have been there more - and will meet defending national champion Arkansas (30-6) today at 5 p.m. for a berth in the Final Four.
``A lot of people had written us off,'' said Virginia guard Harold Deane, who led all scorers Friday night with 22 points. ``There are still a lot of non-believers out there. Maybe we win ugly, but we do what we have to do.''
It was the 13th victory in the past 15 games for Virginia, which shot 36.5 percent from the field, but made its free throws (16-of-24) and outrebounded the Jayhawks 49-44.
Kansas entered the game having assembled a 20-1 record this season against teams it had outrebounded, but the Cavaliers were able to neutralize a powerful Kansas front line headlined by 7-foot-2, 270-pound Greg Ostertag.
Virginia senior Junior Burrough failed to approach his 26.2-point average of the previous six games, but contributed 18 points - including 11 in the second half - and a game-high 12 rebounds.
UVa also got 18 points from freshman Curtis Staples, whose 3-point field goal with 8:47 remaining gave the Cavaliers a 47-41 cushion. Kansas was never closer than four points after that.
Point guard Jacque Vaughn led the Jayhawks with 13 points, but was outdone by Deane, who was recruited by Kansas in the fall of 1992 before the Jayhawks knew they would sign Vaughn.
``I talked to their assistant coach [Steve Robinson] after the game,'' Deane said. ``It's nothing personal. Jacque Vaughn is a good player, but when you think about it, it makes you want to play harder.''
Deane and Staples combined for 19 points before either of Kansas' guards, Vaughn or Jerod Haase, scored a point. Haase was 1-of-6 from the floor and finished with a season-low five points under the close attention of Staples.
``Harold and I had to play better,'' Staples said. ``We hadn't been shooting very well and we had to do that, but we had to do more than score. We had to make things happen and we did it in both halves.''
Virginia followed a scouting report prepared by restricted-earnings coach Pete Herrmann, who spent the previous two seasons at Kansas State, which defeated Kansas at Kemper in the 1993 Big Eight tournament.
``They were a team that was much stronger on the boards than they've been the last two years,'' said Herrmann, once the head coach at Navy. ``They've never been a great rebounding team, but this year they were very good. ... This [Kansas] team was a bigger, stronger Cadillac type. It wasn't a Ferrari.''
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by CNB