ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Wake Forest handed Virginia its eighth loss for the second consecutive year Wednesday night, but that's where the similarities between the two seasons ended.
The Cavaliers' eighth loss of the 1994-95 men's basketball season came March 11, in a semifinal of the ACC tournament.
This year, it came with more than five weeks remaining in the regular season.
And, there's no letup. After falling to ninth-ranked Wake 81-64, the Cavaliers fly to Hartford, Conn., for a Super Bowl prelim Sunday against No.4 Connecticut.
``That might be their toughest game of all,'' said Deacons' coach Dave Odom, referring to a four-game stretch that started with a home game against No. 10 North Carolina, followed by trips to Georgia Tech and Wake.
``Every time I look in the paper, they're [the Huskies] playing, they're winning, they're winning big and Ray Allen is scoring 30 points.''
Virginia coach Jeff Jones is past the point of worrying about opponents. The Cavaliers' record isn't a major concern, either.
At 7-8 overall, UVa has its worst record after 15 games since the 1976-77 season. At 2-5 in the ACC, the Cavaliers already have lost more conference games than they did all of last season, when they tied for first at 12-4.
``It's hard,'' Jones said, ``but, what we've got to do is look for some small victories right now. We've got to look for some positives. The emphasis has to be on playing better, getting better, improving. We did some things better tonight. We at least gave ourselves a chance, I thought.''
After the game, Jones had the look of a physician who had tried every possible treatment but could offer no cure to his patient. For the first time in memory, the Cavaliers started the game in a zone defense, a development that surprised but did not shock Odom.
``I was waiting for somebody to ask me why I wasn't shocked,'' Odom said Thursday. ``I had the perfect answer: I saw [Indiana coach] Bobby Knight on TV play zone the night before. If he's going to do it, anybody will.''
UVa might not have played zone on 12 possessions all season before the Cavaliers employed either a 1-3-1 or 2-3 on Wake's first 12 possessions. Never mind that the Deacons led the ACC in 3-point percentage (42.8) and ranked second in 3-point field goals per game (8.3).
``The zone was something that was done for us,'' Jones said Thursday. ``We wanted to continue to take steps to make us better. We weren't going anywhere the way we were playing. We don't want the players to interpret changes as panic, but we couldn't afford to wait any longer.''
Virginia's first 14 opponents had shot 37.6 percent from the field, which ranked the Cavaliers third in NCAA Division I in field-goal percentage and had UVa on a pace to break a school record, but Jones was dissatisfied.
``I've said in staff meetings, `I know what the stats are, but, gosh, we're not real good defensively,''' Jones said. ``Nobody's perfect, but, playing so many young guys, we've found that if teams keep working, eventually there will be a breakdown they can exploit.''
Wake Forest shot 55.8 percent from the field, the second-best figure against Virginia in Jones' six seasons as head coach. The Deacons were 10-of-20 from 3-point range, much of which was made possible by Tim Duncan's work on the inside.
``There's such a calming presence about him,'' Odom said of his 6-foot-11 junior center. ``When he's in the game, you just feel safe. Even before the game, he came up to me and said, `How you feeling, big fella?' I said, `I can see I'm a whole lot more worried about this game than you are.'''
Duncan hit nine of 11 shots from the field and scored 20 points as the Deacons improved their record to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the ACC, tied for first with North Carolina and Georgia Tech. The Deacons were picked second in the preseason, one spot ahead of Virginia.
``It makes you realize what a volatile business this is,'' Odom said. ``Everything is so tenuous. You depend not only on your team, but you have to count on misfortune striking your opponents and I don't like that because it's something you can't control.''
Wake Forest is in position for its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, while Virginia likely will have to win the ACC tournament to go to the NCAA. An at-large bid is almost out of the question.
``It's going to take, what, 16 wins?'' Jones said. ``That would mean nine more wins for us. I'm not sure we even have nine more games.''
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. In zone or man-to-man defense, Virginia and Chrisby CNBAlexander couldn't stop Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (21) on Wednesday
in Winston-Salem, N.C.