ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALLAS
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
If Virginia Tech is to be dealt a second hand in the NCAA Tournament, the Hokies had better turn up their real Ace today.
When Tech (22-5) faces Wisconsin-Green Bay (25-3) at 2:50 p.m. in a first-round Midwest Regional game at Reunion Arena, the Hokies' hopes may hinge on whether star forward Ace Custis can shake a puzzling late-season slump.
``No question about it, we're going to need Ace to step up now,'' said Bill Foster, Tech's coach. ``The kid has been fighting a load of stuff lately and he's let it work on his head. I've told him it's time to forget those things and just go out, have some fun and play basketball.''
Despite a junior season in which he has received as much national publicity as perhaps any Tech player ever, Custis has discovered running with college basketball's big dogs is not without a price.
``Everything is fine when you win, even if you shoot 0-for-15,'' Custis said. ``But if the team loses and you have a bad game, all the critics are right there, ready to attack you.''
Custis was rudely awakened to that fact after Tech, 19-2 at the time, got blown away by top-ranked Massachusetts 74-58 at home on Feb.17. Custis, already hurting from a horrific seven-point game in which he missed 10 of 13 shots, was further bruised when he returned to his Blacksburg crib and checked his telephone answering machine.
``Some anonymous person had called and left a bad message for me,'' Custis said. ``I'm not going to say what they said, but it wasn't nice.
``After that, I would be walking around campus and people would come up to me and say things like, `You didn't even show up,' or `What happened to you?'''
Eight days later in another big game at Temple, Custis missed seven of 10 shots from the field and managed only six points as the Hokies got buried, 57-41.
When he got home, Custis found a couple more phone messages. Needless to say, they weren't complimentary.
``It all really bothered Ace,'' Foster said. ``He's never faced that before. He's always been the fair-haired boy, an overachiever.
``Before this year, all those expectations weren't there. This year, he's got a lot of pub - Sports Illustrated, ESPN, a lot of others.
``Well, that's great until you have a couple bad games and somebody jumps in your stuff and you're not used to it.''
Obviously, Custis was profoundly affected. Starting with the UMass debacle, he has had more than three field goals in a game only once in six contests. He was 22-for-58 from the field (38 percent) in the six games after shooting 53 percent (125-of-235) in Tech's first 21 games.
``And because he's not posting good numbers, he feels like he's letting the team down,'' Foster said. ``Ace is his own worst critic and he has put too much pressure on himself.
``It all came to a head against UMass. He didn't have a good game against UMass and he'll tell you. Ever since then there has been some indecision in his game. He's struggled offensively and it's carried over to the defensive end, too.''
Custis acknowledged the UMass game had lingering effects he has yet to shake.
``I have been down since that game,'' he said. ``I wanted to come out and play so well in that game. I haven't shot the ball well since, and in the back of my mind I'm always thinking I haven't showed up for our team.
``It seems like every time I miss a shot now, I get down on myself instead of putting that shot behind me and saying the next one is good. Instead, I've been praying the next one goes in.''
If Custis has learned anything during his tough times, it's that he can't worry about pleasing everybody.
``Publicity and everything is good, but I've discovered all I've got to do is please myself and my team,'' he said. ``As long as the team is not putting any pressure on, not fussing at me, it's all fine.
``My family is behind me, saying, `You're playing well,' but it's a lie sometimes. Fans want to holler and point their fingers when you lose.
``If they want to point at me, I'll take the blame. I'll take the blame to take the pressure off everybody else, because I can handle it.''
Custis, who despite his late-season swoon leads Tech in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (9.8 rpg), said he hasn't played as well as in the 1994-95 season, when he averaged 15.8 points and 10.5 rebounds.
``I didn't have a great season, not at all,'' he said. ``I felt a lot better at the end of last year than I feel right now.''
Of course, that's still subject to change. A victory today would be a good start.
``This is a new season,'' Custis said. ``I'm forgetting everything that's happened and starting new again.''
The Hokies, despite their No.9 seed, are a 21/2-point favorite over eighth-seeded Green Bay. Both teams match up well in one of the few first-round games that has bracket-pool participants scratching their heads.
One thing appears certain: There won't be a lot of points scored. Green Bay massages the clock before shooting on offense. On defense, the Phoenix ranks second in the country in scoring yield (55.7 points per game).
``I look for it be close to the vest,'' said Mike Heideman, Green Bay's coach. ``I look for a half-court game that will be slugged out in the trenches.''
Foster said Green Bay, along with Princeton and Temple, is one of the three NCAA entries nobody wants to play because of their distinctive system.
``But we're here and we've got them,'' Foster said of a Tech team making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
``Hey, nobody's complaining,'' he added. ``Our kids would have played anybody to get to this deal.''
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Virginia Tech's Shawn Smith looks to pass duringby CNBpractice Wednesday at Reunion Arena in Dallas. color. 2.
Wisconsin-Green Bay's Mike Nabena ices his left leg Wednesday as he
watches Eric Jackson shoot during practice for their game today
against Virginia Tech in the NCAA Tournament.