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Cavaliers Struggle against No. 2 Duke
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January 10, 1999
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – The ACC career of Pete Gillen is only four games old,yet the Virginia coach already knows what it takes to win in arguably the bestcollege conference in the nation.
“You have to have two or three (future) pros in your lineup to play in thisleague,” Gillen said after his Cavaliers were pounded Sunday by No. 2 Duke115-69. “If you don’t, you have no chance.”
Asked to name Duke’s future pros, Gillen didn’t hesitate.
“They have nine of them,” Gillen shot back. “You name them – everybody.(Taymon) Domzalski was a high school All-American and he can’t even get intothe game. We would build a monument to him at Virginia, right next to ThomasJefferson.”
Elton Brand powered his way inside for a career-high 33 points as Duke wonits 31st straight home game against a team that dressed only six scholarshipplayers.
The 6-foot-8, 270-pound Brand was nearly unstoppable, hitting 12-of-14 shotsfrom the field and 9-of-11 from the foul line. His point total bested hisprevious high of 26 earlier this season against North Carolina State.
“The sign of a great player is when he has an advantage he really exploitsthat advantage,” teammate Shane Battier said of Brand, who was playing againstmuch smaller Virginia players. “Last year, the difference was in a game whenhe knew he was better he would let up.”
Duke (15-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) reached the 100-point mark forthe sixth time this season. The Blue Devils’ home winning streak is thesecond-longest in the nation and five shy of the ACC record.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers (9-7, 0-4) have lost 14 of their last 16 in CameronIndoor Stadium and are off to their worst ACC start since 1989-90.
“Sure, we talked about winning,” Gillen said. “But we knew it was almostimpossible. They are a better team than Connecticut, and that’s no disrespectto them. And this is the toughest place to play in the country.”
In addition to Brand, freshman Corey Maggette scored a season-high 21 pointsand Trajan Langdon had 17. Duke outrebounded the smaller Cavaliers by 20 andblocked a school-record 17 shots – one shy of the ACC mark.
“Corey is as good as any freshman in the league,” Duke coach MikeKrzyzewski said. “I wouldn’t trade him for any freshman. To his credit, hewants to be on an outstanding team and whatever role he has is OK with him.”
The 115 points were the most Duke has scored against Virginia since getting136 on Feb. 11, 1965 – a span of 76 games. Duke has won 10 in a row overall andVirginia has lost three in a row for the first time this season.
“This was frustrating,” said Gillen. “It’s tough when you have one handtied behind your back.”
Donald Hand matched his career high with 24 points to lead the Cavaliers,while ACC scoring leader Chris Williams added 15 despite being plagued withfoul trouble all game.
Duke led by 14 at halftime, then went on a 20-9 run to start the secondperiod as Brand scored on two layups, a 6-footer in the lane and a three-pointplay for a 71-46 lead with 14:36 left.
Virginia, which lost by 44 at Duke last year, never got closer than 17 therest of the way.
Duke began the game with an 18-4 run and it appeared another rout was on.But Williams and Hand sparked a 23-12 run as Virginia closed to 30-27 sixminutes before halftime. The surge was fueled by a full-court zone press theBlue Devils initially had trouble handling.
But like most good teams, Duke adjusted and got its fast break in high gear,closing the half with a 21-10 run the included eight points from Maggette andsix from Brand.