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Dec. 28, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – Virginia dominated Bucknell in every wayThursday night.
The bigger, more talented and eighth-ranked Cavaliers used a fiercefull-court press to force 27 turnovers and outrebounded the Bison 52-36 in a99-49 victory.
“Our kids were intimidated. You could tell by the way they lined up forfree throws. They didn’t want to get pushed into the lane,” Bucknell coach PatFlannery said.
Virginia (9-0) converted the 27 turnovers into 40 points.
“Our defense was excellent,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “Thedefense helped us get points, and we were very unselfish.”
Starting center Travis Watson, who played just 20 minutes, led the Cavalierswith 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“Travis was tremendous,” Gillen said. “He was a wrecking machine inthere.”
Watson said he focused on rebounding.
“That’s how I got a lot of my points today,” he said.
The Cavaliers also got 13 points from Adam Hall and 12 from Chris Williamsas they continued their best start in eight years.
The Bison (5-5) were stymied by Virginia’s tough defense, shooting just 33.3percent from the field compared to the Cavaliers’ 51.3 percent.
“We had trouble simulating that (press), and let me tell you, we tried,”Flannery said of the practices leading to the game. “You either have to letthe kids play in a game like this and get better for games later on, or holdthe ball and do things you don’t really want to do.”
Bryan Bailey, Bucknell’s leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, washampered by foul trouble and finished with seven points.
“Bailey got two quick fouls, and against Virginia, the way they come atyou, going that deep into the bench early is tough,” said Flannery, who haseight sophomores and freshmen on his team.
Virginia got 43 points from their bench, led by Maurice Young with 10 andKeith Friel with nine. Gillen started removing his starters from the gamemidway through the first half.
“We have a game Saturday (Dartmouth), so that was in the back of ourminds,” Gillen said. “To play they way they want to play, we need to playeight or nine guys.”
Bucknell committed 18 turnovers in the first half and never mounted aserious threat.
“We rushed it a lot on offense and didn’t rebound well, that pretty muchhurt us,” said Boakai Lalugba, who led Bucknell with 14 points.
Virginia, which was 8-of-16 from 3-point range, led 45-18 at halftime. TheCavaliers went on a 10-1 run capped by a free throw by Hall to take a 75-35lead midway through the second half.
The Bison were scoreless over the last five minutes of the game while theCavaliers scored 16 points, including two 3-pointers from Young. Jason Rogershit a jumper with 22 seconds left to play to give Virginia the 50-point lead.
Friel, who was shooting 58 percent from behind the 3-point arc, was 3-of-8from 3-point range Thursday after sitting out Saturday’s game againstUniversity of Maryland Baltimore County with an injured knee.
Jordan Hardenberg added eight points for Bucknell, while Jeremiah Bennetthad nine rebounds.
The Cavaliers are off to their best start since going 11-0 in 1992-93.
This was just the third meeting between Virginia and Bucknell (5-5). Theteams split the first two games with Bucknell winning 99-81 during the 1960-61season and Virginia winning 64-45 in 1980-81.