WAHOO BUZZ: Virginia Cavaliers Knock Off No.15 Minnesota Gophers 87-79 in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS SERVICE
Lightfoot Virginia
November 30, 2010
BBSNS


Lightfoot ( BBSNS)- Mustapha Farrakhan, the grand-son of the great Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, scored a career high 23 points and Mike Scott had 17 key points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Virginia to an upset 87-79 victory over the highly ranked No. 15 Minnesota in the opening round of the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge on Monday night in Minnesota.
The tough Trevor Mbakwe had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for Minnesota. But the Gophers scored just two points during a seven-minute span of the second half and couldn't complete a furious rally in the final five minutes.
The old reliable Tubby Smith was just simply out-coached by the young upstart Virginia coach Tony Bennett.
The Virginia Cavaliers came back on the Court in the second half fired up and they played like they were struggling for their lives in quick sand. What a tremendous effort on the part of the young Cavaliers, who were sinking in quick sand in the first half. The Virginia team was determined not to go down to defeat to the Golden Gophers. The Cavaliers victory over the ranked Gophers just goes to prove that when you have great intensity, determination, discipline, an a super great effort that you can beat a more talented club such as the Gophers.
Mbakwe's put back cut the Virginia's lead to 73-67 with 2 minutes to play, but Scott responded with a three-point play to put the game out of reach.
On a team with seven Freshmen, it was the steady senior Farrakhan's presence and cool shot-making that stabilized the Cavaliers during a very scary start.
Devoe Joseph had 16 points in his return from a six-game suspension and Blake Hoffarber added 19 points for the Gophers, who led 14-5 early and were in control during a dominant first half.
That's when coach Bennett went to one of his three captains off the bench.
Mustapha Farrakhan hit all four of his 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the first half to keep Virginia from getting sunk in quick sand.
Joseph, whose violation of team rules included troubles in the classroom entered the game just over five minutes into it and made an immediate impact. The smooth as silk combo guard hit 3 3 pointers and scored 10 points in the first half, helping to offset Mustapha Farrakhan's solid shooting.
With Mbakwe controlling the paint, Minnesota led by 10 at half time. But the Cavaliers kept making jumpers to stay in the game. Will Sherrill's 3 pointer from the corner-Virginia's ninth 3 in 10 tries-capped a magnificent 12-1 run and gave Virginia a 49-48 lead with 13:23 to play.
The Virginia ACC All- Academic player Sherrill had to be helped off the court with a injury nearly halfway through the second half, but Jontel Evans got a layup off a steal and Harris blew by Colton Evans for an easy layup and a 57-52 lead.
The Virginia Cavaliers were blown out by the overrated Washington Huskies and also lost to likes of Wichita State in the Maui Invitational. The Wahoos grew more confident by the minute in the second half as they fought gallantly to come back from the halftime deficit.
UVA Frosh sensation KT Harrell from Bam gave the Cavaliers a 61-54 lead with under 9 minutes to play and Farrakhan's fast break layup capped the 17-2 burst that put the Cavs in the driver's seat and control of the game.
Ralph Samson III son of UVA legend Ralph Samson was a non-factor throughout the game as his great father watched UVA put forth the better effort of the two ball clubs.
I will assume that the UVA legend Ralph Samson advised his son not to go to UVA because he didn't feel that former UVA coach Dave Leitao was taking the team in the right direction and making the necessary progress in the highly competitive ACC.
Both Bennett, and football coach Mike London indeed have UVA moving in the right direction relative to establishing winning programs in both sports. But it will probably take three or four years for both programs to win consistently in the ACC. So will the UVA Administration, Wahoo faithful and Alumni afford both coaches the opportunity to succeed?

* I would also like to advise coach Bennett and his staff to have his players spend more time passing the ball in practice.
Basketball is still a game of dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, and playing aggressive defense. The UVA players should watch a lot of film/video of such great players as Oscar Robertson, Bob Cousy, Mike Jordan, Pete Maravich, Jerry West, Nate (Tiny) Archibald, Guy Rogers, Walt Frazier, Dick Stockton, and Steve Nash. All of the previous named players were great passers, shooters and dribblers, and the Lakers Kobe Bryant is also in this class. The great Magic Johnson was not included in this class because Ervin was not a great shooter, but he was an adequate clutch shooter. Elgin Baylor and Larry Bird were two forwards that combined great passing, shooting and dribbling skills. Most of the today's players are not fundamentally sound in passing, dribbling, rebounding, shooting, and most like the ferocious mindset in loving to play defense.