University of Virginia Library

Thompson Hot

Sky-High 'Pack Set To Pounce On Cavs

BY STEVE GASKE

Saturday afternoon the
'Hoos make their next venture
into "God's country" to try
for an upset of one of the
ACC's national powers.

N.C. state, currently
undefeated through 15 games
and ranked second in the
nation in every major poll,
should start to put a chip in
UCLA's lead in the polls after
Wednesday night's 89-76
destruction of Lefty Dresell's
number-three-ranked Terps.

When the Pack came up to
U-Hall earlier this year, the
'Hoos let them escape with a
controversial 68-61 win. In
that game, with Virginia down
59-55 and making a comeback,
Al Drummond was called for a
backcourt foul on State's
mighty mite, Monte Towe.

Drummond, in response to
the call, raised both hands and
was immediately slapped with
a technical, something many
people felt was a picky call.
Towe went to the line and
converted three straight foul
shots and State got the ball out
of bounds with 1:36
remaining.

With the 'Pack able to slow
the game down and make the
'Hoos scramble for the ball,
David Thompson was able to

get open under the basket for a
layup to put the game away.

Thompson was held to his
lowest total at that point in the
season when Bob McKeag and
Wally Walker held the 6'4"
All-America candidate to 14
points. A tremendous leaper,
Thompson is leading the
conference with a 26-point
average and is also the sixth
leading rebounder right behind
Gus Gerard with an 8.4
average.

As good as Thompson is,
however, the man who will
probably give Virginia the
biggest problem, both literally
and figuratively, is another
All-America candidate, Tom
Burleson. At 7'4" Burleson is
nine inches taller than the
tallest Virginia starter.

Ranking in the top five in
the conference in both scoring
and rebounding, the "Newland
Needle" should provide a
major obstacle to Virginia's
driving offense.

In their earlier meeting this
year, Burleson scored only 11
points against the 'Hoos, but
his 11 rebounds were tops for
the game.

Surprisingly, the scoring
leader for the Pack in that
game was the diminutive Towe.
Although he is only 5'6½" tall,
Towe is the difference between
N.C. State being just a very
good team and being a great
team. His amazing quickness
makes State invulnerable to the
press, while his long range
shooting, which Virginia was
given a taste of, takes the
pressure off Thompson on the
outside and loosens things up
on the inside for Burleson.

Towe's offense contributes
a lot of the 'Pack offense and
he comes up with a lot of steals
on defense, but he also
represents the weak link in the
'Pack defense. Several times
this year, Towe has been taken
advantage of by taller players
who work inside and shoot
over him.

Beyond its three stars, State
is blessed with an array of
players that make up the
supporting cast who, if nothing

else, can all shoot.

Rick Holdt and Joe
Cafferky are the only seniors
on this young state team and
generally start, but Tim
Stoddard, Greg Hawkins, Mark
Moeller, and Steve Nuce all
play a lot and average about
five or more points each.

Saturday's regionally
televised game is crucial in the
ACC race. Virginia can't afford
to lose and continue to
challenge North Carolina for
third.

N.C. State now enjoys a two
game lead over Maryland, but a
loss to Virginia in Reynolds
Coliseum, which isn't out of the
realm of possibility as the
North Carolina game showed,
would drop State's lead to a
dangerously close one game
margin.