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Second Place In ACC At Stake

Wahoos To Face Wolfpack

Randy Wert
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Basketball Mentor Bill Gibson Faces Tough Task Against State

"The Hooter" Hopes To Rally His Troops After Two ACC Losses

Pressure is nothing new for
this year's edition of the court
Cavaliers, but this Saturday's
regionally televised contest
against the visiting defending
ACC champions from North
Carolina State will go a long
way to decide who will get
what portion of the ACC
marbles.

By virtue of their defeat of
Maryland Wednesday evening,
the Pack usurped Virginia's
second place position in the
conference standings. Breaking
over the .500 mark to a 3-2
conference log, N.C. State has yet
to play either fallen Goliath South
Carolina or the Cavaliers. Sporting
an overall mark of 10-5, Norm
Sloan's charges emerged victorious
from the Big Four tournament
earlier in the season with wins over
North Carolina and Wake Forest.

Far from formidable
statistically, the Wolfpack ball club
does have individual stickouts
including the sixth leading scorer in
the ACC, Ed Leftwich (18 points
per game) and Raleigh's resident
muscleman, junior center Paul
Coder, who is ninth in scoring at
17.0 and fourth in both rebounding
(10.5 per contest) and field goal
percentage. Second team
All-conference as a sophomore, the
6-5 Leftwich averaged 16.4 points
from the backcourt but is
flip flopping from guard to forward
this year. Also an All-ACC
performer as a soph, the 6-9, 250
lb. Coder had 16.8 and 9.98
statistics in scoring and rebounding,
respectively.

Joining Coder in the front line
are 6-5 sophomore Rick Holdt and
6-6 senior, Dan Wells. "Dirty" Dan
was given his opportunity to move
up from the Hatchet Squad by
Coach Sloan, but apparently has
blown the chance as he is nowhere
to be seen in the league's scoring
and rebounding hierarchy and is
often lifted in favor or senior
guards Joe Dunning or Al Heartley
when Leftwich is moved up-front.
Soph Bill Benson is a 6-2 guard who
has seen enough action to score
nine points each outing.

Another consideration which
hinges at least in part on Saturday
afternoon's game is the Cavaliers'
hopes for attracting an offer to play
in the National Invitational
Tournament in Madison Square
Garden. To receive a bid from the
director of the NIT, they will
probably have to win 20 games and
go very far (the finals) in the
Atlantic Coast Tournament in
Greensboro, N.C. This demand
makes all remaining contests
"musts" for Virginia's hoopers as
their 12-4 mark nine games and the
tournament ahead in February and
March puts victories at a premium.