The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, December 20, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

A rather sparse crowd of
maybe a thousand people
turned out last night to watch
Alan Dawe, coach of the
Australian national champion
basketball team, present Cav
coach Bill Gibson with a koala
bear in pre-game ceremonies.

If he had known what was
to follow on the agenda, Mr.
Dawe might have opted to
keep his bear and try to
get his team out of UHall
alive. While Virginia won the
game 106-94, the only
notable aspect of the
contest was the periodic
mugging taking place on the
court.

Mr. Gibson admitted after
the game that, "it's hard to get
psyched for a game like this.
We just weren't up for it."

One player who did look
like he was up for the game
was Wally "Wonder" Walker.
Walker, seeing starting action
for the second game in a row,
kept up his eye-popping
shooting percentage with a 10
for 13 performance. He added
two foul shots for a total of 22
points.

When it was suggested that
Walker was coming into his
own, Mr. Gibson agreed about
the Wonder's offense, but
added "he's still got to play
both ends of the court." With
10 rebounds, Walker must have
been doing something at both
ends.

Although they were
out-manned by the taller, more
skilled 'Hoos, the Crow Eaters
demonstrated a good running
game that penetrated the Cav
defense for easy layups
throughout the evening.

Part of the problem was the
overbearing defense of the
'Hoos that tried to double up
on the ball in an effort to
break it open. The Crow Eaters
managed to hit open men for
layups against the at times
sloppy Cavaliers and ended the
half trailing by a respectable
52-46 score.

Terming the game a
"workout," Mr. Gibson let his
charges run wild all over the
continent of Australia in the
second half. With a quick
burst, the Wahoos broke into a
68-50 lead.

At this point, the already
sloppy game turned into a full
fledged brawl.

High scorer for the game
was a six-foot, 27-year old
guard for the Aussies, Werner
Linde. Linde managed to keep
his team in the game with a
variety of shots, tallying 31
points for his visit.

Mr. Gibson later
characterized the Aussies as
"great stationary shooters. If
you leave them open, they'll
hit the shot."

A few Virginians who were
doing some hitting were
Cavalier captains Darry Parkhill
and Jim Hobgood, displaying
matching eight for 14 shooting
nights and grabbing 18 points
each.