Cavs' Harris Brings Points, Expectations
But Leitao Wants More After Sloppy Win : Virginia 85, Morgan State 66

By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 20, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 19 -- Will Harris glided to the basket on a breakaway and hopped off the floor, expecting an easy and uncontested basket. He had done this countless times in high school and prep school, and experience told him there was no reason to slam the ball. Instead, he tried to casually lay in the ball.

Morgan State's Gilroy Hemsley caught him and knocked the ball away, starting a fast break the other way. So Harris, the player regarded as Virginia's best freshman, learned a lesson in his second game, the Cavaliers' 85-66 victory over Morgan State on Sunday. Harris registered team highs in points with 16 and rebounds with eight, but still drew the brunt of Coach Dave Leitao's ire after a sloppy game in which Virginia scored the first 12 points and then coasted.

"Every minute that I'm out there I've got to give 150 percent," Harris said. "In high school, you can just rise above everybody else. And that's something you can't do here."

Harris retreated to the bench during the next timeout, and Leitao glared at him in the huddle.

"People from New York dunk that!" the coach yelled at Harris, who grew up five minutes from Shea Stadium.

"He wanted me to play tougher," Harris said.

His teammates started chiding him, too. You gotta dunk the next one, they told him.

Harris received another opportunity as the game wound down, another open lane with nothing between him and the rim. This time, his coach's words still fresh in his mind, he elevated and forcefully jammed the ball through the net. When he sprinted back up the floor, he smiled and blew a kiss to his teammates on the bench.

"I just wanted to let them know that that was for them," Harris said.

Harris, along with Mamadi Diane, will be doing plenty for two teammates in particular this season. Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds starred last season, but often carried too much of the scoring burden. Harris, who returned from ankle surgery two weeks before expected, and Diane have already showed they can handle some of the load.

Diane joined Singletary and Reynolds in the starting lineup Sunday, his second start in as many games to begin the year. Diane scored 15 points, making 6 of 8 shots and 2 of 3 from three-point range. Diane, who tied for a team-high 25 in Virginia's opener, is now 14 for 17 shooting this season, including 7 for 9 on three-pointers.

"There's a lot of pressure on Sean and J.R.," Diane said. "Knowing who they are, I'm going to be open. That's something I realize."

So Diane worked all offseason, shooting more jumpers than ever before. He worked on making his mechanics more fluid and eliminating a subtle pause in his release. So far, it has worked.

"It helps out a lot," Reynolds said. "It kind of takes a lot of the load off. You can defer to your teammates a little bit, and they can get the job done."

Diane and Harris proved they can score, but also showed they still need sharpening. They committed five turnovers each and had no assists. But the potential is there, perhaps even more so for Harris. At 6 feet 6, 230 pounds, he's already one of the team's most physically mature players. Now, he must apply it.

"I've asked him to play harder, to defend better, to use his physicality more to his advantage," Leitao said. "He's got a lot of dimensions to his game. I'm not happy with him today and he knows I'm not happy with him today. On the other side of it, he's got 16 and eight. It does show potential to be a whole lot better."