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Men's Basketball Meets Arizona State
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Nov. 26, 1999
The Series vs. Arizona State
The Cavaliers meet Arizona State for the first time ever in today’sfifth place game of the Puerto Rico Shootout. The game is just Virginia’ssecond against a school from the state of Arizona as well. In UVa’s firstgame against a school from Arizona, it lost to the University of Arizona71-58 in the third round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament in Sacramento,California.
Virginia vs. the Pac 10
Virginia is 5-5 all-time against current Pac 10 schools. In theCavaliers’ most recent meeting with a Pac 10 school, they defeatedWashington State 62-53 in the second round of the Top of the World Classicin Fairbanks, Alaska, on November 21, 1998. UVa is 2-0 vs. WashingtonState, 1-0 vs. Southern California and Washington, 1-3 vs. Stanford, and0-1 vs. Arizona and UCLA. The Cavaliers have never faced Arizona State,California, Oregon or Oregon State.
Who’s Starting
Head coach Pete Gillen has used three different starting lineupsand has had a total of eight different players start in the first fourgames of the 1999-2000 season. Only two players, sophomores Chris Williamsand Adam Hall have started all four games. In addition, each time Gillenhas changed his starting lineup it has resulted in a win.
The Cavaliers opened the season with junior Stephane Dondon andWilliams at forward and junior Colin Ducharme at center. Junior DonaldHand and Hall started in the backcourt. The combination resulted in a97-66 win over Elon. In the second game, a 98-57 triumph over VMI, Gillenstarted freshman Travis Watson at center instead of Ducharme. With thesame starting lineup (Dondon, Williams, T. Watson, Hand and Hall) in thethird game of the season against South Carolina, the Cavaliers suffered a73-71 setback. Gillen changed his starting lineup for the third timeagainst Providence and it resulted in an 80-64 victory. Hall, Williams andWatson remained in the starting lineup, but junior guard Keith Friel andfreshman guard Majestic Mapp started in place of Hand and Dondon.
Travis Watson Continues to Shine
Freshman forward/center Travis Watson has gotten his collegiatecareer off to a solid start. He leads the Cavaliers in rebounding(11.0/game) and blocked shots (7). Watson is also second on the team inscoring at 14.5 points per game and is the only Virginia player to score indouble figures all four games. He is shooting an outstanding 65.7 percent(23-35) from the field. Watson is tied for second on the team with sevensteals and tied for third with seven assists. He has a pair of “doubledoubles” to his credit as well (vs. Elon and Providence).
Watson’s six-for-six effort from the field against South Carolinatied for Virginia’s fifth best perfect shooting game from the field of alltime. It is the 11th time that a player has made all six attempts from thefield. Prior to Watson, the last UVa player to make every attempt (minimumof five) from the floor was Kenny Turner, who tied the school record with anine-for-nine effort against Samford on 11/28/89. Jeff Jones (vs.Alabama-Birmingham 3/18/82) also shares the school record with Turner.
Only Two in Double Figure Scoring
The Cavaliers had only two players score in double figures againstProvidence, marking the first time this season that Virginia has not had atleast four players score in double figures in a game. Last season,Virginia failed to have at least three players score in double figures fourtimes, but only won one of those contests (a 65-58 win over Clemson onJanuary 17, 1999).