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Dec. 22, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (AP) – Hoping to continue rolling through its non-conference schedule, No. 14Virginia plays host to Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday.
The Cavaliers (7-0) have been unstoppable in the early going, including a107-89 rout of No. 4 Tennessee on Tuesday at the Jimmy V Classic.
Coach Pete Gillen said he wasn’t sure how good his team was because comingin they had recorded easy wins over the likes of Coastal Carolina and VMI, butthe one-sided win over the Volunteers gave him a different perspective.
“I never dreamed we’d beat a team like Tennessee by that score,” Gillensaid.
Virginia wasn’t expected to do much this season after a 19-12 finish lastyear and a first-round NIT exit.
The Cavaliers say the win over Tennessee should serve notice to the rest ofthe country.
“We were playing this game for respect,” said Stephane Dondon, who had 16points. “We didn’t get much of that last year, and we want people to know weare going to be around this year and that we are going to keep gettingbetter.”
Virginia has been winning behind depth and a balanced attack at both ends ofthe floor. In the victory over Tennessee, the Cavaliers shot 31-of-67 from thefield (48.5 percent), including 10-of-18 from 3-point range. Virginia alsoforced 19 turnovers.
Six Cavaliers finished in double figures, the third straight game that atleast five Virginia players have done so. Donald Hand had a team-high 18 pointsagainst Tennessee and Roger Mason added 16 points. Six different players haveled the Cavaliers in scoring this season.
UMBC (6-2) ended a two-game losing streak Tuesday with 90-72 win overLoyola, Md. Kennedy Okafor had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Peter Mulligan had13 points for the Retrievers, who are off to their best start in 14 years inDivision I.
The Cavaliers are 42-8 against non-conference competition at UniversityHall.
This will be only the second meeting between the schools. Virginia won thefirst, 57-34 on Dec. 21, 1997 at University Hall.