Story Links

Nov. 21, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

Complete Release in PDF Format
dot.gifspacer.gifDownload Free Acrobat Reader

The Game
Virginia concluded the exhibition portion of its schedule with a 73-57 victory over One World All-Stars November 17 at University Hall. UVa finished the 2001-2002 season with a 17-12 overall record and a 7-9 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Pete Gillen’s fourth year as Virginia’s head coach. Long Island University posted a 5-22 overall record and a 5-15 mark in the Northeast Conference.

Cavaliers Open Season Tonight
Virginia begins the 2002-2003 season, its 98th overall and fifth under head coach Pete Gillen, on Friday, November 22, when the Cavaliers host Long Island University at 7:30 p.m. in University Hall.

UVa is 77-20 (.794) all-time in season openers. The Cavaliers have won four consecutive and 13 of their last 15 season openers dating back to 1987-88. Virginia’s last loss in a season opener was in 1997-98 when it dropped an 83-79 double overtime decision at Richmond.

The Cavaliers have won their last five season openers at University Hall. Last season, Virginia defeated Wagner College 105-74 in the opener at U-Hall (Nov. 16). In the 2000-2001 season, UVa defeated Long Island 96-50 in the opener at U-Hall. Virginia also posted a 97-66 win over Elon in its home opener in 1999-2000. In 1995-96, the Cavaliers posted an 84-65 victory over Tennessee-Martin and in 1994-95, Virginia registered an 83-80 win over Old Dominion. UVa’s last loss in a home opener was a 77-36 setback to Connecticut in the 1993-94 season.

The Series vs. Long Island
Tonight’s game is just Virginia’s third meeting with Long Island. UVa won the first two meetings of the series. In the initial meeting on December 27, 1985, the Cavaliers defeated Long Island 71-52 in the first round of the Rochester Classic in Rochester, N.Y. Virginia won the second meeting in the series 96-50 at University Hall in the 2000-2001 season-opener on November 17.

Cavalier Captains
Seniors Travis Watson and Jason Rogers, and junior Majestic Mapp are the captains of the 2002-03 Virginia basketball team.

Virginia vs. the Northeast Conference
Virginia is 6-0 all-time against teams that were members of the Northeast Conference (formerly the ECAC Metro from 1982-88) when they played the Cavaliers. All six wins have come at home in University Hall. UVa is 2-0 against Long Island University and Wagner College, and 1-0 against Fairleigh Dickinson, and Loyola (Md.).

Head Coach Pete Gillen
Pete Gillen is in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach and sports a 344-177 record for a .660 winning percentage. Gillen is entering his fifth season at Virginia and has posted a 70-49 record (.588 winning percentage). Gillen won the 300th game of his career when Virginia defeated then 21st-ranked North Carolina 87-85 on January 18, 2000 at University Hall.

Gillen has led his teams to postseason play 14 times in 17 seasons (nine NCAA, five NIT), including the last three seasons at Virginia. He has been selected as the conference Coach of the Year five times – all while coaching Xavier (Midwestern Collegiate Conference).

Gillen has compiled a 15-2 record in season openers in his career as a collegiate head coach, winning his last 12 openers. Gillen is 4-0 in season-openers at UVa. He successfully began his coaching career at Virginia with an 86-70 win over VCU on November 13 to start the 1998-99 campaign and coached the team to a 97-66 victory over Elon College to open the 1999-00 season. In 2000-2001, Gillen’s Cavaliers registered a 96-50 victory over Long Island, and last year UVa notched a 105-74 win over Wagner College. He was 7-2 at Xavier (1986-94) and 4-0 at Providence (1995-98) in season openers.

Non-Conference Teams at University Hall
Virginia is 194-29 (.870) all-time in University Hall against non-conference opponents since the building opened for the 1965-66 season. The Cavaliers have won 76 of their last 86 home games against non-conference opponents dating back to the 1989-90 season. UVa had its 15-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents snapped with a 74-67 loss to South Carolina in the first round of the 2002 National Invitation Tournament (Mar. 13). Virginia’s previous home non-conference loss was also in the NIT as the Cavaliers fell to Georgetown 115-111 in triple overtime in the first round of the 2000 NIT (Mar. 15).

No Back-to-Back Losses at Home
The Cavaliers have not lost back-to-back home games since the 1997-98 season. Virginia has played 63 games at University Hall since losing back-to-back home games in the 1997-98 season. The last time Virginia was defeated in consecutive home games was during the 1997-98 season when the Cavaliers lost consecutive home games to Florida State (Feb. 4), 71-63 and North Carolina (Feb. 11), 60-45. UVa also lost to Duke (Jan. 24), 72-65 which was the first of three consecutive home losses.

The streak is on the line against Long Island as UVa lost its final home game of the 2001-2002 season, 74-67, to South Carolina in the first round of the 2002 NIT (Mar. 13).

Print Friendly Version