Virginia Basketball Visits Wake Forest Sunday Night

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Feb. 15, 2002

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The Game
Virginia, ranked 15th in the AP poll and 13th in theUSAToday/ESPN poll, stands at 16-6 overall and 6-5 in the AtlanticCoast Conference this season. The Cavaliers are coming off a 73-63 victory over North Carolina (Feb. 12) at University Hall. WakeForest, ranked 19th in the A P poll and 17th in the USAToday/ESPNpoll, stands at 17-8 overall and 7-4 in the ACC. The DemonDeacons are coming off a 11 8 – 115 double overtime loss to Clemson(Feb. 13) in Clemson, S.C.

The Series vs. Wake Forest
Virginia led the all-time series with Wake Forest entering the1990s, but the Demon Deacons have had the better of theCavaliers the last decade and now lead the series 58-55. TheDeacs have won 12 of the last 18 meetings and 17 of the 29matchups since the 1989-90 season. The Cavaliers won the firstmeeting this season 86-74 (Jan. 15) in Charlottesville for theirsecond consecutive win over Wake Forest. The two teams splitthe 2000-2001 season series with both teams winning at home.Wake won the first meeting last season 96-73 (Jan. 2) inWinston-Salem, N.C. in a matchup of two top 10 teams (UVa wasranked eighth in the AP poll and Wake was fourth). Virginia wonthe second meeting 82-71 (Feb. 3) in Charlottesville.Virginia has not had much luck on the western end of TobaccoRoad. The Cavaliers are 3-9 in the Lawrence Joel VeteransMemorial Coliseum and 11-30 all-time in Winston-Salem againstWake Forest. UVa snapped a five-game losing streak to theDeacs at Lawrence Joel Coliseum with a 76-67 win in the 1999-2000 season (Jan. 30). Previously, the Cavaliers’ last victory atWake was a 61-59 win on January 26, 1994.

Mason and Watson Earn All-District Honors From NABC
Junior guard Roger Mason, Jr., and junior forward/centerTravis Watson are members of the 2002 Division I All-District 5Team as selected by the members of the National Association ofBasketball Coaches. Mason is a first-team selection and Watsona second-team selection. Members of the 15 All-District teamsare now eligible for the NABC Division I All-America Team to beannounced at the conclusion of the 2001-2002 season.Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy and Jason Williams of Dukeand Maryland’s Juan Dixon join Mason on the first-team. In addi-tionto Watson, Lonnie Baxter (Maryland), Anthony Grundy (N.C.State), Josh Howard (Wake Forest) and Darius Songalia (WakeForest) were named to the second-team.

Tough to Shoot Well vs. Wake Forest
Virginia has had a rough time on the offensive endagainst Wake Forest since the 1989-90 season. T h eCavaliers have shot 46 percent or better against Wa k eForest just six times in the last 29 games. All six gamesresulted in Virginia wins. The Cavaliers are 12-17 vs. Wa k eForest since 1989-90.

U Va has shot 40.9 percent from the floor and averaged65.4 points per game against Wake Forest since 1989-90.Similarly, the Cavalier defense has been almost as stingyas Wake’s. The Deacons have made 42.9 percent of theirfield goal attempts over the last 29 meetings and have aver-aged67.2 points per game.

Wake Forest topped 50 percent shooting from the flooronly four times since 1989-90. Those games are-52.1percent (25-48) in a 74-66 win on February 10, 1991, 55.8percent (29-52) in an 81-64 win on January 24, 1996, 52.9percent (27-51) in an 80-67 win on March 2, 2000 (theonly time since the 1989-90 season Wake has eclipsed 50percent shooting at University Hall), and 58.1 percent (36-62) in a 96-73 win on January 2, 2001).

A breakdown of both teams’ offensive performancesince the 1989-90 season in wins and losses is below.

			UVa 		WFU			FG% PPG 	FG% PPGCombined (29) 		.409 65.4 	.429 67.2UVa wins (12) 		.454 71.0 	.401 63.7UVa losses (17) 	.380 61.5 	.450 69.8

Earlier This Season vs. Wake Forest
Virginia defeated Wake Forest 86-74 (Jan. 15) atUniversity Hall for its second consecutive ACC win. Juniorforward/center Travis Watson and junior guard RogerMason, Jr., led the Cavaliers to the victory.

Watson registered his eighth double-double of the sea-sonwith 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Healso made 10 of 11 free throws. Mason tallied 25 pointsand connected on seven three-point field goals, which is acareer best. Mason scored eight of his 25 points afterreturning from the locker room after injuring his right shoul-derwith 16:01 left in the game (he re-entered the game atthe 15:07 mark). Senior forward Chris Williams added 15points and connected on six of seven attempts from thefloor. Freshman guard Jermaine Harper chipped in with10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Wake Forest came out of the gates quickly, openingup an 11-point lead ( 21-10) 7:10 into the game.UVa used a 10-0 run to take a 32-31 lead at the 4:06 mark, itsfirst edge since the opening basket of the game. TheCavaliers went on to take a 41-39 lead at intermission.

The Demon Deacons began the second half with abasket to tie the game at 41-41, but Mason answered witha three-pointer 54 seconds into the half to give theCavaliers the lead for good. Virginia outscored Wake 15-6in the first five and a half minutes of the second half toopen up a 56-45 advantage. UVa ‘s lead grew to as manyas 14 points (77-63) and never fell below six points (77-71).

Josh Howard led Wake Forest with 19 points and eightrebounds, while Broderick Hicks and Darius Songailaadded 12 and 11 points, respectively.

UVa shot 49.1 percent (28-57) from the floor in thegame and 55.6 percent (10-18) from three-point range.The Cavaliers also held a 37-33 edge in rebounds.