Cavaliers To Play Top-Ranked Duke Wednesday Night

Story Links

Jan. 14, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

The Game
Virginia stands at 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2002-2003. In its last outing, UVa earned its first ACC win of the season with a 79-72 victory over North Carolina (Jan. 11) at University Hall. Duke, ranked number one in the nation in both the AP and USAToday/ESPN polls, stands at 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC this season. In their last game, the Blue Devils defeated previously unbeaten Wake Forest 74-55 (Jan. 12) in Durham, N.C.

The Series vs. Duke
Duke leads the all-time series with the Cavaliers 98-47. UVa split the 2001-2002 season series with the Blue Devils. Virginia lost the first meeting last season 94-81 (Jan. 27) in Durham and won at home 87-84 (Feb. 28). The Cavaliers also split the 2000-2001 series with the Blue Devils with both teams winning at home. Duke won the first meeting 103-61 (Jan. 13) in Durham, while UVa posted a 91-89 victory (Feb. 14) in Charlottesville, which snapped a 12-game slide to the Blue Devils.

Duke has dominated the series in the last 19 years, winning 34 of the last 44 meetings since Ralph Sampson’s graduation from Virginia in 1983.

In addition to snapping the 12-game losing streak to the Blue Devils with its win in 2001, Virginia broke a six-game streak in which Duke reached triple digits.

During Duke’s 12-game winning streak over UVa, the Blue Devils won in convincing fashion, winning by an average of 25.3 points per game. Duke won by more than 40 points on four occasions. Only five of the last 13 games have been decided by fewer than 10 points.

Playing in front of the “Cameron Crazies” has been difficult for UVa as the Wahoos are 8-42 against Duke at Cameron. All-time Virginia is 10-47 on Duke’s various home courts through the years. The Cavaliers have lost their last seven games at Cameron Indoor Stadium. UVa’s last win at Cameron was a 91-88 double overtime victory on January 14, 1995.

He’s Back
After missing 70 consecutive games spanning 1,032 days, junior guard Majestic Mapp made his long anticipated return to the Cavalier lineup against North Carolina (Jan. 11). Mapp entered the game to a standing ovation with 7:23 remaining in the first half and played just over two minutes.

Mapp had been sidelined after tearing the ACL in his right knee on August 2, 2000. He missed the entire 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. The last time Mapp had played for UVa was March 15, 2000 against Georgetown in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Virginia vs. Ranked Duke Teams
Tonight’s contest is the 14th consecutive game in which the Blue Devils have been ranked in the top 10 when playing the Cavaliers, dating back to the 1996-97 season. After dropping 10 consecutive meetings against ranked Duke teams, the Cavaliers have won two of the last three games, including last season’s 87-84 victory at University Hall (Feb. 28).

The Blue Devils are currently ranked first in both The Associated Press and USAToday/ESPN Coaches polls.

In the past five seasons, Virginia has played Duke when the Blue Devils were ranked as the nation’s top team six times. In 1997-98 Duke was ranked #1 at the time of all three meetings. (Virginia became the first team in NCAA history to play the nation’s #1 team five times in one season when, in addition to three games vs. Duke, UVa also played North Carolina twice when it was atop the polls). In 1998-99, the Blue Devils were ranked #1 when they defeated UVa 100-54 in Charlottesville (Feb. 11) and 104-67 in the ACC Tournament (Mar. 4). Last season, Virginia lost to #1 Duke 94-81 (Jan. 27) in Durham.

Overall, Virginia hasn’t fared well against a nationally-ranked Duke squad. The Cavaliers are 14-51 against a ranked Duke team, but are 4-5 vs. third-ranked Blue Devil squads. In its last three meetings vs. a #3 Duke team – UVa knocked off the Blue Devils 87-84 (Feb. 28) last season; defeated the Blue Devils 91-89 (Feb. 14) at home in the 2000-2001 season; and lost 106-86 (Feb. 5) in Durham during the 1999-2000 season.

The highest ranked team Virginia has defeated on the road is a third-ranked team, which UVa has accomplished three times. The Cavaliers have twice beaten #3 Duke teams on the road (90-84 – Jan. 23, 1980 and 77-69 – Jan. 17, 1993), as well as Georgetown (68-63 – Dec. 11, 1982). UVa was unranked at the time of the win in 1980, ranked 14th in 1993, and ranked first in 1982 vs. Georgetown.

Gillen Vs. #1
Head coach Pete Gillen is 0-4 lifetime coaching against number one-ranked Associated Press Poll teams. He is 0-3 vs. #1 ranked teams at UVa and was 0-1 while the head coach at Xavier. Gillen’s first Virginia team lost twice to Duke in the 1998-99 season (100-54 – Feb. 11 and 104-67 – Mar. 4), and once to the Blue Devils last season (94-81 – Jan. 27). His Xavier team lost 73-70 to top-ranked Indiana in the second round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, Ind. (Mar. 21).

Virginia Vs. #1
This is the 25th time the Cavaliers have played the #1 team in the nation. They have not fared well against top-ranked teams, posting a 1-23 all-time record. Virginia’s lone win over the #1 team was an 86-73 win over North Carolina in Charlottesville on January 30, 1986.

Virginia has faced Duke 11 times when the Blue Devils were ranked number one and has lost all 11 games.

Billet Scores 1,000th Career Point
Junior guard Todd Billet reached the 1,000 point milestone in UVa’s 79-72 win over North Carolina (Jan. 11). Billet scored his 1,000th career point with a three-point field goal with 4:15 remaining in the first half. Billet tallied 24 points in the game and has scored 1,011 points in his collegiate career. Billet scored 844 points in two seasons at Rutgers and has scored 167 points this season in a Virginia uniform.