Men's Basketball To Host Virginia Tech Friday Night

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Nov. 26, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

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The Game
Virginia opened the 2003-2004 season with an 80-71 victory over Mount St. Mary’s Sunday (Nov. 28) at University Hall. UVa finished the 2002-2003 season with a 16-16 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Pete Gillen’s fifth year as Virginia’s head coach. Virginia Tech stands at 2-0 after defeating Western Carolina (Nov. 25) at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies finished the 2002-2003 season with an 11-18 overall record and a 4-12 mark in the Big East.

Cavaliers Successfully Open Season for 79th Time
Virginia began the 2003-2004 season with an 80-71 victory over Mount St. Mary’s Sunday (Nov. 23), marking the 79th season-opening victory for the Cavaliers in 99 opportunities. That is a .798 winning percentage. The Cavaliers have now won 15 of their last 17 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.

Head coach Pete Gillen improved to 17-2 in season openers and has won all six at Virginia. He was 7-2 at Xavier (1986-94) and 4-0 at Providence (1995-98) in season openers.

The Series vs. Virginia Tech
Virginia leads the series with Virginia Tech 72-45. Last season, Virginia Tech registered a 73-55 victory (Jan. 21) in Blacksburg, snapping the Cavaliers’ six-game winning streak in the series.

On December 1, 2001, Virginia defeated the Hokies 69-61 in Charlottesville for its sixth consecutive victory in the series. In the 2000-2001 season, the Cavaliers defeated Virginia Tech 64-48 (Nov. 24) in Blacksburg. Tech’s 48 points are the fewest scored in the series by either team since the second meeting of the 1947-48 season when UVa was held to 43 points (Tech won 57-43 in Blacksburg). It was also the fewest points the Hokies scored in a game in the series since scoring 29 points versus UVa in the 1945-46 season (UVa won 57-29 in Charlottesville). Virginia has won 12 of the last 15 meetings and 23 of the last 29.

This is only the fourth time since the 1975-76 season the game will not be played on a neutral floor. Over the past 28 years (33 games), the series has been held at the Richmond Coliseum (14 times), Roanoke Civic Center (13 times), Cassell Coliseum (twice), The Norfolk Scope (once), the Hampton Coliseum (once), and University Hall (twice, including tonight).

The Cavaliers are 27-8 in games played in Charlottesville and 6-1 in matchups at University Hall. UVa has won five consecutive meetings at U-Hall vs. Virginia Tech, including a 69-61 win on December 1, 2001.

This is the 70th consecutive season the Cavaliers and Hokies have met (every season since 1934-35). They have played 97 games in that span. Virginia’s next oldest opponent in terms of consecutive seasons played is Maryland (56 straight seasons – not including this season).

The Cavaliers’ 72 wins against Virginia Tech make the Hokies Virginia’s second-most defeated opponent in school history. UVa has defeated VMI a record 99 times.

This is the 118th meeting in the series, the fifth-most played series in school history. North Carolina is Virginia’s most frequent opponent with the two teams having met 161 times.

Virginia vs. the Big East Conference
The Cavaliers are 119-89 (.572) against the 14 schools in the Big East Conference. Most of the games occurred prior to a school’s membership in the Big East. Tonight’s game is the first of two contests against Big East teams this season. UVa posted a 2-2 record against Big East foes last season and Virginia’s loss to Virginia Tech snapped the Cavaliers’ six-game winning streak over Big East teams. In its last outing against a Big East opponent, Virginia lost to St. John’s 73-63 (Mar. 24) in the second round of the 2003 NIT in Jamaica, N.Y.

In all games against the current membership of the Big East, Virginia is 72-45 vs. Virginia Tech, 11-12 vs. Georgetown, 8-8 vs. West Virginia, 7-3 vs. Pittsburgh, 5-1 vs. Notre Dame, 4-1 vs. Villanova, 3-0 vs. Boston College and Rutgers, 3-1 vs. Providence, 2-6 vs. Connecticut, 1-1 vs. Syracuse, 0-2 vs. Miami (Fla.) and Seton Hall, and 0-7 vs. St. John’s.

Virginia was the only ACC school to win all three games in the defunct ACC-Big East Challenge held from 1989-91. Syracuse was the only Big East school to win all three games in the challenge.

Non-Conference Wins at University Hall
Virginia is 202-29 for an impressive .874 winning percentage all-time in University Hall against non-conference opponents. The Cavaliers’ 87-65 victory (Jan. 2, 2003) over Wofford marked their 200th victory over a non-conference opponent at University Hall since the building opened for the 1965-66 season.

The Cavaliers have won 84 of their last 94 home games (.894 winning percentage) 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).

The last time UVa lost a regular season home game to a non-conference opponent was December 12, 1998 when the Cavaliers fell to 12th-ranked St. John’s 95-68. Virginia has won 28 consecutive regular season home games against non-conference foes.

Virginia vs. In-State Teams
This is the Cavaliers’ first of four games this season against in-state opponents. In the last 26 seasons (since 1977-78), UVa is 106-15 (.876) against in-state opponents. Virginia had its 15-game in-state winning streak snapped with a 73-55 loss at Virginia Tech (Jan. 21) last season. Virginia also posted a 77-58 victory over Liberty (Dec. 30) last year. Prior to losing to the Hokies last season, UVa’s most recent in-state loss was a 69-64 setback to Liberty (Jan. 7) in U-Hall in the 1997-98 season.

In 2001-2002, Virginia registered home victories against Virginia Tech (69-61 – Dec. 1) and VMI (93-59 – Jan. 24).

In the 2000-2001 season, the Cavaliers won both of their contests against in-state opponents. UVa defeated Virginia Tech 64-48 (Nov. 24) in Blacksburg and VMI 89-70 (Dec. 4) in Lexington.

In 1999-2000, Virginia was 4-0 against in-state opponents with the four victories coming against VMI 98-57 (Nov. 21) at University Hall, Hampton 102-56 (Dec. 10) at the Hampton Convocation Center, Richmond 69-65 (Dec. 21) at the Robins Center, and Virginia Tech 71-66 in overtime (Jan. 24) at the Richmond Coliseum.

In 1998-99, the Cavaliers’ were 5-0 against in-state opponents defeating Hampton, Liberty, Virginia Commonwealth, VMI and Virginia Tech. In the 1997-98 season, the Cavaliers were 5-2 against in-state foes. The two losses were the most against state teams since the 1987-88 season when UVa was 1-3 vs. state teams.

Pete Gillen is 15-3 against Virginia schools as a collegiate head coach. He is 4-0 vs. VMI, 2-0 vs. Hampton and Liberty, 1-0 vs. Richmond, 5-2 vs. Virginia Tech, and 1-1 vs. VCU.

Gillen’s Xavier team defeated Virginia Tech 85-52 in 1993-94, while his 1994-95 Providence team lost to the Hokies 91-78 in the NIT. In the 1993-94 season, Gillen’s Xavier team lost to VCU 79-76.