UVa Travels To West Coast For Friday Night Matchup Against Loyola Marymount

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Dec. 18, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

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The Game
Virginia (2002-2003: 16-16/6-10 ACC) stands at 6-0 in the 2003-2004 season. The Cavaliers are coming off a 90-80 victory over James Madison (Dec. 16) in Charlottesville, Va. Loyola Marymount (2002-2003: 11-20/4-10 WCC) stands at 6-2 on the season after an 84-82 double overtime victory at Denver (Dec. 16).

The Series vs. Loyola Marymount
Tonight’s game is the first meeting between Virginia and Loyola Marymount in men’s basketball. UVa has already played two opponents in first-time meetings in 2003-2004 (Mount St. Mary’s – Nov. 23 and High Point – Nov. 30). The Cavaliers also have a first-time matchup against Iowa State (Dec. 31).

Virginia vs. the West Coast Conference
Against the current West Coast Conference membership, UVa is 0-1 all-time having lost to Gonzaga 86-85 (Mar. 16) in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn. The Cavaliers have never played current WCC members Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, St. Mary’s (Calif.), San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.

Virginia has played six games against teams that were one-time members of the WCC, going 3-3 all-time against UNLV (3-1), San Jose State (0-1) and Gonzaga (0-1).

UVa vs. the Golden State
The Cavaliers are 3-5 all-time against teams from California and6-6 in games played in California. Virginia is 1-0 vs. California-Irvine and San Diego State, 1-3 vs. Stanford, and 0-1 vs. San Jose State and UCLA.

The Cavaliers have also played four games in California against teams from other states. UVa defeated Washington 65-61 in the 1983 Cabrillo Classic in San Diego and Army 84-60 in the 1979 Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara. The other two games Virginia played in the state of California took place during the 1994 NCAA Tournament in Sacramento. UVa defeated New Mexico 57-54 in the first round and fell to ninth-ranked Arizona 71-58 in the second round.

The Cavaliers haven’t played a team from California since December 22, 1994 when they lost to Stanford 64-60 in University Hall. The last time UVa played in California was December 22, 1993 – an 84-72 loss at Stanford.

Virginia’s last win against a California team was California-Irvine on Dec. 21, 1988 – a 99-89 overtime win in Charlottesville. UVa’s last win over a California team in California was December 30, 1983 against San Diego State (81-65) to win the Cabrillo Classic in San Diego.

Cutting Down Turnovers
After averaging 15.7 turnovers per game in the first three games of the season, UVa has not committed more than 10 turnovers in each of its last three contests (Minnesota – Dec. 3, VMI – Dec. 5, and James Madison – Dec. 16). The Cavaliers had nine turnovers against both Minnesota and VMI, and 10 against James Madison to lower their turnovers to 12.5 per game.

Virginia had nine or fewer turnovers only once last season – 9 vs. Long Island (Nov. 22) in the season-opener.

The last time UVa had back-to-back games with fewer than 10 turnovers was in the 1999-2000 season. The Cavaliers had eight turnovers against Clemson (Jan. 15) and seven against North Carolina (Jan. 18).