Men's Basketball To Host Florida State Wednesday Night

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Feb. 8, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

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The Game
Virginia enters tonight’s game with an 11-9 overall record and a 2-7 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cavaliers are coming off a 64-62 win over NC State (Feb. 5) in Raleigh, N.C.

Florida State stands at 11-11 overall and 3-6 in the ACC. The Seminoles are coming off an 81-60 loss (Feb. 6) to second-ranked North Carolina in Tallahassee, Fla.

The Series vs. Florida StateBVirginia holds a 15-11 lead in the series with Florida State. The two teams split a pair of meetings last season with both teams winning on their home courts for the third consecutive year. UVa won 76-67 in overtime (Jan. 18) in the first meeting in Charlottesville, while the Seminoles won 76-57 (Feb. 17) in Tallahassee.

The two teams split the 2002-03 series with UVa winning 85-72 (Jan. 29) in the first meeting at University Hall. The Seminoles took the second meeting 73-59 (Mar. 1) in Tallahassee. Both teams also won on their home courts in the 2001-02 season. Virginia won 91-74 at home (Jan. 20) and Florida State won 66-59 (Feb. 20) in Florida.

Virginia swept the 2000-01 season series from Florida State for the first time since 1996-97. UVa won 89-71 (Jan. 16) in Charlottesville and earned the sweep with a 69-66 victory (Feb. 17) in Tallahassee on a three-pointer by Roger Mason, Jr. with one second remaining.

UVa has won the first meeting of the season series with Florida State 10 times in 13 tries, including the last five.

The Cavaliers have won seven of the last 11 meetings after FSU won three consecutive contests (71-63 and 88-63 in the 1997-98 season and 72-69 in the 1998-99 campaign).

Virginia is 9-4 versus Florida State at University Hall and has won its last five home contests against the Seminoles after losing the previous two. The Seminoles’ last win over Virginia at University Hall was a 72-69 triumph (Dec. 1) in the 1998-99 season.

Overall in the series, nine of UVa’s 15 wins over the Seminoles have been by nine points or less, while five of its losses have been by 14 or more points. In addition, five of FSU’s last eight wins have been by fewer than nine points. Six of the last 12 meetings (dating back to the 1998-99 season) have been decided by seven points or less. The Cavaliers have won three of those seven close games.

Four of the six games that were decided by more than seven points in the last 12 meetings were the first meeting of the last four seasons – all UVa victories. In 2000-01, UVa won by 18 points (89-71); in the first meeting in 2001-02, the Cavaliers won by 17 points (91-74); in the first meeting in 2002-03, Virginia won by 13 points (85-72); and last year, UVa won by nine points (76-67) in overtime. The other two games that were decided by more than seven points were the second meeting of 2002-03 (FSU won 73-59) and the second meeting last season (FSU won 76-57).

Beating the Buzzer
The Cavaliers have scored game-winning baskets in the closing seconds of three games this season.

J.R. Reynolds made a driving layup with 1.5 seconds left in overtime to lift UVa to a 79-77 win over Loyola Marymount (Dec. 23) in Charlottesville. Reynolds had made only 2-8 field goal attempts prior to the game-winning shot.

T.J. Bannister provided the heroics as he scored after a mad scramble with 2.7 seconds left in double overtime as UVa posted an 80-79 win over Western Kentucky (Jan. 5) at University Hall. Bannister was 1-5 from the field before making his short jumper in the lane.

Sean Singletary is the third Cavalier to score a game-winning basket in the closing seconds. He grabbed the offensive rebound on his own missed shot and scored with 2.2 seconds remaining in UVa’s 64-62 win over NC State (Feb. 5) in Raleigh.

Closing in on 1,000
Devin Smith is quickly approaching the 1,000-point milestone. Smith has scored 997 career points at Virginia and needs three more to become the 39th Cavalier to tally 1,000 career points.

Only One Starter
Sean Singletary is the only Cavalier to start all 20 games this season. Singletary and Elton Brown both started the first 19 games of the season, but Brown did not start in Virginia’s last game against NC State (Feb. 5).