Cavaliers Travel To Maryland For Tuesday Night Match-up

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Feb. 5, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –

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The Game
Virginia enters Tuesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference game against Maryland with a 15-6 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the conference. The Cavaliers have won their last six games, including an 81-70 victory over Miami (Feb. 3) at the John Paul Jones Arena.

Maryland is 17-6 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. The Terrapins are coming off a 79-72 win over Wake Forest (Feb. 3) in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Television
Tonight’s game will be televised by the Regional Sports Network. Mike Hogewood will handle the play-by-play. Mike Gminski is the analyst.

Radio
All UVa games are heard on the Virginia Sports Network originating at the Charlottesville Radio Group and WINA-AM/WWWV-FM in Charlottesville. Mac McDonald calls the play-by-play. Jim Hobgood provides the analysis.

The Series vs. Maryland
Maryland leads the series with Virginia 101-65 in a rivalry that dates back to the 1912-13 season. UVa snapped a six-game losing streak in the series with a 103-91 win over the Terps earlier this season (Jan. 16) at the John Paul Jones Arena. It marked the first time in the long history of the series that UVa scored 100 points in a game.

Last season, Maryland won the first matchup 76-65 (Feb. 7) in College Park and earned a sweep with a 71-70 win (Mar. 5) in Charlottesville in the final game at University Hall. Virginia also lost both contests in the 2004-05 season. In the first meeting of the 2004-05 season, UVa fell 82-68 (Jan. 19) in College Park and the Cavaliers lost 92-89 in double overtime (Feb. 19) in Charlottesville.

Prior to the victory earlier this season, UVa’s last win in the series was an 80-78 overtime victory (Mar. 9) in Charlottesville during the 2002-03 season. Virginia snapped a three-game losing streak (and a nine-game slide at Maryland) with an 86-78 victory (Feb. 6) at Comcast Center in the first meeting of the 2002-03 season. It marked the Cavaliers’ first season sweep of Maryland since the 1992-93 campaign.

Virginia has lost nine of the last 12 and 19 of the last 27 contests in the series with Maryland since winning five consecutive games between 1992-1994.

This is the 60th consecutive season the Cavaliers and Terrapins have met (since 1947-48). Maryland is Virginia’s second-oldest opponent in terms of consecutive seasons met. They have played 128 games in that span. (Virginia’s oldest opponent in terms of consecutive seasons played is Virginia Tech–72 straight seasons).

The Terrapins lead 57-20 in games played in College Park during the series. UVa won only 13 of 47 meetings at Cole Field House.

In its first appearance at the Comcast Center, UVa registered an 86-78 victory over then eighth-ranked Maryland (Feb. 6, 2003). The victory snapped the Cavaliers’ nine-game losing streak at Maryland. The Cavaliers’ previous victory in College Park was a 70-68 win on Feb. 4, 1993. Virginia is 1-3 all-time at Comcast Center.

Six of the Cavaliers’ last seven wins over the Terrapins (1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007) occurred in Charlottesville.

A Nailbiter Could be in the Offing
The recent series with Maryland has featured quite a few close games. Since 1987, 26 of 42 games have been decided by nine points or less, with Virginia winning 12 of the close games. In the last 21 years there have also been five overtime games, with Virginia winning three of the five games.

A breakdown of the close games in the series since the 1986-87 season is below:
1 point – 1
2 points – 6
3 points – 1
4 points – 3
5 points – 2
6 points – 3
7 points – 5
8 points – 3
9 points – 2

Winning Streak
UVa has won its last six ACC games to grab a share of first place in the conference standings with Boston College. The six-game winning streak is currently the longest in the conference. It is also the longest ACC winning streak for the Cavaliers since a six-game conference winning streak in the 1994-95 season.

The last time Virginia won more than six conference games in a row was back in the 1981-82 season when it rattled off 11 consecutive ACC victories and finished ACC play with a 12-2 record.

Single Digits
The Cavaliers are coming off back-to-back games in which they have committed less than 10 turnovers – 8 vs. Duke (Feb. 1) and nine vs. Miami (Feb. 3). It is the first time Virginia has had back-to-back games in single digits in turnovers since the beginning of the 2003-04 season. The Cavaliers had only nine turnovers against both Minnesota (Dec.3) and VMI (Dec. 5). Interestingly enough there was only one day between those two games as well.

The last time UVa went three consecutive games committing nine of fewer turnovers was the final three games of the 1989-90 season. Virginia had seven turnovers in the ACC Championship game vs. Georgia Tech (Mar. 11), six miscues vs. Notre Dame (Mar. 16) and eight turnovers vs. Syracuse (Mar. 18) in the NCAA Tournament.

So far this season, UVa has four games with only nine or few turnovers.