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UVa Hosts Virginia Tech Thursday Night
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Feb. 28, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –
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The Game
Virginia enters Thursday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference game against Virginia Tech with a 19-8 overall record and a 10-4 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cavaliers, who are in the “Others Receiving Votes” portion of The Associated Press and 25th in the ESPN/USAToday Top 25 polls, are coming off a 75-69 win over Georgia Tech (Feb. 24) at the John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia has won 10 of its last 12 games.
Virginia Tech is 20-8 overall and 10-4 in the ACC this season. The Hokies are ranked 21st in The Associated Press and ESPN/USAToday Top 25 polls. Virginia Tech has won its last two games and is coming off a 73-57 win over Miami (Feb. 24) in Blacksburg.
Television
Tonight’s game will be televised by ESPN. Mike Patrick will handle the play-by-play. Len Elmore 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.
Senior Night
Tonight’s game against Virginia Tech marks the final regular season home game at the John Paul Jones Arena for two Cavaliers – Jason Cain and two-time captain J.R. Reynolds.
The Series vs. Virginia Tech
Virginia leads the series with Virginia Tech 77-47. The Cavaliers had their four-game winning streak in the series snapped with an 84-57 loss (Feb. 10) earlier this season in Blacksburg.
Virginia won all three meetings against the Hokies last season. UVa won the first meeting last season 54-49 (Jan. 15) in Blacksburg and earned the regular season sweep with an 81-77 overtime victory (Feb. 11) in Charlottesville. The two teams met a third time with the Cavaliers taking a 60-56 decision (Mar. 9) in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. It marked the fourth time the two teams have met three times in the same season and the first time since 1977. In 1976-77, Virginia Tech won two of the three matchups. The Cavaliers won two of three meetings in the 1955-56 season and swept all three contests in the 1953-54 season.
The two teams split a pair of meetings in 2004-05 with both schools winning on their home court. The Hokies won the first game 79-73 (Jan. 27) in Blacksburg in the first conference meeting between the two teams since 1936-37 (both teams were members of the Southern Conference). UVa earned a split in the season series with a 65-60 victory (Feb. 12) in Charlottesville. It also marked the first time since 1983-84 the two teams met twice in the same season. UVa won the first game of the 1983-84 season 74-64 (Jan. 4) in Roanoke, while the Hokies claimed a 56-54 win (Feb. 15) in Richmond.
In 2003-04, UVa recorded an 80-65 win (Nov. 28) in Charlottesville. Virginia Tech snapped the Cavaliers’ six-game winning streak in the series with a 73-55 victory (Jan. 21) in Blacksburg in the 2002-03 season.
On Dec. 1, 2001, UVa defeated the Hokies 69-61 in Charlottesville for its sixth consecutive victory in the series. In the 2000-01 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 11 of the last 14 meetings, 17 of the last 22 and 28 of the last 36.
Only nine games have been played on one of the two teams’ home floors since the 1975-76 season. Seven different venues have hosted match-ups between UVa and Virginia Tech over the past 32 years (40 games). The series has been held at the Richmond Coliseum (14 times), Roanoke Civic Center (13 times), Cassell Coliseum (five times), The Norfolk Scope (once), the Hampton Coliseum (once), the Greensboro Coliseum – ACC Tournament (once), and University Hall (four times). Tonight’s game at the John Paul Jones Arena marks the eighth different venue the two teams have met in over the last 40 years.
This is the 73rd consecutive season the Cavaliers and Hokies have met (every season since 1934-35). They have played 104 games in that span. Virginia’s next oldest opponent in terms of consecutive seasons played is Maryland (61 straight seasons).
The Cavaliers’ 77 wins against Virginia Tech make the Hokies Virginia’s second-most defeated opponent in school history. UVa has defeated VMI a record 100 times.
The Cavaliers are 30-9 in games played in Charlottesville and were 9-1 in matchups at University Hall. UVa has won eight consecutive meetings at home vs. Virginia Tech (dating back to 1969-70). The Cavaliers’ last loss to Virginia Tech in Charlottesville was an 84-82 setback on Jan. 6, 1968.
The 1968-69 season is the last time Virginia Tech swept the season series from UVa (85-74 in Salem, Va. and 68-64 in Blacksburg). The last time the Hokies won two consecutive games in the series was 1974-75 (74-73 in Blacksburg) and 1975-76 (91-69 in Richmond, Va.).
This is the 125th 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 169 times.
Commonwealth Challenge
Today’s game marks another installment of the second Commonwealth Challenge, presented by Comcast, with the winner earning one point in the series. The Commonwealth Challenge is a friendly comprehensive rivalry series between the two school’s athletics programs on an annual basis that continues the growing relationship between the two in-state members of the ACC. With Comcast’s support, it is designed to increase the exposure and interest level in the various sports, while promoting good sportsmanship among student-athletes, coaches and fans of the schools. A point system determines the annual winner of the competition.
The Cavaliers currently lead this year’s edition 9.5-5.5.
Virginia vs. In-State Teams
Tonight’s game is the fourth and final game for Virginia this season against in-state opponents. UVa defeated Hampton 91-69 (Dec. 16) in its first game this season against an in-state opponent and then fell to Virginia Tech 84-57 (Feb. 10). In its last in-state game, Virginia defeated Longwood 90-49 (Feb. 13).
UVa was a perfect 6-0 vs. in-state opponents last season.
In the last 30 seasons (since 1977-78), UVa is 120-17 (.876) against in-state opponents. The Cavaliers had their seven-game in-state winning streak snapped with the loss to Virginia Tech. Virginia has won its last 17 in-state home games and is 13-3 in its last 16 away and neutral site games against in-state competition.
UVa began the 2005-06 season with a 79-44 win over Liberty (Nov. 18) and posted a 59-43 win at Richmond (Nov. 22) in the second game of the season. The Cavaliers’ third in-state win was a 54-49 win at Virginia Tech (Jan. 15) in Blacksburg and UVa completed the regular season sweep over the Hokies with an 81-77 overtime win (Feb. 11) in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers defeated Longwood 91-56 (Feb. 15) and then completed a three-game sweep of Virginia Tech with a 60-56 win (Mar. 5) in the ACC Tournament.
Virginia had a 15-game in-state winning streak snapped with a 73-55 loss at Virginia Tech (Jan. 21) in the 2002-03 season. Prior to losing to the Hokies during the 2002-03 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.