University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels to Host Cavaliers Tonight
February 12, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2003
CHAPEL HILL -- Carolina will look to win its second consecutive game when it hosts Virginia on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN (Mike Patrick and Brad Daugherty will have the call). Earlier this season, the Cavaliers beat the Tar Heels, 79-72, in Charlottesville on Jan. 11.
Carolina (12-10, 3-6 ACC) snapped a five-game losing streak last Saturday with a 61-60 home win over Florida State. UVa (14-7, 5-4 ACC) has won back-to-back games over Maryland and NC State and four of its last five games overall.
"We're happy to have won a game against Florida State," Tar Heel head coach Matt Doherty said during the weekly ACC teleconference on Tuesday. "That's the good news. The bad news is we have to play Virginia, who is playing really well right now and has some of the better players in the league, [such as] Travis Watson. It's going to be a real challenge for our team and we're looking forward to it."
The Tar Heels lead the all-time series with Virginia, 114-46. The Tar Heels hold a 15-2 edge over the Cavaliers in games played in the Smith Center, with the wins coming in 2000 and 2002.
Overall, Carolina is 57-5 against Virginia in games played in Chapel Hill (with the Virginia wins coming in 1911, 1973, 1981, 2000 and 2002).
Earlier this season in Charlottesville, Carolina trailed by 18 at halftime but fought back and was within six points with 2:35 to play before losing at Virginia, 79-72. Todd Billet hit six three-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points and UVa shot 57.6 percent in the first half. Travis Watson had 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers. Jawad Williams (18 points, nine rebounds) and Rashad McCants (16 points, six rebounds) led the Tar Heels. Carolina outrebounded Virginia, 40-35, and grabbed 22 offensive boards.
Jawad Williams, who had two 20-point games in his first 45 collegiate games, has three 20-plus games in his last four outings. In the other game, the loss at Duke, Williams had 19 points. He is averaging 21.3 ppg in the last four games (24 at Georgia Tech, 22 vs. Wake Forest, 19 at Duke, 20 vs. Florida State) since scoring a season-low three points at NC State on Jan. 26. He has hit 10 of 19 three-pointers (52.6 percent) in those four games.
Carolina has scored under 70 points in each of its last three wins (61 vs. Florida State, 68 vs. Connecticut and 68 vs. Clemson). The last time UNC had three straight wins while scoring under 70 points each time was late in the 1998-99 season (wins over NC State, Virginia and Wake Forest). The last time it happened in four straight UNC wins was in 1981-82 (the ACC title game and first three NCAA Tournament wins).
David Noel has averaged 14.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg in the last three games as a starter. For the season, Noel is averaging 4.6 ppg and 2.5 rpg.
