After eight long months of waiting, the Virginia men's basketball team will begin its 2001-02 regular season when it hosts Wagner tonight at University Hall at 7:30. The No. 11 Cavaliers are set to tip off with high expectations.
Following two dominating wins during the exhibition season, the Cavaliers will start the real thing against a tough Wagner team. Picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference, the Seahawks are a run-and-gun team like Virginia coach Pete Gillen's own Cavaliers.
Wagner will have trouble with the Cavaliers' height however, as the Seahawks feature a team that has only one player over 6-foot-7, and that is 6-9 freshman Nigel Wyatte. The Seahawks will look for sophomore forward Jermaine Hall to lead in the scoring department, with guard Derick Dye not far behind. But if the Cavaliers can stop the outside shooting of Wagner, the game should be over quickly.
"They shoot a lot of threes," Gillen said. "They are not a tall team, but [they] will run up and down the court like we do."
Virginia's lineup will include familiar faces as senior guard Adam Hall returns to the lineup to join junior guard Roger Mason in the backcourt. Junior Travis Watson and senior Chris Williams will anchor the frontcourt, with sophomore J.C. Mathis starting at center.
Virginia will look to go down low to take advantage of its own height, which means Watson could breakout for a big game. More importantly, however, is the return of injured players.
The Cavaliers enter their first game with all of their troops back from injury. Throughout the preseason Virginia had sustained bumps and bruises along the way, and it was in question whether the Cavaliers would have everyone suited up for the opener tonight.
Senior guard Hall, sophomore forward Maurice Young and freshman forward Jason Clark all have had injury problems so far this fall. Hall, who experienced tendinitis in his knee, was out nine to 10 days but will start tonight. Clark bruised his knee and missed some practice time and Young was out for the entire preseason with a hurt foot. Both are expected to see some time tonight.
"We are going to be ready to play," Watson said. "We were a little banged up, but we are going to bring it"
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