Virginia Plays Miami in Opening Game of the 2011 ACC Tournament

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GREENSBORO, N.C.-The Virginia men’s basketball team opens play in the 58th annual Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday (March 10) at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The Cavaliers are seeded eighth in the tournament and play ninth-seeded Miami in the tournament’s first game at noon. The game will be televised by the ACC Network and broadcast by the Virginia Sports Network.

The winner of the game on Thursday will play top-seeded North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday (March 11) at noon.

UVa has an overall record of 31-56 in ACC Tournament play and won the tournament in 1976. Virginia reached the quarterfinals of last year’s tournament. The Cavaliers defeated Boston College 68-62 in the first round before losing to Duke 57-46 in the quarterfinals.

Virginia enters the tournament with an overall record of 16-14 and the Cavaliers were 7-9 in the ACC during the regular season. UVa has won four of its last five games and is coming off a 74-60 victory at Maryland last Saturday (March 5).

Junior guard Sammy Zeglinski scored a career-high 25 points to lead Virginia to the win over Maryland in the final regular-season game for both teams. Zeglinski was 7-11 from the field in the game, including 6-7 from three-point range, and his six three-pointers tied his career high.

Senior guard Mustapha Farrakhan had 19 points for the Cavaliers and junior center Assane Sene tied a career high with 15 points. Senior forward Will Sherrill tied a career high with nine rebounds to lead Virginia in that department.

The victory was the 100th career coaching victory for Virginia head coach Tony Bennett. Bennett’s two Virginia teams have compiled an overall record of 31-30 and he was 69-33 in three seasons as the head coach at Washington State.

Miami enters the tournament with an overall record of 18-13 and a 6-10 record in the ACC during the regular season. The Hurricanes are coming off a 66-57 loss at Georgia Tech on Sunday (March 6).

Virginia and Miami met once during the regular season with the Hurricanes winning 70-68 in overtime in Coral Gables, Fla., on Feb. 5. Miami leads the series with UVa 8-4 and the Hurricanes have won five of the last six games in the series. The teams have met once previously in the ACC Tournament with the Cavaliers winning 66-65 in the first round in 2005.

Farrakhan, who received honorable mention All-ACC recognition on Monday, and freshman guard Joe Harris are averaging in double figures in scoring for Virginia. Farrakhan is averaging 13.5 points a game for the season and averaged 14.3 points a game in ACC games during the regular season. Harris is averaging 10.6 points a game for the season and 11.2 points a game in conference games. His 64 three-point field goals lead ACC freshmen and rank second on Virginia’s list of three-point field goals by freshmen in a season.

Freshman guard KT Harrell is averaging 8.0 points a game for the Cavaliers and Zeglinski is averaging 7.6 points a game. Zeglinski is averaging 11.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game over the last nine games since entering the starting lineup.

Sene is averaging 5.4 rebounds a game for Virginia. He averaged 7.0 points and 6.8 rebounds a game in conference games during the regular season. Sene leads the Cavaliers with 38 blocked shots this season and is 10th on UVa’s career blocked shots list with 92.

Sophomore guard Jontel Evans leads Virginia in assists (107, 3.6 apg.) and in steals (40, 1.3 spg.).

Harris is fourth in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage (.416, 64-154) for all games and was third in that category in conference games (.419, 39-93) during the regular season. He ranks tied for sixth in three-point field goals made (2.1 pg.) for all games and is fourth in conference games (2.4 pg.).

Evans ranks eighth in the conference in all games in assists, tied for tenth in steals and tenth in assist to turnover ratio (1.9). He was eighth in assist to turnover ratio (2.1) in conference games during the regular season.

Farrakhan ranked 12th in conference games in scoring during the regular season and is 14th in the ACC in scoring in all games. He ranks ninth in the conference in all games in free throw percentage (.777, 101-130).

Sene ranked seventh in conference games during the regular season in blocked shots (1.7 bpg.), ninth in rebounding 6.8 rpg.) and 10th in defensive rebounds (4.4 pg.).

Zeglinski is fourth in assist to turnover ratio (2.2) in all games, ninth in steals (1.3 spg.) and ninth in three-point field goals made (1.9 pg.). He ranked second in three-point field goal percentage (.436, 34-78) in conference games during the regular season, fifth in assist to turnover ratio (2.3), tied for seventh in three-point field goals made (2.1 pg.) and tied for ninth in steals (1.4 spg.).

As a team in conference games during the regular season, Virginia ranked first in three-point field goal percentage (.396, 120-303), scoring defense (62.2 ppg.) and defensive rebound percentage (.714), third in three-point field goals made (7.5 pg.) and third in turnover margin (+1.3). For all games UVa ranks first in defensive rebound percentage (.714), second in scoring defense (62.2 ppg.) and three-point field goal percentage (.387, 220-568), and fourth in three-point field goals made (7.3 pg).

For Miami junior guard Malcolm Grant leads the Hurricanes in scoring and is second in assists. He is averaging 14.9 points and 3.1 assists a game.

Sophomore guard Durand Scott is second on the team in scoring and leads the team in assists. He is averaging 13.2 points and 3.2 assists a game.

Sophomore center Reggie Johnson is averaging 12.0 points a game and leads the Hurricanes in rebounding with an average of 9.7 rebounds a game.

Miami’s other leading scorers include forward Adrian Thomas (9.3 ppg.), a graduate student, and sophomore guard Garrius Adams (7.6 ppg.).

Frank Haith is in his seventh season as the head coach at Miami. His Miami teams have compiled an overall record of 126-99 and participated in postseason play four times (three NIT appearances and one NCAA appearance).