No. 6 UVA Hosts Ohio State in ACC/B1G Challenge

Nov. 29, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 6 Virginia (6-0) hosts Ohio State (6-0) in the 2017 ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday (Nov. 30). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 9:20 p.m.

For Openers
– Virginia meets Ohio State for the second straight season in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge as the Cavaliers defeated the Buckeyes 64-58 in the 2015 Challenge in Columbus.
– The Cavaliers rank first in the nation in scoring defense at 41.3 points per game and has held each of its six opponents to 52 or fewer points.
– UVA captured the Emerald Coast Classic championship on Nov. 26 for its fourth straight regular-season tournament championship (2013 Corpus Christi, 2014 Barclays Center and 2015 Charleston). – UVA is 1-0 against the Big Ten in 2016-17, defeating Iowa 74-41 at the Emerald Coast Classic in Florida on Nov. 25.

Broadcast Information
– The Virginia-Ohio State game will be televised on ESPN2, streamed online on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Athletics mobile app on iTunes or Android.
– Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

The Head Coaches
Virginia: Tony Bennett (Green Bay, 1992), 171-72 in eight seasons at UVA and 240-105 in 11 seasons overall.
Ohio State: Thad Matta (Butler, 1990), 326-108 in 13 seasons at Ohio State and 428-139 in 17 seasons overall.

UVA Ranked No. 6 in Latest Polls
– UVA is ranked No. 6 in the latest Associated Press and USA Today Coaches’ polls.
– UVA has been ranked in the top 10 in 11 consecutive AP polls and 12 consecutive coaches’ polls dating back to last season.
– The Cavaliers were ranked in top 10 in the preseason rankings (No. 8/7) for the third straight season, matching a school-best from 1981-83.
– UVA has been ranked in the top 10 in 41 of the last 45 AP polls.
– UVA has finished in the top 10 (No. 3 in 2014 & No. 6 in 2015 and No. 4 in 2016) in the final AP rankings in three consecutive seasons for the first time since 1981-83.

UVA All-Time in The ACC/B1G Challenge
– The Cavaliers have a 10-6 record, including a 5-2 home mark, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
– Virginia has a two-game winning streak in the Challenge, defeating Maryland (2014) and Ohio State (2015).
– UVA dropped a 45-38 decision to Wisconsin it last home game of the Challenge in 2013.
– The ACC leads the Big Ten in the Challenge 10-5-2 in 17 years of competition between the two conferences.
– The Big Ten captured the its second consecutive Commissioner’s Cup last season, winning eight of the 14 matchups.
– The ACC looks for its first win in the Challenge since winning 10 straight from 1999-2008.

All-Time vs. Ohio State
– Virginia and Ohio State will meet for the second time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and sixth time overall.
– The Buckeyes own a 3-2 advantage, including a 1-1 mark in Charlottesville, over the Cavaliers in the all-time series that dates back to 1931-32.
– UVA and OSU meet for the first time in Charlottesville since 1981 when Ralph Sampson poured in 40 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in UVA’s 89-73 win over Ohio State.
– OSU defeated UVA 30-26 in the inaugural meeting between the teams in Charlottesville on Feb. 6, 1932.

Last Time Out
– Tournament MVP London Perrantes tallied 11 points, a career-high eight rebounds and five assists to lead then-No. 7 Virginia to a 63-52 win over Providence in the Emerald Coast Classic championship game on Nov. 26.
– Mamadi Diakite scored a career-best 10 points and blocked three shots and Jack Salt had career highs in points (8) and rebounds (6).
– Darius Thompson added 11 points and Isaiah Wilkins had nine points, three steals and two blocked shots.
– UVA shot 59.5 percent and committed just seven turnovers en route to its fourth straight regular-season tournament championship.
– Jalen Lindsey led Providence with 18 points and Rodney Bullock added 16.

Last Time vs. The Buckeyes
– Former UVA All-American Malcolm Brogdon had a game-high 22 points to send then-No. 10 Virginia to a 64-58 win over Ohio State in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game on Dec. 1, 2015.
– Darius Thompson had 12 points and six assists in place of London Perrantes (appendectomy) and Anthony Gill added 10 points.
– Marc Loving led Ohio State with 19 points as the Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the field.
– UVA shot 50 percent (8-16) from 3-point range in the win.

There’s No Place Like Home
– Virginia is 141-36 (.796) in 11 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena.
– UVA owns the nation’s sixth longest current home-winning streak at 23 games.
– The 23-game home-winning streak is also a JPJ record.
– The Cavaliers finished undefeated at home (15-0) in 2015-16 for the first time since 1981-82 (12-0).
– UVA is 103-20 (.837), including a 68-5 (.932) mark the past five seasons, at home under head coach Tony Bennett.
– Virginia is 35-1 in ACC home games over the past four seasons.
– UVA has won 11 or more home games for seven straight seasons.
– Duke dealt UVA its last home loss on Jan. 31, 2015 (69-63).

Hoo Are These Wahoos?
– Virginia is led by senior point guard London Perrantes, who is a Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year candidate.
– Perrantes is averaging 9.2 points, 4.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds.
– Darius Thompson leads UVA in scoring at 10 points per game, while Marial Shayok is averaging 9.5 points off the bench.
– Newcomer Kyle Guy is averaging 8.5 points, while Jarred Reuter leads UVA in rebounding at 5.2 per game.
– Mamadi Diakite is averaging 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots in 16.2 minutes per game.

Against The Big Ten Conference
– UVA is 101-129 all-time vs. current Big Ten Conference opponents.
– The Cavaliers meet their second Big Ten opponent this season after defeating Iowa 74-41 during the Emerald Coast Classic on Nov. 25.
– The Cavaliers are 7-5 against Big Ten opponents under head coach Tony Bennett, including wins against Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers and Wisconsin.

On The Horizon
– Virginia hosts West Virginia in non-conference action on Saturday, Dec. 3. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 2 p.m.