No. 6 UVA Entertains No. 25 West Virginia on Saturday

Dec. 2, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 6 Virginia (7-0) hosts No. 25 West Virginia (5-1) in in men’s basketball non-conference action on Saturday (Dec. 3). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 2 p.m.

For Openers
– Virginia meets West Virginia for the second straight season and first time in Charlottesville since Jan. 29, 1975, when the Cavaliers posted an 87-79 win over the Mountaineers.
– UVA owns the nation’s sixth longest current home-winning streak at 24 games.
– The Cavaliers rank first in the nation in scoring defense at 44.1 points per game and have held six of their seven opponents to 52 or fewer points.
– Virginia meets its first ranked opponent of the season and is 22-23 against ranked foes in the Tony Bennett era.
– UVA has started 7-0 for the second time (started a school-record tying 23-0 in 2014-15) under head coach Tony Bennett.

Broadcast Information
– The Virginia-West Virginia game will be televised on ESPNU, 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), 172-72 in eight seasons at UVA and 241-105 in 11 seasons overall.
West Virginia: Bob Huggins (West Virginia, 1977), 206-11 in 10 seasons at West Virginia and 796-322 in 35 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 vs. West Virginia
– Virginia is 9-8 all-time vs. West Virginia in the series that dates back to the 1915-16 season.
– The Cavaliers posted a 70-54 win over the Mountaineers last season during the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.
– UVA has a two-game winning streak in the series and is 4-3 against West Virginia in Charlottesville. – UVA is 3-2 in its last five games vs. West Virginia and 6-4 in its last 10.

Last Time vs. The Mountaineers
– Anthony Gill posted season highs of 20 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth career double-double in then-No. 10 Virginia’s 70-54 win over then-No. 14 West Virginia in the 2015 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
– Malcolm Brogdon added 14 points and London Perrantes added 13 points in his return from an appendectomy.
– UVA overcame a six-point halftime deficit by shooting 73.7 percent (14-19) in the second half and 62.8 percent for the game (27-43).
– Gill finished 9 of 11 from the field while Perrantes was 5 of 6.
– The Cavaliers committed a season-high 19 turnovers in the game and West Virginia had 18 turnovers.

Against The Big 12 Conference
– West Virginia is the lone Big 12 Conference opponent on Virginia’s 2016-17 schedule.
– UVA went 2-0 against the Big 12 Conference last season, including an 84-71 win over Iowa State in the NCAA Sweet 16 at the United Center in Chicago, Ill.
– UVA is 14-16 all-time against current Big 12 Conference members (0-1 vs. Baylor, 2-2 vs. Iowa State, 1-2 vs. Kansas, 2-1 vs. Oklahoma, 0-1 vs. Oklahoma State, 0-1 vs. TCU and 9-8 vs. West Virginia).

Last Time Out
– Virginia rallied from a 16-point deficit to top Ohio State 63-61 in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
– London Perrantes scored 15 of his game-high 19 points as UVA started the second half with an 11-0 run after trailing 32-16 late in the first half.
– The 16-point deficit was UVA’s largest since the Cavaliers trailed by 37 points in the second half during an 87-52 loss at Tennessee on Dec. 30, 2013
– Devon Hall added a season-high 12 points for UVA and the Cavaliers went 7-of-16 from 3-point range in the win.
– Jae’Sean Tate led Ohio State with 14 points.
– UVA shot a season-low 37.5 percent from the field, but forced 20 Ohio State turnovers, including eight from JaQuan Lyle (12 points).
– UVA improved to 11-6 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

There’s No Place Like Home
– Virginia is 142-36 (.798) in 11 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena.
– UVA owns the nation’s sixth-longest current home-winning streak at a JPJ-record 24 games.
– The Cavaliers finished undefeated at home (15-0) in 2015-16 for the first time since 1981-82 (12-0).
– UVA is 104-20 (.839), including a 69-5 (.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 team highs in points (10.6 ppg) and assists (4.0 apg).
– Isaiah Wilkins (6.7 ppg & 4.7 rpg) leads the team with 13 steals and is second with 10 blocked shots.
– Marial Shayok is averaging 9.2 points off the bench, while Darius Thompson has chipped in 9.1 point per game.
– Newcomer Kyle Guy is averaging 7.6 points, while Jarred Reuter leads UVA in rebounding at 5.0 per game.
– Mamadi Diakite is averaging 6.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots in 14.7 minutes per game.

On The Horizon
– Virginia hosts East Carolina in non-conference action on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7 p.m. The game will be televised by the Regional Sports Network.