No. 18 Virginia Plays at No. 19 West Virginia Tuesday

Dec. 4, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 18 Virginia (8-0) travels to No. 19 West Virginia (7-1) on Tuesday (Dec. 5). Tipoff at WVU Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.

For Openers
– No. 18 UVA meets its first ranked opponent in No. 19 West Virginia.
– UVA has started 8-0 for the second season under head coach Tony Bennett and first since starting 19-0 in 2014-15.
– UVA is ranked first nationally in scoring defense (50.6 ppg), fourth in turnovers per game (8.9), eighth in field goal percentage defense (36%), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59), 15th in free throw percentage (78.8%), 16th in scoring margin (19.9) and 20th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (27.6%) and fouls per game (15.3).

Broadcast Information
– The Virginia-West Virginia contest will be televised on ESPNU and streamed online on ACC Network Extra (ESPN3.com) and ESPN App, 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), 196-83 in nine seasons at UVA and 265-116 in 12 seasons overall.
West Virginia: Bob Huggins (West Virginia, 1977), 236-120 in 11 seasons at West Virginia and 826-331 in 36 seasons overall.

All-Time vs. West Virginia
– Virginia is 9-9 all-time vs. West Virginia in the series that dates back to the 1915-16 season.
– UVA meets the Mountaineers for the third consecutive season.
– West Virginia defeated Virginia 66-57 last season in Charlottesville and the Cavaliers topped the Mountaineers 70-54 during the 2015 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.
– UVA is 2-3 against West Virginia in Morgantown, including wins in 1970-71 (94-91 in overtime) and 1984-85 (56-55).
– The Cavaliers are 3-2 in their last five games vs. West Virginia and 6-4 in their last 10.

UVA in Ken Pom Efficiency Ratings
– As of Dec. 4, UVA ranks Nos. 1, 4 and 38 in the KenPom.com adjusted defense, overall and adjusted offense efficiency ratings.
– UVA is shooting 49.2 percent from the field (best since 1986-87), 37.3 percent from 3-point range and school-best 78.8 percent from the free throw line.
– UVA has shot 50 percent or better in five games.

UVA Against Ranked Opponents
– UVA is 26-30 against ranked opponents in the Tony Bennett era and 141-326 vs. ranked opponents since 1953-54.
– In 2016-17, Virginia was 4-6 vs. ranked opponents, including wins against then-No. 6 Louisville, then-No. 14 Notre Dame, then-No. 4 Louisville and then-No. 5 North Carolina.
– UVA is 1-29 all-time vs. No. 1-ranked opponents (86-73 win vs. No. 1 North Carolina on Jan. 30, 1986).

Last Time Out
– Kyle Guy scored a game-high 21 points and No. 18 Virginia never trailed in a 75-54 victory against Lehigh on Saturday, Dec. 2.
– Isaiah Wilkins added 14 points and Devon Hall had 11 for the Cavaliers (8-0).
– Lance Tejada made five of Lehigh’s 10 3-pointers and scored 22 points as the Mountain Hawks (4-4) shot just 40 percent (19-47).
– The Cavaliers led 22-16 before using a 15-3 run to gain some separation late in the first half. Hall finished the burst with a 3-pointer, making it 37-19.

Last Time vs. the Mountaineers
– Esa Ahmad hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:28 remaining and then-No. 25 West Virginia scored 11 of the game’s final 13 points to top then-No. 6 Virginia 66-57 on Dec. 3, 2016.
– West Virginia forced Virginia into a season-high 14 turnovers.
– Jevon Carter led the Mountaineers (6-1) with 11 points and Nathan Adrian had 10.
– Darius Thompson scored 14 points to lead Virginia (7-1), while Marial Shayok added nine points and London Perrantes chipped in six points, four rebounds and seven assists, respectively.
– Isaiah Wilkins had a game-high eight rebounds.
– UVA shot 45.8 percent from the field, 31.6 percent from 3-point range and 53.8 percent from the charity stripe in its first loss.

Getting Defensive
– UVA has limited its opponents to a school-record 50.6 points per game and has held four of its 2017-18 foes to fewer than 50 points (UNCG, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin).
– UVA has held each of its eight foes to less than 50 percent shooting.
– The Cavaliers are 68-2 when limiting their opponents to fewer than 50 points under head coach Tony Bennett.
– In 2016-17, Virginia led the nation in scoring defense (56.4 ppg) for the third time under Bennett.
– Bennett-coached teams have led the nation in scoring defense four times (2008-09, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17) and finished in the top-five nationally in eight of 11 seasons.
– Bennett-coached teams are 93-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points during his 12-year coaching career.

About the Cavaliers
– UVA is led by tri-captains Devon Hall, Isaiah Wilkins and Jack Salt.
– The announcement of Hall, Wilkins and Salt marked the first time in Bennett’s 12-year head coaching career where he officially named team captains.
– UVA has averaged 70.5 points per game (second most under Bennett) on offense, while yielding a nation-leading 50.6 ppg (lowest in school history) on defense.
– UVA has started Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Hall, Wilkins and Salt in each of its first eight games. – Guy leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game and has scored 13 or more points in seven of eight games, including a career-high 29 points at VCU (11/17/17) and 21 vs. Lehigh (12/2/17). – Hall has averaged 11.8 points on 50.8 percent shooting and a team-leading 95.2 percent (20 of 21) from the charity stripe.
– Wilkins, who has averaged 8.6 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds, leads UVA in field goal percentage (64.3%) and has a team-high nine blocked shots and 11 steals.
– Jerome is averaging 7.1 points and a team-high 21 assists.
– Salt is averaging 3.1 points and career-best 5.0 rebounds, while graduate transfer Nigel Johnson is averaging 6.1 points after averaging 11.3 points for Rutgers last season.
– Mamadi Diakite (6.3 ppg & 4.0 rpg) and redshirt freshmen De’Andre Hunter (6.3 ppg) and Jay Huff (5.0 ppg) are contributors off the bench.
– Marco Anthony provides depth and fellow rookie Francesco Badocchi is expected to redshirt the 2017-18 season.

On the Horizon
– Virginia hosts Davidson on Saturday, Dec. 16. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast online on ACC Network Extra.