No. 2 Virginia Battles Louisville Wednesday

Jan. 30, 2018

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 2 Virginia (20-1, 9-0 ACC) hosts Louisville (16-5, 6-2 ACC) in ACC men’s basketball action on Wednesday, Jan. 31. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena (14,623) is set for 7 p.m.

For Openers
– UVA is first in the ACC at 9-0 and Louisville is second at 6-2.
– UVA’s 12-game winning streak is its longest since winning 19 straight to start the 2014-15 season.
– The 12-game winning streak is currently the third longest in Division I.
– UVA is 9-0 in the ACC for the first time since starting 12-0 in 1980-81.
– Virginia has a four-game winning streak vs. Louisville.
– As of Jan. 30, UVA ranks first nationally in scoring defense (52.1 ppg) and winning percentage (95.2%), second in fouls per game (14) and turnovers per game (9.2), third in field goal percentage defense (37%), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.1%), sixth in turnover margin (5.4), seventh in scoring margin (16.8), 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.46) and 22nd in free throw percentage (76.8%).

Broadcast Information
– The Virginia-Louisville contest will be televised on ESPN 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.

The Head Coaches
Virginia: Tony Bennett (Green Bay, 1992), 208-84 in nine seasons at UVA and 277-117 in 12 seasons overall.
Louisville: David Padgett (Louisville, 2008), 16-5 in one season at Louisville.

UVA Remains No. 2 in Latest National Polls
– UVA is ranked No. 2 for the third straight week in the latest polls.
– The No. 2 ranking is UVA’s highest since March 2, 2015 (No. 2).
– UVA has been ranked in the AP poll for 10 straight weeks and has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the past six polls.
– Virginia is the fifth team in ACC history to move from unranked in preseason to the top 3, joining Miami (2012-13), Georgia Tech (2003-04), Wake Forest (1980-81) and North Carolina (1972-73).
– UVA is the lone ACC team to be ranked in the top 3 in four of the past five seasons.
– The Cavaliers received votes in the first three AP polls, snapping a streak of 64 consecutive weeks in the AP rankings since Feb. 3, 2014.
– UVA was ranked in the top 10 in the preseason polls from 2014-16.

UVA in Ken Pom Efficiency Ratings
– As of Jan. 30, UVA ranks Nos. 1, 2 and 48 in the KenPom.com adjusted defense, overall and adjusted offense efficiency ratings.
– UVA is shooting 46.5 percent, 38.6 percent from 3-point range (3rd best in school history) and 76.8 percent from the free throw line (best in school history).
– UVA has shot 50 percent or better in eight games and limited its opponents to less than 50 percent shooting in all 21 games.

Last Time Out
– No. 2 Virginia beat No. 4 Duke 65-63 on Jan. 27 after Ty Jerome hit a critical 3-pointer with 37.6 seconds to play.
– Kyle Guy scored 17 points and hit two free throws with 6.1 seconds left, Jerome finished with 13 points and Devon Hall had 14 points to help the Cavaliers (20-1, 9-0 ACC) win their 12th straight and their first at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.
– UVA held Duke to more than 28 points below its average of 91.7.
– Marvin Bagley III had 30 points and 14 rebounds, while Wendell Carter Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Duke (18-3, 6-3).

All-Time Against Louisville
– UVA is 10-4 all-time vs. Louisville in a series that began in 1923-24.
– UVA has a four-game winning streak against Louisville and is 5-1 vs. the Cardinals in ACC action.
– UVA posted a pair of wins vs. Louisville last season (61-53 win in Louisville and 71-55 win in Charlottesville).
– The Cavaliers are 5-1 against the Cardinals in Charlottesville, including a three-game winning streak at John Paul Jones.
– UVA has held Louisville to 59 or fewer points in six contests since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2014-15.
– Tony Bennett is 5-1 vs. Louisville as head coach at Virginia.

Last Time Against the Cardinals
– London Perrantes scored 18 points and Isaiah Wilkins added his first career double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks as the Cavaliers beat then-No. 4 Louisville 71-55 on Feb. 6, 2017. – Virginia trailed 34-32 at halftime, but took command with a 22-5 run that made it 54-39 midway through the half.
– V.J. King scored a career-high 24 points for the Cardinals.
– The Cardinals were without Quentin Snider (12.1 ppg), forward Deng Adel (11.1 ppg) and center Mangok Mathiang (7.1 ppg).
– UVA sank 18 of 20 free throws and out-rebounded Louisville 38-19.

Getting Defensive
– UVA has limited its foes to 52.1 points per game (2nd best in school history) and has held 10 opponents to fewer than 50 points (UNCG, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Savannah State, Hampton, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Clemson).
– Six opponents (UNCG, Austin Peay, Savannah State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech & Clemson) have committed more turnovers than made field goals.
– UVA has held 17 opponents to 60 or fewer points.
– UVA has held 17 foes to less than 43 percent shooting.
– The Cavaliers have held 12 opponents to less than 30 percent shooting from 3-point range.
– The Cavaliers are 74-2 when limiting their opponents to fewer than 50 points under head coach Tony Bennett (10-0 in 2017-18).
– Bennett-coached teams are 99-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points during his 12-year coaching career.
– 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.

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 69 points per game (second most under Bennett) on offense, while yielding a nation-leading 52.1 ppg (second lowest in school history) on defense.
– UVA has started Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Hall, Wilkins and Salt in each of its 21 games.
– UVA is one of eight schools to have the same starting five this season (Army West Point, Duke, Elon, Nebraska, Purdue, UNLV and UTSA).
– Guy leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game and has reached double figures in 18 games, including a career-high 29 points at VCU (11/17/17), 22 vs. Syracuse (1/9/18) and 21 vs. Lehigh (12/2/17).
– Hall has averaged 12.7 points, which is 4.3 points higher than last year’s average of 8.4 points.
– Wilkins is averaging team-highs in rebounds (6.6), blocked shots (1.6) and steals (1.3).
– Jerome is averaging 9.5 points and a team-leading 3.4 assists.
– Salt has chipped in 3.9 rebounds per game and 19 blocked shots.
– Redshirt freshman De’Andre Hunter (8.1 ppg) has reached double figures in six of the last eight games, including team highs at Georgia Tech (17) and Virginia Tech (14).
– Graduate transfer Nigel Johnson is averaging 5.5 points and Mamadi Diakite has added 4.8 ppg & 3.2 rpg.
– Jay Huff and Marco Anthony provide depth and fellow rookie Francesco Badocchi is redshirting the 2017-18 season.

There’s No Place Like Home
– Virginia is 163-40 (.803), including a 13-0 mark in 2017-18, in 12 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena. – UVA’s 15-game home winning streak dating back to last year is currently tied for the seventh longest (Nevada) in NCAA Division I.
– The Cavaliers finished undefeated at home (15-0) in 2015-16.
– UVA is 125-24 (.839), including an 89-9 (.906) mark the past six seasons, at home under head coach Tony Bennett.
– Virginia is an ACC-leading 46-4 (.920) in league home games over the past six seasons. Duke is second at 44-6 (.880).
– UVA has won 11 or more home games for nine straight seasons.

On the Horizon
– No. 2 Virginia plays at Syracuse on Saturday, Feb. 3. Tipoff at Carrier Dome is set for 4 p.m. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.