Top Seed UVA Plays No. 8 Seed NC State in ACC Quarterfinals Thursday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 1 seed Virginia (28-2) plays No. 8 seed NC State (22-10) in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, March 14. Tipoff at Spectrum Center is set for 12:30 p.m. ET.
For Openers
• Virginia went 1-0 vs. NC State in 2018-19.
• No. 1 seed Virginia earned a share of its ninth ACC regular-season title and fourth since 2014.
• Tony Bennett (Coach of the Year), De’Andre Hunter (All-ACC First Team, Defensive Player of the Year & All-ACC Defensive Team), Kyle Guy (All-ACC First Team) and Ty Jerome (All-ACC Second Team) earned ACC postseason honors on March 11.
• Hunter and Guy earned Sporting News All-America third-team honors.
• Jerome was named ACC Player of the Week on March 11 after averaging 20 points, 10 assists and 3.0 steals in wins against Syracuse and Louisville.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-NC State/Clemson contest will be televised on ESPN and Raycom and streamed online on ACC Network Extra (ESPN3.com), TheACC.com and ESPN App. The game will be broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Athletics mobile app on iTunes or Android.
The Head Coach
• Three-time National and four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett has a 247-88 (.737) mark in 10 seasons at Virginia and 316-121 (.723) career mark in 13 seasons.
• Bennett became the 80th active Division I head coach to win his 300th career game against Marshall on Dec. 31, 2018.
• In 2017-18, Bennett led Virginia to its eighth ACC regular-season title, third ACC Tournament championship, school-record 31 wins, ACC-record 17 league wins and ACC-record 9-0 mark on the road.
• Bennett was named the USBWA Henry Iba National Coach of the Year for the third time to rank second all-time behind legendary John Wooden, who captured the award six times.
UVA All-Time in the ACC Tournament
• Defending champion Virginia will be the No. 1 seed for the ACC Tournament for the fifth time in school history and fourth in the last six years under head coach Tony Bennett.
• The Cavaliers are 41-62 all-time in the ACC Tournament.
• UVA has posted an 8-2 mark as the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament (1-1 in 1981, 3-0 in 2014, 1-1 in 2015 and 3-0 in 2018).
• UVA captured ACC Tournament titles as the No. 6 seed in 1976, No. 1 seed in 2014 and No. 1 seed in 2018.
• UVA has advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals in four of the last five seasons.
• UVA went 3-0 in last year’s ACC Tournament, defeating No. 9 seed Louisville (75-58), No. 4 seed Clemson (64-58) and No. 6 seed North Carolina (71-63) en route to the title.
• Bennett is 10-7 all-time in the ACC Tournament.
UVA in the National Statistical Rankings
• As of March 12, UVA ranks first nationally in scoring defense (54.6 ppg), 3-point field goal percentage defense (27.3%) and fewest turnovers (272), second in turnovers per game (9.1) and scoring margin (17.6), third 3-point field goal percentage (41.4%), field goal percentage defense (37.4%), winning percentage (93.3%) and fewest fouls (433), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.61), sixth in personal fouls per game (14.4), 24th in rebound margin (5.6) and 28th in field goal percentage (47.9).
Four Cavaliers Among ACC Leaders
• As of March 12, Kyle Guy ranks first in the ACC in 3-pointers (3.2), third in 3-point percentage (45.1%), ninth in minutes (34.2), 10th in field goal percentage (46.3%) and 12th in scoring (15.3).
• Ty Jerome ranks first in assists (5.3), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2), fourth in 3-point percentage (42.6%), 18th in minutes (32.7) and 21st in scoring (13.5).
• De’Andre Hunter ranks third in field goal percentage (53.3%), seventh in free throw percentage (78.7%) and 13th in scoring (15.2).
• Mamadi Diakite ranks ninth in blocked shots (1.6).
UVA Ranked No. 2 in AP Poll
• UVA is ranked No. 2 in the AP poll for the fourth consecutive week.
• UVA has been ranked in the AP top six in 28 consecutive polls.
• Virginia has been ranked in the AP for 34 straight polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the past 30 polls.
• UVA was ranked No. 5 in the preseason polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason rankings in four of the past five seasons.
All-Time vs. NC State
• Virginia is 66-82 all-time vs. NC State, including a 2-14 mark in the ACC Tournament, in the series that dates back to 1912-13.
• NC State defeated Virginia 75-56 in the last meeting between the teams at the ACC Tournament in 2013.
• The Cavaliers have a seven-game winning streak against NC State.
• The Cavaliers are 12-2 in their last 14 games against the Wolfpack, including a pair of losses in the ACC Tournament (2012 and 2013).
• UVA posted a 66-65 overtime win at NC State this season and have limited the Wolfpack to 55 or fewer points in six of the last seven games in the series.
• Tony Bennett is 12-2 vs. NC State as head coach at Virginia.
Last Time Out
• Ty Jerome scored a game-high 24 points as No. 2 Virginia edged Louisville 73-68 to earn a share of its ninth ACC regular-season title on Saturday, March 9.
• Kyle Guy added 13 points and Jay Huff knocked down a trio of 3-pointers as UVA rallied for its ninth straight win vs. Louisville.
• Braxton Key hit a key 3-pointer late in the game, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
• UVA converted 12 of a season-high 28 3-point attempts and committed just four turnovers.
• Jordan Nwora led four Cardinals in double figures with 19 points.
On the Horizon
• The winner of No. 1 seed Virginia vs. No. 8 seed NC State advances to the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday, March 15. Tipoff at Spectrum Center is set for 7 p.m.