No. 9 Virginia Clashes with South Carolina Sunday

Virginia Athletics Master Plan | Watch Online | Listen Live | Live Stats | Game Notes

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 9 Virginia (9-1) hosts South Carolina (7-4) in nonconference action Sunday (Dec. 22). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 3 p.m. on ABC.
 
For Openers
• No. 9 Virginia continues its five-game homestand with its 52nd meeting against South Carolina.
• The Cavaliers have held a Division I leading eight opponents to fewer than 50 points and three foes to fewer than 40 points.
• UVA has a 22-game home nonconference winning streak and is 140-37 (.791) in non-league play under Tony Bennett.
 
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-South Carolina contest will be televised on ABC and streamed live on WatchESPN.com and ESPN app.
• The game will also be broadcast the Virginia Sports Radio Network, and online at VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
 
The Head Coach
• Three-time National and four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett has a 263-90 (.745) mark in 11 seasons at Virginia and 332-123 (.730) career mark in 14 seasons.
• In 2018-19, Bennett led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship, a share of their ninth ACC regular-season title and school-record 35 wins.
• Bennett became the 80th active Division I head coach to win his 300th career game against Marshall on Dec. 31, 2018.
• Bennett was named the USBWA Henry Iba National Coach of the Year for the third time in 2018 to rank second all-time behind legendary John Wooden, who captured the award six times.
• UVA is 140-37 (.791) in non-conference action (78-6 at JPJ), 123-53 (.699) in ACC play and 149-26 (.852) at home under Tony Bennett.
 
All-Time vs. South Carolina
• No. 9 Virginia meets South Carolina for the second straight season after not meeting for 16 seasons.
• UVA is 26-24 all-time vs. the Gamecocks, including a 16-8 mark in Charlottesville. 
• The Cavaliers posted a 14-20 mark from 1953-71 against South Carolina when the Gamecocks were members of the ACC.
• UVA is 3-2 against the Gamecocks since 1990.

All-Time vs. the Southeastern Conference
• The Cavaliers are 63-62 all-time vs. current SEC opponents (26-24 vs. South Carolina, 8-5 vs. Tennessee, 4-1 vs. Missouri, 4-3 vs. Arkansas, 4-4 vs. Auburn, 3-0 vs. LSU, 3-4 vs. Alabama, 3-4 vs. Georgia, 3-6 vs. Kentucky, 2-5 vs. Vanderbilt, 1-2 vs. Florida, 1-1 vs. Mississippi, 1-2 vs. Mississippi State and 0-1 vs. Texas A&M).
• UVA went 2-0 vs. the SEC last season, including wins over Auburn (63-62) and South Carolina (69-52).
• UVA is 5-4 all-time against current SEC opponents in the NCAA Tournament (2-1 vs. Tennessee, 1-0 vs. Auburn, 1-0 vs. LSU, 1-1 vs. Arkansas and 0-2 vs. Florida).
 
There’s No Place Like Home
• Virginia is 187-42 (.817), including a 6-0 mark in 2019-20, in 14 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena.
• UVA was 15-1 at JPJ last season and is 149-26 (.851), including a 114-11 (.912) mark the past eight seasons, at home under head coach Tony Bennett.
• Virginia is an ACC-leading 58-6 (.906) in league home games over the past seven seasons. Duke is second at 55-8 (.873).
• UVA has won 11 or more home games for 10 straight seasons.
 
UVA in the National Rankings
• As of Dec. 20, Virginia ranks first in the nation in scoring defense (44.2), field goal percentage defense (32.1) and personal fouls per game (11.5), fourth in fewest fouls (115) and 13th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (26.4).
 
UVA Ranked No. 9 in Latest AP Poll
• UVA is ranked No. 9 in the latest Associated Press poll for the second straight week and No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll.
• UVA has been ranked in the AP poll for 41 straight weeks and has been ranked in the top 10 in 37 of the last 38 polls.
 
Holding Foes Under 50
• UVA is 8-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 50 points.
• UVA is 95-2 when achieving the mark in the Tony Bennett era.
• Bennett-coached teams are 120-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points (25-1 in three years at Washington State).
• UVA is 3-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 40 points (26-0 all-time under Bennett).
• UVA has three wins when scoring fewer than 50 points for the first time since 1981-82 (Maryland and NC State twice).
 
Last Time Out
• Kihei Clark tallied 14 points to lead a trio of Cavaliers in double figures in a 56-44 nonconference win over Stony Brook on Dec. 18.
• Mamadi Diakite added 13 points and Jay Huff chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench as UVA improved to 9-1 overall.
• UVA outrebounded Stony Brook 31-29 and limited the Seawolves to 37.8 percent shooting (17-45).
• Clark added six assists and five rebounds for the Cavaliers.
 
Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• The quartet of Mamadi Diakite, Kihei Clark, Braxton Key and Jay Huff lead Virginia into action this season.
• Diakite leads UVA in scoring (13.2 ppg) and is third in rebounding (6.5), while Clark is averaging 9.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 5.1 assists.
• Key is averaging 8.9 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds.
• Huff has tallied 9.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and team-high 13 blocks.
• Kody Stattmann and newcomers Casey Morsell and Tomas Woldetensae have absorbed the minutes left by Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter on the perimeter.
• Morsell, who scored a career-high 19 points against Arizona State en route to all-tournament honors, is averaging 4.9 points.
• Stattmann is averaging 5.3 points, including seven points in each of the past two contests.
• Woldetensae has started seven games and drilled a trio of 3-pointers against North Carolina.
• Justin McKoy chipped in six points on 3 of 3 shooting off the bench at Purdue and four points and five rebounds vs. North Carolina.
• Francisco Caffaro has appeared in six contests and had a great game off the bench with 10 points and seven rebounds against North Carolina.
• Walk-on Chase Coleman has averaged 6.0 minutes backing up point guard Kihei Clark, while Jayden Nixon has played in four games.
• Forward Kadin Shedrick is redshirting this season, while Sam Hauser will sit out the season after transferring from Marquette.
 
On The Horizon
• No. 9 Virginia hosts Navy on Sunday, Dec. 29. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN2.