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Virginia Opens the ACC Tournament on Thursday Against Syracuse

ACC Tournament Central | Fox Sports Go Live Stream | RSN Where to Watch | Game Notes

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (13-16, 8-10 ACC) opens play at the 2020 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday, March 5 when it takes on Syracuse (15-14, 9-9 ACC) in a second-round game at 2 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION

  • The game will be televised on the ACC Regional Sports Networks (RSN) and will stream online in most markets through the Fox Sports Go app
  • All of the 2019-20 Virginia women’s basketball games – regular-season and post-season – are available locally on the radio on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA
  • Live stats will also be available for the game

 
ACC TOURNAMENT

  • Virginia finished the regular-season in a tie with Notre Dame for ninth place in the ACC. By virtue of a tiebreaker (UVA’s victory over the Irish in the regular season), the Cavaliers are the No. 9 seed in the tournament, earning a first-round bye
  • Syracuse finished alone in eighth place and is the No. 8 seed
  • The winner will advance to play top-seeded No. 4 Louisville (27-3, 16-2 ACC) on Friday, March 6 at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals
  • Virginia is looking for its fourth ACC tournament title and its first since 1993
  • Virginia and Syracuse also faced one another in the second round of last year’s ACC Tournament, with the 5-seed Syracuse winning 67-57 over 12-seed Virginia

 
 
NOTING THE CAVALIERS

  • Senior guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) leads the ACC in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game. She is currently ranked No. 19 in the nation in scoring. Only one Cavalier, (current assistant coach) Monica Wright, has ever finished the year as the conference’s leading scorer. She did so in both her junior (2009) and senior (2010) seasons, averaging 20.5 and 23.7 points per game, respectively. Haley Gorecki of Duke is in second place, averaging 18.2 points per game
  • Willoughby ranks in the top-10 in program history for career points (she currently ranks ninth) and is sixth on the career rebounding list. She is one of just five players in program history to currently rank in the top-10 for both statistics (Heather Burge, Wendy Palmer, Lyndra Littles, Cathy Grimes). Dawn Staley also was in the top-10 for both statistics until Willoughby passed her and relegated her to 11th on the career rebounding list. Willoughby needs 25 rebounds to move into the top-five in program history for that stat
  • Willoughby picked up two major conference honors this week, being named to the All-ACC First Team on Monday (Mar. 2) and being announced as the Kay Yow Award ACC Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday (Mar. 4)
  • Senior guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) needs seven points to move into the top-20 of the program’s all-time leading scorers. She comes into the game with 1,309
  • With her seven assists in the game at Virginia Tech, Toussaint moved into the career top-10 for that stat, ranking 10th with 387. With 129 made-threes, she is two shy of moving into the top-10 in that statistical category
  • Redshirt freshman guard Amandine Toi (Paris, France) scored 13 points on Sunday against NC State. It was the first time this season she has led the team in scoring
  • Freshman guard Carole Miller (Alexandria, Va.)finished the regular-season with a trio of solid offensive performances, averaging 10.3 points per game in her last three contest, going a combined 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) from the field
  • Freshman guard Kylie Kornegay-Lucas (Camden, Del.) has been a contributor both offensively and defensively for the Cavaliers. Last week she grabbed 12 rebounds in Thursday’s game against Pitt, her third time this season grabbing a dozen boards. On Sunday, she scored 11 points against NC State

 
SCOUTING SYRACUSE

  • Syracuse heads into the tournament having lost its last four games
  • Kiara Lewis was named to the All-ACC team. Lewis leads the Orange with 17.6 points per game, which ranks third in the conference, and also leads the team in assists with 144
  • Emily Engstler is third in the conference in rebounding, averaging 9.4 per game
  • Syracuse leads the conference in blocked shots and is third in made-threes per game (7.6). The Orange are also averaging an ACC-best 14.8 offensive rebounds per game
  • Virginia defeated the Orange, 58-41
  • Virginia led wire-to-wire, limiting Syracuse to 26.3 percent shooting and its lowest point total since 2007
  • The 41 points by Syracuse was its fewest scored in a game since falling to Rutgers, 68-40 on Feb. 14, 2007
  • The 41 points was the fewest points allowed by the Virginia defense this season

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