Saturday Battle at Duke Next For No. 7 Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 7 Virginia (15-4, 11-2 ACC) travels to Duke (9-8, 7-6 ACC) for an ACC contest on Saturday, Feb. 20. Tipoff at Cameron Indoor Stadium is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN, Westwood One Radio and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
• UVA is first in the ACC at 11-2, while Duke is eighth at 7-6.
• UVA meets Duke as an unranked opponent for the first time since Feb. 13, 2016.
• As of Feb. 18, Virginia ranks second nationally in personal fouls per game (12.8), fourth in turnovers per game (9.5), sixth in scoring defense (59.9) and 3-point field goal percentage (39.8), 10th in free throw percentage (78.8%) and assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and 20th in field goal percentage (48.9%).
• UVA is 5-2 in true road games (all in league play).
• Jay Huff and Trey Murphy III are natives of Durham, N.C.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Duke game will be televised on ESPN and streamed online at WatchESPN.com and ESPN App.
• The game will also be broadcast on Westwood One Radio, Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
• Join the Voice of the Cavaliers Dave Koehn and special guest Jay Huff for the “Wahoo Walkthrough” at 7 p.m. on the Virginia Sports App, VirginiaSports.com and select stations on the Virginia Sports Radio Network.
The Head Coach
• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 292-100 (.745) mark in 12 seasons at Virginia and 361-133 (.731) career mark in 15 seasons.
• With the Feb. 13 win over North Carolina, Bennett became just the third coach in ACC men’s basketball history to lead his program to 10-straight winning conference seasons, joining Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski.
• 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.
• The three-time National and four-time ACC Coach of the Year led the Cavaliers to their eighth straight season with 23 or more wins in 2019-20.
• UVA is 147-60 (.710) in ACC play (83-20 at home & 64-40 away), 163-29 (.849) at home and 145-40 (.784) in non-conference action (82-7 at JPJ) under Bennett.
• Bennett ranks third all-time in winning percentage (.710) among ACC head coaches with 100 or more ACC regular-season wins.
All-Time vs. Duke
• UVA meets Duke for the 174th meeting overall and 70th tilt in Durham in a series that dates back to 1910-11.
• UVA is 52-121 all-time vs. Duke, including an 11-58 record in Durham.
• Virginia ended Duke’s two-game winning streak and three-game winning streak at John Paul Jones Arena with its 52-50 win over the Blue Devils last season.
• UVA is 2-3 in its last five games vs. Duke and 4-6 in its last 10.
• Four of the last six meetings have been decided by two points or less.
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 4-11 all-time against Duke at UVA.
• UVA’s road win at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2017-18 gave Bennett a road win at every Pac-10 (now Pac-12) and ACC school.
Last Time vs. the Blue Devils
• Jay Huff scored 15 points and blocked a career-high 10 shots to lead Virginia past Duke, 52-50, on Feb. 29, 2020 at John Paul Jones Arena.
• Braxton Key and Mamadi Diakite added 14 points each as the Cavaliers (21-7, 13-5 ACC) moved into a third-place tie with the Blue Devils (23-5, 13-5 ACC).
• Huff shot 7 of 9 and added nine rebounds, and blocked Vernon Carey’s shot with 3.7 seconds left to seal the win.
• UVA outrebounded Duke 38-33 and held the Blue Devils to their lowest point total in the series since scoring 47 on Jan. 31, 1981.
• The Cavaliers shot 42 percent from the field (21 of 50) and 70 percent from the charity stripe (7 of 10).
• Carey and Tre Jones led Duke with 17 points apiece.
Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• Kihei Clark, Sam Hauser and Jay Huff lead the Cavaliers into action at Duke.
• Clark, who has handed out six or more assists in six contests, has averaged 9.9 points and team-high 4.6 assists.\
• Hauser leads the team in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg), and is shooting 50.7 percent from the field, 43.7 percent from 3-point range and 84.4 percent from the foul line.
• Huff leads the team in blocked shots (2.4 bpg) and is second in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg).
• Trey Murphy III (11.6 ppg) leads UVA in free throw shooting (90.3%) and 3-point shooting (48.3%), and is second with 42 3-pointers.
• Reece Beekman has a team-high 25 steals.
• Tomas Woldetensae (44.4 3FG%) provides bench scoring, while Casey Morsell (5.0 ppg) is UVA’s top perimeter defender.
• Justin McKoy (3.5 ppg and 2.8 rpg) and Kadin Shedrick (2.5 ppg & 2.2 rpg) have added depth, while Kody Stattmann (4.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg) returned to action at FSU after missing 15 games with a non-COVID-19 related cardiac issue.
UVA Ranked No. 7 in Latest AP Poll
• Virginia is ranked No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll.
• UVA has been ranked in the top 25 of the AP poll for 15 straight weeks over the past two seasons.
• UVA was ranked No. 4 in both preseason polls, marking its third AP preseason top-5 ranking in school history (No. 1 in 1982-83 and No. 5 in 2018-19).
• UVA has been ranked in the top 25 in the preseason rankings in nine of the past 10 seasons.
Last Time Out
• M.J. Walker scored 17 points and RaiQuan Gray added 15 as No. 16 Florida State defeated No. 7 Virginia 81-60 in ACC action on Feb. 15 in Tallahassee.
• The Seminoles jumped to a 45-25 halftime lead before Kihei Clark led Virginia’s 16-3 run to start the second half.
Clark scored all 12 of his points in the second stanza, joining Trey Murphy III (13), Tomas Woldetensae (12) and Sam Hauser (11) in double figures.
• FSU outrebounded UVA 31-25 and drilled 13 of 24 3-pointers.
• FSU’s 81 points were its most against Virginia since scoring 87 in an overtime win against the Cavaliers on Jan. 11, 2006.
• UVA shot 46.8 percent and 9 of 23 from 3-point range.
On The Horizon
• No. 7 Virginia hosts NC State on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network and Virginia Sports Radio Network.