No. 13 Virginia Travels to Florida State for Saturday Afternoon Contest
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 13 Virginia (12-3, 4-2 ACC) plays at Florida State (5-12, 3-3 ACC) Saturday (Jan. 14). Tipoff at Donald L. Tucker Center is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN2.
For Openers
• No. 13 Virginia (12-3, 3-2 ACC) aims for a two-game season sweep of Florida State (5-12, 3-3 ACC).
• Virginia is tied for third in the ACC at 4-2, while Florida State is tied for eighth at 3-2.
• The Cavaliers are 4-2 away from John Paul Jones Arena, including a 2-2 true road record.
• UVA ranks third nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.64), sixth in turnovers per game (9.7), 16th in scoring defense (59.5 ppg), 34th in free throw attempts per game (21.7), 37th in fouls per game (14.5) and 46th in free throws made per game (15.2).
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Florida State game will be televised on ACC Network and streamed online at WatchESPN.com.
• The game will also be broadcast on Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
The Head Coach
• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 328-120 (.732) mark in 14 seasons at UVA and 397-153 (.722) career mark in 17 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as the all-time winningest coach at UVA with the win over Syracuse.
• Bennett needs three wins to reach 400 career wins.
• Bennett has guided the Cavaliers to five ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021), two ACC Tournament titles (2014 and 2018) and one NCAA national championship (2019).
• The three-time National (2007, 2015 and 2018) and four-time ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019) guided UVA to its 10th consecutive postseason berth in 2021-22.
UVA Ranked No. 13 in Latest AP Poll
• UVA is ranked No. 13 in the latest AP national poll and has been ranked in the top-20 in all 10 polls.
• UVA’s No. 2 ranking was UVA’s highest since spending the last four weeks at No. 2 in 2018-19.
• UVA returned to the top-5 for the first time on Nov. 21 since a No. 4-preseason ranking in 2020-21.
• Prior to this season, the Cavaliers’ last top-5 ranking during the regular season was on Dec. 2, 2019.
• The Cavaliers were ranked No. 18 in the AP Preseason poll.
• UVA was ranked in the preseason AP top-25 for the fifth straight year and ninth in the last 10 seasons.
About The Cavaliers
• UVA returns all five starters from last season’s team, which finished 21-14, 12-8 in the ACC (sixth) and advanced to the NIT.
• We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
• The Cavaliers return 91.4 percent of its scoring from last season, most among all NCAA Division I teams (Portland 91.1%, Dayton 89.4% and Penn 88.5%).
• Returning starters Kihei Clark (11.1 ppg, 6 apg), Reece Beekman (10 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5 apg), Jayden Gardner (10.7 ppg, 5 rpg), Kadin Shedrick (8.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.8 bpg) and Armaan Franklin (11.4 ppg, 38.7% 3FG) have started 14 of 15 games. Clark, Gardner, Franklin, Ben Vander Plas (7.5 ppg, 4 rpg) and Isaac McKneely (6.1 ppg, 40.3% 3FG) started vs. UAlbany. Beekman missed his first career game vs. UAlbany due to injury.
• Ryan Dunn (2.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg), Francisco Caffaro (2 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and Taine Murray (1.7 ppg) provide depth off the bench.
• Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III are redshirting this season.
All-Time vs. Florida State
• Virginia is 27-28 all-time vs. Florida State, including an 8-17 mark in Tallahassee, in a series that dates to 1991-92.
• UVA ended the Seminoles’ two-game winning streak in the series with its ACC-opening 62-57 win on Dec. 3, 2022.
• Florida State has won four of the last six meetings, including an 81-60 decision during UVA’s last trip to Tallahassee.
• UVA has limited Florida State to fewer than 70 points in 21 of the last 22 meetings.
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 10-11 all-time vs. Florida State.
Last Time vs. The Seminoles
• Then-No. 3 Virginia (7-0, 1-0 ACC) held on to defeat Florida State (1-9, 0-1 ACC), 62-57, in its 2022-23 ACC opener at John Paul Jones Arena Dec. 3, 2022.
• The Cavaliers led by 10 points with under 2 minutes to play and FSU shrank the UVA lead to as little as three points with seven seconds to play, but Virginia made its last seven free throw attempts to close out the game.
• Kihei Clark scored a game-high 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting and went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe.
• Jayden Gardner (10 points, 5-9 FG) also scored in double figures for the Cavaliers and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, including five on the offensive end of the floor.
Player Notes
• Shooting guard Armaan Franklin (26, 21 & 20) leads Virginia with three 20-point games, while Jayden Gardner (26), and Ben Vander Plas (20) have also registered 20-point efforts.
• Franklin has led UVA in scoring in five contests this season and needs 70 points to reach 1,000 career points.
• Vander Plas had season highs in points (20), 3-pointers (4) and 3-point attempts (9) at Miami (12/20).
• Vander Plas added 17 points, eight rebounds and career-high three blocks vs. North Carolina (1/10).
• Gardner (12 points, 11 rebounds) registered his 37th career double-double vs. Michigan.
• Gardner snared his 1,000th career rebound vs. Syracuse.
• Isaac McKneely matched a career high with four 3-pointers vs. Syracuse and has made at least one 3-pointer in 11 games.
• McKneely has drilled two or more 3-pointers in each of the last five games, shooting 15 of 29 (51.7 percent) during that span.
• Reece Beekman registered his fifth career game with five or more steals vs. North Carolina (1/10).
• Beekman is shooting career bests from 3-point range (47.1%) and charity stripe (81%).
Last Time Out
• No. 13 Virginia (12-3, 4-2 ACC) used a 17-2 second-half run in its 65-58 win over North Carolina (11-6, 3-3 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena Tuesday night (Jan. 10).
• Ben Vander Plas (17 points, 8 rebounds), Reece Beekman (13 points, 5 assists), Armaan Franklin (12 points, 9 rebounds) and Isaac McKneely (11 points, 4-5 FG) all scored in double figures for the Hoos.
• UVA boasted eight blocked shots, including three each from Franklin and Vander Plas, and eight steals, five of which came at the hands of Beekman.
• North Carolina star Armando Bacot left the game with an ankle injury 1:19 into the contest.
• RJ Davis led the Tar Heels with 16 points.
On The Horizon
• No. 13 Virginia hosts Virginia Tech in a Commonwealth Clash on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7 p.m.