No. 10 Virginia Travels to Wake Forest Saturday Afternoon
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 10 Virginia (14-3, 6-2 ACC) travels to Wake Forest (14-5, 6-2 ACC) Saturday (Jan. 21) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
For Openers
• No. 10 Virginia, No. 17 Miami, Wake Forest and Pitt are tied for second in the ACC at 6-2.
• Tony Bennett needs one win for 400 career wins.
• UVA make its first appearance at Wake Forest since posting a 65-63 overtime win on Jan. 26, 2020.
• Virginia is 5-2 away from home, including a 3-2 true road record.
• Kihei Clark passed Mamadi Diakite as UVA’s winningest player in overall wins with 111 and ACC wins (regular season and tournament) with 65.
• UVA ranks first nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.74), fourth in turnovers per game (9.2), 13th in scoring defense (59.9 ppg), 24th in fouls per game (14.1), 27th in 3-point percentage (38.2%), 32nd in assists per game (16.1) and 34th in turnover margin (3.3) and blocks per game (4.8).
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Wake Forest game will be televised on ESPNU 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 330-120 (.733) mark in 14 seasons at UVA and 399-153 (.723) 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 one win 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. 10 in Latest AP Poll
• UVA is ranked No. 10 in the latest AP national poll and has been ranked in the top-20 in all 11 polls.
• UVA’s No. 2 ranking on Dec. 12 as 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.
• 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.
• Kihei Clark (11.5 ppg, 5.9 apg), Reece Beekman (9.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.1 apg), Jayden Gardner (10.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg),, Armaan Franklin (12.1 ppg, 41.2% 3FG) and Ben Vander Plas (8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg) have started the past two games.
• Isaac McKneely (6 ppg, 40.9% 3FG), Ryan Dunn (2.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 bpg), Kadin Shedrick (7.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg) and Francisco Caffaro (2 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and Taine Murray (1.7 ppg) provide depth off the bench.
• UVA used the starting lineup of Clark, Beekman, Franklin, Gardner and Shedrick in 14 games.
• Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III are redshirting this season.
All-Time vs. Wake Forest
• Virginia is 69-71 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including a 16-41 mark in Winston-Salem, in the series that dates to 1910-11.
• Wake Forest ended the Cavaliers’ nine-game winning streak in the series with its 63-55 win in Charlottesville last season.
• UVA has won 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series, including a four-game win streak in Winston-Salem.
• The Cavaliers have scored 65 or more points in seven of their last 10 games (6-1) vs. the Demon Deacons.
• Tony Bennett is 10-5 vs. Wake Forest as head coach at Virginia.
Last Time vs. The Demon Deacons
• Wake Forest outscored Virginia 36-26 in the second half and held on to win 63-55 at John Paul Jones Arena on Jan. 15, 2021.
• Wake Forest shot 45 percent (23-51 FG) from the field, while the Cavaliers shot 36 percent (21-58 FG).
• Virginia was active on both ends of the floor, tallying 10 steals and 17 assists, but a 13-0 run by the Demon Deacons in the second half proved to be the difference in the game.
• UVA suffered a 6:48 scoring drought in the second half.
• Armaan Franklin scored a game-high 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
• Kody Stattmann tied his career high of 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting.
• Reece Beekman tallied five steals in the loss.
Player Notes
• Shooting guard Armaan Franklin (26, 21, 20, 20) leads Virginia with four 20-point games, while Jayden Gardner (26), Kihei Clark (20) and Ben Vander Plas (20) have also registered 20-point efforts.
• Franklin has led UVA in scoring in six contests this season and needs 35 points to reach 1,000 career points.
• Franklin is averaging 6.8 rebounds over the last three games.
• Vander Plas is averaging 14 points and 7.3 rebounds the past three games and is 11 of 20 from 3-point range during that span.
• Gardner (12 points, 11 rebounds) registered his 37th career double-double vs. Michigan and 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 13 games.
• McKneely is shooting 56 percent (14 of 25) from 3-point range during his six-game 3-pointer streak.
• 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 (47.5%) and charity stripe (81.8%).
• Ryan Dunn has registered four games with three blocks.
Last Time Out
• No. 10 Virginia (14-3, 6-2 ACC) earned its fourth consecutive ACC win in a 78-68 decision over Virginia Tech (11-7, 1-6 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday night (Jan. 18).
• Virginia’s entire starting lineup in Kihei Clark (20 points, 5 assists), Armaan Franklin (15 points, 5 rebounds), Jayden Gardner (12 points, 5-6 FG), Reece Beekman (11 points, 7 assists) and Ben Vander Plas (10 points, 7 rebounds) all scored in double figures for the Hoos, marking the second such instance in UVA’s last four games.
• With the win, the Cavaliers extended their lead in the Commonwealth Clash standings, 5.0–1.0, presented by Smithfield.
• UVA shot 50.9 percent, outrebounded Virginia Tech 30-27 and made eight 3-pointers.
• Darius Maddox led the Hokies with 13 points.
On The Horizon
• No. 10 Virginia hosts Boston College (8-11, 2-6 ACC) Saturday, Jan. 28. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for Noon on Regional Sports Networks.