No. 4 Seed Virginia Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 13 Seed Furman
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 4 seed Virginia (25-7) plays No. 13 seed Furman (27-7) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 16 in Orlando, Fla. Tipoff at Amway Center is set for 12:40 p.m. ET on truTV.
For Openers
• UVA earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, while Furman earned the Southern Conference’s automatic bid.
• Virginia earned its school-record 11th straight postseason bid and fourth No. 4 seed in school history.
• UVA has won 25 or more games for the sixth time under four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett.
• Virginia is 10-6 away from John Paul Jones Arena, including a 4-1 record on neutral courts.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Furman contest will be televised on truTV and streamed online via NCAA March Madness Live.
• The game will be broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network and Westwood One/NCAA Radio Network on Sirius (134), XM (202) and WestwoodOneSports.com/Orlando.
The Head Coach
• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 341-124 (.733) mark in 14 seasons at UVA and 410-157 (.723) career mark in 17 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s all-time winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23).
• Bennett recorded his 400th career win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
• Bennett has guided the Cavaliers to six ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023), 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) will guide UVA to its 11th consecutive postseason berth in 2022-23.
Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• UVA returned all five starters from last season’s team, which finished 21-14, 12-8 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.
• UVA has started Kihei Clark (10.9 ppg, 5.4 apg), Reece Beekman (9.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.3 apg), Jayden Gardner (12.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Armaan Franklin (12.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and Francisco Caffaro (2.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg) the past two games in place of injured Ben Vander Plas (7.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg).
Isaac McKneely (6.6 ppg, 41.9% 3FG), Ryan Dunn (2.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 bpg) and Kadin Shedrick (5.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg), and Taine Murray (1.4 ppg) provide depth off the bench.
• UVA used the starting lineup of Clark, Beekman, Franklin, Gardner and Shedrick in 14 games, and Clark, Beekman, Franklin, Gardner and Vander Plas in 14 games.
• Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III are redshirting this season.
UVA All-Time in the NCAA Tournament
• The Cavaliers are 35-23 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• UVA will make its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance under Tony Bennett and 25th overall.
• UVA is 4-3 as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament (3-1 in 1995, 1-1 in 2007 and 0-1 in 2021).
• UVA won the NCAA championship in 2019 and also made Final Four appearances in 1981 and 1984, respectively.
• Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is 16-9 in 10 NCAA tournaments, including a 13-7 record in eight NCAA appearances at UVA.
All-Time vs. Furman
• Virginia is 1-0 all-time vs. Furman in the series that dates to 2004-05.
• The Cavaliers defeated the Paladins 79-67 in the lone meeting between the teams on Dec. 8, 2004 at University Hall.
• Gary Forbes led five Cavaliers in double figures with 21 points.
• J.R. Reynolds added 18 points, while Elton Brown (16), Jason Clark (12) and Devin Smith (10) landed in double figures.
• Brown led the Cavaliers with 12 rebounds.
• Quan Prowell led Furman with 14 points.
UVA in the NCAA Rankings
• UVA ranks first nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.85) and turnovers per game (8.6), sixth in scoring defense (60.3 ppg), 17th in turnover margin (3.8), 20th in fouls per game (14.3) and 24th in assists per game (15.8) and winning percentage (78.1%),
• Reece Beekman ranks second nationally in assist/turnover ratio (3.47).
ACC Tournament Recap
• UVA finished second at the 2023 ACC Tournament.
• UVA defeated North Carolina (68-59) and Clemson (76-56) before losing 59-49 to Duke in the title game.
• Jayden Gardner posted double-doubles vs. North Carolina (17 points and 10 rebounds) and Clemson (23 points and 12 rebounds) en route to ACC All-Tournament first-team honors.
• Reece Beekman and Armaan Franklin were named to the ACC All-Tournament second team.
UVA Ranked No. 14 in AP Poll
• UVA is ranked No. 14 in the latest AP national poll and has been ranked in the top-20 in all 19 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.
Cavaliers Against the Field of 68
• Virginia competed against seven teams which qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, posting a 4-4 record.
• UVA went 1-1 vs. Duke, 1-0 vs. Baylor and 1-0 vs. Illinois, 1-0 vs. NC State and 0-1 vs. Houston, 0-1 vs. Miami and 0-1 vs. Pittsburgh,
On the Horizon
• The winner of the Virginia/Furman NCAA first round game plays No. 5 seed San Diego State or No. 12 seed Charleston on Saturday, March 18. Tipoff and television designation is to be determined.