Men's Basketball Continues Non-League Play Against NCCU Tuesday Night

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (7-1) hosts North Carolina Central (4-5) in non-conference action on Tuesday (Dec. 5). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra and Virginia Sports Radio Network.

For Openers
• Virginia has a three-game winning streak and ranks second in the nation in scoring defense at 54 points per game.
• The Cavaliers meet the Eagles for the second time.
• UVA is 6-1 in non-conference action this season and 5-0 at John Paul Jones Arena.
• UVA is 95-10 at home in non-league play under Tony Bennett.

Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-NCCU game will be streamed online on ACC Network Extra on 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 348-126 (.734) mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 417-159 (.724) career mark in 18 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) guided UVA to its 11th consecutive postseason berth in 2022-23.
• In 2018-19, Bennett led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship, a share of their ninth ACC regular-season title and a school-record 35 wins.

Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
UVA returns one starter – Reece Beekman (12.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, 3.0 rpg & 2.6 spg) – from last season’s ACC regular-season champion and NCAA tournament team that finished 25-8.
• Beekman, who earned All-ACC third-team honors last season, needs 42 steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
• Ryan Dunn (9.8 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg), steals (2.8 spg) and blocked shots (2.8 bpg).
• Isaac McKneely (11.6 ppg) leads the team in 3-pointers (19) and 3-point percentage (54.3%).
• McKneely averaged 6.7 points and shot a team-best 39.2 percent from 3-point range last year, while Dunn tallied 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.
• Jake Groves (8.5 ppg), Andrew Rohde (7.4 ppg), Leon Bond III (6.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 53.5% FG), Blake Buchanan (4.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg), Dante Harris (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg), Elijah Gertrude (3.0 ppg), Taine Murray (3.3 ppg, 50% 3FG) and Jordan Minor (1.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg) are main contributors.
• Gertrude had his redshirt lifted against Texas A&M.
• UVA is shooting 45.4 percent from the field, 38.8 percent from 3-point range and 69.4 percent from the free throw line.
• UVA has committed just 70 turnovers and has 1.71 assist/turnover ratio.

All-Time vs. North Carolina Central
• UVA is 1-0 all-time against NCCU, posting a 73-61 win in the season-opener last season.

Last Time vs. the Eagles
• Armaan Franklin scored a game-high 21 points to lead then-No. 18 Virginia to a 73-61 win over North Carolina Central in the season-opener on Nov. 7 at John Paul Jones Arena.
• Franklin shot 5 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and 7 of 8 from the free throw line.
• UVA’s 11 made 3-pointers (25 attempts) were its most since making 11 vs. Syracuse in the 2021 ACC Tournament.
• Virginia relinquished its 16-point first half lead in the second half as NC Central used a 10-0 run to gain a 44-43 lead.
• The Cavaliers outscored the Eagles 30-17 to gain the win.
• Kadin Shedrick, Reece Beekman and Francisco Caffaro each added 10 points.
• Justin Wright led NC Central with 20 points.

Last Time Out
• Isaac McKneely scored a career-high 22 points to lead Virginia to an 84-62 win over Syracuse in its ACC opener on Dec. 2.
• McKneely drilled a career-best six 3-pointers on eight attempts.
• Reece Beekman added 13 points and eight assists, and spearheaded UVA’s defense that limited Syracuse’s Judah Mintz to five points on 2 of 8 shooting.
• Andrew Rohde chipped in 10 points in UVA’s 16th consecutive ACC-opening win.
• UVA out-rebounded the Orange 33-27 and forced 14 turnovers.
• UVA had season highs in 3-pointers (12) and field goal percentage (54.5%).
• JJ Starling led Syracuse with 16 points.

Hoos in the National Rankings
• UVA ranks first second nationally in scoring defense (54.0 ppg), third in field goal percentage defense (35.4), eighth in turnovers per game (8.8), ninth in blocks per game (6.2), 10th in fouls per game (13.5), 11th in turnover margin (6.0), 17th in assist/turnover ratio (1.71), 20th in 3-point percentage defense (26.9) and 30th in 3-point percentage (38.8).

Stock Up
• UVA has totaled 123 stocks (73 steals + 50 blocks).
• UVA is averaging a school-record 15.5 stocks per game (6.3 blocks and 9.2 steals) since 1976 when steals and blocks were first recorded at Virginia and 1985-86 when recognized by the NCAA.
• The school-record for stocks in a season is 13.77 in 1998-99.
• UVA is on pace to break school records for blocks (5.53 bpg in 1979-80) and steals (8.77 spg in 1999-2000).
• UVA averaged 11.1 stocks per game last season (6.8 steals + 4.3 blocks).
• Ryan Dunn leads UVA with 44 stocks, ranking seventh nationally in blocks (2.8 bpg) and 12th in steals (2.8 spg).
• Dunn is the lone player in NCAA Division I ranked in the top 50 in both steals and blocks.
• Reece Beekman ranks 18th in steals with Dunn at 2.6 per game.
• Beekman also ranks 12th in assist/turnover ratio at 4.36.

Virginia Receives Votes in Latest AP Poll
• UVA received votes in the latest AP top-25 poll.
• UVA was ranked No. 24 in the Nov. 20 AP poll.
• The Hoos earned votes in the preseason top-25 poll.
• UVA was not ranked in the AP preseason top-25 poll for the first time since 2017-18 when it received votes.
• Prior to this year, UVA was ranked in the preseason AP top-25 five consecutive seasons and nine of the last 10 seasons under Tony Bennett.

On The Horizon
• Virginia returns to action against Northeastern on Saturday, Dec. 16. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 6 p.m. on ACC Network.