No. 22 Virginia Hosts Northeastern on Saturday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 22 Virginia (8-1) returns to action against Northeastern (4-6) on Saturday (Dec. 16). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 6 p.m. on ACC Network and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
Virginia has a four-game winning streak and ranks second in the nation in scoring defense at 53.2 points per game.
UVA meets Northeastern for the second time and first since 1989.
The Cavaliers meet their second Coastal Athletic Association foe, posting an 80-51 win vs. North Carolina A&T on Nov. 14.
UVA is 7-1 in non-conference action and 6-0 at JPJ.
UVA is 96-10 at home in non-league play under Tony Bennett.
Broadcast Information
The Virginia-Northeastern 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 349-126 (.735) mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 418-159 (.725) 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 (11.6 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.1 rpg & 2.8 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 38 steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
Ryan Dunn (9.3 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg), steals (2.6 spg) and blocked shots (2.6 bpg).
Isaac McKneely (12.9 ppg) leads the team in scoring, 3-pointers (25) and 3-point percentage (58.1%).
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 (7.8 ppg), Andrew Rohde (6.9 ppg), Leon Bond III (7.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 56.9% FG), Elijah Gertrude (6.3 ppg), Blake Buchanan (5.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg), Dante Harris (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg), Taine Murray (2.9 ppg, 50% 3FG) and Jordan Minor (1.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg) are main contributors.
Gertrude had his redshirt lifted against Texas A&M.
UVA is shooting 46.5 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from 3-point range and 68.4 percent from the free throw line.
UVA has committed just 75 turnovers and has 1.92 assist/turnover ratio.
All-Time vs. Northeastern
Virginia is 1-0 all-time against Northeastern, posting an 82-60 over the Huskies at University Hall on Nov. 24, 1989.
Bryant Stith scored a game-high 23 points to lead four Cavaliers in double figures in Virginia in the win.
John Crotty added 14 points and Curtis Williams and Anthony Oliver chipped in 12 points apiece.
UVA out-rebounded Northeastern 49-35 and drill 25 of 37 free throws in the win.
George Yuille led the Huskies with 21 points.
Last Time Out
Isaac McKneely scored a career-high 22 points for the second straight game as Virginia stormed past North Carolina Central 77-47 on Dec. 5 at John Paul Jones Arena.
McKneely made 8 of 11 field goals, including 6 of 8 3-pointers, in Virginia’s fourth consecutive victory.
Leon Bond III chipped in 14 points and game-high nine rebounds and Elijah Gertrude added a career-best 13 points in his third game as a Cavalier.
UVA shot 54.2 percent (32 of 59) and 42.9 percent (9 of 21) from 3-point range.
The Cavaliers added a season-high 22 fast break points.
Hoos in the National Rankings
UVA ranks first nationally in field goal percentage defense (34.8), second in scoring defense (53.2 ppg) and turnovers per game (8.3), sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.92) and 3-point percentage defense (26.1), ninth in turnover margin (5.8), 10th in blocks per game (6.2), 19th in 3-point percentage (39.3) and 20th in fouls per game (13.9).
Stock Up
UVA has totaled 136 stocks (80 steals + 56 blocks).
UVA is averaging a school-record 15.1 stocks per game (6.2 blocks and 8.9 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 13.8 in 1998-99.
UVA is on pace to break school records for blocks (5.5 bpg in 1979-80) and steals (8.8 spg in 1999-2000).
UVA averaged 11.1 stocks per game last season (6.8 steals + 4.3 blocks).
Ryan Dunn leads UVA with 46 stocks, ranking 10th nationally in blocks (2.6 bpg) and 17th in steals (2.6 spg).
Dunn is the lone player in NCAA Division I ranked in the top 20 in both steals and blocks.
Reece Beekman ranks 12th in steals at 2.8 per game.
Beekman also ranks sixth in assist/turnover ratio at 4.7.
Virginia Ranked No. 22 in Latest AP Poll
UVA is ranked No. 22 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 and each of the other three polls.
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 at Memphis on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Tipoff at FedExForum is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2.