Virginia Seeks First ACC Road Win at Wake Forest Saturday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (11-4, 2-2 ACC) plays at Wake Forest (11-4, 3-1 ACC) in ACC action on Saturday (Jan. 13). Tipoff at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN2 and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
• Wake Forest is tied for second in the ACC at 3-1, while Virginia is tied for sixth at 2-2.
• Virginia has won 10 of its last 11 games against Wake Forest and has a five-game road win streak in the series.
• Isaac McKneely ranks fourth nationally in 3-point percentage at 49.4 percent and is 8 of 14 from 3-point range in the past two games.
• UVA is 2-4 away from home (0-3 in true road games), suffering three 20-point losses (Wisconsin, Memphis and Notre Dame) in the same season for the first time since 2010-11 (Stanford, 81-60, No. 13 Washington, 106-60, Maryland, 66-42), and a 16-point loss (76-60) in its last outing at NC State.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Wake Forest game will be televised on ESPN2 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 352-129 (.732) mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 421-162 (.722) career mark in 18 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed the late 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 (12.9 ppg, 6.0 apg, 3.1 rpg & 2.2 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 30 steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
• Ryan Dunn (10.1 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (6.9 rpg), and blocked shots (2.1 bpg).
• Isaac McKneely (11.9 ppg) leads the team in 3-pointers (38) and 3-point percentage (49.4%).
• 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 (7.5 ppg), Andrew Rohde (5.8 ppg & 3.1 apg), Leon Bond III (5.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 51.3% FG), Elijah Gertrude (4.2 ppg), Blake Buchanan (4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Dante Harris (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg), Taine Murray (2.9 ppg, 41.2% 3FG) and Jordan Minor (2.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg) are main contributors.
• Harris has missed the last nine games with an ankle injury and Gertrude had his redshirt lifted against Texas A&M.
• UVA is shooting 45.4 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from 3-point range and 65.1 percent from the free throw line.
All-Time vs. Wake Forest
• Virginia is 70-71 all-time vs. Wake Forest, including an 18-41 mark in Winston-Salem, in the series that dates to 1910-11.
• UVA has won 11 of the last 12 meetings in the series, including a five-game win streak in Winston-Salem.
• The Cavaliers have scored 65 or more points in eight of their last 11 games (7-1 in those games) vs. the Demon Deacons.
• Tony Bennett is 11-5 vs. Wake Forest as head coach at Virginia.
Last Time vs. the Demon Deacons
• Then-No. 10 Virginia tallied its fifth consecutive ACC win in a tightly-contested 76-67 win at Wake Forest Jan. 21, 2023.
• UVA led by as many as 19 points in the first half and Wake managed to cut the UVA lead to just one midway through the second half, but the Hoos made stops defensively down the stretch to deliver head coach Tony Bennett’s 400th career win.
• Armaan Franklin scored 25 points and added a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
• Kihei Clark added 12 points and Isaac McKneely added 11.
• UVA drilled a season-high 15 3-pointers and outrebounded Wake Forest 38-32.
• Damari Monsant led the Demon Deacons with 25 points.
Last Time Out
• Jayden Taylor and Dennis Parker, Jr. each scored 15 points to lead NC State past Virginia, 76-60, in ACC action on Jan. 6.
• Isaac McKneely led UVA (11-4, 2-2 ACC) with 18 points, while Ryan Dunn added a career-best 16 points.
• Reece Beekman chipped in 12 points and a season-high 10 assists for the Cavaliers, who yielded 10 3-pointers in the loss.
• NC State shot 49.1 percent and had 21 bench points.
• The Wolfpack (11-3, 3-0) out-rebounded the Cavaliers 32-31.
Hoos in the National Rankings
• UVA ranks first nationally in turnovers per game (8.3), second in scoring defense (57.1 ppg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.90), sixth in fouls per game (13.3), eighth in turnover margin (5.2), 15th in field goal percentage defense (38.8) and 28th in blocks per game (5.1).
Stock Up
• UVA has totaled 205 stocks (129 steals + 76 blocks).
• UVA is averaging a school-record 13.7 stocks per game (5.1 blocks and 8.6 steals) since 1976 when steals and blocks were first kept at UVA and 1985-86 when • recognized by the NCAA.
• The school-record for stocks in a season is 13.8 in 1998-99.
• UVA could 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 62 stocks, ranking 24th nationally in blocks (2.1 bpg) along with 2.0 steals per game.
• Reece Beekman ranks 14th in assist/turnover ratio (3.46) and 38th in steals (2.2 spg).
On The Horizon
• Virginia hosts Virginia Tech in a Commonwealth Clash on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN/2/U.