Virginia Closes ACC Road Season at Duke on Saturday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (21-8, 12-6 ACC) concludes its ACC road slate at No. 10 Duke (22-6, 13-4 ACC) on Saturday (March 2). Tipoff at Cameron Indoor Stadium is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
• Virginia (21-8) is third in the ACC at 12-6, while Duke (22-6) is second at 13-4.
• UVA is 1-2 vs. ranked opponents, posting a win against then-No. 14 Texas A&M and losses to then-No. 23 Memphis and then-No. 10 North Carolina.
• UVA is 5-5 in true road games and 7-6 away from home overall.
• UVA has won five or more true road games in 11 consecutive seasons.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Duke game will be televised on ESPN and streamed 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 362-133 mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 431-166 career mark in 18 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed the late Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23) and recorded his 400th 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 (13.9 ppg, 5.9 apg, 3.4 rpg & 2.1 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 three steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
• Ryan Dunn (8.4 ppg) leads UVA in rebounding (7.1 rpg), and blocked shots (2.3 bpg), and team-high five double-doubles.
• Isaac McKneely (12.3 ppg) leads the team in 3-pointers (67) and 3-point percentage (45.3%).
• 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.
• Jordan Minor (4.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg), Jake Groves (7.4 ppg, 48.8% 3FG), Andrew Rohde (4.6 ppg & 2.8 apg), Blake Buchanan (3.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg), Dante Harris (2.5 ppg), Taine Murray (2.8 ppg, 46.4% 3FG), Leon Bond III (4.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and Elijah Gertrude (3.7 ppg), are main contributors.
• UVA is 10-4 with Minor in the starting lineup.
• Harris missed 10 games with an ankle injury, and Gertrude had his redshirt lifted against Texas A&M.
• UVA is averaging 63.7 points and shooting 43.8 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from 3-point range and 64.7 percent from the free throw line.
Uneven Road
• UVA is 5-5 in true road games and 7-6 away from home overall.
• Six of Virginia’s eight losses have been away from home and by 16 or more points.
• Foes have averaged 72.5 points, shot 47.7 percent and +23 average margin of victory in UVA’s six losses away from home.
• UVA has averaged 49.5 points, while shooting 35.7 percent including 25.3 percent from 3-point range in the six away losses.
• UVA has yielded a +9.4 rebound margin to its foes in the six losses away from home (37.3-27.7).
• UVA has averaged 72.4 points and shot 44 from 3-point range during its five true road wins.
Hoos in the National Rankings
• UVA ranks first nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.84) and turnovers per game (8.3), third in scoring defense (58.7 ppg), ninth in turnover margin (4.2), 10th in field goal percentage defense (39.6), 14th in fouls per game (13.9) and 16th in blocks per game (5.2).
All-Time vs. Duke
• UVA meets Duke for the 179th meeting overall and 72nd time in Durham in a series that dates to 1910-11.
• UVA is 54-124 all-time vs. Duke, including a 10-54 mark at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
• UVA is 2-3 in its last five games vs. Duke and 4-6 in its last 10.
• Seven of the last nine meetings have been decided by four points or less.
• Reece Beekman hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the Cavaliers a 69-68 win in UVA’s last visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 7, 2022.
Last Time vs. the Blue Devils
• No. 2 seed Virginia (25-7) fell 59-49 to No. 4 seed Duke (26-8) in the 2023 ACC Tournament final on March 11 at the Greensboro Sports Complex.
• The Cavaliers were led by Reece Beekman (12 points, 4 assists, 4 steals) and Isaac McKneely (10 points, 2-4 FG).
• Virginia shot just 33 percent from the field, while the Blue Devils made 42 percent of their field goal attempts.
• Duke’s Jeremy Roach (23 points) and Kyle Filipowski (20 points) combined for 43 points to steer the Blue Devils to their 22nd ACC Tournament title.
Last Time Out
• Reece Beekman tallied 18 points, five rebounds and eight assists to lead Virginia (21-8, 12-6 ACC) to a 72-68 win at Boston College (15-13, 6-11 ACC) on Feb. 28.
• Isaac McKneely added 14 points and Jake Groves chipped in 13 as UVA ended a two-game losing streak.
• Ryan Dunn ripped down a career-high 13 rebounds as the Cavaliers owned a 37-30 advantage on the glass.
• UVA shot 44.4 percent from the field, 38.1 percent from 3-point range and 72.7 percent from the charity stripe.
• Quinten Post had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.
On The Horizon
• Virginia hosts Georgia Tech (12-16, 5-12 ACC) during Senior Day on Saturday, March 9. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 8 p.m. on ACC Network.