University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Rebecca Lawson
Know Your Opponent: Virginia
December 8, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers
By Bobby Hundley
Virginia (VirginiaSports.com)
Location: Charlottesville, Va.
Rankings: No. 10 KenPom, No. 5 AP
Record: 7-1, 1-0 ACC
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 131-57 (UVA 69, UNC 61, Feb. 11, 2019, Chapel Hill)
Carolina and Virginia both come into Sunday night's contest following jarring setbacks in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge on Wednesday. And while losses to Ohio State and Purdue are not problematic in a vacuum, the fact that the ACC powers fell by 25 and 29 points, respectively, means this early December league tilt will have a little extra juice.
UVA's loss in West Lafayette was its second game without the services of Braxton Key, who is out indefinitely following wrist surgery. That means Tony Bennett will be without his third-leading scorer and top rebounder for the foreseeable future, though the Cavs were bolstered Wednesday by the return of Australian wing Kody Stattmann from illness.
While Virginia's defense has been as stout as ever to start the 2019-20 campaign, the Wahoos have struggled on offense in a way not seen since the early days of the Bennett era. UVA enters Sunday ranked 121st nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, ahead of only Georgia Tech and Boston College in the ACC. The Cavaliers' offensive output of 0.69 points per possession against Purdue was the program's worst since a 65-39 loss to Florida in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Senior Mamadi Diakite is back after testing the NBA waters, and his 13.4 points per game lead the team. He's also been Virginia's best 3-point shooter despite averaging south of 30 percent from deep in his previous three seasons in Charlottesville. That's been crucial after Bennett lost Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy and De'Andre Hunter to the pros.
At 7-1, junior Jay Huff has positioned himself to be one of the ACC's top big men. The Durham native is making 77 percent of his 2-point field goal attempts through eight games, the third-best rate in the league. Kihei Clark is locked in as the team's point guard and his 33 percent assist rate is sixth-best in the ACC through Saturday's games.
Tomas Woldetensae, a junior college transfer who hails from Italy, and freshman guard Casey Morsell round out the rotation for Virginia. No other players on the roster average double-figure minutes, so it's easy to expect a relative short bench on Sunday.
Regardless of this weekend's outcome, both teams figure to be more fully formed come Feb. 15, when the teams meet in Chapel Hill. Outside shooting may turn out to be the difference on Sunday - neither team is ranked inside the top 290 nationally in effective FG percentage. Either team finding a hot hand from the outside on Sunday could prove to be the difference in this premier early ACC showdown.
Virginia (VirginiaSports.com)
Location: Charlottesville, Va.
Rankings: No. 10 KenPom, No. 5 AP
Record: 7-1, 1-0 ACC
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 131-57 (UVA 69, UNC 61, Feb. 11, 2019, Chapel Hill)
Carolina and Virginia both come into Sunday night's contest following jarring setbacks in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge on Wednesday. And while losses to Ohio State and Purdue are not problematic in a vacuum, the fact that the ACC powers fell by 25 and 29 points, respectively, means this early December league tilt will have a little extra juice.
UVA's loss in West Lafayette was its second game without the services of Braxton Key, who is out indefinitely following wrist surgery. That means Tony Bennett will be without his third-leading scorer and top rebounder for the foreseeable future, though the Cavs were bolstered Wednesday by the return of Australian wing Kody Stattmann from illness.
While Virginia's defense has been as stout as ever to start the 2019-20 campaign, the Wahoos have struggled on offense in a way not seen since the early days of the Bennett era. UVA enters Sunday ranked 121st nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, ahead of only Georgia Tech and Boston College in the ACC. The Cavaliers' offensive output of 0.69 points per possession against Purdue was the program's worst since a 65-39 loss to Florida in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Senior Mamadi Diakite is back after testing the NBA waters, and his 13.4 points per game lead the team. He's also been Virginia's best 3-point shooter despite averaging south of 30 percent from deep in his previous three seasons in Charlottesville. That's been crucial after Bennett lost Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy and De'Andre Hunter to the pros.
At 7-1, junior Jay Huff has positioned himself to be one of the ACC's top big men. The Durham native is making 77 percent of his 2-point field goal attempts through eight games, the third-best rate in the league. Kihei Clark is locked in as the team's point guard and his 33 percent assist rate is sixth-best in the ACC through Saturday's games.
Tomas Woldetensae, a junior college transfer who hails from Italy, and freshman guard Casey Morsell round out the rotation for Virginia. No other players on the roster average double-figure minutes, so it's easy to expect a relative short bench on Sunday.
Regardless of this weekend's outcome, both teams figure to be more fully formed come Feb. 15, when the teams meet in Chapel Hill. Outside shooting may turn out to be the difference on Sunday - neither team is ranked inside the top 290 nationally in effective FG percentage. Either team finding a hot hand from the outside on Sunday could prove to be the difference in this premier early ACC showdown.
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