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Game Notes: Top-ranked Virginia hosts Notre Dame on Senior Day

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uva notre dameTop-ranked Virginia (27-2, 16-1 ACC) closes out the regular-season by hosting Notre Dame (18-12, 8-9 ACC) during Senior Day on Saturday, March 3. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena (14,623) is set for 4 p.m.

For Openers

  • UVA is first in the ACC at 16-1 and Notre Dame is ninth at 8-9.
  • UVA clinched its fourth outright ACC championship (thirdin five yearsunder head coach Tony Bennett) with its 66-37 win at Pitt.
  • Seniors Devon Hall, Nigel Johnson and Isaiah Wilkins, and managers Sydney Stokes, Will Gent and Austin Nelson will be honored prior to the game.
  • UVA ranks first nationally in scoring defense (52.6 ppg), turnovers per game (8.9) and winning percentage (93.1%), second in fouls per game (13.9), third in field goal percentage defense (37.6%), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.9%), seventh in scoring margin (14.9) and 10th in turnover margin (4.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.52).

Broadcast Information

  • The Virginia-Notre Dame contest will be televised on the ACC Network and streamed online on ACC Network Extra (ESPN3.com) and ESPN App, and broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Athletics mobile app on iTunes or Android.

The Head Coaches

  • Virginia: Tony Bennett (Green Bay, 1992), 215-85 in nine seasons at UVA and 284-118 in 12 seasons overall.
  • Notre Dame: Mike Brey (George Washington, 1982), 400-199 in 18 seasons at Notre Dame and 499-251 in 23 seasons overall.

A Win vs. Notre Dame Would:

  • Give UVA an ACC record 17 league wins.
  • Give UVA 28 or more wins for the seventh time in history.
  • Give UVA a 25-3 all-time record as the No. 1 team in the nation.
  • Give UVA an 11-2 all-time mark vs. Notre Dame.
  • Give UVA a five-game winning streak.

UVA Ranked No. 1 For Third Consecutive Week

  • Virginia is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for the third straight week.
  • On Feb. 12, UVA earned its first No. 1 ranking since Dec. 21, 1982 (650 weeks between No. 1 rankings).
  • The Cavaliers are the first team to ascend to No. 1 following a loss (a 61-60 setback to in-state rival Virginia Tech).
  • UVA is 24-3 all-time in the 13 weeks as the top-ranked team.
  • The Cavaliers are the fourth team in the Top 25 era (1990-present) to earn a No. 1 ranking after being unranked in the preseason (Kansas, 1990; Syracuse, 2010; Baylor, 2017).
  • UVA has been ranked in the AP poll for 14 straight weeks and has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the past 10 polls.
  • Virginia is the fifth team in ACC history to move from unranked in preseason to the top 3, joining Miami (2012-13), Georgia Tech (2003-04), Wake Forest (1980-81) and North Carolina (1972-73).
  • UVA is the lone ACC team to be ranked in the top 3 in four of the past five seasons.
  • The Cavaliers received votes in the first three AP polls, snapping a streak of 64 consecutive weeks in the AP rankings since Feb. 3, 2014.

UVA No. 1 in Ken Pom Efficiency Ratings

  • UVA ranks No. 1 in the KenPom.com overall and adjusted defense efficiency ratings and No. 37 in the adjusted offense ratings.
  • UVA is shooting 46.1 percent, 38.8 percent from 3-point range and 75.8 percent from the free throw line.
  • UVA has shot 50 percent or better in 10 games and limited its opponents to less than 50 percent shooting in 28 of 29 games.

Last Time Out

  • De’Andre Hunter’s 3-pointer as time expired gave No. 1 Virginia a 67-66 victory over Louisville on March 1 in a wild finish that made the Cavaliers the first ACC team to go 9-0 on the road in league play.
  • The Cavaliers (27-2, 16-1) tied the game at 58 with 2 minutes left and overcame another five-point deficit in the final minute.
  • Louisville (19-11, 9-8) led 66-64 and tried to inbounds with .9 seconds left, but Virginia got the ball after Deng Adel (18 points) was called for traveling on the baseline.
  • Hunter sank a long 3 that banked in at the horn, sparking a wild dog pile of Cavaliers celebrating in front of Louisville bench.
  • Ty Jerome scored 21 points while Devon Hall and Kyle Guy each had 10 and Hunter seven.

All-Time Against Notre Dame

  • Virginia is 10-2 all-time vs. Notre Dame, including a 5-0 ACC regular-season record, in the series that dates back to 1980-81.
  • UVA is 3-0 against Notre Dame in Charlottesville and held a 10-game winning streak in the series prior to Notre Dame’s 71-58 win in the 2017 ACC Tournament.
  • Head coach Tony Bennett is 6-1 all-time against Notre Dame, including a 61-41 win over the Fighting Irish as head coach at Washington State in the 2008 NCAA Tournament in Denver, Colo.

Last Time Against the Fighting Irish

  • First-team All-ACC selection Bonzie Colson had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 3 seed Notre Dame to a 71-58 win over No. 6 seed Virginia in 2017 ACC Tournament quarterfinal action.
  • Matt Farrell added 14 points and VJ Beachem and Steve Vasturia each added 12 as the Fighting Irish shot 52.2 percent in the win.
  • Darius Thompson and Devon Hall led UVA with 12 points each and Ty Jerome and Marial Shayok each added 10.
  • Hall tied a career high with nine rebounds to lead Virginia.
  • Notre Dame held the Cavaliers to 38.6 percent shooting, but UVA out-rebounded Notre Dame 32-31.

Getting Defensive

  • UVA has limited its foes to 52.6 points per game (2nd best in school history).
  • UVA has held 21 opponents to 60 or fewer points.
  • UVA has held 12 opponents to fewer than 50 points (UNCG, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Savannah State, Hampton, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson, Syracuse and Pitt).
  • UVA has held three opponents to fewer than 40 points (Wisconsin, Clemson and Pitt).
  • Six opponents (UNCG, Austin Peay, Savannah State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech & Clemson) have committed more turnovers than made field goals.
  • UVA has held 22 foes to less than 43 percent shooting.
  • The Cavaliers have held 16 opponents to 30 percent or less shooting from 3-point range.
  • Bennett-coached teams have led the nation in scoring defense four times and finished in the top-five nationally in eight of 11 seasons.

About the Cavaliers

  • UVA is led by tri-captains Devon Hall, Isaiah Wilkins and Jack Salt.
  • The announcement of Hall, Wilkins and Salt marked the first time in Bennett’s 12-year head coaching career where he officially named team captains.
  • UVA has averaged 67.5 points per game on offense, while yielding a nation-leading 52.6 ppg (second lowest in school history) on defense.
  • UVA has started Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Hall, Wilkins and Salt in each of its 29 games.
  • UVA is one of six schools to have the same starting five this season (Central Michigan, Davidson, Montana, Old Dominion and Penn).
  • Guy leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game and has reached double figures in 23 games, including a career-high 29 points at VCU (11/17/17).
  • Hall has averaged 11.7 points and Wilkins is averaging team-highs in rebounds (6.4) and blocked shots (1.6).
  • Jerome is averaging 10.5 points and team highs in assists (3.7 apg) and steals (1.5 spg).
  • Salt has chipped in 4.2 rebounds per game and 22 blocked shots.
  • Redshirt freshman De’Andre Hunter (9 ppg) has reached double figures in nine ACC games.
  • Graduate transfer Nigel Johnson is averaging 5.0 points and Mamadi Diakite has added 5.1 ppg & 2.9 rpg.
  • Jay Huff and Marco Anthony provide depth and fellow rookie Francesco Badocchi is redshirting the 2017-18 season.

There’s No Place Like Home

  • Virginia is 165-41 (.801), including a 15-1 mark in 2017-18, in 12 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena.
  • UVA’s recent 16-game home winning streak ended with the 61-60 overtime loss to Virginia Tech.
  • The Cavaliers finished undefeated at home (15-0) in 2015-16.
  • UVA is 127-25 (.836), including a 92-10 (.902) mark the past six seasons, at home under head coach Tony Bennett.
  • Virginia is an ACC-leading 48-5 (.905) in league home games over the past six seasons. Duke is second at 47-6 (.887).
  • UVA has won 11 or more home games for nine straight seasons.

On the Horizon

  • No. 1 seed Virginia plays the No. 8 or No. 9 seed in quarterfinal action at the 2018 ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y. Tipoff at Barclays Center is set forNoon ET.

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