Game Notes: #1 Virginia travels to Louisville on Thursday

Top-ranked Virginia (26-2, 15-1 ACC) closes out its ACC regular-season road schedule by playing at Louisville (19-10, 9-7 ACC) on Thursday, March 1. Tipoff at KFC Yum! Center (22,090) is set for 8 p.m.

For Openers

• UVA is first in the ACC at 15-1 and Louisville is eighth at 9-7.
• UVA clinched its fourth outright ACC championship (thirdin five yearsunder head coach Tony Bennett) with its 66-37 win at Pitt.
• Bennett will coach his 300th career game at Virginia.

Broadcast Information

• The Virginia-Louisville 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), 214-85 in nine seasons at UVA and 283-118 in 12 seasons overall.
• Louisville: David Padgett (Louisville, 2008), 19-10 in one seasons at Louisville.

A Win at Louisville Would:

• Give UVA the first 9-0 ACC road record in league history and first perfect league road record since Duke went 8-0 in 2011-12.
• Give UVA 16 ACC wins for the third time in school history.
• Extend UVA’s school record ACC road winning streak to 10 games.
• Give UVA 27 or more wins for the seventh time in history.
• Give UVA a 24-3 all-time record as the No. 1 team in the nation.
• Give UVA a six-game winning streak vs. the Cardinals and three-game winning streak at KFC Yum! Center.

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 23-3 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. 38 in the adjusted offense ratings.
• UVA is shooting 46.3 percent, 38.7 percent from 3-point range and 76.2 percent from the free throw line (tied for best in school history).
• UVA has shot 50 percent or better in 10 games and limited its opponents to less than 50 percent shooting in 27 of 28 games.

Last Time Out

• No. 1 UVA allowed just seven points in the first half and secured its fourth outright ACC title with a 66-37 win at Pitt on Feb. 24.
• De’Andre Hunter tallied his first career double-double with 14 points and career-high 10 rebounds, while Ty Jerome had 13 points.
• Virginia started on an 8-0 run and Pitt didn’t make a field goal until the midway point of the first half.
• Pitt shot 1 of 22 in the first half and its one field goal tied an NCAA record for fewest field goals in a half.
• Reserve Nigel Johnson added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting for UVA.

All-Time Against Louisville

• UVA is 11-4 all-time vs. Louisville in a series that began in 1923-24.
• UVA has a five-game winning streak against Louisville and is 6-1 vs. the Cardinals in ACC action.
• UVA beat Louisville 74-64 earlier this season in Charlottesville.
• The Cavaliers are 5-3, including a 2-1 mark at KFC Yum! Center, against the Cardinals in Louisville.
• UVA has held Louisville to 59 or fewer points in six of seven contests since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2014-15.
• Tony Bennett is 6-1 vs. Louisville as head coach at Virginia.

Last Time Against the Cardinals

• Kyle Guy scored 22 points and then-No. 2 Virginia held off hot-shooting Louisville to win its 13th straight, 74-64 on Feb. 3.
• Louisville closed to within 62-57 on a long 3-pointer by Ryan McMahon with3:44left, but Ty Jerome answered with back-to-back 3s for the Cavaliers.
• Jerome added 16 points and Devon Hall 12 for the Cavaliers.
• Marco Anthony hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored a season-high 10 pointsin 18 minutesoff the bench in place of Nigel Johnson.
• UVA shot 53.7 percent, made nine 3-pointers and committed seven turnovers.
• Isaiah Wilkins added a game-high 10 rebounds for UVA.
• Ray Spalding scored 16 points and Deng Adel had 15 for Louisville.

Getting Defensive

• UVA has limited its foes to 52.1 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 21 foes to less than 43 percent shooting.
• The Cavaliers have held 16 opponents to 30 percent or less shooting from 3-point range.
• The Cavaliers are 76-2 when limiting their opponents to fewer than 50 points under head coach Tony Bennett (12-0 in 2017-18).
• 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 52.1 ppg (second lowest in school history) on defense.
• UVA has started Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Hall, Wilkins and Salt in each of its 28 games.
• UVA is one of five schools to have the same starting five this season (Central Michigan, Davidson, Montana, Old Dominion and Penn).
• Guy leads the team in scoring at 14.5 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 11.8 points and Wilkins is averaging team-highs in rebounds (6.4) and blocked shots (1.5).
• Jerome is averaging 10.1 points and team highs in assists (3.8 apg) and steals (1.5 spg).
• Salt has chipped in 4.0 rebounds per game and 22 blocked shots.
• Redshirt freshman De’Andre Hunter (9.1 ppg) has reached double figures in nine ACC games.
• Graduate transfer Nigel Johnson is averaging 5.2 points and Mamadi Diakite has added 4.9 ppg & 3.0 rpg.
• Jay Huff and Marco Anthony provide depth and fellow rookie Francesco Badocchi is redshirting the 2017-18 season.

The Long and Winning Road

• UVA is 9-1, including an 8-0 mark in ACC play, in true road games.
• UVA has posted wins at VCU, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, Syracuse, Florida State, Miami and Pitt.
• UVA has a school-record nine-game league road winning streak.
• The Cavaliers’ eight-game road winning streak is currently the third longest in Division I.
• UVA’s 34-19 (.642) ACC road record over the past six seasons ranks first ahead of North Carolina (32-21, .604) and Duke (29-25, .537).

On the Horizon

• No. 1 Virginia hosts Notre Dame during Senior Day onSaturday, March 3. UVA will honor Devon Hall, Nigel Johnson and Isaiah Wilkins, and senior managers Sydney Stokes, Will Gent and Austin Nelson prior to the game. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for4 p.m. on the ACC Network.