Game Notes: #2 Virginia travels to Florida State for midweek ACC clash

No. 2 Virginia (22-1, 11-0 ACC) travels to Florida State (17-6, 6-5 ACC) in ACC men’s basketball action on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Tipoff at the Donald L. Tucker Center (12,100) is set for 7 p.m.

For Openers

• Virginia is first in the ACC at 11-0 and Florida State is tied for seventh at 6-5.
• UVA’s 14-game winning streak is its longest since winning 19 straight to start the 2014-15 season.
• The 14-game winning streak is currently the fourth longest in NCAA Division I.
• Virginia is 11-0 in the ACC for the first time since starting 12-0 in 1980-81.
• UVA’s 22-1 record is its best record since starting 28-1 in 2014-15.
• As of Feb. 5, UVA ranks first nationally in scoring defense (52.3 ppg), turnovers per game (9.2) and winning percentage (95.7%), second in fouls per game (13.7), third in field goal percentage defense (37.4%), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.2%), seventh in turnover margin (5.0) and scoring margin (16.4), 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.51) and 24th in free throw percentage (76.8%).

Broadcast Information

• The Virginia-Florida State contest will be televised on the Regional Sports 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), 209-84 in nine seasons at UVA and 278-117 in 12 seasons overall.
• Florida State: Leonard Hamilton (Tennessee-Martin, 1971), 299-202 in 16 seasons at Florida State and 499-412 in 30 seasons overall.

UVA Remains No. 2 in Latest National Polls

• UVA is ranked No. 2 for the fourth straight week in the latest polls.
• The No. 2 ranking is UVA’s highest since March 2, 2015 (No. 2).
• UVA has been ranked in the AP poll for 11 straight weeks and has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the past seven 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 was ranked in the top 10 in the preseason polls from 2014-16.

UVA in Ken Pom Efficiency Ratings

• As of Feb. 5, UVA ranks Nos. 1, 2 and 33 in the KenPom.com adjusted defense, overall and adjusted offense efficiency ratings.
• UVA is shooting 46.9 percent, 38.8 percent from 3-point range (2nd best in school history) and 76.8 percent from the free throw line (best in school history).
• UVA has shot 50 percent or better in nine games and limited its opponents to less than 50 percent shooting in 22 games.

Last Time Out

• De’Andre Hunter scored 15 points, Kyle Guy added 14 and second-ranked Virginia smothered struggling Syracuse 59-44 on Feb. 3.
• Virginia (22-1, 11-0 ACC), which beat the Orange 68-61 in January, has won 14 straight and is off to its best start in conference play since the 1980-81 team started 12-0.
• The Orange shot under 40 percent in the January loss to the Cavaliers and fared worse the second time around. Syracuse finished 17 of 51 (33.3 percent) and its 44 points were its fewest ever in the Carrier Dome.
• Mamadi Diakite matched a career best with 12 points as UVA owned a 27-0 advantage in bench points.
• Isaiah Wilkins matched a season high with four blocked shots.
• UVA had 19 assists on its 23 made field goals.
• Tyus Battle (15 points) and Frank Howard (11 points) combined to shoot just 10 of 34 from the field for the Orange.

All-Time Against Florida State

• Virginia is 23-24 all-time vs. Florida State in a series that began in 1991-92.
• In 2016-17, UVA suffered a 60-58 loss against Florida State in the only meeting between the teams.
• Florida State has a two-game winning streak in the series, but Virginia has won five of the last seven meetings.
• UVA has limited Florida State to fewer than 70 points in each of the last 14 meetings between the teams.
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 6-7 all-time vs. Florida State.

Last Time Against the Seminoles

• Dwayne Bacon drilled a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to lift then-No. 20 Florida State to a 60-58 win over then-No. 12 Virginia on Dec. 31, 2016.
• Bacon went 11-of-18, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, en route to a game-high 29 points.
• Kyle Guy tallied 14 points for Virginia, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 10 seconds left prior to Bacon’s heroics.
• Virginia held a 30-23 halftime edge, but Bacon scored 26 second half points as FSU outscored the Cavaliers 37-28 in the second stanza.
• Devon Hall, London Perrantes and Marial Shayok had 10 points each for the Cavaliers.

Getting Defensive

• UVA has limited its foes to 52.3 points per game (2nd best in school history) and has held 11 opponents to fewer than 50 points (UNCG, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Savannah State, Hampton, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson and Syracuse).
• Six opponents (UNCG, Austin Peay, Savannah State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech & Clemson) have committed more turnovers than made field goals.
• UVA has held 18 opponents to 60 or fewer points.
• UVA has held 18 foes to less than 43 percent shooting.
• The Cavaliers have held 13 opponents to less than 30 percent shooting from 3-point range.
• The Cavaliers are 75-2 when limiting their opponents to fewer than 50 points under head coach Tony Bennett (11-0 in 2017-18).
• Bennett-coached teams are 100-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points during his 12-year coaching career.
• In 2016-17, Virginia led the nation in scoring defense (56.4 ppg) for the third time under Bennett.
• 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 68.7 points per game on offense, while yielding a nation-leading 52.3 ppg (second lowest in school history) on defense.
• UVA has started Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Hall, Wilkins and Salt in each of its 23 games.
• UVA is one of eight schools to have the same starting five this season (Army West Point, Duke, Elon, Nebraska, Purdue, UNLV and UTSA).
• Guy leads the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and has reached double figures in 20 games, including a career-high 29 points at VCU (11/17/17).
• Hall has averaged 12.1 points and leads the team in free throw percentage at 93 percent.
• Wilkins is averaging team-highs in rebounds (6.7) and blocked shots (1.65).
• Jerome is averaging 9.6 points and a team highs in assists (3.7 apg) and steals (1.52 spg).
• Salt has chipped in 4.0 rebounds per game and 19 blocked shots.
• Redshirt freshman De’Andre Hunter (8.3 ppg) has reached double figures in seven ACC games, including team highs at Georgia Tech (17), Virginia Tech (14) and Syracuse (15).
• Graduate transfer Nigel Johnson, who is serving a three-game suspension for violation of team rules, is averaging 5.5 points and Mamadi Diakite has added 5.2 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

• Virginia is 6-1, including a 5-0 mark in ACC play, in true road games.
• UVA has posted wins at VCU, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke and Syracuse and a loss at West Virginia.
• UVA has its first five-game ACC road winning streak since winning eight straight road league games in 2014-15.
• The five-game road winning streak in currently the 13th longest in Division I.
• UVA’s 31-19 (.620) ACC road record over the past six seasons ranks first ahead of North Carolina (28-22, .560) and Duke (27-23, .540).

On the Horizon

• No. 2 Virginia hosts Virginia Tech in a Commonwealth Clash onSaturday, Feb. 10. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for6:15 p.m. ESPN’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm returns to JPJ prior to the game. The pregame show will air on ESPN from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. An evening edition will lead into the 6:15 p.m. tipoff.