Notre Dame is the defending ACC Tournament champ. Fifth-ranked Virginia has won the last two ACC regular-season titles and was the 2014 ACC Tournament champ.
The heavyweights collide on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville top tip off their 2016 ACC seasons.
The Fighting Irish (9-3) are figuring out their identity after losing a couple of key contributors from last season, Jerian Grant (16.4 points per game, 47.8 percent from the field) and Pat Connaughton (11.4 ppg, 42.3 percent from three-point range).
Demetrius Jackson and Zach Auguste have stepped into the void in terms of the production. Jackson, a 6’1” junior, leads Notre Dame with 16.3 points per game and 4.8 assists per game, shooting 51.0 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from three. Auguste, a 6’10” senior, is averaging 14.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and shooting 55.9 percent from the field.
As was the case last year, Mike Brey’s game plan is to spread things out to create lanes for dribble drives that either end at the rim or with open threes, and he has four guys shooting 36.0 percent or better from long-range to make that work.
The most dangerous is 6’8” stretch four V.J. Beachem, who is shooting 47.4 percent from three-point range while shooting 6.5 shots per game from behind the arc.
Beachem is essentially Connaughton, but maybe better, which is saying a lot.
Notre Dame as a team shoots 39.1 percent from three-point range and averages 23.0 attempts from long-range per game, accounting for 36.7 percent of their shots from the field.
From an efficiency standpoint, the Irish rank sixth nationally scoring 1.181 points per possession.
Defensively, not so much – opponents score 1.025 points per possession, 177th nationally, basically middle of the pack among the 351 teams in Division I.
Tempo should be to Virginia’s liking – Notre Dame averages 66.4 possessions per game, not all that much different from the 62.2 per game that UVA averages per game.
Yes, that total is 351st, dead last, in the nation.
Virginia Team Notes
Hot hand(s): Ten Cavs average at least 6.9 minutes per game. Seven are shooting 50 percent or better from the field, led by Mike Tobey’s 59.4 percent. An eighth, Marial Shayok, is shooting 48.9 percent.
Spreadin’ the love: Virginia is averaging 75.6 points per game, but has just three players (Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill and London Perrantes) averaging in double figures. Eight players score at least 4.4 points per game.
Efficiency: Virginia scores 1.187 points per possession, fourth-best in D1, and gives up .928 points per possession, 12th nationally.
– Preview by Chris Graham
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