Preview: What UVA Basketball fans should know about Boston College

Boston College, modestly, is playing better of late – the Eagles (9-11, 2-5 ACC) have won two of their last three, the loss coming to Notre Dame, a week ago.

Notre Dame, you no doubt remember, took Virginia (17-3, 6-2 ACC) to two OTs earlier this week.

The two wins for BC – Syracuse and Pitt, both at home.

The style of play is to win ugly: the D ranks well in all the key metrics, as well as the offense ranks poorly in the metrics.

The rotation

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The two scorers to watch for are 6’1” shooting guard Fred Payne (15.1 ppg, 41.5% FG, 35.9% 3FG, 34.0 minutes/g) and 6’5” senior small forward Donald Hand Jr. (14.2 ppg, 32.0% FG, 22.3% 3FG, 6.3 FTAs/g, 33.8 minutes/g).

Hand’s numbers are way down from last year (2024-2025: 15.7 ppg, 37.7% FG, 36.8% 3FG).

Not sure what’s going on there.

Hate that for him – Hand, you may remember, is the son of UVA hoops legend Donald Hand.

Key contributors

• 6’11” junior Boden Kapke: 9.3 ppg, 5.7 rebounds/g, 46.7% FG, 26.5% 3FG, 24.7 minutes/g
• 6’1” sophomore Luka Toews: 6.7 ppg, 46.4% FG, 47.1% 3FG, 19.4 minutes/g
• 6’9” sophomore Jayden Hastings: 6.0 ppg, 5.7 rebounds/g, 64.0% FG, 21.4 minutes/g
• 6’4” senior Chase Forte: 5.9 ppg, 32.7% FG, 21.6% 3FG, 21.4 minutes/g
• 6’9” senior Aidan Shaw: 4.1 ppg, 6.8 rebounds/g, 44.3% FG, 9.1% 3FG, 26.4 minutes/g
• 6’5” freshman Caleb Steger: 3.7 ppg, 38.6% FG, 34.9% 3FG, 11.0 minutes/g

Analytics

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Data: KenPom; rankings: among 365 D1 teams

Offense
Boston College: 1.033 PPP (279)
Virginia: 1.246 PPP (16)

Defense
Boston College: 1.019 PPP (56)
Virginia: 0.989 PPP (28)

Tempo
Boston College: 65.6 (270)
Virginia: 65.4 (279)

Effective field goal percentage (offense)
Boston College: 46.7% (327)
Virginia: 55.7% (38)

Effective field goal percentage (defense)
Boston College: 46.5% (22)
Virginia: 44.9% (8)

Bench minutes
Boston College: 31.0% (223)
Virginia: 35.3% (118)

Keys to Odom Ball

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Data: KenPom; rankings: among 365 D1 teams

Twos (offense)
Boston College: 48.3% (289)
Virginia: 56.4% (50)

Twos (defense)
Boston College: 46.9% (35)
Virginia: 44.4% (7)

Threes (offense)
Boston College: 29.7% (338)
Virginia: 36.4% (47)

Threes (defense)
Boston College: 30.4% (40)
Virginia: 30.4% (42)

Rebounds (offense)
Boston College: 28.9% (244)
Virginia: 40.5% (3)

Rebounds (defense)
Boston College: 70.8% (108)
Virginia: 70.2% (134)

Turnover rate (offense)
Boston College: 15.5% (77)
Virginia: 15.8% (99)

Turnover rate (defense)
Boston College: 15.5% (282)
Virginia: 15.7% (263)

Game Details

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Virginia (17-3, 6-2 ACC, NET: 14) at Boston College (9-11, 2-5 ACC, NET: 156)
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
TV: The CW (Thom Brennaman/Eddie House)

Forecast

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KenPom: Virginia 74-61
BartTorvik: Virginia 72-60
ESPN BPI: Virginia +13.0

UVA Basketball archives

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• ‘Hoos 100, Notre Dame 97: Odom, Virginia learn how to win by going small
• UVA Basketball: Carolina attacked the paint, ‘Hoos had no response
• UVA Basketball: Virginia slugs out 72-68 win at SMU to improve to 16-2
• UVA Basketball: McKneely goes for 23, but ‘Hoos get the Top 25 road win
• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos clamp down on D on Stanford in 70-55 win
• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos stifle Cal with gritty second half D, win 84-60
• UVA Basketball: Virginia blows out NC State, 76-61, in Saturday ACC matinee
• UVA Basketball: Hokies ride advantage at stripe to upset of #21 ‘Hoos