No. 10 Seed Virginia Battles No. 10 Seed Colorado State in NCAA First Four on Tuesday

by 24USATVMarch 18, 2024, 10:01 p.m. 21

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 10 seed Virginia (23-10) will play No. 10 seed Colorado State (24-10) in an NCAA Tournament First Four game on Tuesday, March 19. Tipoff at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, is set for 9:10 p.m. on truTV.

For Openers
• UVA and Colorado State each earned at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.
• Virginia earned its 12th straight postseason bid and second No. 10 seed in school history.
• UVA has 23 or more wins for the 10th time under four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett.
• Virginia is 8-8 away from John Paul Jones Arena, including a 3-2 record on neutral courts.
• Bennett will coach in his 500th career game at Virginia.

Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Colorado State contest will be televised on truTV and streamed online via NCAA March Madness Live.
• The game will be broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network and Westwood One/NCAA Radio Network on SiriusXM (84), ncaa.com/marchmadnesslive.com and WestwoodOneSports.com/Dayton.

The Head Coach
• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 364-135 mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 433-168 career mark in 18 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed the late Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23) and recorded his 400th win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
• Bennett has guided the Cavaliers to six ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023), two ACC Tournament titles (2014 and 2018) and one NCAA national championship (2019).
• The three-time National (2007, 2015 and 2018) and four-time ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019) guided UVA to its 11th consecutive postseason berth in 2022-23.
• In 2018-19, Bennett led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship, a share of their ninth ACC regular-season title and a school-record 35 wins.

UVA All-Time in the NCAA Tournament
• The Cavaliers are 35-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• UVA is making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance under Tony Bennett and 26th overall.
• UVA is 0-1 as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, dropping a first round contest to No. 7 seed Florida, 71-45, in Omaha, Neb.
• UVA won the NCAA championship in 2019 and also made Final Four appearances in 1981 and 1984, respectively.
• Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is 16-10 in 11 NCAA tournaments, including a 13-8 record in nine NCAA berths at UVA.

Bennett in the NCAA Tournament
• Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is 16-10 all-time in 11 NCAA tournament appearances.
• Bennett owns a 13-8 record in nine appearances at UVA (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023), highlighted by the 6-0 mark en route to the 2019 NCAA title.
• He went 3-2 during two trips to the NCAA Tournament at Washington State and led the Cougars to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2008.

Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
• UVA returns one starter – Reece Beekman (14.3 ppg, 6.3 apg, 3.7 rpg & 2.1 spg) – from last season’s ACC regular-season champion and NCAA tournament team that finished 25-8.
• Beekman recorded three steals at Duke to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
• Ryan Dunn (8.2 ppg) leads UVA in rebounding (7.0 rpg), blocked shots (2.3 bpg) and double-doubles (5).
• Isaac McKneely (12.5 ppg) leads the team in 3-pointers (79) and 3-point percentage (44.9%).
• McKneely averaged 6.7 points and shot a team-best 39.2 percent from 3-point range last year, while Dunn tallied 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.
• Jordan Minor (4.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Jake Groves (7.5 ppg, 46.7% 3FG), Andrew Rohde (4.4 ppg & 2.8 apg), Blake Buchanan (3.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Dante Harris (2.5 ppg), Taine Murray (3.4 ppg, 46.2% 3FG), Leon Bond III (4.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and Elijah Gertrude (3.5 ppg), are main contributors.
• Harris missed 10 games with an ankle injury, and Gertrude had his redshirt lifted against Texas A&M.
• UVA is averaging 63.6 points and shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from 3-point range and 63.7 percent from the free throw line.

Hoos in the National Rankings
• UVA ranks second nationally in turnovers per game (8.2), third in scoring defense (59.5 ppg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.86), seventh in fouls per game (13.5), 12th in turnover margin (3.8), 14th in field goal percentage defense (40.2), 18th in blocks per game (5.1) and 25th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.4).

All-Time vs. Colorado State and the Mountain West
• Virginia meets Colorado State for the first time.
• UVA is 7-3 all-time vs. the Mountain West and meets its first MWC foe since defeating UNLV 75-65 on Feb. 12, 1995 at University Hall.
• UVA is 1-1 vs. the Mountain West in the NCAA Tournament, defeating New Mexico (57-54) in 1994 and losing to Wyoming (64-60 in 1987).

Last Time Out
• NC State topped Virginia 73-65 in overtime in ACC semifinal action on Friday, March 15 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
• Michael O’Connell banked in a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and the Wolfpack outscored the Cavaliers 15-7 in the extra session to win its fourth straight game to advance to the ACC final.
• UVA led 57-52 with 70 seconds remaining in regulation, but went 1 of 5 from the charity stripe to set up O’Connell’s heroics.
• Isaac McKneely scored 23 points and Reece Beekman added 17 points and career-high tying 11 assists for his sixth career double-double.
• D.J. Burns, Jr. led NC State with 19 points and O’Connell and reserve Ben Middlebrooks each added 12 points.

Uneven Road
• UVA is 8-8 away from home and 5-6 in true road games.
• Eight of Virginia’s 10 losses have been away from home and seven losses have been by 16 or more points.
• Foes have averaged 72.6 points, shot 48 percent and +21.3 average margin of victory in UVA’s eight losses away from home.
• UVA has averaged 51.3 points, while shooting 35.5 percent including 27.3 percent from 3-point range in the eight away losses.
• The Cavaliers have averaged 69.3 points, while shooting 45.4 percent including 39.4 percent from 3-point range in their eight wins away from home.
• UVA has limited its foes to 63.9 points per game, 40.1 percent shooting and 28.7 percent from 3-point range in its eight wins away from home.
• UVA has yielded a +9.2 rebound margin to its foes in the eight losses away from home (38-28.8).
• UVA has averaged 72.4 points and shot 44 from 3-point range during its five true road wins.

On The Horizon
• The winner of the Virginia/Colorado State NCAA First Four game plays No. 7 seed Texas on Thursday, March 21 in Charlotte, N.C. Tipoff and television designation is to be determined.