Tale of the Tape: Virginia Cavaliers vs. Maryland Terrapins

Fresh off its sixth straight in-season tournament victory, the Virginia men’s basketball team will be gunning for a nation-best 25th consecutive win in the month of November Wednesday when the Wahoos travel to the Xfinity Center to face Maryland.

Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

As of Monday, UVA (6-0) is currently ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25, No. 3 in the KenPom ratings (second in AdjD, 12th in AdjO), and No. 2 in the first-ever NET rankings, which replaces the former RPI rankings.

The Terrapins will represent Virginia’s second straight ranked opponent. Maryland (6-0) is ranked 24th in the AP poll, No. 33 in KenPom (28th offense, 43rd defense), and 17th in the NET rankings.

Virginia is also ranked fourth in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, while Maryland is first in the “others receiving votes” category.

The Terps (6-0) have won five of their six games this season at home (Delaware by 6, double-digit wins over North Carolina A&T, Hofstra, Mount St. Mary’s and Marshall), and also handily won their lone road game at Navy.

Junior PG Anthony Cowan Jr. leads the Terps in scoring (16.8 ppg) and assists (4.7 apg), as he did last season. Cowan is Maryland’s go-to offensive weapon, and should present a significant challenge defensively for the UVA guards.

Down low, 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Bruno Fernando will be a tough matchup similar to Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ, who had 22 and 15 Friday against the Cavaliers. Fernando averages 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks a game, while shooting 77 percent (41 for 53) from the field so far.

Rounding out the Maryland starting five will likely be 6-10 freshman forward Jalen Smith (13.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg), sophomore guard Darryl Morsell (11.2 ppg) and freshman combo guard Eric Ayala (8.7 ppg), with sharpshooting sixth man Aaron Wiggins scoring 10 points a game in 26.8 minutes off the bench.

Through Monday, the Terrapins own the nation’s 26th-best field-goal percentage at just over 50 percent (187 for 373) and are 43rd (.385) in opponent’s FG percentage, which ranks ahead of the ‘Hoos (.403, 90th). Maryland averages 10 more rebounds a game than the Cavaliers, 43.8 to 33.5, so Virginia will need to step up the effort on the boards.

Mark Turgeon is in his eighth year as head coach in College Park, with a record of 163-81 (.668) with the Terps. Maryland went 19-13 last season, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 season, which was also the school’s last season as a member of the ACC.

UVA won the last meeting between the longtime rivals the following season in College Park, 76-65, Maryland’s first year as a Big Ten member (Virginia was ranked No. 7 and Maryland was No. 21 at the time). That game was also part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Virginia is 6-7 all time at the Xfinity Center (formerly the Comcast Center). The ‘Hoos have won 7 of the last 8 in the series, and Tony Bennett is 7-4 against the Terps as UVA coach.

After a trio of solid outings in the Bahamas, Cavalier sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter was not only named the Battle 4 Atlantis MVP, but also picked up ACC Player of the Week honors, announced Monday.

Over his past four games, Hunter is averaging 19.5 points, 6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest, while shooting 65 percent (28 for 43) from the field and 50 percent (7 for 14) from downtown.