Tale of the Tape: Virginia vs. Auburn

We’re now just two days away from the biggest game for the Virginia basketball program in 35 years, as the Cavaliers go up against SEC Tournament champion Auburn in the Final Four Saturday night.

The Wahoos (33-3) went through one last practice at John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday before departing for Minneapolis, and are ready to get to work.

Coach Tony Bennett and the players will conduct interviews with the media and will have two practice sessions at U.S. Bank Stadium (home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings) on both Thursday and Friday.

The ‘Hoos will be participating in the program’s third Final Four and first since 1984, also joining Ralph Sampson’s 1981 squad.

Kyle Guy led UVA to an 80-75 win over Purdue over the weekend in Louisville — with a huge Mamadi Diakite buzzer-beater to send it to OT — for the South Region championship, and the focus now shifts to Midwest Region winner Auburn.

In breaking down the fifth-seeded Tigers (30-9), they nearly got bounced in the opening round against 12th-seeded New Mexico State. Auburn survived against the Aggies, 78-77, in a wild finish (after blowing a big lead) before reeling off one of the most impressive string of victories in tournament memory  — against No. 4 seed Kansas, No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Kentucky — to punch their ticket.

Auburn (30-9) owns the nation’s longest current winning streak of 12 games, as the last loss for the Tigers came way back on Feb. 23, an 80-53 blowout at UK.

The Tigers have been red hot ever since, taking their final four conference games before winning four more (in four days) at the SEC tourney in Nashville. They knocked off top-10 Tennessee twice — once in the regular season and once a 20-point win for the SEC title, their first in 34 years — along the way.

Auburn played part of the UNC game (and all of the Kentucky game) without Chuma Okeke, as the 6-foot-8, 230-pound sophomore forward — who was averaging 12 points and 6.8 rebounds a game — tore his ACL against the top-seeded Tar Heels.

In that game, Okeke had put up a double-double (20 points and 11 boards) along with a block and two steals prior to his season-ending injury.

Okeke will be greatly missed for his post offense and exceptional defense, as he led the Tigers in both blocks (1.8 per game) and steals (1.2 per game).

Auburn leads all of Division I in 3-point field goals made (445) and steals (366). The Tigers can turn giveaways into points on the other end, as they are second in the country in both turnover margin (5.5) and 3-point attempts. A whopping 49.2 percent of their total shots on the season (2,384) have come from beyond the arc (1,173). The ‘Hoos, however, actually shoot the 3-ball at a higher clip (39.4 percent; Auburn’s at 38.3).

Auburn junior point guard Jared Harper led the SEC in both assists (5.8 per game) and minutes played (32.9 a game), and is one of only two major-conference players to score 500-plus points and dish out 200-plus assists this season.

Harper (15.4 ppg) has a quick, explosive first step when driving to the bucket, and can also light it up from the outside.

Backcourt mate and Bryce Brown, a 6-3 senior, leads the team in scoring with 16 points a night and ranks third nationally with 137 triples this season, averaging 3.5 makes from long range per outing. Both Harper and Brown were named to the All-SEC Second Team.

In the NCAA Tournament alone, Auburn has made 49 triples in 121 attempts (41 percent), with an eye-popping 17 of them coming against Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen (Harper and Brown combined for just three of those 17).

Samir Doughty, Malik Dunbar, Anfernee McLemore and Danjel Purifoy can all connect from long range, while 6-11 junior center Austin Wiley and 6-8 senior forward Horace Spencer will try to fill part of the void left by Okeke’s absence on the inside.

Bruce Pearl’s team is third nationally in both steals (9.4) and 3-point makes (11.4) per game, and is also in the top 10 nationally in total blocks (6th, 187) and turnovers forced (7th, 17.33).

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, own the fourth-best 3-point defense in the country (opponents are shooting just 29 percent), and have committed the fifth-fewest turnovers in the land.

UVA, with an average of 63.4 possessions per contest, will obviously want to slow the pace down, as Auburn (71.2 per game) prefers more of an up-and-down tempo.

Bennett and Pearl, both making their first Final Four appearance, have never squared off as head coaches. Saturday’s game tips off at 6:09 p.m. ET, and can be seen on CBS. Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson will make up the broadcast team.

The winner will face either the No. 2 seed out of the East Region, Michigan State (32-6) or the No. 3 seed out of the West, Texas Tech (30-6), in Monday night’s National Championship. The Spartans and Red Raiders tip at approximately 8:49 ET on Saturday.