Wahoo Preview: No. 13 Virginia vs. Louisville

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 13 Virginia (22-6, 14-5 ACC) closes the regular season by hosting Louisville (4-26, 2-17 ACC) Saturday. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN2.

For Openers

• No. 13 Virginia (22-6) is tied for second in the ACC at 14-5, while Louisville (4-26) is 15th at 2-17.
• A Virginia win vs. Louisville clinches a share of the ACC regular season title and No. 2 seed at the ACC Tournament.
• Virginia will honor Francisco Caffaro, Chase Coleman, Armaan Franklin, Jayden Gardner and Ben Vander Plas, and managers Jackson Selby and Anna Williamson on Senior Day.
• UVA ranks first nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.82) and turnovers per game (8.7), 10th in scoring defense (60.6 ppg), 13th in fouls per game (14.1), 20th in turnover margin (3.8) and 24th in assists per game (15.8).

Broadcast Information

• The Virginia-Louisville game will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed online at WatchESPN.com.
• The game will also be broadcast on Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

The Head Coach
• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 338-123 (.733) mark in 14 seasons at UVA and 407-156 (.723) career mark in 17 seasons as a head coach.

• Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s all-time winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23).
• Bennett recorded his 400th career win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
• Bennett has guided the Cavaliers to five ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021), 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 10th consecutive postseason berth in 2021-22.

UVA Ranked No. 13 in Latest AP Poll

• UVA is ranked No. 13 in the latest AP national poll and has been ranked in the top-20 in all 17 polls.
• UVA’s No. 2 ranking on Dec. 12 as UVA’s highest since spending the last four weeks at No. 2 in 2018-19.
• UVA returned to the top-5 for the first time on Nov. 21 since a No. 4-preseason ranking in 2020-21.
• The Cavaliers were ranked No. 18 in the AP Preseason poll.
• UVA was ranked in the preseason AP top-25 for the fifth straight year and ninth in the last 10 seasons.

About The Cavaliers

• UVA returned all five starters from last season’s team, which finished 21-14, 12-8 ACC (sixth) and advanced to the NIT.
• We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
• The Cavaliers return 91.4 percent of its scoring from last season, most among all NCAA Division I teams.
• Kihei Clark (11.3 ppg, 5.7 apg), Reece Beekman (9.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.0 apg), Jayden Gardner (11.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Armaan Franklin (12.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and Ben Vander Plas (7.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg) have started the past 13 games.
• Isaac McKneely (6.6 ppg, 39.8% 3FG), Ryan Dunn (2.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.0 bpg), Kadin Shedrick (6.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.2 bpg), Francisco Caffaro (1.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg) and Taine Murray (1.3 ppg) provide depth off the bench.
• UVA used the starting lineup of Clark, Beekman, Franklin, Gardner and Shedrick in 14 games.
• Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III are redshirting this season.

All-Time vs. Louisville

• Virginia is 21-5 all-time vs. Louisville in a series that dates to 1923-24.
• UVA has a six-game win streak vs. Louisville, including a 61-58 win at Louisville this season and three-game sweep last season.
• UVA has won 15 of the last 16 meetings.
• The Cavaliers are 9-1 vs. the Cardinals in Charlottesville, including a 7-0 mark at John Paul Jones Arena.
• UVA is 16-2 vs. Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC.
• Tony Bennett is 16-2 vs. Louisville as head coach at Virginia.

Last Time vs. The Cardinals

• Despite not making a field goal in the final 3:06 of game, No. 7 Virginia grinded out its sixth road win of the season after downing Louisville, 61-58, at KFC Yum! Arena Feb. 15.
• The Cavaliers put together a defensive stop on the Cardinals’ final possession after UVA led by as many as 10 points in the second half.
• The result solidified Virginia’s 11th 20-win season in the last 12 years under head coach Tony Bennett.
• Virginia was led by Kihei Clark, who finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and dished out six assists. With 10 points and 11 rebounds,
• Ben Vander Plas collected his first double-double in a UVA uniform with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Armaan Franklin (14 points, 5-8 FG, 5 rebounds) and Jayden Gardner (10 points, 5-10 FG) also scored in double figures for the Hoos.
• El Ellis had 21 points for Louisville.

Player Notes

• Armaan Franklin (26, 25, 23, 21, 20, 20) leads Virginia with six 20-point games, while Jayden Gardner (26, 20), Kihei Clark (20) and Ben Vander Plas (20) have also registered 20-point efforts.
• Franklin has led UVA in scoring in 11 contests this season and reached 1,000 career points vs. Boston College.
• Franklin registered his first career double-double with 25 points and career-best 10 rebounds at Wake Forest.
• Gardner has three double-doubles (12 points, 11 rebounds at Michigan, 20 points and 10 rebounds at Virginia Tech and 19 points and 12 rebounds at North Carolina).
• Gardner scored his 2,000th point vs. NC Central and snared his 1,000th career rebound vs. Syracuse on Jan. 3.
• Gardner has led UVA in scoring in eight contests and has reached double figures in scoring in nine of the last 12 games.
• Isaac McKneely tied his ACC high with 12 points against Clemson.
• McKneely has made at least one 3-pointer in 21 games and two or more 3-pointers in 14 contests.
• Vander Plas recorded his first double-double at UVA (15th career) with 10 points and 11 rebounds at Louisville.
• Reece Beekman has 14 assists one turnover in his past two games. Beekman is shooting career bests from 3-point range (37.3%) and charity stripe (79.2%).
• Ryan Dunn reached double figures for the second time with 10 points against Clemson.
• Dunn has registered five multi-block games, including four games with three blocks.

Last Time Out

• No. 13 Virginia (22-6, 14-5 ACC) erased a two-game skid with its 64-57 win over Clemson (21-9, 13-6 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena Tuesday night (Feb. 28).
• Jayden Gardner (12 points, 9 rebounds), Armaan Franklin (12 points, 5-11 FG), Isaac McKneely (12 points, 4-6 FG) and Ryan Dunn (10 points, 5 rebounds) led the way for the Cavaliers.
• McKneely and Dunn tallied 22 of UVA’s 24 bench points.
• UVA won the rebound battle 38-32.
• PJ Hall led Clemson with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Hunter Tyson chipped in 17 points and nine rebounds.