Locker Room Access - Virginia

The Virginia Cavaliers will look to play the spoiler role on Saturday when they travel to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels.  Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 PM Eastern, televised on ESPN 2.  

North Carolina currently occupies sixth place in the ACC standings, with a record of 9-6.  While the Cavs are 6-9 in conference play. 

About North Carolina

The Tar Heels are led by fourth-year head coach Hubert Davis.  A former UNC star player, he went on to play 12 seasons in the NBA.  Davis returned to Chapel Hill as an assistant coach, then took over when Roy Williams retired.   He’s had an up and down tenure as head coach.  There have been great highs, a surprise Final Four run in his first season and an ACC regular season title a year ago.  But also disappointing results mixed in. 

UNC enters with a 16-11 overall record, 9-6 in ACC play.  They’ve only lost one home conference game, to Stanford on a buzzer beater.  The Tar Heels are in an uphill fight to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.   They currently sit at 45 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, badly in need of quality wins to enhance their resume.   Adjusted efficiency metrics show them being solid on both ends of the floor, with a top 40 offense.  

North Carolina’s Personnel 

Davis has settled on a primary eight-man rotation.  The starters vary from game to game.  Last time out, they went with the following group.  

G - Elliot Cadeau (6’1” Sophomore, 10.3 points and 6.0 assists per game)

G - RJ Davis (6’0” Graduate, 17.5 points and 3.9 assists per game)

F - Drake Powell (6’6” Freshman, 6.9 points per game, shoots 37% from 3)

F - Ven-Allen Lubin (6’8” Junior, Vanderbilt transfer, 6.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game)

F - Jae’Lyn Withers (6’9” Graduate, 5.3 points per game, shoots 43% from 3)

Junior guard Seth Trimble (12.1 PPG) leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 per game.  Freshman guard Ian Jackson (13.6 PPG) is a 39% three-point shooter.  And junior Jalen Washington (6.4 PPG) is the true big man in the rotation. 

Spoiler Role

This is a game that North Carolina simply cannot afford to lose.  Their path to an NCAA Tournament at-large birth is already very narrow.  A home loss to a Virginia team currently ranked outside the top 100 would be catastrophic for the Tar Heels.  

UNC is coming off one of their best performances of the year, a 97-73 beatdown of NC State on Wednesday.  Their remaining schedule is very manageable, leading up to a season finale rematch with Duke.  Unfortunately, the metrics show the ACC to be weak this season. The Tar Heels may need to win out the rest of the way, and still perhaps do some damage in the ACC Tournament, to earn an NCAA at-large bid. 

For the Hoos, this is another big test.  They were overwhelmed a bit by Duke on Monday, snapping UVA’s three-game win streak.  Interim coach Ron Sanchez and his staff had them playing pretty well going into that game. They’re in the midst of a very tough stretch of the schedule.  We’ll see if they can prove the progress is real by being competitive against a very talented even if somewhat disappointing Tar Heels squad.    

Up Next

It doesn’t get much easier.  The Wahoos will be on the road again on Wednesday night to face another bubble team, Wake Forest.  Followed by Clemson at home next Saturday. 

Be sure to tune in for the pregame show, starting 30 minutes before tipoff.  Available on the Locker Room Access Facebook page and YouTube channel. 

(Featured Image Credit: Getty)

By Josh Burton

Winners of three straight, the University of Virginia Men’s Basketball team now sits at 13-12 (6-8) and looks to keep the momentum rolling as they head home for a quick turnaround. The Hoos will host the #3 Duke Blue Devils Monday night. This one is scheduled for a 8 pm tip and will air on ESPN.

About Duke

The Duke Blue Devils are led by head coach Jon Scheyer, in his third season. Scheyer has a career record of 74-20, with Duke sitting at 22-3 this season and leading the ACC at 14-1. Duke is coming off back to back home wins against California and Stanford, those coming after they had suffered their first ACC loss at Clemson on February 8th.

Duke is a statistical juggernaut this season and has recently been on an extreme offensive tear. They generally go nine deep and start out:

G - #14 Sion James (6’6” Covid Senior, Tulane transfer, averages 8.2 points 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists) 

G - #5 Tyrese Proctor (6’6” Junior, averages 12.2 points on 41.2% three-point shooting)

G - #7 Kon Knueppel (6’7” Freshman, averages 13 points)

G - #2 Cooper Flagg (6’9” Freshman, averages 19.8 points 7.5 rebounds and 4 assists)

C - #9 Khaman Maluach (7’2” Freshman, averages 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game)

Everything for Duke starts with National Player of the Year favorite and projected #1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg. Flagg blends high level guard skills into a forwards frame while also being a very efficient scorer. Attempting to match up with him will be crucial in the Hoos game plan.

Fans probably also recognize the Knueppel name. Kon was a top priority recruit for Tony Bennett before ultimately deciding to go to Duke instead.

iMac Attack

Virginia guard Isaac McKneely has been on an absolute tear lately. The third-year guard has scored 19 or more in 4 of the last 5 contests and has been aggressively hunting his shot from all over the court. To put it simply, the Hoos are at their best when their star is shining. Duke will undoubtedly lean into their length and athleticism to try and cool him down. But when Isaac is playing as aggressively as he’s been lately, he’s one of the toughest covers in the entire country.

ARob's Rise 

Redshirt-freshman forward Anthony Robinson has continued his ascension up the UVA rotation.  He's played 15 or more minutes in each of the last four games, culminating in his breakout performance over the weekend in the 73-70 victory at Virginia Tech. It was career highs across the board as Robinson played 18 minutes and finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. His aggressive style also found him taking a career-high 8 free throws, connecting on 7.

I personally believe this matchup presents a good opportunity to make a starting lineup change. Anthony’s physicality and aggressiveness will be needed if the Hoos want to stay in the contest. I would like to see Robinson inserted into the starting lineup tomorrow night to match up with Maluach while Blake Buchanan starts out on Cooper Flagg.

This could also be a good chance for forward Elijah Saunders to return to the starting lineup. Saunders has been slowly working his way back after missing three games due to injury and his perimeter defense may prove useful against Flagg. There are multiple different strategies Sanchez and company could deploy. It’ll be interesting to see how they approach this unique matchup.

Tobacco Road

Next up after Duke will be a trip down to UNC next Saturday. That one will tip at 4 on ESPN. Be sure to catch the Locker Room Access pregame show, as always 30 minutes before tip.

(Featured Image Credit: Josie Drumheller/UVA Athletics) 

Rivals meet in Blacksburg Saturday afternoon when the Virginia Tech Hokies host the Virginia Cavaliers.  Both teams enter on a bit of a roll, each winning three of their last four games.  Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 PM Eastern, televised on CW Network. 

It’s the second meeting between these teams this season, with the Hokies holding on for a 75-74 win at UVA on February 1st.  Virginia Tech currently sits in 8th place in the ACC standings at 6-7, while the Cavs are a game behind at 5-8.  

About Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech is led by head coach Mike Young in his sixth season at the helm in Blacksburg.  He’s twice taken them to the NCAA Tournament.  The highlight of his tenure to date was a surprise run to the ACC Tournament title in 2022.   He has a mostly new team this year, following heavy roster turnover in the offseason. 

The Hokies enter with an 11-13 overall record, 6-7 in ACC play.  They’ve played well of late, winning three of the last four.  More impressively, all of those wins were on the road.  Coach Young has done a nice job pulling a young team together, improving as the season has gone along.  The full season metrics still aren’t friendly, 154th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, about 50 spots behind UVA.  They’re a little better on offense than defense, according to the adjusted efficiency numbers. 

Virginia Tech’s Personnel 

The Hokes have a very young squad.  Six of their top nine are underclassmen.  They’ve been starting with the following group. 

G - Ben Hammond (5’11’ Freshman, 5.0 points and 2.0 assists per game)

G - Tyler Johnson (6’5” Freshman, 6.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game)

G - Jaden Schutt (6’5” Sophomore, Duke transfer, 9.1  points per game, 36% from 3)

F - Toibu Lawal (6’8” Junior, VCU transfer, 12.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game)

F - Mylyjael Poteat (6’9” Graduate, 10.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game)

Charleston transfer forward Ben Burnham (7.3 PPG) is shooting 46% from deep this season.  Sophomore point guard Brandon Rechsteiner (7.0 PPG) leads the team in assists.  And sophomore guard Jaydon Young (6.3 PPG) rounds out the backcourt rotation.  

Hoos For Real?

Virginia is coming off their best week of the season, picking up wins over Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech.  It’s not so much who they beat, those teams have losing conference records, it’s that they did it in dominant fashion.  They’ve certainly shown improvement, and legitimately looked good in those wins.  But the schedule becomes much more difficult now.  UVA will likely be an underdog in the next five games.  We’ll see if the pattern holds or if last week was just a high point in the ebb and flow of a season.  

The coaching staff has made some adjustments that seem to have helped.  Particularly on defense, where they’re done a lot more switching.  But the biggest improvement has been on the offense end.  The Hoos have scored 70+ in four straight games, something they had only done twice prior in ACC play.  Several individual players have stepped up their game of late.  No one more than Dai Dai Ames. The sophomore guard scored a career-high 27 points in the win over Pitt, then followed that up with an 18-point performance against Georgia Tech. 

The rest of the season takes on extra meaning because of Virginia’s coaching vacancy.  If they can finish strong and show that the program is headed in a good direction, it could give a real boost to the chances of Ron Sanchez having the interim tag removed.  The next couple weeks will go a long way in determining whether he’ll be considered for the job.  

Up Next

The Wahoos have a short turnaround after this one.  They’ll be back home on Monday night when the #3 ranked Duke Blue Devils pay a visit.  That’s an 8:00 PM game on ESPN. 

Be sure to tune in for the pregame show, starting 30 minutes before tip as always.  Available on the Locker Room Access Facebook page and YouTube channel. 

(Featured Image Credit: Josie Drumheller/UVA Athletics)