Hokie Club
BLACKSBURG – Playing at home for the first time in over two weeks, the No. 20/19 Virginia Tech men's basketball team will play host to its in-state rival on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in No. 8/8 Virginia on ACC Network.
SERIES HISTORY
The Hokies (12-3, 6-2 ACC) and Cavaliers (11-2, 7-0) played each other twice last season, with UVA coming out on top both times, including winning in Blacksburg thanks to a clutch game-winner. Tech, which is 56-95 in the all-time series with UVA, is 25-9-1 against UVA at home.
The two schools have played each other only four times when they both are ranked and the Hokies are 1-3 in those matchups.
YOUNG'S TRACK RECORD
Tech's Mike Young is 0-3 against UVA's Tony Bennett, losing 74-39 in 2012 in Charlottesville when he was at Wofford and twice last season.
ON THE CALL
The matchup will be broadcast on ACC Network, with Jay Alter (play-by-play) and Malcolm Huckbay (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Network.
GAMEDAY INFORMATIONGameday Central: CLICK HERE
Digital Program: CLICK HERE
Notes: CLICK HERE
Stats: CLICK HERE
Watch: CLICK HERE
Radio: CLICK HERE
LAST TIME OUT
Holding Notre Dame to a season-low 51 points, the Hokies picked up their second road win of the season in a 62-51 victory on Wednesday at Purcell Pavilion. Tech had four players score in double figures and held the Irish to shooting 35.7 percent.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Turning in his third double-double of the season, Keve Aluma got back to his ways after a two-game skid of not scoring in double figures. The redshirt sophomore had 14 points and tied his career high for rebounds with 12.
Nahiem Alleyne picked up where he left off at Syracuse, leading the team in scoring for the second game with a team-high 15 points at Notre Dame. The guard also almost had the first double-double of his career, grabbing a career-high nine rebounds.
SCOUTING No. 8/8 VIRGINIA
• Virginia is coming off a 23-point victory at home over Syracuse (9-5, 3-4) this past Monday, winning 81-58 thanks to two players scoring 21 points each (Sam Hauser, Jay Huff) and preseason All-ACC pick Kihei Clark dishing out a game-high nine assists.
• Bennett enters his 11th season as the head coach in Charlottesville, following his three-year stint at Washington State where he led the Cougars to consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history. At UVA, Bennett has earned three National Coach of the Year awards and won the '19 NCAA title.
• The Cavaliers are led by Clark, who is averaging 9.7 points and 4.5 assists per game, and Hauser, a Marquette transfer, who owns a team-high 15.0 points and team-best 7.4 rebounds per game.
• Committing only 8.2 turnovers a game, the Cavaliers rank second nationally and first in the ACC in that category, while they also play fundamental defense with sitting eighth nationally and first in the conference in points allowed per game at 59.6.