Syracuse (22-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) will continue its magical NCAA Tournament run on Sunday evening at 6:09 p.m. when it face ACC rival Virginia (29-7, 13-5) in the Elite Eight. The Orange has defeated Dayton, Middle Tennesse and Gonzaga to make this spot in the Tournament. And the Cavaliers have defeated Hampton, Butler and Iowa State to set up the matchup with the Orange.

There are still four ACC teams left in the ACC tournament, and winner of this game will play the winner of North Carolina and Notre Dame.

---

 

MORE COVERAGE

• Dougherty: Syracuse-Virginia will be a rare clash of brand-name defenses
• 3 things Jim Boeheim said: Timeouts, Tyler Roberson and Tony Bennett
• Trevor Cooney is driving into the paint more by design
• Dougherty: The ACC, with half the Elite 8, was an especially important proving ground for Syracuse
• Tyler Lydon showing growth defensively in NCAA Tournament
• Syracuse gets 2nd chance to slow down Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon
• 10 fun facts about Virginia
• Syracuse basketball predictions for Elite Eight matchup with Virginia

---

Here’s everything you need to know about Virginia.

All-time Series: Syracuse and Virginia have only met seven times previously, with the Cavaliers having won the past three. Overall, the Orange is 3-4 against Virginia and haven’t won since 2008, before Tony Bennett was the coach.

Last Time They Played: Amid a massive snowstorm in the Virginia area on Jan. 24, the Orange lost a 73-65 decision that was delayed by a day as SU was forced to change up its travel plans. Malachi Richardson and Michael Gbinije combined for 47 points, and made 11 of Syracuse’s 13 3-pointers.

But SU head coach Jim Boeheim said that the interior defense was really bad, and was a consistent problem all season. The Orange was outscored 40-12 in the paint, and couldn’t get anything going from the inside in the second half.

“We’ve struggled all year in there,” Boeheim said after the game. “We’re giving centers All-American years. We cannot play defense inside. I think that’s pretty painfully obvious right now. Guys that average five points a game, average 18, 19, 20 against us.”

The Virginia Report: The Cavaliers are Kenpom.com’s top-rated team, and are in the Top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. They play the slowest basketball in all of Division I, but are extremely effective in getting opposing offenses to do the same. They make their free throws (75.1 percent) and 3-pointers (40.3 percent) and have done it all while playing the toughest schedule in college basketball this season. They’re led by Malcolm Brogdon, who hasn’t scored fewer than 10 points since the first game of the season. UVA also has Anthony Gill and London Perrantes averaging in double-figures. The Cavaliers are pretty much better than at everything than their opponents this season, so it will be tough for Syracuse to reverse that trend for one game.

They’ve beaten the likes of Villanova, West Virginia, California, Notre Dame, Miami (twice), Louisville and North Carolina. Their worst losses were all on the road, to George Washington, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.

How Syracuse beats Virginia: It needs to dictate the tempo, because tempo is how Virginia wins games. The Cavaliers tore apart Iowa State’s zone on Friday night in its blowout win. UVA might be associated with defense, but its offense is extremely effective when it needs to be. So if the Orange can speed things up, while not letting Virginia also score in bunches, that would be a really good result for SU. Richardson and Gbinije will need to be the same types of players that they were against UVA in January.

Stat To Know: Virginia will dominate opposing teams in pretty much every category, except for one. It only gets offensive rebounds on 30.1 percent of its possessions. But Syracuse gives up offensive boards at a prolific rate and rank as the 337th defensive rebounding team in the country out of 351. Teams get offensive rebounds 35.1 percent of the game, per Kenpom. So if Virginia is able to do well in the one area it typically doesn’t, then that might spell trouble for the Orange.

Player to Watch: Mike Tobey dominated Iowa State on Friday, scoring 18 points in just 20 minutes. He’s the second center behind Gill, but his big body will provide similar troubles that Domantas Sabonis did to the Orange on Friday night. He’s not a standout player by any means, but he’s the type of player that SU might struggle against.

Published on March 26, 2016 at 3:19 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3