No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 16 Coastal Carolina in Raleigh, N.C., 9:25 p.m. TBS
After what has seemed like a long wait to me, the Cavaliers begin play in the NCAA tournament tonight against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Let's find out more about the Wahoos' opponent. The first thing you'll notice is you won't be able to write down almost anyone on the Chanticleers' roster without going letter by letter.
Location: Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach
Record: 21-12, 11-5 Big South, Big South tournament champions
Scorers in double figures: Freshman guard Elijah Wilson (16.1), junior guard Warren Gillis (14.8), junior
guard Josh Cameron (14.1)
Leading rebounders: Senior center El Hadji Ndieguene (6.9), sophomore forward Badou Diagne (6.5), sophomore forward Michel Enanga (5.3)
Assist leaders: Gillis (3.2), Cameron (2.5)
Other notable players: Three other players average at least 11 minutes per game: Colton Ray-St Cyr, Uros Ljeskovic, and Eric Smith. They combine for about nine ppg and three rpg.
Best win: With no notable non-conference wins, I have to go with their win in the Big South tournament final over Winthrop, 76-61. It sent them to the Big Dance and Winthrop had beaten them twice previously.
Other wins: Guilford College, St. Francis (NY), Western Carolina, UNC Wesleyan, Reinhardt, Central Connecticut State (twice), Gardner-Webb (twice), UNC Asheville, Presbyterian (twice), Radford, Liberty, Campbell, Longwood, VMI (twice), Charleston Southern (twice)
Best loss: 72-70 to Ole Miss at home in November
Worst loss: Clemson blew out the Chanticleers, 69-40, on Nov. 29.
Other losses: Akron, Minnesota, Louisiana-Lafayette, South Carolina State (twice), Charleston Southern, Winthrop (twice), High Point, UNC Asheville
What Coastal Carolina does well: The Chanticleers clean the glass, ranking 11th in the country in rebounds per game.
What Coastal Carolina does poorly: Coastal ranks 200th in the country in shooting (43.8 percent) and just 33.3 percent from 3. The Chanticleers also don't move the ball great on offense, leading to just 10.6 assists per game (316th in the nation).
Why Virginia should not be worried: Pretty obvious here. The Cavaliers are clearly better and Coastal ranks as one of the least efficient offensive teams in the country. Virginia is one of the nation's best at defense, so that shouldn't bode well for the Chanticleers. Coastal's leading scorer is a freshman (Wilson) and he probably hasn't seen a defense like UVa's. Coastal had some bad losses this year, including the two to S.C. State, a team that finished with nine victories. And Charleston Southern went just
13-18.
Why Virginia should be worried: The pressure increases now with UVa being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed in the Big Dance. A letdown is possible after Virginia went 16-2 in the ACC regular season and then won three tough games in the ACC tournament. The psychology is present for a letdown. Surely the guys know they are better than the Chanticleers. Naturally, they're going to want to take it easy in this game. That would be a mistake so that is what Virginia is fighting. Coastal Carolina has won 12 of its last 15 games and features three guards that combine to score more than 44 ppg. Virginia has had trouble with
teams that have multiple guards that can slash the lane, like Maryland. I don't know, though, if Coastal's guards can do that. If Coastal launches some bombs early that fall, it could take a quick lead and it would be harder then for the Cavaliers to take a lead and create a workable margin. The longer the Chanticleers can keep a lead or stay within five points, the better their chances of pulling the upset.
Bonus: What is a Chanticleer?: Some kind of fairytale rooster, actually: https://www.coastal.edu/about/history/mascot.html
I am worried about this game because I am a Virginia fan. It is what we do. But when you break it down, it is hard to see Coastal winning. The fact that the Chanticleers are not a great offensive team makes me think they will have a very difficult time scoring on the Cavaliers. They can launch some 3s and that might work, but they don't shoot well from beyond the arc and you hope that if they get lucky, it can only last for so long. Also, since they aren't great on offense, if they do get a lead, it would be even more difficult to see how they could take a big lead of any kind on the Wahoos. Offensively, Virginia is balanced and has lots of weapons. Even if Malcolm Brogdon or Joe Harris or both are off, that doesn't sink the 'Hoos' hopes. Anthony Gill, Justin Anderson, Mike Tobey, etc. are capable of picking up the slack on the offensive end. Coastal gave up 68.4 ppg this year with a weak schedule so presumably, UVa should be able to score on the Chanticleers.
As far as UVa's psychology goes, I feel like this team is as prepared as any to actually take every opponent seriously and not just say that. I think the players get that humble attitude from coach Tony Bennett. Also, a 35-point loss during the year will do that to you. If Virginia is locked in and not lackadaisical in this matchup, they should have no problem cruising past Coastal.
After what has seemed like a long wait to me, the Cavaliers begin play in the NCAA tournament tonight against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Let's find out more about the Wahoos' opponent. The first thing you'll notice is you won't be able to write down almost anyone on the Chanticleers' roster without going letter by letter.
Location: Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach
Record: 21-12, 11-5 Big South, Big South tournament champions
Scorers in double figures: Freshman guard Elijah Wilson (16.1), junior guard Warren Gillis (14.8), junior
Leading rebounders: Senior center El Hadji Ndieguene (6.9), sophomore forward Badou Diagne (6.5), sophomore forward Michel Enanga (5.3)
Assist leaders: Gillis (3.2), Cameron (2.5)
Other notable players: Three other players average at least 11 minutes per game: Colton Ray-St Cyr, Uros Ljeskovic, and Eric Smith. They combine for about nine ppg and three rpg.
Best win: With no notable non-conference wins, I have to go with their win in the Big South tournament final over Winthrop, 76-61. It sent them to the Big Dance and Winthrop had beaten them twice previously.
Other wins: Guilford College, St. Francis (NY), Western Carolina, UNC Wesleyan, Reinhardt, Central Connecticut State (twice), Gardner-Webb (twice), UNC Asheville, Presbyterian (twice), Radford, Liberty, Campbell, Longwood, VMI (twice), Charleston Southern (twice)
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| Elijah Wilson |
Worst loss: Clemson blew out the Chanticleers, 69-40, on Nov. 29.
Other losses: Akron, Minnesota, Louisiana-Lafayette, South Carolina State (twice), Charleston Southern, Winthrop (twice), High Point, UNC Asheville
What Coastal Carolina does well: The Chanticleers clean the glass, ranking 11th in the country in rebounds per game.
What Coastal Carolina does poorly: Coastal ranks 200th in the country in shooting (43.8 percent) and just 33.3 percent from 3. The Chanticleers also don't move the ball great on offense, leading to just 10.6 assists per game (316th in the nation).
Why Virginia should not be worried: Pretty obvious here. The Cavaliers are clearly better and Coastal ranks as one of the least efficient offensive teams in the country. Virginia is one of the nation's best at defense, so that shouldn't bode well for the Chanticleers. Coastal's leading scorer is a freshman (Wilson) and he probably hasn't seen a defense like UVa's. Coastal had some bad losses this year, including the two to S.C. State, a team that finished with nine victories. And Charleston Southern went just
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| Warren Gillis |
Why Virginia should be worried: The pressure increases now with UVa being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed in the Big Dance. A letdown is possible after Virginia went 16-2 in the ACC regular season and then won three tough games in the ACC tournament. The psychology is present for a letdown. Surely the guys know they are better than the Chanticleers. Naturally, they're going to want to take it easy in this game. That would be a mistake so that is what Virginia is fighting. Coastal Carolina has won 12 of its last 15 games and features three guards that combine to score more than 44 ppg. Virginia has had trouble with
teams that have multiple guards that can slash the lane, like Maryland. I don't know, though, if Coastal's guards can do that. If Coastal launches some bombs early that fall, it could take a quick lead and it would be harder then for the Cavaliers to take a lead and create a workable margin. The longer the Chanticleers can keep a lead or stay within five points, the better their chances of pulling the upset.
Bonus: What is a Chanticleer?: Some kind of fairytale rooster, actually: https://www.coastal.edu/about/history/mascot.html
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| El Hadji Ndieguene |
As far as UVa's psychology goes, I feel like this team is as prepared as any to actually take every opponent seriously and not just say that. I think the players get that humble attitude from coach Tony Bennett. Also, a 35-point loss during the year will do that to you. If Virginia is locked in and not lackadaisical in this matchup, they should have no problem cruising past Coastal.
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