UVA vs UNC Wilmington Preview

Opponents score 75 points per game against the Seahawks and while Virginia isn’t the best offensive team in the tournament, they might be the best defensively.

UNC-Wilmington: The Seahawks are the first back-to-back bid clinchers in the Colonial since Old Dominion achieved the feat in 2010 and 2011. The only non-conference losses UNCW suffered this season were to Middle Tennessee State and Clemson. “Obviously everybody talks about the 5-12 game and all that stuff”.

Unlike the Blue Devils one year ago, Virginia is a team that thrives on their defense. “You can get beat, and we have, but I think those games are good for us”. In fact UVA’s best defensive effort was against North Carolina, who is now a number one seed in the tournament, allowed North Carolina to score only 43 points, so their defense is no joke. The Seahawks could have probably beaten nearly any other No. 5 seed, but Virginia head coach Tony Bennett will have his team ready for this one. In a low-scoring game of few possessions, three-point field goals could be the difference between winning and losing.

Wilkins scored 8 points and grabbed eight rebounds in U.Va.’s first-round ACC tournament game against Pitt last week in Brooklyn, but wasn’t able to recover enough to produce in the Cavs’ loss the next night against Notre Dame. As a result, UNCW has connected from deeper 100 more times than Virginia.

Keatts was an assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville for three years from 2011-14, but was offered the UNCW job before the Cardinals joined the ACC and started playing UVa during the 2014-15 season.

For the Seahawks, Virginia’s approach to the game isn’t entirely foreign, either. With the No. 18 offense nationally in adjusted efficiency, the Seahawks look to get easy shots quickly, they challenge you inside and out, and they rarely turn the ball over.

This year marks four straight NCAA appearances for the UVA program, matching the longest stretch in school history. UNCW has a slight edge in assist-to-turnover ratio, though both teams are in the top 10. When you look at it, they’re one of the best defensive teams in the country.

The victor plays the victor of #4 Florida (24-8) vs. #13 East Tennessee State (27-7) on Saturday. He took part Wednesday in the team’s shoot-around workout at the Amway Center. Offensively, as senior point guard London Perrantes (12.5 ppg) goes, so goes the Cavaliers.

Each year, Sports Illustrated publishes its “March Madness” issue, which features a collage with one player from each of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament on its cover.

Wilmington has now made it to the Big Dance six times, all in the last 20 years.