The No. 4 seed Virginia Cavaliers (25-7, 17-6 ACC) take on the No. 13 seed Furman Paladins (27-7, 18-3 SoCon) Thursday at Amway Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Furman topped the Chattanooga Mocs 88-79 at Harrah’s Cherokee Center on March 6 in the Southern Conference Tourney Championship, their sixth consecutive win.
Jalen Slawson had a standout performance with 20 points. Virginia lost in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tourney Championship on Saturday at Greensboro Coliseum, falling to the Duke Blue Devils 59-49. Reece Beekman had 12 points in the loss to lead the team.
The Paladins have been led this season by Mike Bothwell and Slawson, who are averaging 18.0 and 15.7 points per game, respectively. Slawson also has grabbed 7.1 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, JP Pegues is dishing 4.0 assists per game.Armaan Franklin (12.5 ppg), Jayden Gardner (12.1), and Kihei Clark (10.9) have been the primary providers for the Cavaliers on offense.
Gardner also has collected 5.8 rebounds per game, while Clark has doled out 5.4 assists per game. The Paladins are one of the highest-scoring offenses in the nation, ranking eighth with 82.1 points per game.
Furman is 9-1 in the last 10 games with an average margin of +12.2 (82.2-70.0). Virginia has a 7-3 record over the last 10, scoring 63.0 points per game on average while holding opponents to 60.0 (+3.0 margin). The Cavaliers are averaging 67.8 ppg for the full season while allowing 60.3.
PALADINS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
JP Pegues: 28.4 | 19.8 | +8.6
Tyrese Hughey: 2.8 | 8.0 | -5.2
Points per game:
JP Pegues: 20.2 | 12.0 | +8.2
Rebounds per game:
Garrett Hien: 2.2 | 4.1 | -1.9
Assists per game:
Jalen Slawson: 1.8 | 3.2 | -1.4
CAVALIERS HOT/COLD
(Last Five | Season Average | Differential)
Points + Rebounds + Assists:
Ryan Dunn: 8.4 | 5.4 | +3.0
Ben Vander Plas: 5.8 | 12.6 | -6.8
Points per game:
Ben Vander Plas: 2.8 | 6.9 | -4.2
Rebounds per game:
Jayden Gardner: 7.8 | 5.8 | +2.0
Ben Vander Plas: 2.8 | 4.3 | -1.6
Assists per game:
Reece Beekman: 7.0 | 5.3 | +1.7
Kihei Clark: 4.0 | 5.4 | -1.4
SportsTips’ College Basketball Pick:
Virginia -5.5 (-110)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
