NCAAB Game Preview - William & Mary at Virginia

Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:00 PM EST

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A little more than a week before No. 5 Virginia begins its brutal start to the ACC schedule, the Cavaliers host two more out of conference games starting with William & Mary on Saturday afternoon.

Virginia (10-0) is one of just eight remaining unbeaten Division I teams in the country and is off to its best start since it started 19-0 back in 2014-15.

Junior guards Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy continue to lead the Cavaliers' offense as the two combined for 43 points in Wednesday night's 69-52 road win against South Carolina.

"Kyle and Ty together, they're dangerous out there," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said of his backcourt duo.

Jerome scored a season-high 25 points against the Gamecocks and will look to continue his hot shooting back at John Paul Jones Arena where the Cavaliers haven't played since a 57-49 win over VCU back on December 9.

William & Mary (4-7) makes the two-hour trek to meet the Cavaliers for the 80th time in history. The Tribe have made travel part of their regimen this season as they will be playing their seventh nonconference game of the young season before starting Colonial Athletic Association play.

The Tribe knocked off Division III William Peace 106-89 on Sunday, and have now won two games in a row after dropping three straight.

"It's a tough nonconference schedule but it's important to get better," William & Mary head coach Tony Shaver said. "If we want to be a good CAA team, we really have to improve. Our defense has to improve, it has to matter and be important to us."

The importance of defense has been Virginia's trademark under Bennett in his tenure in Charlottesville and that continues this season. The Cavaliers held South Carolina to 36.4 percent shooting Wednesday night and find themselves once again leading the country in points allowed per game (51.3).

"Coming in and playing our style is what we can do as a team," Bennett said after his team's win over South Carolina.

While defense is their calling card, the Cavaliers have shown the ability to score this season as well and will be facing a William & Mary team that is allowing over 81 points per game this season, tied for 330th in the country. Jerome (14.8 points per game) and Guy (13.9) are joined by sophomore De'Andre Hunter (14.5) as the three Virginia starters averaging in double figures this season.

Virginia shoots 47 percent as a team from the field and will be playing the first of three straight home games in the friendly confines of John Paul Jones Arena, a place where the Cavaliers have lost just once in the past two seasons.

Freshman guard Kihei Clark will be playing his second game since undergoing wrist surgery just under two weeks ago. Clark was expected to miss time but surprised everyone by playing 24 minutes against South Carolina. When asked by Bennett after Tuesday's practice how he felt, Clark replied "I'm playing."

The Tribe are led on offense by junior forward Nathan Knight, who is averaging 19.1 points per game this season. Knight has scored at least 22 points in three of the last four games and will provide an interesting matchup for Virginia with his slender 6-foot-10 frame.