Virginia Set to Face Wake Forest at ACC Women's Basketball Tournament

Coach Mox and the Cavaliers look to make some noise this week in Greensboro

With the women's college basketball regular season in the books, Virginia heads down to Greensboro this week for the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. After finishing the season 15-14 overall and 4-14 in ACC play, UVA has earned the No. 13 seed in the ACC Tournament and will face No. 12 seed Wake Forest in the first round on Wednesday at 1pm at Greensboro Coliseum. The winner will advance to face No. 5 Florida State on Thursday at 11am. 

The first season of UVA women's basketball under Coach Mox has seen some major breakthroughs as well as some very challenging times, especially in the second half of the season. After going 5-22 last season, Virginia stormed out of the gates in November, starting the season 12-0 and going undefeated in non-conference play for the first time since 1992 and only the third-time in program history. In fact, that 12-0 start was the first 12-game winning streak for the Cavaliers since 1995. 

Then came the brutality of ACC women's basketball with a different ranked opponent in seemingly every matchup. The tough conference schedule and significant roster attrition caught up to the Cavaliers in the second half of the season. Virginia did manage to pick up solid ACC wins against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and NC State in the biggest victory of the year on February 12th. But, the Hoos suffered lots of losses to tough ACC opponents, including a few games in which UVA had a lead entering the fourth quarter but ran out of gas. 

Trying to play complete games became more difficult as Virginia began facing substantial roster depletion. Former UConn transfer Mir McLean, one of the best rebounders in the ACC, was lost to a season-ending knee injury on January 8th. Notre Dame transfer Sam Brunelle announced that she was having surgery on her foot and would miss the rest of the season on February 11th. Senior guard Carole Miller last played for UVA on February 2nd and is no longer with the team. That left the Cavaliers with only eight players for the final stretch of the season. In the regular season finale at Miami on Sunday, Virginia played with just six active players on the roster as senior forward London Clarkson served a suspension from an altercation in UVA's previous game at Clemson and freshman guard Yonta Vaughn didn't travel with the team either for undisclosed reasons. UVA gave an admirable effort, but eventually lost to the Hurricanes 85-74 to finish the regular season 15-14 overall and 4-14 in the ACC. 

It's uncertain what Virginia's roster availability will look like for the ACC Tournament, but the Hoos will have at most eight available players and could have as few as six. That will make it increasingly difficult for the Cavaliers to go on a run this week in Greensboro as, even if they win, they will have to play on consecutive days with very little rest. 

Virginia's matchup with Wake Forest in the first round is an intriguing one, as the Cavaliers and Demon Deacons faced each other almost four months ago, with UVA coming away with a strong 72-52 win. That was a long time ago and the Hoos obviously are not nearly at the same level in terms of roster strength, so it's likely to be a much closer game this time around. 

Wake Forest is ranked last in the ACC in terms of scoring offense at 59.2 points per game, but Wake has the 4th-best scoring defense, allowing 59.6 points per game. The Demon Deacons are especially adept at limiting opponents' three-pointers, ranking No. 1 in the ACC in three-point defense and holding their opponents to just 26.7% from beyond the arc. One area in which Virginia might be able to gain an edge in this matchup is rebounding. Wake Forest is the ACC's worst rebounding team, while UVA ranks highly in most rebounding categories, including second in the ACC in offensive rebounds. Virginia had 14 second-chance points in the first meeting between these two teams and also scored 26 points off of 22 Wake turnovers. 

Virginia leads the all-time series against Wake Forest 69-9, including a 6-2 mark against the Demon Deacons in ACC Tournament games. However, Wake Forest has won four of the last five meetings between the two teams and each of the last two ACC Tournament games, including a 61-53 win over UVA in last year's ACC Tournament to end Virginia's 2021-2022 season. 

Virginia is 7-4 all-time in the first round of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, but the Cavaliers are looking for their first ACC Tournament win since defeating Boston College on March 6th, 2019. UVA hasn't advanced past the second round since 2018, hasn't advanced to the ACC semifinals since 2008, and hasn't been to the final since 1994. Virginia has won three ACC Women's Basketball Tournament Championships - 1990, 1992, and 1993. 

Keep up with CavaliersNow for complete coverage of the Virginia women's basketball team at the 2023 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greensboro. 

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN