Virginia Basketball vs. Monmouth Game Preview, Score Prediction
Virginia will look to start the season 2-0 when Monmouth comes to John Paul Jones Arena on Friday night. The Cavaliers haven't won their first two games of a season since the 2019-2020 campaign and if they want that to change this time around, they'll have to do so without the services of 7'1" center Francisco Caffaro, who is currently away from the team playing with Argentina in a FIBA World Cup qualifier.
Read on for a full preview of Monmouth at Virginia, including details on the game, an opponent scouting report, a score prediction, game notes, and why Caffaro's absence might be a challenge as well as an opportunity for the Cavaliers.
Game Details
Who: Monmouth Hawks (0-1) at Virginia Cavaliers (1-0)
When: Friday, November 11th at 9pm
Where: John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia
How to watch: ACC Regional Sports Networks | Click here for affiliates
How to stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
How to listen: SiriusXM 138 or 193, SXM App 955 | Virginia Sports Radio Network
All-time series: Virginia leads 1-0
Last meeting: Virginia defeated Monmouth 73-53 on November 19th, 2017 in the lone meeting between these two programs.
Opponent Scouting Report: Monmouth
2021-2022: 21-13, 11-9 MAAC
2022-2023: 0-1 (0-0 CAA)
It would be difficult to find a team with a more difficult start to the college basketball season than the Monmouth Hawks, who play three-consecutive road games against major conference opponents to begin the 2022-2023 campaign. Monmouth lost at Seton Hall 79-52 in Newark on Wednesday night and then will make the trip down to Charlottesville to face No. 18 Virginia on Friday. After that, the Hawks will go up to Champaign to take on No. 23 Illinois on Monday. Interestingly enough, the UVA coaching staff might find themselves looking at a Monmouth game on tape again in about a week as there's a chance Virginia will be playing Illinois in the second game of the Continental Tire Main Event in Las Vegas next weekend.
Monmouth had a decent 2021-2022 season with notable non-conference wins over Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Yale before going 11-9 in conference play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The Hawks earned a No. 4 seed in the MAAC Tournament and made a run before falling to Saint Peter's by six points in the title game. Of course, Saint Peter's went on to have a March Madness Cinderella run for the ages, advancing all the way to the Elite Eight as a No. 15 seed. Would Monmouth have been that Cinderella team had the Hawks beaten the Peacocks in the MAAC Championship? Probably not, but who knows?
From that team, Monmouth lost its top four players in terms of scoring average and minutes played, including double-digit scorers George Papas, Walker Miller, and Shavar Reynolds. That means the Hawks are a relatively younger team this season. Of the ten players who saw minutes in their loss at Seton Hall, six were freshmen or sophomores and none were seniors.
Junior forward Myles Foster is the most experienced of the bunch and appears to be the leader of this year's Monmouth team. The 6'7" forward played 37 minutes in the opener and recorded an 18-point, 15-rebound double-double. The only other player in double figures was 6'5" sophomore Tahron Allen, who had 11 points. The Hawks shot 29.8% from the floor and made only two of their 20 three-point attempts. It's unclear if that was more a product of Seton Hall's stingy defense or Monmouth's general lack of outside shooting, but it wasn't good. It was only one game and the first game of the season at that, so we can't draw any big conclusions about Monmouth's capabilities from that game. However, if Virginia can replicate the defensive job that Seton Hall did against the Hawks, then the Cavaliers should be in good shape to bring home the win on Friday.
Francisco Caffaro - OUT
On Wednesday, Virginia announced that redshirt senior center Francisco Caffaro would be away from the team from November 8th-11th to play for the Argentinian men's national basketball team in a qualifier for the FIBA Basketball World Cup against the Dominican Republic. His absence could present a challenge for the Cavaliers, who typically lean on the 7'1" Caffaro to play most or all of the reserve minutes at center when Kadin Shedrick is out of the game. However, this also gives Virginia the chance to test the limits of its roster depth.
There was a three-minute stretch of the season-opener in which UVA went small with neither Shedrick nor Caffaro on the floor and instead had the 6'8" Ben Vander Plas playing center. The Cavaliers can and will likely try that lineup again against Monmouth when Shedrick is out of the game, but they could also give some minutes to the 6'10" Isaac Traudt or the 6'8" Ryan Dunn, as neither of the freshmen saw game action against NC Central.
Monmouth played only one player who was taller than 6'9" against Seton Hall and that was 7'1" freshman Amaan Sandhu, who played 16 minutes off the bench. We would expect Shedrick to be in the game whenever Sandhu is in, but beyond that, there are lots of options for Tony Bennett and company to experiment with lineups featuring Ben Vander Plas, Isaac Traudt, or even Ryan Dunn at the 5. I hope UVA takes this opportunity to explore all of the options for when Shedrick is out of the game. Although, it is important that Shedrick stay out of foul trouble in this game.
NC Central gave Virginia a solid early challenge and it was good see the Cavaliers respond to the adversity of losing a lead and getting it back in the second half. But, especially with a few big-time non-conference matchups coming in the very near future - Baylor, UCLA/Illinois, and Michigan - a comfortable blowout win would be much preferred against Monmouth on Friday night.
Prediction: Monmouth 56, Virginia 74
Game Notes
- In July, Monmouth officially made the move to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) joining programs like William & Mary, UNC-Wilmington, Delaware, Drexel, and Towson in the CAA starting with the 2022-2023 season.
- Virginia faces a CAA opponent for the first time since December 22nd, 2021, when UVA defeated William & Mary 76-40
- UVA is 99-30 all-time against teams who currently members of the CAA
- Virginia is 16-1 against the CAA in the Tony Bennett era, with the one loss being a 59-53 defeat to Delaware in 2012
- In the lone all-time meeting between Virginia and Monmouth, De'Andre Hunter scored 23 points to lead the Cavaliers to a 73-53 win over the Hawks on November 19th, 2017
- UVA holds a 217-53 (.804) record in games played at John Paul Jones Arena
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