No. 18 UVa (11-2, 3-0 ACC) at Boston College (8-6, 2-1)

7 p.m., ACCN

Virginia is off to a 3-0 start to conference play and that record will be tested tonight when the Hoos travel to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College. UVa has dominated the series of late, winning each matchup dating all the way back to March 2013, a loss that played a part in Virginia’s exclusion from that year’s NCAA Tournament.

BC gave Jim Christian another season with the program after not reaching the NCAA Tournament in his first five years in charge. The Eagles have had just one winning season in that stretch and are once again expected to have a tough go of it in conference play. So far, however, Boston College is holding its own at 2-1 in ACC play. The Eagles won their season opener against Wake Forest and then snuck past Notre Dame by one point in South Bend last month. Their lone league loss came on New Year’s Eve, when the Eagles were thrashed by Duke at Cameron, losing by 39 points.

Boston College ranks No. 147 in KenPom, the only ACC team outside of the top 100. In the simplest terms, the Eagles are decent on the defensive end of the floor and struggle quite a bit when they have the ball. They rank 250th nationally in offensive efficiency, easily the lowest ranking in the conference. Boston College doesn’t measure up well in nearly every relevant area offensively, including shooting the basketball. The Eagles have struggled from beyond the arc, making just 31 percent of their 3s. They aren’t doing much better inside the arc, making 46.7 percent of those shots which is 252nd-best nationally. To make matters worse, BC makes just 66 percent of its free-throw tries, and continually turns it over at a high clip.

On defense, the Eagles aren’t spectacular but are at least pedestrian. Ranking 81st nationally in defensive efficiency, BC’s greatest strength on that end of the floor is creating turnovers. The Eagles turn over opponents on nearly a quarter of possessions, and rank 24th in turnover rate. Most of their forced turnovers come by way of steals. Virginia’s defense relies on the offense not creating easy run outs with live ball turnovers, so how many times the Eagles can create transition opportunities from steals could play a large part in determining tonight’s outcome.

Boston College’s top scorer is a transfer who spent some time in the ACC earlier in his career. Senior point guard Derryck Thornton joined the Eagles this season after several years at USC. The LA native began his career at Duke, and has finally found a home in Chestnut Hill in his final collegiate season. At BC, Thornton is leading the team in scoring with 13.3 points and is also the team’s top distributor with 3.4 assists per contest. Thornton is having easily the best season of his college career and he will likely need to win the matchup against Kihei Clark for the Eagles to pull off the upset.

He shares the backcourt with freshman guard Jay Heath, who is averaging 12 points per game in his first season with the Eagles. Heath is also one of the team’s top shooters, making 37 percent of his 3-pointers.

In the frontcourt, BC is led by veteran forward Nik Popovic. The Bosnian big man, along with Heath and Thornton, averages double figures scoring at 11.8 points per game. He hasn’t played in a while, though, and missed the Eagles most-recent game at Duke. But odds are he will be available for this one against the Cavaliers. If Popovic can’t go then BC will lean more on Steffon Mitchell and Jarius Hamilton, both of whom are capable frontcourt options for the Eagles.