Stony Brook (7-5) at No. 9 Virginia (8-1, 2-0 ACC)

6:30 p.m., ACCN

After more than a week off for exams, the No. 9-ranked Cavaliers return to the hardwood tomorrow night when they host the Stony Brook Seawolves. It’ll be the start of a three-game stretch that will wrap up UVa’s non-conference schedule before the end of the year, with matchups thereafter against South Carolina and Navy. The Seawolves will be Virginia’s second opponent out of the America East Conference this season, with the Wahoos holding on to beat Vermont on November 19th.

On the season Stony Brook is 7-5 and comes to Charlottesville after back-to-back losses to Hofstra and Providence. The Seawolves don’t have any attention-grabbing wins thus far. Their best came against North Dakota State on a neutral floor, their only victory against a top-200 KenPom team. Stony Brook’s losses have been expected ones, with setbacks to Top-100 teams in Yale, Seton Hall, and Providence as well as to 10-2 Delaware and 7-4 Hofstra. The Seawolves are led by head coach Geno Ford, who is in his first year running the program and is the third Stony Brook coach since 2016. The program has been a bit of a coaching hotbed of late, with its two most recent coaches, Steve Pikiell and Jeff Boals having gone on to coach at Rutgers and Ohio, respectively.

Stony Brook ranks 170th in KenPom averaging 70.9 points per contest while allowing 66. The Seawolves are better on the defensive end than on offense, ranking 138th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Stony Brook has done a great job with its interior D, allowing opponents to make just 39.4 percent of two-point tries, the fifth-lowest average in the country. Stony Brook is also near the top nationally in block rate and doesn’t allow opponents to get to the free-throw line very often. Opponents have been able to make 3s at a decent clip, however, with the Seawolves allowing makes on 36.5 percent of attempts from deep.

On offense, the Seawolves rank 217th nationally in efficiency. And while they do a nice job protecting the paint, they are just as quiet around the rim themselves on the other end of the floor. Stony Brook’s offense is reliant on 3s, with a solid 36.2 percent average from beyond the are and nearly 44 percent of its field goal attempts coming on three point tries. Their biggest deficiency on offense has been turning over the basketball far too frequently. Nearly 22 percent of their possessions end in a turnover, and many of those are “non-steal turnovers,” like traveling or throwing the ball out of play.

Like most mid-majors, Stony Brook has a guard-heavy lineup. Junior guard Elijah Olaniyi is the team’s most potent scorer and a player capable of having a big night. he averages 19.2 points and 5.8 boards per game, with six 20-point games this season, including 25 at Providence on Saturday. Olaniyi is a dangerous 3-point shooter, making 43.3 percent of his attempts this year. He is one of three junior guards that average double-figures scoring, along with Makale Foreman and Andrew Garcia. Foreman’s 14.2 points per game reflects his consistency, as a player that has scored 10 points in all but two games this year. A transfer from Chattanooga, he is also the team’s leader in assists, averaging a pair per contest. Garcia, a native of Harlem, is a physical guard that averages 12.6 points and 6.4 boards per contest.

Stony Brook doesn’t get a lot of scoring from its bigs but the Seawolves do have a pair of post players who should see plenty of action against Virginia. A 6-foot-9 junior, Mouhamadou Gueye is averaging 6.8 points per game and had a big outing against a very good Seton Hall team, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven boards in a losing effort. Junior Jeff Otchere is the rim protector at 6-foot-11, 240 pounds. He is not a prolific scorer but does have three double-digit rebound efforts this year.