After beating Coppin State on Friday to get to 2-2 on the season, Virginia turns its attention to its annual early-season tournament event. Starting Monday, the Wahoos will play a pair of games in the Roman Legends Classic in Newark. The Cavaliers tip off tournament action on Monday night when they take on the Georgia Bulldogs in their first round game (7pm, ESPNU). Virginia will then either take on Northwestern or Providence from the other side of the bracket, depending on the results of Monday’s games, on Tuesday night.

Starting with Georgia, we’re taking a look at UVa’s potential Legends Classic opponents, as they attempt to gather some momentum after a sluggish start to the season.

Georgia is led by former Marquette and Indiana coach Tom Crean, who is now in his fourth season in Athens, looking to rebuild a normally struggling program. Georgia enters the event with the worst metrics and lowest expectations early in the season. The Bulldogs, like UVa, enter the event with a 2-2 record, having beaten FIU and South Carolina State, and lost to Cincinnati and Georgia Tech. UGA went 14-12 in the 2020-21 season, and were picked to finish dead last (14th) in the SEC preseason poll.

Georgia ranks 163rd in offensive efficiency, though they do shoot the ball relatively well. The Bulldogs have made 36.8 percent of their three-point tries, though they rank near the bottom nationally in three-point attempts. On defense, the Bulldogs rank 186th in efficiency, and the only thing they do really well on that end is keep teams off the free throw line.

Georgia relies relatively heavily on their backcourt for scoring, led by senior guard Aaron Cook. Through four games, Cook is the team’s leading scorer with 15 points per game, and he has also been an excellent distributor, with 7.8 assists per contest. Fellow guard Braelen Bridges (14.3 ppg) and forward Jailyn Ingram (10.3 ppg) are the other two Bulldogs averaging 10 points per game or more. The player UVa fans will be keenly watching on Monday night is former Cavalier Jabri Abdur-Rahim, who left Charlottesville for Athens this spring. Abdur-Rahim has been a rotation player through the first four games of the season, and had a bit of a breakout game in the loss to Georgia Tech, scoring 10 points in 22 minutes of action.

Led by former Duke assistant Chris Collins, the Wildcats are unbeaten, having steamrolled a relatively weak slate of opponents. In their four wins, Northwestern faced teams ranked 262nd or worse in KenPom, with three wins over sub-300 ranked teams.

As a result, Northwestern has won by large margins, and have impressive metrics. The Wildcats are the top-ranked Kenpom team in the four-team field, at #39. Northwestern ranks 46th in offensive efficiency and 41st in defensive efficiency. Northwestern has been efficient and has taken great care of the ball, ranking 10th in offensive turnover percentage. The Wildcats have shot the ball well, and have shared the ball excellently, ranking 4th nationally in assist to made field goal percentage. On defense, the Wildcats have held opponents to an effective field goal percentage of 41.3, ranking 29th-best nationally.

The Wildcats have a balanced offensive attack, led by a pair of big men and a pair of guards. Forward Pete Nance has seemingly elevated his game this season, averaging 18 points per game after scoring 11 per contest last year. Nance could be a matchup problem at 6-foot-10, considering he can also step out and make threes, where he’s 50 percent shooting this year. In the backcourt, Boo Buie and Ty Berry are capable scorers. Buie is averaging 15 points per contest, and has done a great job distributing with 6.8 assists per game. Berry is the team’s best outside shooter, making 43.5 percent of his attempts.

Northwestern has been very solid to this point, but they should face their two toughest tests of the season, by far, in Newark.

Like Northwestern, Providence heads to the Legends Classic with a 4-0 record. The Friars have the best win of any team in the field, having beaten Wisconsin 63-58 last week in Madison. Their other wins, over Fairfield, Sacred Heart and New Hampshire, were routine. The Friars are coming off of a 13-13 season, and are looking for their first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2017-18 season.

Providence ranks 71st in KenPom, just a few spots behind Virginia. The Friars are 65th on offense and 79th on defense nationally, and the first thing that jumps out about their statistical profile is their inside shooting. The Friars have made 61.5 percent of their two-point field goal attempts, ranking 13th nationally in that category. Providence has also done a good job taking care of the ball and getting to the free throw line on offense. On defense, the Friars have done a nice job blocking shots, ranking 28th nationally in block rate, and have forced opponents to play at a very slow pace, 340th in pace of play nationally out of 358 D1 teams.

The Friars lineup features an experienced backcourt, and one of the nation’s top big men. Center Nate Watson was named preseason All Big East, and is off to a great start to the campaign. Watson, a Portsmouth, VA native, is averaging 19.3 points per contest, making just under 74 percent of his field goal attempts. In the backcourt, Indiana transfer Al Durham has been a nice addition, scoring 15.5 points per game, and dishing out 3.3 assists per game. Former UVa recruiting target A.J. Reeves is another player to watch in the backcourt, averaging 9.3 points per contest. Reeves played an important role in the win at Wisconsin, contributing 11 points and eight rebounds.

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