South Carolina (7-4) at No. 9 UVa (9-1)

3 pm, ABC

Virginia ended its holiday break on Wednesday night by returning to JPJ and holding off Stony Brook for the team’s ninth win of the season. And now the Cavaliers turn their attention to one of their final two non-conference opponents of the season, with Frank Martin and the South Carolina Gamecocks coming to town on Sunday afternoon.

This meeting will be the second of two installments against the Gamecocks after the Cavaliers went to Columbia and won 69-52 last season. In that victory, the Hoos got 25 points from Ty Jerome and never trailed in what was their 10th win of the year.

South Carolina comes to Charlottesville fresh off of a rivalry win over Clemson in its most recent outing. Three of the team’s four losses have come to top-100 KenPom teams Wichita State, Northern Iowa, and Houston to go along with a “bad” loss to Boston University. The win over the Tigers is the only triumph over a team ranked better than 200th in the current KenPom ratings. UVa and South Carolina have one common opponent, UMass, which the Gamecocks beat 84-80 at the beginning of this month.

South Carolina ranks 103rd by overall KenPom, making the Gamecocks the sixth-highest ranked team UVa has played this season and the fourth best among non-conference opponents. Like the Cavaliers, they have struggled on the offensive end of the floor in their first 11 games. Despite playing the 43rd fastest tempo in the nation, they have failed to reach 60 points in two of their four losses. They rank 146th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency and like UVa have struggled mightily with the 3-point line after it was moved back in the offseason. They have made just 28.8 percent of their long-range attempts, ranking 303rd nationally. Virginia is one of few teams with a lower average, making just 25.4 percent of 3s attempted. South Carolina does a decent job on the offensive glass and is usually able to avoid committing turnovers en masse.

The Gamecocks are stronger on defense than they are on offense, which is very typical of Martin teams. They rank 80th nationally in defensive efficiency and come to town after an impressive defensive performance at Clemson. Opponents are struggling around the rim this year, making just 43.1 percent of their two-point tries. South Carolina is also near the top nationally in block rate, and those two stats together show that the Gamecocks do a nice job defending around the rim. Opponents are shooting 30.6 percent from deep against the Gamecocks this year, which is the 85th best average allowed in Division I.

South Carolina will feature one of the best players that the Cavaliers have faced all year in sophomore guard A.J. Lawson. Already receiving some NBA Draft buzz, Lawson is a do-everything guard at 6-foot-6 who can score in the lane but also knock down outside shots consistently. On the season, he averages a team-best 16.3 points per contest, making 44.6 percent of his field-goal attempts. The Toronto native has five 20-point efforts this season, including a 20-point, six-rebound game last weekend against the Tigers. It’s a good thing for Virginia that Braxton Key is back in the lineup, as he will likely be assigned to Lawson quite a bit in this game.

To complement Lawson, South Carolina gets significant contributions from its frontcourt. Estonian big man Maik Kotsar is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 10.1 points per contest. Kotsar has hit double-figures scoring in seven of the last eight games and has come close to a double-double on several occasions. At 6-foot-11, he will be quite the challenge for Virginia’s bigs around the rim. The Gamecocks have several smaller forwards that are capable scorers in Keyshawn Bryant, Justin Minaya, and Alanzo Frink. Bryant missed the first eight games of the season and is still rounding into form after averaging nine points per game last year as a freshman. Minaya and Frink, who are also sophomores, are capable scorers and rebounders, averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds per game between them.