News and Notes
- W&M travels to No. 3/6 Duke for its second contest of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent. The Blue Devils, who have been ranked in the top 10 in seven of the last eight meetings, leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 27-3. It marks the third straight season that W&M has played a top-10 opponent (No. 7 Florida in 2014 and No. 10 Virginia in 2015).
- W&M is in search of its first win over a ranked opponent since knocking off No. 2 North Carolina in 1977. A victory over Duke would be the program's first Top 25 road win. W&M is 5-49 all-time against the
AP Top 10.
- The Green and Gold owns three ACC victories in the last eight seasons under head coach
Tony Shaver, including an 83-77 triumph over ACC regular season co-champion Maryland in 2010. Last season, W&M won at N.C. State, 85-68, to open the year.
- The Tribe connected on double-digit 3-pointers in two of its first three games, including 15 vs. Presbyterian. W&M leads the CAA and ranks 20th nationally in 3-pointers per game (10.3).
- W&M dished out 27 assists on 32 made field goals in its win over Presbyterian. The Tribe leads the CAA and ranks 24th nationally in assists per game (19.9). According to KenPom.com, W&M ranks third in the country in assist rate, recording an assist on nearly 75 percent of its made field goals against Division I competition.
- Senior
Omar Prewitt will play in his 100th career game when W&M travels to Duke. He is only six points away from becoming the 12th player in program history with 1400 career points.
Scouting Duke
- The Blue Devils are 4-1 on the year after winning two games over the week to claim the Hall of Fame Tip-Off. Duke downed Penn State, 78-68, on Saturday, before downing No. 21 Rhode Island, 75-65, in the title game on Sunday. Earlier in the week, the Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season, 77-75, to No. 7 Kansas in the State Farm Champions Classic.
- Duke entered the 2016-17 season as the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Blue Devils come into Wednesday's contest ranked No. 3 in the
USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the
Associated Press Top 25.
- According to KenPom.com, Duke possesses one of the top offenses and defenses nationally in terms of efficiency. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 1 in offensive efficiency (121.3), while coming in 13th in defensive efficiency (91.9). Duke has been particularly stingy from 3-point range, holding opponents to 19.8 percent from long range, which ranks seventh nationally.
- Sophomore Luke Kennard, who scored a game-high 24 points in the win over URI, leads five Blue Devils in double figures at 18.2 points per game. He shoots 52 percent (13-of-25) from 3-point range.
- Graduate student Amile Jefferson, who posted back-to-back double-doubles in the Hall of Fame Tip-off, averages a double-double at 13 points and 10 rebounds. He also averages 2.6 blocked shots per game and shoots 64.1 percent from the floor.
- Freshman Frank Jackson is second on the team at 15.6 points per game followed by junior All-American Grayson Allen at 15 per contest. Senior Matt Jones rounds out the double-digit scorers at 12.2 points per game.
- Duke has been hampered in the early going by injuries with three heralded freshmen - Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden - and junior Sean Obi all having yet to appear for the Blue Devils.
- Duke leads the all-time series with W&M at 27-3 and have won the last 15 games between the programs. Wednesday marks the sixth-straight meeting and seventh in the last eight that Duke enters the game ranked in the top 10. The Tribe will look for its first win over the Blue Devils since downing No. 18 Duke, 85-82, in overtime in 1953.
Success vs. the Power Five
Under head coach
Tony Shaver, W&M has enjoyed success against Power Five opponents, including a quartet of wins. Here is a look at some of the Tribe's success against the Power Five since the 2009-10 season:
- W&M is 16-95 all-time against the ACC, including a 3-7 mark under head coach
Tony Shaver the last eight seasons.
- Last season, W&M used a 17-2 run in the opening half to claim a 20-point cushion on the way to an 85-68 win at N.C. State. The Tribe shot 51.7 percent from the field and controlled every facet of the game, including a 17-4 advantage in fastbreak points and a 40-28 cushion in the paint.
Daniel Dixon and
Omar Prewitt topped W&M with 19 and 17 points, respectively, vs. the Wolfpack.
- Though not a member of a Power 5 conference, the Tribe dropped a three-point game, 69-66, to the Atlantic 10 Champion Dayton Flyers in 2015. The Green and Gold trailed by as much as nine in the second half, before using a 13-2 run to take a 62-60 lead with 1:29 remaining. Dixon led the Tribe with 24 points, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range, while Prewitt added 10 points.
- In 2014, W&M rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to pick up a 72-62 win at current Big Ten team Rutgers. Marcus Thornton led all scorers with 28 points for W&M, while
Terry Tarpey and Prewitt chipped in 11 and nine points, respectively.
- During the 2012-13 season, the Tribe suffered a pair of narrow losses against two Power Five opponents, despite halftime leads. The Green and Gold fell at ACC foe Wake Forest, 63-57, but led 30-23 at the half. Later in the season, W&M led Purdue of the Big Ten, 40-39, at the half, but could not hold on before falling to the Boilermakers, 73-66.
- In 2010-11, W&M nearly upset No. 10-ranked Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. The Tribe led by four points with five minutes to go, but the Orange rallied by scoring the game's final seven points to pull out a 63-60 win. Syracuse finished the year ranked No. 12 nationally after going 27-8 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
- The Tribe upset a pair of ACC foes who went on to the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10. W&M became the first team to win at Joel Coliseum in November, knocking off Wake Forest, 78-68. Later in the season, the Tribe posted an 83-77 win at Maryland. The Terps went on to earn a share of the ACC regular season title. It marked the first time in the history of the CAA that a team won on the road at two ACC opponents in the same season.
20-Assist Games
- After dishing out 20 or more assists in seven different games last season, the Tribe recorded its first 20-plus assist game in 2016-17. W&M recorded 27 assists on its 32 made field goals in the win over Presbyterian.
- The 27 assists against the Blue Hose rank as the sixth most in W&M history. It is the second-highest total under head coach
Tony Shaver, trailing the 28 assists at Delaware last season.
- The seven games of 20 or more assists last season were the most since the 1995 campaign.
- The Tribe was 6-1 last season and 20-1 over the seven seasons when dishing out 20 or more assists in a game.
Double-Digit 3-Pointers
- Over the last eight seasons, W&M is averaging nearly 12 games of double-digit 3-pointers per campaign, meaning it hits 10 or more 3-pointers in a more than a third of its games each year. Twice in its first three games of 2016-17, the Tribe knocked down double-digit 3-pointers with 10 against Bridgewater and 15 vs. Presbyterian.
- W&M currently leads the CAA and ranks 20th nationally at 10.3 3-pointers made per game.
- The Tribe's 15 3-pointers against Presbyterian on Nov. 19 rank as the sixth-most in school history. The total trails only the school-record mark of 16 set on five occasions, including three under head coach
Tony Shaver. W&M hit 16 3-pointers at Delaware last season, vs. UNCW in 2014 and at North Carolina in the 2010 NIT.
- In program history, W&M has hit 14 or more 3-pointers on 18 occasions, and 14 of those have come under head coach
Tony Shaver.
- The Tribe is 63-42 under Shaver when hitting 10 or more 3-pointers. Of the Tribe's 105 games of double-digit triples under Shaver, 96 have come over the last nine years with W&M posting a 58-38 record.
The Dish with David Cohn
- After joining the Tribe as a transfer from Colorado State, junior
David Cohn has become a fixture at the point guard position in the Tribe lineup
- Cohn entered the 2016-17 season as the top returning player in the CAA in terms of assists per game and has continued to be the top assist man in the league. After averaging 4.7 per game last season, including 5.3 in league action, Cohn is up to seven assists per game this season, which leads the league and ranks 15th nationally. According to KenPom.com, he ranks 41st nationally in assist rate.
- After dishing out eight assists in the season-opener against Bridgewater, Cohn handed out nine compared to zero turnovers in the win over Presbyterian.
- For his career, Cohn is just six assists away from the 200 mark. He dished out 29 assists in his lone season at Colorado State and has 165 in his two seasons (34 games) with the Tribe.
- Last season, Cohn dished out 144 assists, the third-best total in program history. His assist average ranked second in the CAA and 93rd nationally.
- Cohn did a wonderful job taking care of the basketball as well in 2016 and that too has continued this season. He led the CAA and ranked 26th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9) in 2015-16. This season, he ranks second in the CAA and 59th nationally with a ratio of 4.2. His career assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.81.
- Twice last season, Cohn dished out 10 or more assists in a game. He is one of only four players in Tribe history, along with Scott Coval (3 in 1984-85), Nick D'Antoni (3 in 2003-04) and David Cox (2 in 1994-95), to record multiple games of 10 or more assists in the same season.
- At UNCW on Jan. 16, Cohn recorded his only career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 11 assists. Making his assist total even more impressive, Cohn only turned the ball over one time. It was the first performance in W&M history with at least 11 assists in a game compared to only one turnover.
In the National Rankings
The Tribe ranks among the top 100 nationally in a number of statistical categories. Here is a look at where W&M ranks nationally (as of Nov. 20):
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio: 18th (1.68)
3-Point Field Goals Per Game: 20th (10.3)
Fouls Per Game: 21st (15.7)
Assists Per Game: 24th (19.0)
Steals Per Game: 27th (9.7)
Turnover Margin: 28th (5.3)
Blocked Shots Per Game: 44th (5.7)
Turnovers Per Game: 49th (11.3)
Scoring Margin: 60th (+16.3)
3-Point Field Goal Defense: 64th (.281)
Turnovers Forced: 69th (16.7)
Scoring Defense: 77th (64.7)
Scoring Offense: 99th (81.0)
