W&M News and Notes
- Notre Dame will be the first of two ACC opponents for W&M in 2018-19. The Tribe also travels to Virginia on Dec. 22. It marks the third time in the last four seasons that W&M has played two ACC opponents in a season.
- The Tribe is 16-96 all-time against the ACC, including a 3-8 mark under head coach
Tony Shaver the last 10 seasons. W&M won at NC State, 85-68, behind 51.7 percent shooting in 2015. The Tribe posted ACC road games against a pair of eventual NCAA Tournament teams in Wake Forest, 78-68, and Maryland, 83-77, during the 2009-10 season. The Terps went on to share the ACC regular season title.
- Saturday will be the third of four W&M games in the 2018 Gotham Classic, which is in its sixth season. The Tribe competes in a multi-team exempt (MTE) event for the first time since the 2011-12 season and hosts Radford on Nov. 20 to close out the event. W&M's last exempt event was the 2011 2K Sports Classic, when the Tribe traveled to St. John's and played Lehigh, Eastern Kentucky and Liberty in Lynchburg, Va.
- At UIC, the Tribe knocked down a season-high 15 3-pointers, which also equaled the highest total in the CAA in 2018. In total, 16 of the Tribe's 18 all-time games of 15 or more 3-pointers have come under head coach
Tony Shaver. W&M is 86-49 in 135 games with double-digit 3-pointers in Shaver's 16 seasons.
- Junior
Matt Milon erupted for a career-high 30 points at UIC on Thursday. He topped his previous mark of 25 set at Boston College against Syracuse during his freshman season. Milon hit eight 3-pointers, which was the third-best single-season total in W&M history. The eight triples are tied for the most in the CAA this season and the fifth-best single-game total in the NCAA this season. He ranks second in the CAA in 3-pointers made (12).
- For the second time in the opening three games junior
Justin Pierce posted a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds at UIC on Thursday. He just missed a triple-double with a career-high seven assists. Pierce is the only player in the CAA to average a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double as he comes in at 22.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. He is one of two players in the CAA to rank among the top 10 in the league in scoring (third), rebounding (second) and assists (seventh at 3.7 per game).
- Freshman
L.J. Owens became the first Tribe player since 2015 to the named CAA Rookie of the Week on Nov. 12. Owens averaged 11 points and 2.0 rebounds per game last week. His scoring average is tops among league rookies at 11.3 per game. He tallied 12 points, all in the final 4:27 of regulation and OT, at UIC.
- W&M is one of two teams in the CAA to have four players ranked among the top 25 in the league in scoring along with James Madison. Pierce is third at 22.3 points per game followed by Milon (17.7) and junior
Nathan Knight (15.0) in eighth and 15th. Owens (11.3) rounds out the group at 24th in the CAA.
- Knight registered his 10th career double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds at Duquesne on Nov. 10. He ranks 15th in the CAA in scoring (15.0) and 11th in rebounding (6.3). He is also third in blocks per game (1.3) and fifth in field goal percentage (.581).
- The Tribe has been one of the top teams in the country in terms of sharing the basketball. Each of the last two seasons, W&M ranked seventh nationally in assists per game at 17.5 in 2016-17 and 17.7 in 2017-18. In five of the last six years, the Green and Gold led the CAA in assists per game. W&M ranks third in the league at 15.7 assists per game in 2018-19.
- W&M produced the top two scoring seasons in program history in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The Tribe ranked among the top 25 nationally in both campaigns and is currently second in the CAA at 81.3 points per game in 2018-19. Over the last three years, W&M is averaging 83.3 points per game. Last season, the Green and Gold averaged 85 points per game, which ranked fourth nationally and was the third-highest average in CAA history.
- W&M was picked fourth in the preseason CAA poll released in October by vote of the league's coaches, SIDs and media. Northeastern was the preseason CAA favorite followed by Charleston and Hofstra. The Tribe has finished inside the top four in the league each of the last five seasons, producing double-digit CAA wins.
- After earning All-CAA honors last season, Knight and Pierce were voted among the top 10 players in the league as Preseason All-CAA Second Team picks in October. It marks the sixth-straight year that W&M had two Preseason All-CAA picks. Knight and Pierce concluded 2018 on the CAA's second and third teams, respectively.
- Knight was named one of 21 players nationally to the Watch List for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The 6-10 center was selected to the NBC Sports Preseason Mid-Major All-America Second Team in September.
- Second-year Law student
Paul Rowley and Milon both rank among the active NCAA Division I leaders in career 3-point percentage. Rowley is seventh on the list at 45.1 percent (88-of-195) from long range, while Milon comes in ninth at 44.9 percent (128-of-285).
- Since 2013-14, the Tribe is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range (39.7). W&M has averaged 9.1 3-pointers made per game over the last five years. In 2018-19, the Tribe ranks fourth in the CAA in 3-point percentage (.405) and 3-pointers made per game (10.7). W&M has led the CAA in 3-point percentage five of the last six years and in 3's per game on three occasions during the stretch.
