TheSabre.com Poll: How Many Times Will Virginia Basketball Hold Opponents Below 50 Points This Season?

The wait is almost over! The Virginia men’s basketball team tips off its season next Friday when Morgan State comes to Charlottesville for a 7 p.m. contest.

With the new season upon us, the Sabre’s poll questions have focused on basketball the past few weeks. Last week, the question focused on how many points UVa would average with the new 30-second shot clock in place for men’s college basketball. See the results below.

This week, the script is flipped to the Pack-Line defense with the new clock. Last season, Virginia held opponents to less than 50 points 15 times. That included 10 times in ACC games. During the Tony Bennett era, UVa has accomplished the feat 52 times and posted a 50-2 record in those games, including 15-0 last season.

This week’s poll question is based on those numbers and the new shot clock.

How Many Times Will Virginia Basketball Hold Opponents Below 50 Points This Season?

The poll remains open until next Thursday at noon and the results will be recapped the following Thursday (see last week’s results below).

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Throughout the offseason, there has been a lot of discussion about the new 30-second shot clock in men’s college basketball this season. In facing a shorter clock, will the Hoos increase their tempo on offense by looking for earlier chances in transition and can they remain as efficient with less time to work with overall?

The answer to that question is one storyline that Cavalier fans will be watching all season long. In the Tony Bennett era to date, UVa has averaged 64.3 points per game (65.5, 61.9, 62.5, 64.2, 66.2, 65.4) with the last three-year window showing an uptick to 65.3. More overall possessions should lead to a greater scoring average in theory, but how high will the Hoos get?

How Many Points Will Virginia Basketball Average This Season?

That was the poll question last week. The results indicate that voters expect UVa to score a little more this season, but voters did not foresee a dramatic shift. The leading answer was 67-68 points with 29% of the votes, a slight increase from the 65.3 average of the past three seasons. Second in the poll was 69-70 points with 26% of the votes, followed by 70-71 with 15%. 12% of the votes had Virginia at 65-66 points, meaning no change with a new shot clock.

The full results: