Virginia Basketball takes on Notre Dame Fighting Irish: SCORE and GAME THREAD

What: No. 13/14 Virginia Cavaliers (22-5, 13-1 ACC) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-13, 5-9 ACC)

Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: John Paul Jones Arena
TV: ESPN 2, WatchESPN.com
Radio: Virginia Sports Radio Network

Last Meeting: UVA 68, Notre Dame 53 (January 18, 2014)

Odds: Vegas: UVA -12.5 | KenPom: UVA 70, Notre Dame 56 (92%)

Well here's the problem now. I'm starting to get a little confident, which is a bad sign for everyone.

Notre Dame's season has not gone at all what the preseason polls had predicted, and since upsetting Duke at home, the Irish have since lost nine of the past 14 games.

For the Hoos, it's already been a season reminiscent of the Ralph Sampson era. We're constantly reminded of this as Virginia continues to match records set in the early 80s. A win against the Irish would give the Hoos its first 11-game ACC winning streak since 1981-82, as well as a school record 14 ACC wins.

Notre Dame is led in scoring by senior center Garrick Sherman and senior guard Eric Atkins, who are each shooting 13.8 points per game. Junior guard Pat Connaughton is right behind them with 13.6 points per game, for a well-balanced trio of offense. Notre Dame's adjusted offensive efficiency is 112.4, good for 39th in the country.

By now you know that Virginia's defense is its bread and butter. The Hoos lead the conference in each of the following defensive stats: points allowed per game (55.5, 1st NCAA), points allowed per possession (0.9, 5th NCAA), offensive rebounding percentage (25.3%, 5th NCAA), rebounds per game (29.3, 6th NCAA), field goal percentage (38.6%, 9th NCAA) and rebounding percentage (45.1%, 13th NCAA).

Not too shabby.

Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts here and as always, Go HOOS!