Previewing Virginia basketball’s ACC/SEC Challenge matchup with Texas

The Virginia Cavaliers are in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday for their toughest test of the season thus far, a true road game against Sean Miller and the Texas Longhorns as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.

Ryan Odom’s ’Hoos last took the court on Friday night in Charlottesville, bouncing back from their first loss of the season and taking care of business against Queens NC, 94-69. UVA improved to 6-1 with its win on Friday, but you never truly know what a team is made of until it takes on a hostile road environment — and the ’Hoos will get their first taste of that type of atmosphere on Wednesday night.

Tipoff is set for 9:15 PM EST inside the Moody Center with coverage on ESPNU. Ahead of the tilt with Texas, here are two Longhorns to look out for, one key matchup to watch, and one prediction for Wednesday night’s matchup.

Two Longhorns to know

A 6-foot-8 junior from Columbus, Ohio, Dailyn Swain is a versatile scoring threat who will be the focal point of the Longhorns’ offense on Wednesday night. Swain leads Texas in scoring at 16.5 points per game on 56.8% shooting from the floor.

Swain, who followed Sean Miller over from Xavier this past offseason, scored a season-high 26 points against Rider a few weeks ago and averaged nearly 19 points per game during Texas’s run to a fifth-place finish in last week’s Maui Invitational.

Also averaging 6.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, Swain can beat a defense in a variety of ways. Primarily a slasher, Swain has a smooth handle for his size and does most of his damage on strong drives to the rim, where he is an adept finisher and skilled at drawing contact to get to the free-throw line.

Swain isn’t going to kill the ’Hoos from beyond the arc (he’s shooting just 25% from three-point range), but his strength and athleticism on the wing — where the ’Hoos are most lacking — present a difficult challenge for Virginia’s defense.

A sophomore transfer from FAU, Matas Vokietaitis represents the toughest interior test the ’Hoos have yet to face. The Lithuanian 7-footer is second on the Longhorns in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game on an astonishing 71.7% shooting from the floor, and he leads the team in rebounding (7.0 boards per game).

Vokietaitis’s efficiency down low has been a massive strength for the Longhorns’ offense this season. When left alone in the post, Vokietaitis goes to work with a skillful low-post arsenal. But when opposing defenses double him, Vokietaitis has just enough playmaking ability to stay calm and find open shooters.

One matchup to watch

Between Vokietaitis and Swain, Texas packs a strong interior scoring punch. The Longhorns have outscored their opponents in the paint in seven of their eight games this season, even doing so in their pair of losses to Arizona State and Duke.

Standing in their way, however, is one of the nation’s best shot-blocking defenses. Led by Johann Grünloh (3.3 blocks per game) and Ugonna Onyenso (3.1 blocks per game), who are each inside the top five in the nation in blocks per game, the ’Hoos are second in the country as a unit in both blocks per game and block percentage (according to KenPom).

Though Virginia’s defense has left plenty to be desired through eight games, especially when it comes to forcing turnovers and limiting threes, the interior presence of Grünloh and Onyenso has been an excellent anchor for the unit. If Texas wants to dominate the paint, they’ll have to go right through Virginia’s biggest defensive strength on Wednesday night.

One prediction

Virginia’s game will tip off in the last window of the ACC/SEC Challenge, with the final seven games being played on Wednesday night. The SEC was college basketball’s most dominant conference last season, and the ACC drew an exceptionally tough draw in this year’s challenge, with almost all its upper-echelon teams playing on the road.

Since Tuesday night’s games have already been played, I’ll predict that the ACC salvages three of the final seven games on Wednesday, with Louisville beating Arkansas on the road, Georgia Tech holding on at home over Mississippi State, and the ’Hoos squeaking out a win in Austin for Ryan Odom’s first head-turning win as UVA’s head coach.

The Longhorns are just 1-2 against power conference competition this season, and I think it’s due time the ’Hoos get hot from beyond the arc against some real competition — they shot over 45% from distance against Queens after struggling in the Greenbrier ballroom.

I’ll take Virginia in a nail-biter.

Virginia 80, Texas 77