Game #11 • Navy at Virginia Tech
Sunday, Dec. 15 • Noon
Cassell Coliseum • Blacksburg, Va.

Series History
Overall: Virginia Tech leads, 4-3
Last Game: Virginia Tech, 77-57 / Nov. 12, 2021 (Annapolis, Md.)
at Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech leads, 1-0
Last Game: Virginia Tech, 79-54 / Feb. 15, 1964

Broadcast Information
Video: ACC Network Extra, ESPN+ / Evan Hughes, Mack McCarthy
Navy Radio: WNAV, WFED / Tim Nolan

Five Starting Notes
1 – Sunday's game is the first in the series to be played in Blacksburg in 61 seasons and the second to be played at Virginia Tech.
2 – Lysander Rehnstrom is the only current player on either team to appear in the Nov. 12, 2021, Virginia Tech at Navy game.  He was held scoreless in seven minutes of playing time.
3 – Navy last played Atlantic Coast Conference teams during the 2021-22 season when it played at Virginia, hosted Virginia Tech and played at Louisville (1-2 record).
4 – Virginia Tech is playing a Patriot League team for the fourth year in a row (3-0 record) and fifth time under head coach Mike Young (4-0 record).
5 – Navy and Virginia Tech are each averaging 37.40 rebounds a game.  The Mids rank 53rd nationally with an average of 13.20 offensive boards a game and the Hokies rank 70th with 13.20 offensive caroms a game.

Game Information
•    Navy travels to Blacksburg, Va., for the first time in 61 seasons Sunday for a noon game at Virgina Tech.
•    The game will be streamed by the ACC Network Extra and ESPN+ with Evan Hughes and Mack McCarthy serving as the announcers.
•    Tim Nolan will have the local radio broadcast of the game on both WNAV and WFED.

About Virginia Tech 
•    Virginia Tech posted a 19-15 record last season and tied for eighth place in the 15-team Atlantic Coast Conference with a 10-10 record.
•    The Hokies advanced to the second round of the NIT.
•    Virginia Tech placed 14th in the 18-team 2024-25 ACC Preseason Poll.
•    The Hokies won a 95-67 decision over North Carolina A&T Thursday to snap a six-game skid.  Those losses included defeats to Penn State, Michigan, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and ACC-foe Pittsburgh.
•    Virginia Tech has an average opponent NET rank of 85 and an NET strength of schedule of 79.

Series History
•    Virginia Tech holds a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series with Navy.  
•    The teams first met during the 1913-14 season when the Mids posted a 51-15 victory in Annapolis.
•    The Hokies have won the last four games between the teams, which spans the 1959-60 through 2021-22 seasons.
•    The Hokies defeated the Mids, 77-57, on Nov. 21, 2021, in the most recent meeting.  That game was played in Annapolis as part of the Veterans Classic.
•    Navy's Lysander Rehnstrom is the lone current player on either team to have played in the game.
•    The only prior game in the series to be played in Blacksburg was on Feb. 15, 1964, when the Hokies defeated the Mids, 79-54.  It was the 30th Virginia Tech men's basketball game to be played in Cassell Coliseum.  Sunday's game will be the 885th in the venue.
•    That game was played 22,219 days ago.  
•    The No. 1 song in the US on that date was I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles, who had made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show six days earlier.
•    The No. 1 movie was Tom Jones, which went on to earn 10 Academy Award nominations and win four Oscars including for Best Picture.
•    The average price of gas was $0.30 and one gallon of milk cost $0.93.

On This Date
•    Navy has posted a 9-4 record in games played on Dec. 15.

Against This State
•    Navy has compiled a 168-109 record in games played against opponents located in Virginia.

In This State
•    Navy has posted a 54-78 record in games played in Virginia.  

Navy vs. ACC Teams
•    Navy has tallied a 91-99 record against teams currently in the ACC.  
•    The last time the Mids played ACC teams was in the 2021-22 season when they opened the year with games at Virginia (W, 66-58), at home against Virginia Tech (L, 77-57) and at Louisville (L, 77-60).
•    The Mids have posted a 2-6 record against ACC teams under head coach Ed DeChellis.  This includes a 1-5 record in road games.

Navy vs. ACC on the Road
•    Navy has posted a 9-40 record in road games played against current ACC teams.  

Virginia Tech vs. Patriot League Teams
•    Virginia Tech has compiled a 18-7 record against Patriot League teams.  The Hokies defeated American, 77-57, on Dec. 21, 2023, in their most recent game against a Patriot League opponent.
•    Virginia Tech has posted a 12-0 record against Patriot League teams when the game was played in Blacksburg.
•    The Hokies have won all four of their previous games played against Patriot League teams under head coach Mike Young.  This includes a 3-0 record at home.

Ed DeChellis vs. Mike Young
•    Navy's Ed DeChellis and Virginia Tech's Mike Young spent seven seasons coaching against one another in the Southern Conference when DeChellis was the head coach at East Tennessee State and Young was first an assistant and then the head coach at Wofford.
•    Overall, DeChellis holds a 9-1 lead in those games, including a 2-1 advantage when the two were head coaches.
•    Ed DeChellis has posted a 3-6 record against Virginia Tech as a head coach.  This includes a 1-4 record in games played in Blacksburg.
•    Mike Young has posted a 2-1 record against Navy as a head coach.

Don DeVoe
•    Don DeVoe served as the head coach at both Virginia Tech and Navy.
•    DeVoe took over as the head coach of the Hokies for the 1971-72 season when he was 29 years old.
•    He guided the team for five seasons and compiled an 88-45 record.  During his stay in Blacksburg the Hokies won the 1973 NIT and reached the 1976 NCAA Tournament.
•    After stops at Wyoming (1976-77 to 1977-78), Tennessee (1978-79 to 1988-89) and Florida (1989-90), DeVoe arrived at Navy for the 1992-93 season.
•    He coached the Mids for 12 seasons (through the 2003-04 campaign) and posted a 184-161 record. 
•    The Mids earned at least a share of five Patriot League regular season titles and won the league tournament to make NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994, 1997 and 1998.
•    DeVoe accrued a 512-389 record in 31 seasons as a head coach.  He took Virginia Tech (one), Tennessee (six) and Navy (three) to NCAA Tournaments.

A Look Back (NJIT 69, Navy 64)
•    Navy held a 40-35 lead early in the second half but then trailed, 49-44.
•    The Mids cut the deficit to one point at 51-50, but soon fell behind 63-54.  
•    Navy drew to within one point at 65-61 only to see NJIT go 4-4 from the foul line down the stretch.
•    The Mids shot just 32.5 percent from the floor and were 6-30 (20%) from beyond the arc.
•    Navy grabbed 21 offensive boards but scored only 10 second chance points.
•    Donovan Draper set a career high with 22 points, tied a career best with 16 rebounds, grabbed a career-high 7 offensive rebounds and matched his career high with 3 assists.

A Look Ahead 
•    Navy closes its pre-holiday slate of games Saturday, Dec. 21, when the Mids play at Coppin State.

The Flying Mids
•    Navy is trying to play at a faster pace this season than in the past.
•    Using the adjusted tempo statistic (possessions per 40 minutes) on KenPom.com, the Mids are playing at their fastest pace during the Ed DeChellis-coached era (68.7 possessions a game, 140th in the NCAA).
•    Virginia Tech is averaging 65.7 possessions a game (294th).

Missing Home
•    Navy's Nov. 25 game against Washington (Md.) was the last home game for Navy in the 2024 calendar year.  The Mids will not return to Alumni Hall until they open Patriot League play on Jan. 2 against American.
•    Navy will go 38 days between home games, which is the second-longest span between home games in program history.  It also marks the 12th time in school history in which Navy will go at least 30 days between home games.
•     It also is tied for third for the most consecutive regular season games played away from Annapolis.

Navy by President
•    Navy has posted a 61-51 (.545) record under President Joe Biden.
•    The Mids previously compiled a 58-44 (.569) record during Donald Trump's first term as President.

Navy Bench Has Been a Strength 
•    The Mids have received an average of at least 20 points a game from their bench since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
•    Navy ranked fourth in the Patriot League and 149th nationally in bench scoring during the 2023-24 season (20.06 ppg).
•    This year, the reserves scored 45 of the team's 86 points against Penn and 39 of 63 points against Elon.
•    The Mids are second in the league and 96th in the NCAA this year with an average of 26.4 bench points per game.

Navy Good Again on the Offensive Boards
•    Navy has been very good over the last number of years at winning the offensive rebound margin.
•    The Mids ranked first in the Patriot League and 40th nationally during the 2023-24 season with an average of 12.45 offensive rebounds per game.
•    Navy stands first in the league and 53rd nationally with an average of 13.20 offensive boards a game this year.
•    Aidan Kehoe (3.30 OR/G, 2nd PL, 35th NCAA) and Donovan Draper (2.80 OR/G, 4th PL, 84th NCAA) rank among the NCAA leaders in offensive rebounds.

Taking Good Care of the Ball 
•    Navy is once again doing a good job of not only taking care of the ball but also forcing turnovers.  The Mids again are ranked among the Patriot League and NCAA leaders in all three turnover categories.
•    This has led to Navy holding an advantage over its foes in points scored after turnovers.

At the FT Line – Austin Benigni / 2024-25
•    Benigni ranks 10th in the NCAA for free throws made (59) and 23rd in free throws attempted (70).
•    Benigni ranks fifth at Navy during the Patriot League era (1991-92 to present) and 21st in program history for the highest career free throw attempts per game average (4.61).
•    Benigni ranks among the Navy leaders for career free throw percentage (3rd / .846).

30-Point Games
•    There have been 32 Mids in program history to have scored at least 30 points in a game.
•    Austin Benigni is one of 11 to have recorded a 30-point game in multiple seasons.  
•    He is one of three to have had multiple seasons with 30-point games during the program's Patriot League era (since 1991-92).
•    He first scored 32 points against Lehigh on Jan. 11, 2024, the scored 34 points against Harvard on Nov. 8, 2024.

Draper's Steals and Rebounds
•    Donovan Draper spent the 2021-22 academic year as a football player at the Naval Academy Prep School.  He then was wide receiver at Navy on the 2022-23 team.
•    Draper, who was an all-county basketball player in high school, joined the Navy basketball team in the spring of 2023.
•    After going 994 days between his last high school basketball game and first as a Mid, he made an immediate impact as he ranked among the Patriot League and NCAA leaders in multiple statistical categories.
•    Navy has scored on 60 of the 118 (50.8%) possessions in which Draper has grabbed an offensive rebound.
•    Draper ranks among the Navy leaders for the highest career offensive rebounding average (tied for 1st / 2.98).

Kehoe Lately
•    Aidan Kehoe moved into the regular rotation during Navy's Feb. 21, 2024, game at Loyola and made his first start in the next game against Holy Cross.
•    He had totaled 26 points (1.0 ppg) and 40 rebounds (1.5 rpg) in 26 career games prior to taking to the floor against the Greyhounds.
•    Since then, he has totaled 147 points (9.1 ppg) and 126 rebounds (7.9 rpg). 

Pennick Lately
•    Jordan Pennick had appeared in 16 games prior to Navy's Feb. 17, 2024, game at Boston U., and totaled 26 points (1.6 ppg) and 18 rebounds (1.1 rpg).
•    Since then, he has scored 130 points (7.6 ppg) and grabbed 62 rebounds (3.6 rpg).