Wisconsin-Virginia Preview

In a November littered with early top-25 matchups in college basketball, Friday will pit an under-the-radar addition to the genre in The Bahamas.

No. 4 Virginia (5-0) will face off with No. 25 Wisconsin (5-0) in the Battle 4 Atlantis final as the two teams meet for the third time in the past six seasons.

To say the last two games between the Cavaliers and the Badgers have been hard to watch, might be an understatement. Neither team has cracked the 40 percent plateau shooting the ball in either of those two matchups with each team winning one game without scoring 50 points.

Another defensive struggle is expected Friday afternoon as Wisconsin held Stanford to 46 points and Oklahoma to 58 points in their first two games in The Bahamas.

Virginia has the nation's third-leading scoring defense and hasn't allowed an opponent to score 60 points yet this season. The Cavaliers got their toughest test of the young season in Thursday's semifinals as the slid past a pesky Dayton squad 66-59 after shooting just 43 percent from the field.

"That is the first game we've been in where possessions have mattered late in the game," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said following the win. "De'Andre 1/8Hunter 3/8 I thought was terrific with how hard he played and some of the plays he made."

Sophomore De'Andre Hunter has shined through five games as he scored a career-best 23 points against the Flyers and has scored in double figures in every game this season.

Wisconsin as shown the ability to score the ball this season (80 ppg) as D'Mitrik Trice scored 25 points as the Badgers pulled away from Oklahoma in the second half in the semifinals. Trice is averaging just shy of 18 points per game this season to join Ethan Happ who is also averaging 17.8 points per game.

Happ has added 12 rebounds per game through Wisconsin's first five games and scored 14 of his team's 37 points last season when the Badgers lost to Virginia in Charlottesville.

Wisconsin started the season unranked before slipping in to the top-25 on Monday after starting the season 3-0. Two wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis has the Badgers in a spot to win the tournament for the second time in five seasons after taking the tournament title back in 2014.

"I just keep going back to the experience factor," Happ said of his team. "Last year we might not have done as well against the double team or if a couple of guys missed a shot, we might not have stayed with it. But it's another year under everyone's belts that definitely helps us in those aspects."

Virginia has positioned themselves to capture their sixth straight November tournament title and the Cavaliers currently have won 22 consecutive games in the month of November since 2015.

The championship game tips at 2pm on Friday from Imperial Arena as the teams will battle for the sixth time in each school's history. Virginia leads the all-time series 3-2.

"We'll take it. We are in the championship game against a heck of a team I know that," Bennett finished.