Virginia Basketball vs. Coppin State Game Preview, Score Prediction

2023-2024 record: 2-27 (1-13 MEAC)
2024-2025 record: 0-3

Coppin State is in its second year under head coach Larry Stewart, who also happens to be the program’s all-time leading scorer as he won back-to-back MEAC Player of the Year Awards and played a few seasons in the NBA before spending the rest of the ​his career abroad. This is Stewart’s first head coaching job and it’s not going very well so far as the Eagles went 2-27 last season and were picked to finish dead last in the eight-team MEAC this year.

Coppin State is off to an 0-3 start this season. The campaign opened with a 64-49 loss to Wake Forest, and that loss doesn’t look bad at all as the Demon Deacons are 3-0 and just beat Michigan on Sunday. Then came a pair of losses that weren’t nearly as encouraging as the Eagles were crushed at High Point 93-51 and then fell to Rider 64-53 in their home opener Friday. This will be the fourth game in eight days for Coppin State, so stamina could be an issue.

Coppin State’s top player is 6’6″ guard Derrius Ward, a redshirt senior from Philadelphia. Ward is the team’s only double-digit scorer at 15.3 points per game, and he scored 19 points in the loss at Wake Forest. 6’3″ guard Toby Nnadozie is the team’s top three-point shooter at 41.7% from three and 5’11” guard Cam’Ron Brown facilitates the offense. The five starters are 6’7″ forward Jonathan Dunn (3.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg) and 6’8″ forward Peter Oduro (5.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg).

Virginia’s evolving point guard situation
We had this as a key to watch in the season opener and it will continue to be a key until the Cavaliers gain some stability at the point guard position. With Jalen Warley entering the transfer window and Christian Bliss out with a foot injury, it was Andrew Rohde who got the start at point guard in the opener over Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames. Rohde played 32 minutes while Ames only played 10. Although Rohde is exceeding expectations this season, Virginia’s ceiling is low if he is the team’s lead guard. He needs to play better than the one-point, five-assist, four-turnover performance he had against Campbell, but the Cavaliers need to play Dai Dai Ames more and get more out of him.

Tracking Elijah Saunders and TJ Power
Saunders had a decent Cavalier debut with 11 points on 5/8 shooting and five rebounds despite playing just 18 minutes when he was in foul trouble. TJ Power didn’t play much anymore as he logged 19 minutes and scored three points and was the only Cavalier with a negative +/- at -7. Jacob Cofie stole the show in the opener, and that’s good news for UVA, but the Hoos will need Saunders to be on the floor more, and they’ll need the Power to start showing glimpses of his former five-star recruiting potential.

More Blake Buchanan and Jacob Cofie action
Continuing with the front court, Jacob Cofie had an outstanding collegiate debut with 16 points on 7/8 shooting to go along with six rebounds, a block and a steal. Blake Buchanan played well in a new role, dishing out five assists while facilitating the UVA offense from the free throw line in addition to scoring 10 points, collecting seven rebounds and blocking three shots. Three of those assists went to Cofie as the two big men showed great chemistry. That could be a solid new feature for this Virginia offense, and Cofie and Buchanan should look to continue building their rapport on Monday night.

Bonus: More three-point shooting
Virginia went 6/10 from beyond the arc in the first half against Campbell, but then attempted just three triples in the second half. This has the potential to be a really good perimeter shooting team with as many as five or even six quality three-point shooters, but they need to take the long shots with a higher volume.

While Campbell was a scrappy and well-coached team that usually plays well against high-majors, Coppin State might be the worst team Virginia plays this season. We also gave Ron Sanchez and company a pass for how close the Campbell game was because it was the first without Tony Bennett. This time, however, winning will not be good enough. UVA needs to win this game convincingly to build momentum into the tougher non-conference games.

Score Prediction: Coppin State 43, Virginia 72

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