Notre Dame won the ACC tournament in 2015 and has been to the Elite Eight each of the last two seasons after recording double-digit conference wins. But since joining the ACC in 2013, Notre Dame still hasn't beaten Virginia, which defeated the Irish again on Tuesday night 71-54 at Norte Dame for what is, to this point, the best road win for an ACC team this year.

Under Mike Brey, the Irish have become certified ACC elite by beating the blue bloods -- currently on a 12-2 run against Tobacco Road (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest) -- and making deep postseason runs. As of last week's win against Syracuse, the Irish had conference victories against everyone in the league except for the Cavaliers.

"Virginia has really had our number," Brey said Monday on the ACC coaches call. "You're going to have to move their defense and not get anything quick [offensively], and be patient defensively because they use a lot of that [shot] clock."

That didn't happen Tuesday, at least not enough. Virginia's victory came on the back of London Perrantes, the program's winningest player. The senior guard had 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, an effort that stood out in stark contrast to Notre Dame's unusually poor shooting night, particularly from deep (3-for-18 from three).

Virginia's defensive game plan is a bad fit for Notre Dame, another team that relies heavily on its system. The Wahoos are great at getting back and preventing fast-break points and blocking out to eliminate second-chance opportunities. By taking away all the easy methods Notre Dame likes to use to score, the Irish were left with a shooting streak gone cold. The 17-point loss doesn't change their outlook for the ACC title race or the NCAA Tournament, but it shows that even this razor-sharp Irish team has weaknesses that can be exploited by the right scheme.

As for Tony Bennett and Virginia, it's a top-15 win on the road that will help boost their seeding come NCAA Tournament time. With this win, it's likely we'll see them on the board when the selection committee reveals its top 16 seeds on Feb. 11.