When Virginia basketball is mentioned, the Cavaliers get defensive.

Isn’t that the point? After all, they have led the ACC in scoring defense for 12 consecutive seasons, and they’re back on top of the heap again this year — and rank third nationally — with an average of 57.7 points per game.

“Obviously, they’re elite defensively,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said Monday on his 49th birthday, the eve of the Panthers’ next ACC test at No. 21 Virginia. “It’s amazing year-in and year-out what Tony (Bennett) and their staff and their program are able to do.”

Like winning their first 13 games at home. The Cavaliers (19-5, 10-3), who have won eight in a row overall, have yet to be beaten this season at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, where they will host surging Pitt at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“Jeff has them playing at a high level,” Bennett said. “They’re a complete team, and they make you earn it. The last couple of years, they’ve played some really good basketball.”

Capel appeared eager to see if his current group can master Virginia’s renowned pack line, man-to-man defense.

“We’ll be excited about the opportunity to play them and to see where we stack up against one of the better college teams in basketball,” he said.

Second to No. 7 North Carolina in the ACC standings, Virginia will be going for its 20th victory.

Pitt (15-8, 6-6) comes in having won three in a row and five of its past six, though the Panthers will need to find a way to manufacture offense. Senior Blake Hinson’s 17.9 scoring average leads three Pitt players in double figures.

“He’s strong and can go inside and out,” Bennett said. “He and (freshman Bub) Carrington (13.6 ppg) know how to play the game together, and they’ve got depth around those guys. They put pressure on you.”

Perhaps not the sort of pressure presented by Virginia.

Six times the Cavs have held teams to below 50 points: four in the 40s and two in the 30s, including then-No. 14 Texas A&M, 59-47, on Nov. 29, and, more recently, in an ACC game against Miami, when the Cavaliers smothered the Hurricanes, 60-38, on Feb. 5.

“They’re physical, and they communicate at a high level,” Capel said. “They have two elite individual defenders in (Reece) Beekman and (Ryan) Dunn, and they’re shooting the heck out of the basketball from the 3-point line (38.1%). Beekman is really having an outstanding season. He’s scoring it (13.8 ppg), and he’s leading our league in assists (6.1 apg) while still being an elite defender.”

Pitt is seeking its second win in a row against Virginia. The Panthers surprised the 11th-ranked Cavs last season at Petersen Events Center, 68-65.

The Panthers have been idle since a 67-65 win at N.C. State on Wednesday in what amounted to their fifth road win of the season and sixth away from Petersen Events Center, counting a neutral-site game in November against Oregon State at Barclays Center in New York.

To get their fifth ACC road win, Pitt will be challenged by Virginia’s unique pack line defensive look that presents a gap scheme devised by Bennett’s father, former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett, which clogs potential driving lanes and prevents opposing teams from dribbling into the paint.

It has continued to work for the Cavaliers, who have limited 15 of their 24 opponents to fewer than 58 points. But Bennett said his latest team has been highly challenged to embrace that quirky defensive scheme.

“We have improved,” he said. “I’m happy for our young men, to see them jell together and figure out how we have to go about this to give ourselves the best chance.”

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