UVa has yet to officially announce its non-conference basketball schedule but thanks to two very helpful twitter accounts (@JonRothstein and @D1Docket), we can now piece together the 10-game non-league slate. (Virginia should be allowed to have 11 non-conference games but usually seems to cap its total regular-season contests at 30 games).

With COVID-19 creating a world with so much uncertainty, there are obviously scenarios in which this schedule is dramatically altered, reduced, or postponed. And while the schedule is not quite official just yet, we now have enough information to begin looking at what the Cavaliers will face in the first two months of the season and make an educated guess on when league play will start.

UVa is expected to open the season against Gardner-Webb, on Tuesday, November 10th. The Runnin’ Bulldogs, of course, gave the Hoos a bit of a scare in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, leading by 14 before eventually losing 71-56 and becoming the first victim on UVa’s title run. Gardner-Webb finished 16-16 and 11-7 in Big South play this past year, losing to eventual champion Winthrop in the conference tournament semifinals. The program also took a hit after the season too, losing it best player, sophomore forward Jose Perez, to transfer (Marquette).

The first real test of the season should come in the second game, the first of four neutral-site contests the slate. Virginia will take on Temple at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center as part of a triple-header of games in the Queen City that day. UVa hasn’t played Temple since the 80’s but the Owls are annually competitive and should force the Hoos to put up a fight to walk away with the win. Aaron McKie’s first season in charge didn’t go as planned, though, with the Owls going 14-17 in the AAC. They’ll now have to replace star forward Quinton Rose, who averaged 16.4 points per game as a senior. An important scheduling note for UVa fans: This game figures to conflict directly with Virginia’s football game at Duke the same night, Friday the 13th. Since this is a triple-header event, it figures that at least one of the games will be played on Saturday the 14th, however, so maybe the game gets moved back a day.

Virginia will host Long Beach State on the 16th, in an unusual cross-country buy game against a mid-major. “The Beach” has had some success in the past but went 11-21 in 2020, led by former Minnesota and Gonzaga coach Dan Monson. This will be UVa’s last home game for at least two weeks or so.

UVa heads up 64 West and 81 North to Harrisonburg for an in-state tilt with JMU on Thursday, November 19th. This will be one of the first games in the Dukes’ new building, which is scheduled to open for the start of this basketball season. They will also be breaking in a new head coach, Mark Byington, who joins the program after seven years at Georgia Southern. Virginia last traveled to Harrisonburg to open the 2014-2015 season, handling the Dukes 79-51 at the Convocation Center.

That brings us to Virginia’s holiday tournament, which this year takes the Hoos to Southern California. UVa will participate in the Wooden Classic this fall, with a pair of games on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The Cavaliers will take on two of Georgetown, Kansas, and UCLA in the tournament, with all three providing intriguing matchups and quality games that could boost UVa’s resume. No matter who the Wahoos play in Anaheim they should be tested, and a matchup with Kansas could feature two of the nation’s premier contenders for a national title.

We don’t have an exact date for this one yet, but history says that the ACC/B1G Challenge should take place early in the week following the Thanksgiving holiday. Virginia has played on the road in the challenge each of the last two seasons, so the Hoos are due for a home game here, which should explain why they are comfortable playing so many neutral-site games. Assuming that UVa plays a B1G team that received a home game last year, possible opponents include Maryland and Michigan State among several others. A matchup with UMd would provide local intrigue while a game against MSU would feature a head-to-head matchup between two of the best coaches in the game and a pair of brothers, with Sam and Joey Hauser getting to square off after playing together at Marquette.

Virginia’s final contest before the exam break comes against Fairleigh Dickinson. The Knights, who went 11-19 in NEC play last year, have made the NCAA Tournament twice since 2016, going to Dayton for the First Four both times, and most recently getting blown out by Gonzaga in the first round last year. If historical performance is any guide, this should be one of the most-winnable games on Virginia’s non-conference slate.

UVa comes out of the exam break with a big test on a neutral floor against Villanova. The Wildcats are probably the most similar program to Virginia at this point, and the two most-recent national champions will square off at MSG in what should be a big-time test for both. Nova went 24-7 in 2020 and returns nearly everyone on the roster. This year’s meeting will renew a rivalry that sparked in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, with the programs splitting a home-and-home, each team winning on their home floor.

UVa wraps up the non-conference slate with Kent State, a decent program out of the MAC. The Golden Flashes won 21 games and went 9-9 in league play last year, winning their only MAC Tournament game before it was called off. Kent State also got a nice boost this offseason, adding Temple transfer Justyn Hamilton to the roster.

— If a few games that Virginia doesn’t control come to pass, then the Hoos could have the toughest non-conference slate in the country. UVa only plays 10 non-league games but could have three of them come against bonafide title contenders in Villanova, Kansas, and Michigan State or Maryland. Two of those games would come away from home, which only helps the strength of schedule. And potential neutral-site matchups against Temple and UCLA or Georgetown are nothing to sneeze at either. After a relatively weak non-league slate in 2019-2020, this group of opponents should really test the Hoos before ACC play.

— The only direct conflict with the football schedule, at least at this time, is that Temple game. For once, the holiday tournament shouldn’t conflict with the Commonwealth Cup game, as the two hoops games in California are set for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, while the UVa/VT football game moves back to Saturday this year.

— JMU is the only opponent from the 2019-2020 schedule that UVa is set to play again next season. Virginia beat the Dukes 65-34 in their home opener on November 10th.

— So how do the ACC games fit into this schedule? With UVa set to host Gardner-Webb on the sport’s opening night, the Cavaliers will not open with an ACC game as they did last year. In fact, most ACC opponents seem to have non-league games slated for opening night, so it seems like the conference may be doing away with conference openers, at least for the time being. But with a 20-game league slate, expect ACC games before the New Year.

The logical and likely ACC opener for Virginia will come on the weekend of December 5th and 6th, after the ACC/B1G Challenge and before the game with Fairleigh Dickinson. Remember, UVa hosted UNC that weekend last year, the day after the football team played in the ACC Championship game. Most of the conference played a league game that weekend and having a weekend of conference games in early December also matches up with what the B1G usually does with their 20-game league slate.

So, expect the Wahoos to open ACC play somewhere between Friday December 4th and Sunday, December 6th, and likely play their second conference game in the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, or at the very latest, the weekend of January 2nd.

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