7 p.m., ACCNX/ESPN+

It has been 234 days since UVa’s last basketball game, but at long last the offseason has drawn to a close for the Wahoos.

Virginia will open up its 2023-24 season tomorrow night when the Cavaliers host Tarleton State at JPJ. For the Hoos, Monday’s game marks the beginning of a season full of intrigue and high expectations, with a new-look roster picked fourth in the ACC’s preseason poll, led by preseason All-ACC selection Reece Beekman.

UVa’s opponent on Monday night will come to Charlottesville as big underdogs looking to pull a massive upset. Tarleton State is in the final year of its four-year transition period from D2 to D1, meaning that the Texans will be ineligible for the NCAA Tournament this year, but are a full D1 member in 2024-25. They were picked sixth in the WAC preseason poll, coming off of a 17-17 season that ended with a loss to Radford in the CBI postseason tournament. They are led by former Kentucky and Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie, who is 30-33 in three years at TSU, and is 178-141 overall in his 11-year D1 coaching career.

Monday will be the official season opener for the Texans, but they did win an exhibition game last week, dominating D3 Howard Payne 105-42 at home on October 30. Tarleton State does have experience upsetting an ACC opponent, having beaten Boston College on the road last year.

There aren’t any official stats to report from this season yet, as all 362 D1 programs start fresh on Monday. But in the Texans’ exhibition win last week, they shot 54 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from 3 while forcing a whopping 28 turnovers with 20 forced steals. Unsurprisingly, Tarleton State held a significant advantage on the glass against a D3 opponent, out-rebounding HPU 50-31 in the blowout win. The Texans also outscored Howard Payne 56-16 in the paint.

Last year, Tarleton State finished 163rd in KenPom, its first top-200 finish since transitioning to D1. The Texans went 17-17 overall and 9-9 in WAC play, losing in the second round of their conference tournament. They were relatively mediocre on the offensive end of the floor, ranking 208th nationally in offensive efficiency. They shot just 46.5 percent on two-point field goal attempts, and made 33.9 percent of their shots from deep. Tarleton State was the best team in the nation at free-throw attempt to field-goal attempt ratio, meaning its players got to the line quite a bit. 26.2 percent of their points came at the charity stripe, the most of any team in D1.

Defensively, Tarleton State was solid, at 129th nationally in adjusted efficiency. The Texans were really adept in one area: creating turnovers. They ranked fifth nationally in turnover rate, and 24th nationally in steal rate. Clearly, their defense wants to be aggressive and create live-ball turnovers that can lead to easy buckets, as they did in their exhibition last week.

Jakorie Smith, Forward

A 6-foot-6 wing, Smith went for 30 points in Tarleton State’s exhibition win last week, making 6-of-9 of his long-range attempts. Smith, who transferred to Tarleton State from “Last Chance U’s” East Mississippi Community College, averaged 9.8 points per contest off the bench last year for the Texans.

Lue Williams, Guard

Another JUCO transfer, Williams was a regular starter for the Texans last year, averaging 10.7 points per game, shooting 41.2 percent from long range. He had a quiet outing in last week’s game with just 6 points, but he was the team’s second-leading scorer last year.

KiAndre Gaddy, Forward

Yet another 6-foot-6 wing player, Gaddy also dominated in the exhibition going for 27 points and 15 rebounds. He began his career at NAIA Walla Walla University in Washington, where he was an All-Conference performer. Gaddy was a role player for Tarleton State last year, averaging 4.4 points in 11.8 minutes per contest.

Bubu Benjamin

A 6-foot-7 freshman from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Benjamin shined in the exhibition last week, scoring 15 points and grabbing six boards off the bench.

Virginia should win this game and do so comfortably, but this will be an interesting first test. At a quick glance, it looks like Tarleton State would be the wrong team to sleepwalk against, given its penchant for forcing turnovers, which can turn a game quickly. The Texans also have a number of athletic wings who can either shoot or slash and they do a good job on the glass and get to the line quite a bit.

Still, for UVa, this will be about playing clean and doing what the Wahoos want to do on both ends. If they can avoid early-season sloppiness that plagues many teams, they should be able to handle their business in this one.

As always, this first game will tell us quite a bit about where Tony Bennett thinks his team is, what the starting lineup and bench rotations may look like, and if he’s made any final decisions on redshirt years. Hopefully that’s where the drama and intrigue will stop in this game, as the Hoos look for a comfortable victory to open a new season.