Virginia basketball | Men’s basketball opens the season against Campbell on Wednesday evening

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia hosts Campbell (0-1) in the 2024-25 season opener on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Tipoff for the non-conference game at John Paul Jones Arena is scheduled for 7:00 PM on ACC Network Extra.

For openers
• UVA enters its 120th season of men’s basketball with a record of 1,743-1,215 (.589).
• Virginia meets Campbell for the first time.
• UVA is 24-2 in its last 26 season-opening games.
• UVA is 13-2 in its last 15 season openers.
• The Cavaliers are 96-23 all-time in 119 season-opening games.
• UVA is 98-10 at JPJ in non-conference since 2009-10.

Broadcast information
• The Virginia-Campbell game is offered online at WatchESPN.com
• The game will also be broadcast on Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
• Live stats can be found on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

The interim head coach
• Ron Sanchez was named Dean and Markel Families interim head basketball coach on Oct. 18 following the retirement of three-time National Coach of the Year Tony Bennett.
• Sanchez, who spent 10 seasons on Bennett’s staff at UVA in two different stints (2009-19 and 2023-24), posted a 72-78 record as head coach at Charlotte from 2018-23.
• He was on Bennett’s staff for nine seasons from 2009 to 2018, the last three as head coach. During his time on Grounds, the Cavaliers won 212 games, three ACC regular season titles and two ACC Tournament titles, while making six NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT appearance. The Cavaliers earned three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and won 29 or more games four times. UVA won 31 games and reached No. 1 in the AP rankings for the first time since 1982-83 during Sánchez’s final season at UVA in 2017-18.
• He returned to UVA as associate head coach in 2023-24, when the Cavaliers posted a 23-11 record and a 13-7 mark in the ACC.
• Under Sánchez’s leadership at Charlotte, the 49ers won 16 or more games in three seasons, including a 22-14 record in 2022-23. His final season in Charlotte was highlighted by the 49ers’ first-ever postseason tournament title when they won four games in five days in Daytona Beach, Florida, during the 2023 Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational.
• Sanchez also served as an assistant coach on Tony Bennett’s staff from 2006 to 2009 for three seasons at Washington State, where he helped the Cougars to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT berth. Washington State reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and the Sweet 16 in 2008. The Cougars tied the school record with 26 wins in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
• Sanchez was 2-3 in season-opening games as head coach at Charlotte.

The Virginia Road
• The Virginia Way is built on former head coach Tony Bennett’s five pillars: humility, passion, unity, service and gratitude.
• The Virginia Way is defense, making quality shots, sharing and caring for the basketball, stopping transition, rebounding and more defense.
• UVA has finished in the top six nationally in scoring defense in each of the past 13 seasons and led the nation in the category six times.

How are these Cavaliers?
• The Cavaliers return two starters (Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde) from last season’s team that finished third in the ACC (13-7) and advanced to the NCAA First Four.
• The Cavaliers return 36.2 percent of their scoring from last season, marking the second year in a row that UVA has returned 37 percent or less of their scoring. UVA returned 91.4 percent of its score in 2022-2023.
• McKneely (12.3 ppg, 44.5% 3FG) and Rohde (4.3 ppg, 2.7 apg) are joined by returners Blake Buchanan (3.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and Taine Murray (3, 3 ppg, 45% 3FG).
• Virginia’s roster includes offseason transfers Dai Dai Ames (Kansas State), TJ Power (Duke) and Elijah Saunders (San Diego State), and newcomers Ishan Sharma (Ontario, Canada) and Jacob Cofie (Seattle, Washington).
• Redshirts Anthony Robinson and Christian Bliss will make their UVA debuts after redshirting last season.
• Promising sophomore Elijah Gertrude will miss the 2024-25 season after suffering an offseason knee injury.
• Point guard Jalen Warley (Florida State) left the program on October 29.

There’s no place like home
• UVA is 246-56 (.816), including a 15-2 mark in 2023-24, in 18 seasons at John Paul Jones Arena.
• Virginia’s recent 23-game home winning streak (Feb. 28, 2022 – Feb. 5, 2024) was the second-longest at John Paul Jones Arena.
• The Cavaliers finished 10-0 at home in ACC competition last season and are 17-2 in their last 19 home games in competition.
• UVA is 208-40 (.838) and 98-10 (.907) in non-conference action in the last 15 seasons at JPJ.
• UVA has an ACC-leading 96 wins in league home games over the past 11 seasons. Duke is second at 94.
• UVA has won more than 10 home games for 15 straight seasons.

On the horizon
• Virginia hosts Coppin State on Monday, November 11. Tip-off at John Paul Jones Arena is scheduled for 7:00 PM on ACC Network Extra.