Virginia Adds Marshall To Home Basketball Schedule

Virginia's bench smiles during a win last season.
Virginia won 31 games, a new program record, last season. ~ Photo courtesy Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

Approximately a month after the last bit of Virginia basketball schedule news moved across Twitter, another piece of the puzzle came through this week. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, who shares national scheduling news frequently via his Twitter account, reported Wednesday that UVA has added Marshall to the 2018-2019 season schedule.

Marshall won 25 games last season, including a victory against Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Dan D’Antoni’s team attempted 1,012 3-pointers last season and hit them at a 35.8% clip. The Herd averaged 10.1 made triples per game. That percentage ranked 112th nationally while the 3’s made per game ranked 17th. With 45.5% of Marshall’s shots coming from behind the line, it ranked 28th in 3-point rate nationally. Virginia, by contrast, attempted just 645 3-pointers last season at a 35% rate, which ranked 244th.

In April, Rothstein passed on two other schedule updates. First, he Tweeted that UVA would host William & Mary this upcoming season. The Tribe went 19-12 last season. Later in April, he posted that the Hoos added George Washington for a game at the John Paul Jones Arena too. GW finished 15-18 last season, including wins in six of its final 10 games.

Last year, the Cavaliers agreed to a home-and-home series with VCU as well. The Hoos won last season in Richmond and the Rams are expected to return to the JPJ this season. The Cavaliers announced last November that they would play a home and home series with South Carolina in 2018 and 2019. They travel to Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. The Gamecocks return the trip on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.

UVA also previously revealed that it would participate in the 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas during the Thanksgiving holiday from Nov. 21-23. Potential opponents for a three-game set in that event are Florida, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Butler, Stanford, Dayton and Middle Tennessee State. Matchups will be announced at a later date.

ACC pairings were announced on April 10 so the schedule is nearly complete. Currently, 27 games have been reported in one way or another so there are only two to three more spots remaining in terms of the regular season if UVA is planning to play a 29- or 30-game schedule. With only two non-conference road games known at this point, it will be interesting to see if another trip is added.

Home games include Marshall, GW, W&M, VCU, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest. Road games include South Carolina, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, and Syracuse. UVA is expected to be on the road for the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge too. The three Atlantis games bring the total to 27.

UVA finished 31-3 last season, which included the ACC Regular Season Championship and the ACC Tournament title. That set a program record for wins in a single season.