The last time the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament was held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (N.Y.), the University of Virginia defeated North Carolina in the championship game. The Hoos will have to go through the Heels once again if they want a shot at another ACC postseason crown.
Unlike 2018, Virginia may need to capture the ACC Tournament title if it wants to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers, who take an 18-12 overall record into postseason play, are very much on the outside looking in for what would be the program’s eight consecutive NCAA Tournament invite.
Virginia concluded conference regular season play at 12-8, good enough to secure the no. 6 seed but shy of earning a double bye, which goes to the top four seeds. The 2022 ACC Tournament begins Tuesday, March 8, and concludes with the title game on Saturday, March 12. The schedule is as follows (UVA’s potential matchups in bold).
FIRST ROUND (Tuesday, March 8)
2 p.m. – No. 12 Pitt vs. No. 13 Boston College (ACC Network)
4:30 p.m. – No. 10 Clemson vs. No. 15 NC State (ACC Network)
7 p.m. – No. 11 Louisville vs. No. 14 Georgia Tech (ACC Network)
SECOND ROUND (Wednesday, March 9)
Noon – No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 Syracuse (ESPN)
2:30 p.m. – No. 5 Wake Forest vs. Pitt/Boston College winner (ESPN)
7 p.m. – No. 7 Virginia Tech vs. Clemson/NC State winner (ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – No. 6 Virginia vs. Louisville/Georgia Tech winner (ESPN2)
QUARTERFINALS (Thursday, March 10)
Noon – No. 1 Duke vs. Wednesday Noon winner (ESPN)
2:30 p.m. – No. 4 Miami vs. Wednesday 2:30 p.m. winner (ESPN2)
7 p.m. – No. 2 Notre Dame vs. Wednesday 7 p.m. winner (ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – No. 3 North Carolina vs. Wednesday 9:30 p.m. winner (ESPN)
SEMIFINALS (Friday, March 11)
7 p.m. – Thursday afternoon winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – Thursday evening winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
CHAMPIONSHIP (Saturday, March 12)
Championship
8:30 p.m. – Semifinal winners (ESPN)
For a UVA/UNC matchup to materialize, Virginia first must win its second-round contest versus either 11-seed Louisville (12-18, 6-14) or 14-seed Georgia Tech (12-19, 5-15). The Hoos went 3-0 in the regular season against these teams, defeating the Cardinals twice, including a 71-61 victory this past Saturday, and Georgia Tech at home, 63-53.
The Yellow Jackets snapped a four-game losing streak with a four-point regular season finale victory over Boston College. Still, Georgia Tech, the 2021 ACC Tournament champion, has lost nine of its last 12 games. Meanwhile, Louisville enters postseason play having lost 11 of its last 12 games. Its head coach, Chris Mack, was dismissed following the first loss to Virginia in Charlottesville on January 24.
Virginia’s regular season finale victory at Louisville served as a nice bounce-back from a disappointing previous week that included consecutive home losses to Duke (65-61) and Florida State (64-63). The latter defeat came when FSU freshman Matthew Cleveland drained a desperation 3-pointer with one-second remaining. Had those losses been wins, UVA would have been the no. 4 seed this week and could possibly be on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“I feel like it gives us a lot of confidence,” sophomore point guard Reece Beekman said following last Saturday’s win at Louisville. “I felt like we felt like we gave [the FSU game] away a little bit, so just coming out and playing a complete game today was what we wanted. That’s what kind of our intent was this whole week, so feel like we’re gonna just play the rest of the season as hard as we can. We’re just going to leave everything out there.”
Senior wing Kody Stattmann says the Louisville win “gets our confidence a little bit higher” going into the ACC Tournament, “which we need.”
