Virginia Announces Non-Conference Men’s Basketball Schedule

Virginia
Jayden Gardner slams home a bucket during last season’s non-conference action at Virginia. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

The Virginia men’s basketball team officially released its 2022-2023 non-conference schedule Monday. The Cavaliers added 10 opponents to the slate that once again features a 20-game ACC lineup as well. In total, the Hoos will play 17 home games at the John Paul Jones Arena this season.

The non-conference schedule features North Carolina Central University, Monmouth, Northern Iowa, Maryland Eastern Shore, JMU, Houston, and Albany at home plus an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Michigan on the road. UVA also plays two of Baylor, UCLA, or Illinois at the Las Vegas Main Event before Thanksgiving.

Here is a look at the calendar:

  • Monday, Nov. 7 – North Carolina Central
  • Friday, Nov. 11 – Monmouth
  • Monday, Nov. 14 – Northern Iowa
  • Friday, Nov. 18 – Baylor, UCLA, or Illinois (Las Vegas Main Event)
  • Sunday, Nov. 20 – Baylor, UCLA, or Illinois (Las Vegas Main Event)
  • Friday, Nov. 25 – Maryland Eastern Shore
  • Tuesday, Nov. 29 – Michigan
  • Tuesday, Dec. 6 – JMU
  • Saturday, Dec. 17 – Houston
  • Wednesday, Dec. 28 – Albany

Based on the final 2022 NET ratings (the sorting tool used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and bracketologists), the non-conference outlook for Virginia represents some teams near the top, three teams in the middle, and three teams toward the bottom of the rankings. Houston (No. 2), Baylor (No. 5), UCLA (No. 11), Illinois (No. 15), and Michigan (No. 27) each ranked inside the top 30 so UVA will have four games in that bucket. Northern Iowa (No. 98), Monmouth (No. 140), and JMU (No. 211) fall into varying parts of the middle, while Albany (No. 281), North Carolina Central (No. 290), and Maryland Eastern Shore (No. 309) finished in the bottom 80 of the NET ratings last season.

In terms of the quadrant breakdowns, if those teams duplicated their NET finish this season, Virginia would have four Quad 1 games (Houston, Michigan, and two of Baylor/UCLA/Illinois), zero Quad 2 games, two Quad 3 games (Northern Iowa, Monmouth), and four Quad 4 games (JMU, Albany, North Carolina Central, and Maryland Eastern Shore). Obviously, that excludes the games against conference competition.

The ACC portion of the schedule will be released at a later date. However, based on last season’s schedule outline and the known dates above, the ACC opener likely will fall in that gap between Michigan and JMU. The Cavaliers opened conference play in 2021 on Friday, Dec. 3 at home against Pittsburgh. That first December weekend placed 12 of the league teams in head-to-head action Friday-Sunday. This year, Friday, Dec. 2, Saturday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4 represents that part of the calendar.

The second ACC game for Virginia last year came on Wednesday, Dec. 22 so look for another conference game to appear between Houston and Albany on the schedule. That game would likely be mid-week in the Dec. 20-22 window.

UVA will be trying to return to the NCAA Tournament after missing the field last season. The Hoos finished 21-14 with a bid in the NIT. They made a run to the NIT Quarterfinals before falling to St. Bonaventure. The last time Virginia missed the Big Dance in consecutive seasons came in 2010 and 2011, the first two years of the Tony Bennett era. Last year marked the first time since 2014 that the Hoos weren’t part of March Madness.