The Virginia men’s basketball schedule is fully set as UVA released its non-conference slate on Monday. While dates aren’t yet known for conference games, the ACC designations are made in advance so fans now know the 31 games on deck for the 2023-2024 season.
The Hoos will play 11 non-conference games in addition to 20 league games, marking the first time since the 2013-2014 season that Tony Bennett has scheduled the fully allowed 31 games in the regular season instead of 30. The 2020-2021 season was shortened due to the pandemic, while the Cavaliers played just 29 regular season games last season when the Northern Iowa game was canceled following the tragic shooting at UVA.
Virginia could hold a BBQ debate as the non-conference schedule has heavy Texas and North Carolina flavor plus a Memphis game in the mix.
The Hoos open with Tarleton State on Monday, Nov. 6 and face Texas Southern on Thursday, Nov. 16 before taking on Texas A&M on Wednesday, Nov. 29 in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Those three games against Texas schools are all at the John Paul Jones Arena. On the Carolina side of the ledger, Virginia hosts North Carolina A&T on Tuesday, Nov. 14 and North Carolina Central on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The aforementioned game with Memphis is on the road on Tuesday, Dec. 19.
UVA also plays Northeastern (Saturday, Dec. 16) and Morgan State (Wednesday, Dec. 27) in Charlottesville. There are three neutral site games. Virginia squares off against Florida (Friday, Nov. 10) in the Hall of Fame series in Charlotte, N.C. and then meets Wisconsin (Monday, Nov. 20) and either West Virginia or SMU (Wednesday, Nov. 22) in the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida.
Those 11 games join the 20 ACC games to form the full schedule. Dates are not yet set for the conference games, but with the known portions of the schedule plus the layout from last season, it’s safe to assume there will be 2 conference games in December. The likely dates for that fall in the windows of Dec. 2 (Saturday), Dec. 22-24 (Friday-Sunday), and Dec. 30-31 (Saturday-Sunday).
The 20 conference games for Virginia break down as follows. There are home-and-home pairs with Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech for 12 games. The Hoos host Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse for 4 games and travel to Boston College, Clemson, Duke, and Florida State for the remaining 4 games.
Times and TV slots will be announced at a later date for most of the schedule. The games in the Fort Myers Tip-Off will be carried by FS1. The Wisconsin game is set for 6 p.m., while the WVU/SMU time slot will be based on winners and losers from Monday’s games in that event. The ACC/SEC Challenge game with Texas A&M is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. with ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network, or SEC Network all possibilities.
