No. 25 Virginia opens season against Navy on Tuesday

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 25 Virginia hosts Navy in its 2021-22 season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Tipoff for the nonconference game at John Paul Jones Arena is slated for 9 p.m. on ACC Network.

For Openers

• UVA begins its 117th season of men’s basketball, sporting a 1,673-1,182 (.586) all-time record.
• UVA is 22-1 in its last 23 season-opening games, including an 89-54 win over Towson last season at Bubbleville.
• Virginia has an eight-game winning streak on opening night and is 11-1 in season openers under head coach Tony Bennett.
• The lone opening-night loss under Bennett came at George Mason (63-59) to begin the 2012-13 campaign.
• The Cavaliers are 94-22 all-time in 116 season-opening games.
• UVA is 146-41 (.781) in non-conference action under Bennett.

Emmet Street Closure

• Due to construction, a portion of Emmet Street from Massie Road to Ivy Road is temporarily closed to through traffic.
• The Emmet Ivy Garage (EIG) will only be accessible via Ivy Road.
• There is no direct impact to parking, however, please allow for additional time to navigate this new traffic pattern.

Broadcast Information

• The Virginia-Navy game will be televised on ACC Network and streamed online at WatchESPN.com and ESPN App.
• The game will also be broadcast on Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

The Head Coach

• Dean and Markel Families Head Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett has a 295-103 (.741) mark in 12 seasons at Virginia and 364-136 (.728) career mark in 15 seasons as a head coach.
• The three-time National (2007, 2015 and 2018) and four-time ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019) guided the Cavaliers to their 10th ACC regular-season championship in 2020-21.
• In 2018-19, Bennett led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship, a share of their ninth ACC regular-season title and a school-record 35 wins.
• Bennett has led UVA to 10 consecutive postseason appearances (2012-21) and seven consecutive NCAA tournaments (2014-21).

All-Time vs. Navy

• Virginia is 15-31 all-time against Navy, including a 7-1 mark in Charlottesville, in the series that dates back to 1909-10.
• The Cavaliers have an eight-game winning streak against the Midshipmen, including a 65-56 win in the last meeting between the teams on Dec. 29, 2019 at John Paul Jones Arena.
• UVA lost the first 14 games in the series and didn’t post its first win against Navy until a 25-24 win in 1935.
• UVA has scored 65 or more points in each of the last five meetings between the teams.

Last Time vs. the Midshipmen

• Kihei Clark collected his second career double-double with 10 points and career-high 13 assists as then-No. 16 Virginia defeated Navy 65-56 on Dec. 29, 2019 at John Paul Jones Arena.
• Braxton Key led Virginia with 15 points and Mamadi Diakite added 13 points and Casey Morsell had 10 points.
• UVA shot 53.2 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range (8 of 19) in the win.
• Jay Huff added nine points, four rebounds and game-high four blocks as UVA held a 19-4 advantage in bench points.

UVA Ranked No. 25 in AP Poll

• UVA is ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• UVA is one of six teams (Gonzaga, Villanova, Baylor, Houston and Illinois) to be ranked every week since the start of the 2020-21 season.
• UVA is ranked in the preseason AP top 25 for the fourth straight year.
• UVA has been ranked in the AP top 25 in the preseason rankings in 10 of the past 11 seasons.

On The Horizon

• No. 25 Virginia hosts Radford in nonconference action on Friday, Nov. 12. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.