CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (5-1) hosts No. 14 Texas A&M (6-1) in the inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge on Wednesday (Nov. 29). Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7:15 p.m. on ESPN2 and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
• UVA meets its first ranked opponent, sporting a 51-45 mark vs. ranked foes in the Tony Bennett era.
• The Cavaliers and Aggies meet for the second time and first since the 1962-63 season.
• Tony Bennett and Buzz Williams coached against each other during Williams’ five seasons at Virginia Tech from 2014-19.
• Bennett is 7-3 vs. Williams in head-to-head matchups (2-0 in 2014-15, 1-1 in 2015-16, 1-1 in 2016-17, 1-1 in 2017-18 and 2-0 in 2018-19).
• UVA is 170-51 (.769) in non-conference action under Tony Bennett.
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-Texas A&M game will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed online at WatchESPN.com.
• 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 346-126 (.733) mark in 15 seasons at UVA and 415-159 (.723) career mark in 18 seasons as a head coach.
• Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s all-time winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23).
• Bennett recorded his 400th career win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
• Bennett has guided the Cavaliers to six ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023), two ACC Tournament titles (2014 and 2018) and one NCAA national championship (2019).
• The three-time National (2007, 2015 and 2018) and four-time ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019) guided UVA to its 11th consecutive postseason berth in 2022-23.
Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
• We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
• UVA returns one starter – Reece Beekman (11.8 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.7 rpg & 2.8 spg) – from last season’s ACC regular-season champion and NCAA tournament team that finished 25-8.
• Beekman, who earned All-ACC third-team honors last season, needs 46 steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.
• Ryan Dunn (10.3 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg), steals (2.8 spg) and blocked shots (2.5 bpg).
• Isaac McKneely (9.8 ppg) leads the team in…