Virginia basketball vs Tarleton State season opener GAME THREAD

Virginia Cavaliers vs Tarleton State Texans

How to watch

Location: Charlottesville, VA
Date: November 6th, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Channel: ESPN+/ACCNX
Betting line: Virginia -15.5

Pregame Content

Five things to watch in Virginia’s season opener vs Tarleton State

Previewing Virginia vs Tarleton State

Roundtable: Predicting UVA basketball’s 2023-2024 season results

UVA releases “potential starters” for season opener vs Tarleton State

ALL Virginia basketball 2023-2024 season preview content

Game thread

Tipoff is at 7:00 — leave your pre, in, and post-game thoughts here and be sure to check back in for plenty of postgame content later tonight, tomorrow, and next week!

We’ll also be active on Twitter throughout the game and all season long so follow along on there for our staff’s live reactions.

Streaking the Lawn — @STL_UVA

Zach Carey — @Zach_Carey_

Dan Siegel — @DanSiegel_

Ryan Reese — @HoosOn_First

Ben Wieland — @BenWieland

Paul Guttman — @Tiki_UVA

Corbin Lathrop — @CorbinLathrop

John Kurcina — @JohnKurcina

Game notes

Lastly, here are some of the game notes provided by UVA:

For Openers

• UVA begins its 119th season of men’s basketball, sporting a 1,720-1,204 (.588) record.

• Virginia meets Tarleton State for the first time.

• UVA is 23-2 in its last 25 season-opening games.

• UVA is 12-2 in season openers under head coach Tony Bennett.

• The Cavaliers are 95-23 all-time in 118 season-opening games.

• UVA is 91-10 at JPJ in non-conference action under Bennett.

Season Storyline

• Virginia returns one starter (Reece Beekman) from last season’s team that won the ACC regular season title (15-5) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

• The Cavaliers return 28.1 percent of their scoring from last season compared to 91.4 percent from 2021-22.

• Virginia’s roster includes eight newcomers, including transfers Jake Groves (Oklahoma), Jordan Minor (Merrimack) and Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas), and freshman Blake Buchanan, Elijah Gertrude, Anthony Robinson, Christian Bliss (redshirt) and Desmond Roberts.

• Leon Bond III and Dante Harris (Georgetown) will make their UVA debuts after redshirting last season.

• In addition to head coach Tony Bennett (Green Bay), UVA’s roster includes Wisconsin natives Beekman (Milwaukee), Bond III (Wauwatosa) and Rohde (Milwaukee).

• Bennett begins his 15th season at Virginia and 18th overall. He is 341-125 at UVA and 410-158 overall.

• Associate head coach Ron Sanchez returns to Virginia after serving the last five seasons as head coach at Charlotte from 2018-23. Sanchez served nine seasons on Bennett’s staff from 2009-18, the last three as associate head coach.

ABOUT THE 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 (9.5 ppg, 5.3 apg, 3.0 rpg & 1.8 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 63 steals to pass Othell Wilson (222 steals from 1981-84) for first all-time at UVA.

• In 2021-22, Beekman became the first ACC player since Grant Hill (1993-94) to register at least 175 assists, 50 steals and 25 blocks in a season.

• Isaac McKneely, Ryan Dunn and Taine Murray also return. McKneely averaged 6.7 points and shot a team-best 39.2 percent from 3-point range, while Dunn tallied 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.

• Transfers Andrew Rohde (17.9 ppg), Jake Groves (6.8 ppg) and Jordan Minor (17.4 ppg), redshirts Leon Bond III and Dante Harris (11.9 ppg at Georgetown in 2021-22) and newcomer Blake Buchanan will contribute immediately.

• Elijah Gertrude, Anthony Robinson, Christian Bliss and recruited walk-ons Desmond Roberts and Tristan How round out the roster.