The 2018–19 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team represented the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

during the

2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2018. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season concluded with the Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 8, 2019. Pract ...

. The team was led by head coach

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

in his tenth year, and played their home games at John Paul Jones Arena in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

as members of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. UVA opened the season with consecutive wins over ranked

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

teams, No. 25 Wisconsin ( Battle 4 Atlantis) and No. 24 Maryland (

ACC–Big Ten Challenge The ACC–Big Ten Challenge (or Big Ten–ACC Challenge as it was called in alternating years) was an in-season NCAA Division I men's college basketball series that matched up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Big Ten Confer ...

), the latter of which improved Bennett's record in the Challenge to 8–2. An unheralded two-star recruit, 5'9"

Kihei Clark Kihei Issaiah Clark (born January 25, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball, Virginia Cavaliers. Early life ...

from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, started both games as a true freshman. The team then started the season 16–0 before falling to No. 1 Duke, 72–70.RJ Barrett leads No. 1 Duke past No. 4 Virginia 72–70
accessed January 19, 2019 The game was just the fourth in college basketball history between two teams both ranked No. 1, as the No. 4 Cavaliers were voted atop the Coaches Poll before the loss. After a 16–2 ACC record, Virginia won a share of their fourth ACC regular season title in the past six years. In the ACC tournament, the Cavaliers defeated NC State 76–56, before falling to Florida State in the conference semifinals. Virginia was then awarded the No. 1 seed in the South region and dispatched Gardner-Webb and Oklahoma by healthy margins in the first two rounds in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

. They advanced to a Sweet 16 matchup with Oregon and beat Oregon 53–49 to advance to their 2nd Elite 8 under Bennett. In the Elite Eight, they beat Purdue 80–75 in overtime to secure a trip to their first Final Four since 1984. On April 6, 2019, they defeated Auburn in their Final Four matchup by a score of 63–62 on 3 last-second free throws by Kyle Guy, cementing the program's first ever trip to the national championship game. On April 8, 2019, Virginia beat Texas Tech 85–77 in overtime, winning its first national championship.

Previous season

Unranked by the AP in the preseason poll, the

Cavaliers The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...

surprisingly finished the 2017–18 season 31–3, and 17–1 in ACC play to win both ACC Regular Season and tournament titles. The Cavaliers received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South region, where they were upset by No. 16 UMBC in the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. This was the first time in Men's NCAA tournament history that a No. 1 seed was upset by a No. 16 seed.

Offseason

Virginia's offseason started on the night of March 16, 2018, and ended on the evening of November 6, 2018. The Cavaliers lost five players and gained four.

Departures

Incoming transfers

2018 recruiting class

Roster

Players

Coaching staff

Depth Chart

Schedule and results

Source: , - !colspan=12 style="", Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style="", ACC regular season , - !colspan=12 style="", ACC tournament , - !colspan=12 style="", NCAA tournament

Gallery

Image:Luke Maye dribbles the ball.jpg, Kyle Guy defends Luke Maye Image:TY JEROME.jpg, Ty Jerome passes against

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

Game summaries

Towson Tigers The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the Coastal Athletic Association with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in me ...
vs Virginia Cavaliers

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball seasons

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team is the college basketball, intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Virginia. The school competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in NCAA Division I, Division I of ...

Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons