The 2023–24 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

2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with th ...

. 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 15th year, and played their home games at

John Paul Jones Arena John Paul Jones Arena, or JPJ, is a multi-purpose arena owned by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since November 2006, it serves as the home to the Virginia Cavaliers men's and women's basketball teams, as well as for co ...

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 ...

. The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team drew an average home attendance of 13,992 in 17 games in 2023-24, the 17th highest in college basketball. The Cavaliers started the season with four straight wins and earned themselves the twenty-fourth spot in the AP Rankings to start the season. They lost the opening game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and rebounded to defeat

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

in the third place game. The win wasn't enough to keep them in the rankings, as they fell out ahead of their

ACC–SEC Challenge The ACC–SEC Challenge is an in-season NCAA Division I college basketball series that matches men's and women's teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It replaced the ACC–Big Ten Challenge and the ...

matchup with fourteenth ranked

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. They won that match and two more matches to return to the rankings at number twenty-two. They went 1–1 as the 22nd ranked team, losing to twenty-third ranked

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

before falling out again. The Cavaliers then lost three of their next four ACC games, with the lone win coming against struggling

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. A

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

win over

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 ...

sparked an eight game winning streak for the Cavaliers as they also defeated

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

in overtime and Clemson during the stretch. They again returned to the rankings at number twenty-one. They lost to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and won a low scoring game against Wake Forest before falling out of the rankings again. The Cavaliers finished out the season 2–3 losing a rivalry rematch to Virginia Tech and to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, who were both ranked tenth at the time of the matchup. The Cavaliers finished the season 23–11 and 13–7 in ACC play to finish in third place. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they earned a bye to the Quarterfinals, where they defeated eleventh seed

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

in overtime before losing to eventual champions NC State in overtime in the Semifinals. They earned a controversial at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were placed as a tenth seed in the

First Four The First Four is a play-in round of the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments. It consists of two games contested between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field (usually the four lowest-ranked conference champions), an ...

in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

region. They lost their matchup with Colorado State 67–42 to end their season. After the game, Virginia was widely criticized for its offensive performance, which included a stretch of nearly 14 minutes of game time and nearly an hour of real time during which they did not score.

Previous season

The 2022–23 Cavaliers finished the season with a 25–8 record, 15–5 in ACC play, to finish in a tie for first place and clinch a share of their sixth regular season title in ten seasons, and their eleventh ACC regular season title in school history. They defeated

and Clemson to reach the championship game of the ACC tournament, where they lost to

. They received a bid to NCAA tournament as the No. 4 seed in the East region, where they were upset in the First Round by Furman.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Departures

Incoming transfers

2023 recruiting class

2024 recruiting class

Roster

Players

Coaches

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style="", Regular season , - !colspan=12 style="", ACC tournament , - !colspan=12 style="", NCAA tournament

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 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 team Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team