Virginia Basketball: 3 keys for Cavaliers to beat No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Virginia Basketball will have a monumental task and opportunity when they take on the No. 1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Like nearly every college hoops team this season, Virginia Basketball’s schedule has been completely affected. Since Day 1, the Cavaliers have had to play opponents on just a day’s notice. That included an impromptu matchup against San Francisco nearly a month ago, which ended in an early candidate for upset of the year. The ACC program will get another shot at the West Coast Conference, this time in the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Ranked No. 1 to start the season, Gonzaga has exceeded those already high expectations. They already have a trio of top-10 wins so far, including beating Kansas, West Virginia, and Iowa last Saturday. The Bulldogs’ schedule has also been impacted after they had to go on a “pause”, which canceled out their matchup against No. 2 Baylor. The good news is that CBS was able to match Gonzaga and Virginia to set up an epic battle of elite offense versus elite defense.

For the Cavaliers, they were able to end their own “pause” to play William & Mary earlier in the week. UVA’s defense came back to form, beating the Tribe by a final score of 76-40. Trey Murphy led all scorers with 15 points, including a trio of made three-pointers. They held their opponents to just 28% from the field and had as many made field goals as turnovers (14).

But Gonzaga is on a whole different level than William & Mary. Virginia will have to have its best performance of the season in order to win this neutral-site game. Here are three specific keys to keep in mind for the Cavaliers.