Schedule Outlook
The Cavaliers get things going with three mid-major opponents coming to Charlottesville, with the most intriguing of those being a date with Northern Iowa during the second week of the season. Expecting wins in all three games, Virginia then gets a significant challenge, heading to Vegas for the Continental Tire Main Event. They’ll matchup with Baylor in the opening round before taking on either Illinois or UCLA two days later.
They’ll come back home for another easy game before getting right back on the road, traveling to Ann Arbor on November 29th. The Cavaliers face Michigan as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and it certainly won’t be an easy affair. Later that week, they’ll get an early start to conference play as they welcome Florida State to town, with the fortune of starting ACC play at home.
Two weeks later, Virginia gets another very challenging game, as they’ll welcome a very impressive Houston team to town on December 17th. This is definitely one of those games that Cavaliers (players and fans) should be circling on their calendars as a chance to prove that the Cavaliers belong this season. They have just one more nonconference game after this, playing a pretty easy game against Albany just after Christmas.
Their attention turns towards their conference, as the ACC plays an unbalanced 20-game schedule. The Cavaliers get multiple games against rival Virginia Tech and preseason #1 team North Carolina but will host Duke, not having to travel to Durham this year. There are no easy nights in the ACC, but there are plenty of winnable games on this schedule. After a late road trip to Chapel Hill, they’ll finish the season with home games against Clemson and Louisville.