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Live Blog: UVA basketball opens 2018-2019 season against Towson

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It’s a team from Maryland that UVA is expected to dispatch, so … join Chris Graham as he leads our live blog for the ‘Hoos season opener against Towson Tuesday night at JPJ.

Broadcast Information

  • The Virginia-Towson game will be streamed online on ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN.com) and broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
  • Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

UVA Ranked No. 5 in Preseason Polls

  • Virginia is ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches’ preseason polls.
  • UVA has been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason ranking in four of the past five seasons.
  • The Cavaliers were unranked in the 2017-18 preseason polls, but became the fourth team in the Top 25 era (1990-present) to earn a No. 1 ranking after being unranked in the preseason (Kansas, 1990; Syracuse, 2010; Baylor, 2017).
  • Dating back to last season, UVA has been ranked in the AP poll for 17 straight weeks and has been ranked in the top 10 in each of the past 13 polls.

‘Hoo Are These Cavaliers?

  • Virginia returns starters Ty Jerome (All-ACC Second Team), Kyle Guy (All-ACC First Team) and Jack Salt and ACC Sixth Man of the Year De’Andre Hunter from last year’s team that won a school-record 31 games and captured the ACC regular-season and tournament titles in the same season under National Coach of the Year Tony Bennett.
  • Mamadi Diakite, Jay Huff and Marco Anthony also return to the Cavaliers, who finished first nationally in scoring defense for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
  • Transfer Braxton Key gained immediate eligibility after averaging 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in two seasons at Alabama.
  • Newcomer Kihei Clark is expected to contribute immediately after averaging 19.4 points, 7.2 assists & 2.9 steals as a high school senior in 2017-18.
  • Kody Stattmann provides depth and is redshirt candidate.
  • Redshirt freshman Francesco Badocchi has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team due to medical issues.
  • Recruited walk-ons Austin Katstra and Jayden Nixon provide depth.
  • Freshman Francisco Caffaro will redshirt the 2018-19 season.

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Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.