The 2024–25 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team represented the University of Virginia during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by interim head coach Ron Sanchez after former head coach Tony Bennett announced his retirement before the start of the season on October 17, 2024. They played their home games at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Despite the last-minute coaching change, the Cavailers started the season 3–0, including a ten-point victory over Villanova in the Hall of Fame Series. They then traveled to the Bahamas to participate in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship where their fortunes changed. They lost in the semifinals to eleventh-ranked Tennessee 64–42 and in the third place game against twenty second-ranked St. John's 80–55. They won two games against non-Power 4 opponents before losing their ACC–SEC Challenge game against thirteenth-ranked Florida 87–69. They followed that with a loss in their ACC opener against SMU. They finished their non-conference slate 2–1, with a loss against twenty first-ranked Memphis. They closed the 2024 portion of their schedule with an ACC win over NC State.
The Cavailers had a rough start to the 2025 portion of the schedule, as they went on a five-game losing streak. The streak included two losses to Louisville, and losses in California to Stanford and California, and a loss in a rematch with SMU. They broke the streak by going 2–2 in their next four games. This streak included a loss in their rivalry game against Virginia Tech. The team went 4–2 over their next six games, which included a three game winning streak. They defeated Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and won the rivaly rematch with Virginia Tech. However, they lost to third-ranked Duke and at North Carolina. They lost to thirteenth-ranked Clemson and defeated Florida State by three points in their next two games. The Cavaliers lost the regular season finale to Syracuse 84–70.
The Cavaliers finished the season 15–16 and 8–12 in ACC play to finish in a five-way tie for ninth place. The team finished atop the five-way tiebreaker and were the ninth seed in the 2025 ACC tournament. They faced eighth-seed Georgia Tech in the First Round. Despite defeating the Yellow Jackets during the regular season, they were defeated 66–60 in the tournament. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the NIT. Interim coach Ron Sanchez was not retained at the end of the season.
The Virginia Cavaliers drew an average home attendance of 13,478, the highest of all basketball teams from Virginia.https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div
Previous season
The 2023–24 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 third seed Boston College in overtime before losing to eventual champion 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 in the Midwest region. They lost their matchup with Colorado State 67–42 to end their season.
Offseason Tony Bennett Retirement On October 18, 2024, longtime head coach Tony Bennett announced his surprise retirement. Bennett posted a 364–136 record at UVA, guiding the Cavaliers to the 2019 NCAA Championship, two ACC Tournament titles, six ACC regular-season championships and 10 NCAA tournament appearances. Bennett was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019.
Former Charlotte head coach and longtime assistant Ron Sanchez was named the interim head coach following Bennett's announcement. Isaiah Wilkins was promoted to full-time assistant.
Coaching Departures Virginia Coaching Departures Tony Bennett Head coach 15 Retired Larry Mangino Director of Player Development 8 Assistant Coach at Liberty Johnny Carpenter Director of Player Player Personnel 10 Undisclosed job with the Memphis Grizzlies
Coaching Promotions Virginia Coaching Departures Brad Soderberg Director of Scouting Assistant Coach Isaiah Wilkins Graduate Assistant
Departures Virginia departures Dante Harris 1 G 6'0" 170 Washington, D.C. Transferred to Memphis Reece Beekman 2 G 6'3" 194 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Graduated Ryan Dunn 13 G 6'8" 216 Freeport, New York Drafted 28th overallin the 2024 NBA draft Jordan Minor 22 F 6'8" 242 Kingston, Massachusetts Graduated Tristan How 24 F 6'7" 210 Virginia Beach, Virginia Graduated Jake Groves 34 F 6'9" 211 Spokane, Washington Graduated Leon Bond III 35 G/F 6'5" 200 Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Transferred to Northern Iowa Jalen Warley – G 6'7" 205 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Transferred to Gonzaga
Incoming transfers Virginia incoming transfers Elijah Saunders 2 F 6'8" 225 Phoenix, Arizona San Diego State Dai Dai Ames 7 G 6'1" 185 Chicago, Illinois Kansas State TJ Power 23 F 6'9" 221 Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Duke Carter Lang 35 F 6'9" 235 Charlottesville, Virginia Vanderbilt
2024 recruiting class
Roster
Players
Coaches Virginia coaching staff Ron Sanchez Dean and Markel Families Interim Head Coach 1 11 SUNY-Oneonta San Pedro de Macorís, DR Jason Williford Associate head coach 7 16 Virginia Richmond, VA Orlando Vandross Assistant Coach 7 10 American International Isaiah Wilkins Assistant Coach 1 4 Virginia Lilburn, GA Brad Soderberg Assistant Coach 1 10 UW-Stevens Point Wausau, WI Chase Coleman Graduate assistant 2 2 Virginia Norfolk, Virginia Kyle Guy Athlete Development Mentor and Special Assistant 1 1 Virginia Indianapolis, IN Mike Curtis Strength and conditioning coach 16 16 Virginia Richmond, VA Ethan Saliba Head Athletic Trainer 27 42 Kansas Ronnie Wideman Associate AD for Basketball Administration/Operations 15 16 Washington State Washougal, WA
Schedule and results
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Rankings
References