Virginia vs. Memphis Game Preview, Score Prediction

The Cavaliers head to the Home of the Blues for their first true road game of the season against the 23rd-ranked Tigers

Coming off of a sluggish performance in a close win over Northeastern, No. 22 Virginia will have to tighten things up significantly as the Cavaliers head to the Home of the Blues to play their first true road game of the season at the surging and newly-ranked No. 23 Memphis Tigers on Tuesday night. 

Read on for a full preview of Virginia vs. Memphis, including game details and notes, an opponent scouting report, what to watch for, and a prediction for Tuesday's matchup. 

Game Details

Who: Virginia Cavaliers (9-1) vs. Memphis Tigers (8-2)

When: Tuesday, December 19th at 7pm

Where: FedExForum (19,000) in Memphis, Tennessee

How to watch: ESPN2

How to stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

How to listen: SiriusXM 106 or 193, SXM App 955 | Virginia Sports Radio Network - click here for affiliates

All-time series: Virginia leads 1-0

Last meeting: Virginia defeated Memphis 78-60 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 23rd, 2014.

Game Notes

• Virginia meets Memphis for the second time ever and first time since the Cavaliers beat the Tigers in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
• This is the first meeting between Tony Bennett and Penny Hardaway, who are two of 26 active NCAA Division I men's basketball head coaches who played in the NBA.
• Virginia is 30-38 all-time against current members of the American Athletic Conference. 
• This is the first game of UVA's season in which both teams are ranked at the time of the game. Virginia is ranked No. 22 in this week's AP Top 25 poll and Memphis made its debut in the rankings at No. 23. 

Opponent Scouting Report: Memphis

2022-2023: 26-9, Lost in NCAA Tournament First Round
2023-2024: 8-2

Memphis is in its sixth season under Penny Hardaway, who has had tangible success in his first stint as a head coach. The Tigers have been well above .500 in each of their first five seasons under Hardaway, won the NIT Championship in 2021, earned bids to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, and won the American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship last year. 

This season, it appears Hardaway has Memphis well on its way to making another trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers come into this game with an 8-2 record and their only two losses came against Villanova in the Bahamas and then at Ole Miss. Memphis already has wins over Missouri, Michigan, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Clemson. So, the Tigers are battle-tested to say the least. 

Memphis is led by 6'6" senior forward David Jones, a two-time transfer who started his career at DePaul and played at St. John's last season before transferring to Memphis this past offseason. Jones is off to a great start to what appears to be a breakout season, averaging better than 20 points and six rebounds per game and shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc, even though he's never shot even 30% from three in his career. It'll be interesting to see how Virginia handles that matchup, given Jones' size at 6'6" and ability to stretch the floor. Don't be surprised if UVA decides to put Ryan Dunn on Jones at some point, if not early on. 

Reece Beekman, meanwhile, will likely be tasked with slowing down point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who was recruited heavily by Virginia back in the day. Quinerly played one season at Villanova and then spent the last four years at Alabama before transferring to Memphis for his final year of eligibility. He is averaging 13.7 points and 4.9 assists per game and shooting 45.4% from the floor, but just 30.4% from three. Quinerly has been a decent perimeter shooter at times throughout his career, so it'll be up to Beekman to prevent Quinerly from getting hot and, more importantly, from effectively orchestrating the Memphis offense. 

Jones and Quinerly are the only two players who have started every game for the Tigers, who have experimented with various starting lineups. Memphis seems to have figured it out of late with an athletic forward trio of Nick Jourdain (6'9"), Malcolm Dandridge (6'9"), and Ashton Hardaway (6'8") filling out the starting lineup recently. But Memphis has ten players averaging at least 12 minutes per game, so Hardaway seems more than willing to lean on his deep roster, especially given his preferred up-tempo style of play. Look for the Tigers to hunt opportunities to push the ball up the floor whenever possible. 

What to Watch For

Contrasting styles of play.

As usual, Virginia ranks at the bottom of college basketball in terms of adjusted tempo (361st out of 362 Division I teams). Memphis, meanwhile, is 19th in adjusted tempo, averaging nearly 12 more possessions per 40 minutes than UVA. Reece Beekman said it best when he said this game was going to come down to "who can get to their game first." If the Cavaliers can limit the transition opportunities for Memphis and slow down the game, they should have the advantage. 

Slowing down Quinerly and Jones

UVA's team defensive numbers have been great so far this season, which of course is no surprise for a Tony Bennett squad. But this year, that outcome has had a lot to do with the outstanding individual defensive play of Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn. Beekman will be assigned the task of containing Jahvon Quinerly. But David Jones poses a bigger matchup problem for Virginia, which might start with someone like Andrew Rohde guarding him, while Dunn keeps an eye on the Memphis forwards. But expect Dunn to spend some time guarding the Tigers' leading-scorer as well. 

Three-Pointers & Free Throws

Virginia shot a dismal 2/14 from beyond the arc against Northeastern and was 55.6% from the free throw line, even air-balling three foul shots. The outcome was an all-around ugly offensive performance from the Cavaliers. Simply put, that's not going to cut it if UVA wants to come back from Memphis with a road win over a high-quality opponent. 

Prediction

If the Cavaliers play like they did against Northeastern on Tuesday night in Memphis, they hardly stand a chance. Look for a bounce-back performance from Virginia, but even if that happens, expect this to be an entertaining and competitive matchup between two talented and well-coached basketball teams. 

Score prediction: Virginia 70, Memphis 67

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