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Report: Virginia to Face Tennessee in Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship

Matt Newton

Virginia will face Tennessee in the opening round of the 2024 Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship.
Virginia will face Tennessee in the opening round of the 2024 Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship. / Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
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The matchups and bracket have reportedly been set for the 2024 Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship. According to a report from Jon Rothstein on Friday, Virginia will face Tennessee in the opening round of the four-team tournament on Thursday, November 21st, while Baylor will take on St. John's in the other semifinal. The winners will battle for the championship and the losers will play a consolation game on Friday, November 22nd. The tournament will take place at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center in Nassau.

Virginia and Tennessee will meet for the first time since 2013, when the Volunteers dismantled the Cavaliers 87-52 in Knoxville. That's a well-known game in the Tony Bennett era as it helped to spark UVA to a strong second half of the 2013-2014 season that became the breakthrough campaign for the program, ending with Virginia winning both the ACC regular season and tournament titles and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UVA holds an 8-6 advantage over Tennessee in the all-time series, which dates back to 1917.

In their second game in the Bahamas, the Cavaliers will either face Baylor or St. John's. UVA last faced Baylor in 2022 at the Continental Tire Main Event in Las Vegas and this would be just the third-ever meeting between the two programs. St. John's, which is now under the direction of Rick Pitino, has met Virginia eight times all-time. The Red Storm own a 7-1 record against the Cavaliers, but UVA won the most recent meeting, which took place in the 2013 NIT. Tony Bennett is 5-1 coaching against Pitino head-to-head. 

See Virginia's updated non-conference schedule for the 2024-2025 season below:

Virginia's 2024-2025 Non-Conference Schedule
November 6th: vs. Campbell (Charlottesville, VA)
November 11th: vs. Coppin State (Charlottesville, VA)
November 15th: vs. Villanova (Baltimore, MD)
November 21st: vs. Tennessee (Nassau, Bahamas)
November 22nd: vs. Baylor/St. John's (Nassau, Bahamas)
November 26th: vs. Manhattan (Charlottesville, VA)
November 29th: vs. Holy Cross (Charlottesville, VA)
December 4th: at Florida (Gainesville, FL)
December 12th: vs. Bethune-Cookman (Charlottesville, VA)
December 18th: vs. Memphis (Charlottesville, VA)
December 22nd: vs. American (Charlottesville, VA)

We previously broke down UVA's non-conference schedule to project how difficult that portion of the schedule is going to be for the Cavaliers. Read that article here: How Difficult is UVA's Non-Conference Schedule in 2024-25?

More Virginia Men's Basketball News

Virginia Basketball: Projecting UVA's Starting Five for Next Season

Column: Why the Kyle Guy Hiring is Great for Virginia Basketball


Virginia Basketball Assistant Coach Johnny Carpenter Leaving the Program


Virginia Basketball: Evaluating the Strengths & Weaknesses of UVA's Roster

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.