Cavaliers Now

Virginia to Host "The Basketball Tournament", Kyle Guy & Kihei Clark Set to Play

Matt Newton

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Charlottesville has been selected as one of the regional locations for the 2025 edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 64-team summer basketball tournament with a $1 million winner-take-all prize for the champion of the event. The University of Virginia will host the Charlottesville Regional at John Paul Jones Arena from July 18-23 this coming summer.

“We are excited to bring TBT to Charlottesville and John Paul Jones Arena,” Virginia Director of Athletics Carla Williams said in a press release on Thursday (February 27). “TBT is an exciting summer tournament which provides an opportunity to welcome back our alumni and reconnect them with our fans at one of college basketball’s best arenas.”

In addition to hosting a regional for The Basketball Tournament for the first time, the UVA men's basketball program will also be represented with a TBT alumni team for the first time. Virginia's team, which is called Embrace The Pace, will be led by Kyle Guy and Kihei Clark, with additional roster announcements to be made later.

“I’m super excited that TBT is coming to Charlottesville and that UVA will have their first alumni team,” said Kyle Guy in the UVA press release. “TBT has become such a great way for players to reconnect with each other and strengthen their bonds with the schools they played at. We’re looking forward to putting out a team UVA fans will be excited about, and I’m looking forward to seeing a packed John Paul Jones Arena in July.”

Guy and Clark led the Cavaliers to the 2019 National Championship, with Guy being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. A two-time All-ACC First Team selection and two-time All-American, Guy was also the MVP of the 2018 ACC Tournament after leading the Hoos to the title. Clark, who is currently playing for the Mexico City Capitanes in the NBA G League, holds the UVA all-time records for assists and games played and helped Virginia win three ACC regular season titles in his time as a Cavalier.

Guy, who returned to Charlottesville last year and rejoined the program as an athlete development mentor and special assistant, will serve as the co-general manager for Embrace The Pace alongside former Virginia men's basketball assistant coach Johnny Carpenter, who spent 14 years with the program before leaving to take a coaching job with the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA last summer.

“We are excited to partner with the University of Virginia to bring a TBT regional to John Paul Jones Arena for the first time,” said TBT founder and CEO Jon Mugar. “Kyle [Guy] is doing a phenomenal job assembling a team that will not only make fans proud but also recapture some of the magic behind the 2019 championship run. We can’t wait to see them compete in front of their home fans.”

The winner of the Virginia Regional will advance to the TBT quarterfinals, which will be played on July 29th. The semifinals will take place on July 31st and the championship will follow on Sunday, August 3rd. Seven of the eight regional locations have been announced so far: Lexington (KY), Louisville, Syracuse, Kansas City, Wichita, Charleston (WV), and Charlottesville. The eighth and final regional location will be announced soon.

Tickets for the 2025 edition of The Basketball Tournament will go on sale on May 6th. Click here for more information.

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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.