The pressure was on for Virginia’s second game of the season after an opening loss to Navy. But the Hoos responded nicely, defeating Radford 73-52 after jumping out to a 20-point halftime lead. It was a comfortable ride throughout, Virginia grabbing the lead after six minutes and never relinquishing it. With a visit to No. 15 Houston looming next week, the win was an important one and will give Tony Bennett’s group confidence. Here are three takeaways from a solid victory.

Virginia will host Radford Friday night at JPJ in their second game of the season. The Hoos will look to put Tuesday’s disappointing loss to Navy in the rearview mirror and stem the stream of criticism flowing in after the surprise defeat. Radford is lower-quality opposition, and the Hoos appear primed to grab their first victory.

Fans were back in JPJ for the first time in 612 days to witness Virginia’s season opener against Navy, but for 40 minutes of drab basketball, they had very little to cheer about. The Hoos fell to the Midshipmen 66-58 in an uninspiring performance that marked an inauspicious start to the season. Sweeping conclusions should not, however, be drawn from one game. Wahoo fans would do well to recall the beginning of last season. After a stunning 89-54 drubbing of Towson, a lifeless Virginia squad dropped their game against San Francisco only two days later. The first game last season provided fool’s gold; maybe the gold of this season has not yet been unearthed. So while the pessimism proliferating among the UVA fanbase is understandable, it may very well be proven wrong over the course of the season. Here are four takeaways from the season opener.

Virginia will open the season Tuesday night against Navy. The Hoos should win, but more important is what the game says about how Tony Bennett’s group will fare the rest of the season. With that, here are three things to pay attention to as the season gets underway.

There’s less than a week until college hoops is back, and to prepare for its return we end the roster breakdown with a look at the freshmen and sophomores.

The college basketball season winds ever closer, and with its approach comes the second of four installments breaking down Virginia’s roster. This time we’re looking at the Juniors, a class composed of a transfer, an Argentinian international, and an aspiring coach. In other words, it’s an interesting group.

Less than a month remains until Virginia basketball returns to the court.  But the players will not be the only ones setting foot in John Paul Jones Arena come November.  Fans will also be making their reappearance in JPJ, and they will be present in large quantities when the ball is tipped to signal the start of the season. This year promises to be another fun one full of low-scoring games, clutch shooting, and perhaps another run at an ACC title.  Here’s the first of four class breakdowns, in preparation for Virginia’s season opener against Navy on November 9.

Only a couple weeks after a tough first-round upset, Virginia basketball has been dealt a further blow. Three Wahoos have made the decision to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal, adding their names to a growing list of over 1,000 men’s basketball players. While technically still possible for them to return, odds are that we have seen the last of Casey Morsell, Jabri Abdur-Rahim, and Justin McKoy in Virginia uniforms. All three received less playing time this season than they likely expected, and that factor was presumably the biggest in the eventual decision to leave Charlottesville. With these transfers come worries about next year’s team. Let’s discuss some of the immediate effects of these outgoing transfers.

Eternally optimistic Wahoo fans aside, nobody was picking this year’s Virginia team to win the national championship. The Hoos entered the tournament after a week of quarantine, had lost three of their last six, and were plagued all season by bouts of inconsistency that made a title run appear a fanciful possibility. The fact that Virginia was never going to win it all, however, doesn’t do much to dull the pain of the early exit. It was still a major blow, made even worse by the wild accusations and unfounded criticisms floating around social media after the game. It’s a little belated, but let’s attempt to unpack some of these disputes with three takeaways from the loss to Ohio.