With History on the Line, Championship Game to Be Broadcast at JPJ

For three weeks, University of Virginia basketball fans (at least those not blessed with tickets and days off from work or school) have taken to all sorts of places – theaters, bars, gyms, amphitheaters, closed-off city streets, or firmly on that lucky spot on the living room couch, peeking between their fingers – to watch the Cavaliers make their heart-testing run through the NCAA Tournament.

On Monday, the University is inviting its community home to the John Paul Jones Arena to witness the finale of the most successful season in school history.

The University community is invited to watch the CBS broadcast of the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game between Virginia (34-3) and Texas Tech University (31-6) at JPJ. Doors will open at 8 p.m. in advance of the 9:20 p.m. broadcast on CBS. The event is open to the public.

The CBS broadcast will be displayed on Hoo Vision. Admission and parking for the event are free of charge and general admission. The clear bag policy and entry procedures in place for all home basketball games will be in place.

Wahoo fans last gathered at JPJ on March 9, when the Cavaliers defeated Louisville, 73-68, on Senior Night to close out the regular season. The players, coaches and team staff cut down the nets to celebrate UVA’s Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and capturing the top seed in the subsequent conference tournament.

Thanks to several dramatic finishes in the last few weeks, capped by Kyle Guy’s last-second rescue job in Saturday’s 63-62 national semifinal victory over Auburn University, the crowd that assembles Monday will be rooting for a much larger prize.

The Cavaliers will be gunning for the first national championship in the school’s 114 seasons of basketball. Twice – in 1981 and 1984 – UVA advanced to the Final Four, but lost in the national semifinal round.

In all sports, UVA teams have won 24 NCAA national championships, including seven in men’s soccer (1989, 1991-94, 2009, 2014); five in men’s lacrosse (1972, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2011); four in men’s tennis (2013, 2015-17); three in women’s lacrosse (1991, 1993, 2004); two each in women’s cross country (1981 and ’82) and women’s rowing (2010, 2012); and one in baseball (2015). In addition, UVA captured three unofficial, non-NCAA national titles in men’s lacrosse (1952 and 1970) and boxing (1938).

The Cavalier men’s basketball team also won National Invitational Tournament championships in 1980 and 1992.

The 2019 Cavaliers reached Monday’s final with NCAA Tournament victories over Gardner-Webb University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Oregon, Purdue University and Auburn University – the latter three wins coming by a combined 10 points.

Scoring likely will be at a premium in Monday night’s game. UVA holds its opponents to an average of 55.5 points per game, fewest in the country. Texas Tech ranks No. 3 in scoring defense, allowing just 58.8 points per game.