Virginia Opens 2021-22 Season on Tuesday at James Madison

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (0-0) opens the 2021-22 season by facing James Madison (0-0) on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Va.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

• The game will stream online through FloSports (subscription required)
• All of the 2021-22 Virginia women’s basketball games – regular-season and post-season – are available locally on the radio on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA
• Live stats will also be available for the game

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

• Virginia returns to competitive action after playing only five games during the 2020-21 season, three non-conference contests and two ACC games. Tuesday’s game is UVA’s first since Dec. 13, 2020. Virginia had one game canceled due to injuries depleting the roster to the point it was not safe to play (Dec. 6 at George Washington) and then six more games postponed due to COVID protocols before the decision was made on Jan. 14 to end the season
• The Cavaliers will have an almost entirely new team in 2021-22 with the addition of four transfers and one true freshman added to the roster. Guards Amandine Toi and Carole Miller are UVA’s most-seasoned returning players, having each appeared in 35 games in their Cavalier careers
• Two of the transfers are graduate students coming from the Ivy League: Eleah Parker (Penn) and McKenna Dale (Brown).
• Parker is the two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and a three-time All-Ivy League selection.
• Parker was one of 20 players named to the 2021-22 Lisa Leslie Award Watch List for the top center in the nation. This is her second time being named to the preseason watch list for the honor
• Dale is a guard who played two seasons at Brown (missing 2018-19 due to injury), ranking third in points per game (17.0) and second in three-point shooting percentage (.385) in 2019-20
• UVA picked up two players from Marquette, forward Camryn Taylor and guard Taylor Valladay
• Additionally, the Cavaliers will have multiple second-year players who played only five or fewer games as true freshmen (Aaliyah Pitts, Deja Bristol and Kaydan Lawson) as well as one who was injured all of last season (Nycerra Minnis)
• Virginia has another transfer, London Clarkson, who played her freshman season at Florida State in 2019-20. Last year, she was supposed to sit out after transferring to UVA, however she was granted her immediately eligibility in December, but the Cavaliers did not play another game after she became eligibile
• Guard Amandine Toi was on a hot streak when last season came to an end. Toi, who is a fifth-year graduate student who still has one more year of eligibility remaining after sitting out her first two years with knee injuries
• Junior forward Meg Jefferson was also on a hot streak before being sidelined by an injury last year. After playing a total of 83 minutes her freshman season, Jefferson found herself in the starting lineup and leading the team in scoring at 12.7 points per game in the three contests she played
• Tina Thompson added an NBA champion to her coaching staff. James Posey. Posey played 12 seasons in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, New Orleans Hornets and Indiana Pacers, winning NBA championships with the 2006 Heat and the 2008 Celtics. He won an additional title as a member of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff. As a player, he appeared in 864 games, averaging 8.6 points per game
• Virginia received one vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll

NOTING THE DUKES

• JMU was selected to finish third in the Colonial Athletic Association while junior Kiki Jefferson landed on the Preseason All-CAA First Team and sophomore Peyton McDaniel was tabbed All-CAA Second Team,
• JMU finished the 2020-21 campaign with an overall record of 14-10 and a 9-6 mark in conference play. The Dukes return a majority of last year’s squad, including Jefferson, who was tabbed All-CAA First Team at the end of the season and the 2021 CAA Rookie of the Year in McDaniel
• JMU hosted Shepherd in an exhibition game on Nov. 1, the first time the Atlantic Union Bank Center welcomed fans to cheer on the Dukes
• Virginia leads the all-time series 16-10
• The Cavaliers and Dukes played last season with JMU picking up the 71-67 win at John Paul Jones Arena
• Virginia had four players finish in double figures, led by a career-high 17 points from Amandine Toi and Carole Miller scored 16 points. Jamia Hazell led James Madison with 16 points. Anne Francoise Diouf had a game-high 10 rebounds with nine points

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia plays its home-opener hosting head coach Tina Thompson’s alma mater Southern California on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m.
• UVA closes out the homestand with a midweek game against UCF on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.