Virginia Women's Basketball Excited for First Postseason Opportunity Since 2018

Postseason women's basketball will return to John Paul Jones Arena for the first time in 12 years on Thursday night, when No. 4 seed Virginia (15-15) hosts High Point (20-11) in the first round of the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT). 

In their second season under head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, the Cavaliers are playing in a postseason tournament for the first time since 2018, when they beat Cal in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling at South Carolina. That ended up being the final game of Joanne Boyle's tenure at Virginia, as the program then experienced a gradual downturn under Tina Thompson, who was fired in 2022 after winning a total of five games over her last two seasons. Less than two years later, Agugua-Hamilton, known as Coach Mox, remarkably has the Cavaliers back playing in postseason action. 

"When I first got here, I don't think people thought postseason was as close as it was now. I think it was kind of far-fetched at that point," Coach Mox said on Wednesday. "The program was coming off of winning five games and it's the first postseason appearance since 2018, so that's growth."

Virginia is 15-15 this season, matching the team's record from last year, but the Cavaliers went 7-11 in ACC play, a three-win increase from last season, and earned four wins against AP Top 25 teams, the most ranked victories for the program since the 2008-2009 season. The last of those ranked wins was a huge 80-75 victory over then-No. 5 Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash in the regular season finale. 

The Cavaliers entered the ACC Tournament with an outside chance at an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, but then suffered a disappointing 58-55 setback to Wake Forest in the first round in Greensboro. In the two weeks since that deflating loss, Coach Mox says her players have responded well and are excited for the opportunity to continue their season. 

"It's been positive, all positive. We've had quite an up an down season and we've had some great wins and some bad losses. It's part of the growing process. And I think that we're starting to mature and grow and understand the level of competitiveness and urgency we have to approach every game with so it's been a positive response," said Coach Mox. "I think everybody's just ready to play, ready to kind of redeem ourselves and also learn how to win in March. I think that's what great about playing in this tournament, playing in postseason. You gotta learn how to win when tomorrow is not promised. We didn't do a good job of that at the ACC Tournament. We got one more shot at it."

Thursday will also be the first time Virginia women's basketball will host a postseason game at John Paul Jones Arena since the 2012 WNIT, when the Cavaliers won three-straight games at home before falling in the quarterfinals. UVA has seen its attendance steadily increase this season, culminating with the record-breaking Commonwealth Clash on March 3rd, as a crowd of 11,975 packed into John Paul Jones Arena to see the Cavaliers knock off the Hokies, the largest crowd to ever attend a college women's basketball game in the state of Virginia. 

"I hope our fans show up and show out like they have all season. The fanbase here has grown tremendously, the excitement in the community, all of that," Coach Mox said. "And I just want to thank our fans in advance because that's going to be awesome. And to do that, play our first postseason game since 2018 at home and host is pretty special."

As Coach Mox looks to rebuild the UVA women's basketball program, which made regular deep runs in the NCAA Tournament in the 1990s under Debbie Ryan, the opportunity to get postseason experience is extremely valuable, especially for the younger players on the roster set to return next year. But the Cavaliers don't just want to have the experience, they want to win the whole thing. 

"Of course, we want to be in the Big Dance and we will be, but sometimes you can't skip steps and so this is a great opportunity, it's a great tournament," Coach Mox said. "I'm just excited about it, our players are excited about it. And we're going in there with the mentality - obviously, take it game by game, it's all about High Point right now - but if there's a tournament, you want to be the champion. We're going in there to win a championship."

Virginia will take on High Point on Thursday at 7pm on ESPN+. The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 1 Villanova and VCU in the second round on Sunday.