For the first time in 99 years, Virginia and Virginia Tech will close the men’s basketball regular season against one another. Moreover, the Commonwealth Clash rivalry between the Cavaliers and Hokies will start ACC play for only the second time.
The bookend games were announced Tuesday afternoon as the ACC unveiled dates for the 2025-26 conference schedule. The only previous time the Cavaliers and Hokies ended a regular season versus one another was 1927; their lone encounter in an ACC opener came in December, 2010.
Tech and UVA start league action Dec. 30 or 31 in Blacksburg and conclude the regular season March 7 in Charlottesville. The Dec. 30-31 designation is among many Tuesday-or-Wednesday dates sprinkled throughout the schedule, all of which will be finalized, along with times and television networks, by month’s end.
Mark your calendars – the 2025–26 ACC Men’s Basketball schedule has been announced!
Full schedule: https://t.co/4rfXa89Clb pic.twitter.com/TuZaOHW4dm
— ACC Men’s Basketball (@accmbb) September 9, 2025
The 2025-26 season marks the return of an 18-game ACC schedule, which expanded from 18 to 20 games in 2019-20 to provide additional inventory for the nascent ACC Network. But seeking greater nonconference scheduling flexibility, athletic directors shifted back to 18 in May.
The new model assigns each team one primary rival that it plays twice annually — Virginia Tech-Virginia is one such pairing — and one rotating partner each year that it also faces twice. UVA’s variable partner this season is NC State, and Tech’s is Wake Forest.
Under this format, each team has one ACC colleague that it will not face during the regular season. The Cavaliers’ no-play is Clemson, and the Hokies’ is Pitt.
Neither Virginia nor Virginia Tech will appear on ESPN’s Big Monday, an exclusive window that often draws larger audiences than standard midweek fare. The ACC’s move to a revenue-distribution model that rewards television viewership in football and men’s basketball makes Big Monday even more coveted by schools.
Only five ACC teams will play on the six Big Mondays from Jan. 26-March 2. Duke and Louisville have three such dates, North Carolina, Syracuse and NC State two each.
But Virginia and Virginia Tech landed a marquee home game on a Saturday, the most convenient day for fans. The Cavaliers host North Carolina on Jan. 24, and the Hokies welcome Duke on Jan. 31.
David Teel: david.teel@virginiamedia.com
