Villanova and Virginia will face off in the Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 19 at Madison Square Garden, it was announced Tuesday.
The game between the last two men’s basketball national champions will be the first college basketball game at MSG since the Big East tournament was canceled due to coronavirus back in March.
No fans will be allowed.
Villanova and Virginia had entered the season ranked in the top five, but both teams suffered upset losses during the opening week of the campaign. The Wildcats followed up wins over Boston College and Arizona State with an overtime loss to Virginia Tech at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. Virginia beat Towson by 35 to open the season, but then lost to San Francisco — also at Mohegan Sun Arena.
These two teams played in both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, with Virginia winning by 11 in 2015-16 and Villanova getting a two-point win in 2016-17.