Cavaliers Open Season With Emphatic Win
By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In its first game under head coach Ryan Odom, the University of Virginia men’s basketball team overcame a shaky first half to win going away Monday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
“Great win overall,” Odom said, “and good to get off to a good start here.”
The Cavaliers were far from flawless in their 87-53 victory over the Rider Broncs, but the night was one Odom won’t soon forget. When he walked out of the locker and through the tunnel before the game, he said later, he felt “really blessed to be here, to be the coach here.”
In addition to gratitude, there was excitement. “This is another season,” Odom said, “and I tell my wife every year, it’ll be March before you know it.”
Five players scored in double figures for the Cavaliers, led by 6-foot-9 forward Thijs De Ridder, one of 12 newcomers on the 15-player roster. De Ridder, who’s from Belgium, totaled 21 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs, and also had two assists.
“Very good, very talented, very poised, patient, everything that you want him to be,” Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said of De Ridder. “He’s the real deal for those guys.”
Another European import, 7-footer Johann Grünloh, who’s from Germany, contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for UVA, and Sam Lewis, Chance Mallory and Jacari White added 11 points each.
Mallory grew up in Charlottesville and starred at nearby St. Anne’s-Belfield School, and every play he made drew loud cheers from the crowd. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to extend Virginia’s lead to 70-35.
“It was a surreal feeling,” Mallory said of his UVA debut. “A lot of emotions, nervousness, excitement. Just wanted to be out there and play.”
An excess of fouls made for a stop-and-start opening half that lasted 63 minutes. Both teams were in the double bonus by the 5:56 mark of the first half. In all, officials called 48 fouls Monday night.
It made for a ragged game, but despite shooting 2 for 19 (10.5%) from 3-point range and 12 for 19 (63.2%) from the line in the first half, Virginia went into the break leading 42-32.
“At halftime, we talked a little bit about the decisions that we were making,” Odom said, and a different UVA team showed up for the final 20 minutes.
The Wahoos allowed only three points in the 12 minutes of the second half while building a 35-point lead.
“I thought we took a step forward tonight defensively, just imposing our will on the game and doing it together,” Odom said.
Mallory said the difference in the second half was Virginia’s on-ball defense. “We got into our press, and we were able to speed up the ball-handler, which we weren’t doing in the first half. So the main focus was just on defense, because we knew we were going to be able to score. We were getting the right shots. They just weren’t falling. So we knew they were going to fall in the second half.”
Indeed, the Hoos’ outside shooting improved markedly in the final 20 minutes, as they went 6 for 11 from beyond the arc. For the game, they missed 22 shots from 3-point range, but they rebounded many of those misses.
Virginia finished with 22 offensive rebounds and turned them into 26 second-chance points. De Ridder led the way with six offensive boards.
“I think overall it was pretty solid,” De Ridder said of his performance. “Of course there were some points that I can still work on, and this is just the first game, and hopefully I can do it every game again and help the team win.”
Chance Mallory (left) and Ryan Odom
Of the Cavaliers’ 15 players, only Devin Tillis and Silas Barksdale did not play Monday night. Tillis, a 6-foot-7 forward, was on crutches. He recently had knee surgery and is out indefinitely, Odom said. Barksdale, a 6-foot-9 freshman, might redshirt this season.
Virginia’s final points came with 22.9 seconds left on a deft left-handed layup by Owen Odom, the younger of the head coach’s two sons.
“Really proud,” Ryan Odom said. “Most importantly, proud that he’s here with us and gets to experience UVA. That’s a true blessing. Anybody that’s attended this great institution understands what that means, and Owen’s getting that opportunity to earn a degree from here, but then also be a part of the Division I basketball team, which is really cool.”
UP NEXT: The Cavaliers’ four-game homestand continues Friday night. At 7 o’clock, in a non-conference game to air on ACC Network Extra, UVA hosts North Carolina Central (0-1) at JPJ.
This will be the second straight road game for the Eagles. NCCU opened Monday night, too, losing 114-63 at NC State.
Virginia leads the series 2-0. In the teams’ most recent meeting, the Hoos routed the Eagles 77-47 at JPJ on Dec. 5, 2023.
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