Cavaliers Fall to Butler at Greenbrier Tip-Off

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — In its second game at the Skechers Greenbrier Tip-Off, the UVA men’s basketball team lost for the first time this season.

The Cavaliers came into their contest with Butler hoping to build on their Friday win over Northwestern. But the Bulldogs asserted themselves from the start Sunday afternoon and, after fighting off several Virginia rallies, pulled away for an 80-73 victory.

In front of a crowd dominated by its fans, Virginia (5-1) led only once Sunday. Guard Malik Thomas hit a short jumper with 16:43 left to put the Wahoos up 49-48. Twenty-three seconds later, however, Butler regained the lead on a floater by guard Finley Bizjack, and the Hoos had to play catch-up the rest of the way.

The Bulldogs (5-1) cooled off in the second half, but in the first 20 minutes they shot 71.4% from 3-point range and 53.6% from the floor overall.

“I thought when we executed and ran the actions we wanted to run, we got some really, really good looks,” Butler head coach Thad Matta said.

If not for UVA center Ugonna Onyenso, who grabbed seven rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench, Butler would have scored more. Onyenso, a graduate transfer from Kansas State, blocked eight shots, the most by a Cavalier since Jay Huff rejected 10 in a win over Duke in February 2020.

The Bulldogs missed 29 shots Sunday, and “I think the big fella blocked 27 of them,” Matta said of Onyenso. “My gosh, he was unbelievable up there.”

Overall, though, Virginia’s defensive execution wasn’t good enough, Thomas said. “[The Bulldogs] brought the fight to us with their screens, with their physicality, and just their aggression. It shocked us for the first four or five minutes of the game, and after we got acclimated to it, we adjusted, but we kind of dug ourselves a hole and we had to fight back. So I think that aggressiveness is what got them that advantage at moments.”

The Bulldogs’ first two field goals were layups, and that “really set that tone, so it was hard for us to keep crawling back,” Thomas said. “Credit to Butler, they did a good job. When we went on our runs, they went to the free-throw line or they got a good bucket.”

Four players scored in double figures for Virginia: Thomas (season-high 24 points), Jacari White (14), Chance Mallory (11) and Thijs De Ridder (10). White, who was scoreless against Northwestern, hit a game-high four 3-pointers Sunday. Overall, though, the Hoos shot poorly from the floor overall—40.8%—and left too many points at the free throw line.

On Friday night, Virginia made 9 of 10 foul shots in the final 1:01 to hold off Northwestern. Against Butler, the Cavaliers were 7 of 15 from the line.

Virginia tied the game at 13-13 on a layup by Onyenso, only to see Butler answer with three straight 3-pointers. By halftime, UVA had trimmed its deficit to two points, and the game stayed close for much of the second half. But the Bulldogs never unraveled, no matter how much pressure Virginia applied.

“They answered every challenge that our guys gave them throughout the game,” said Ryan Odom, who’s in his first year as the Cavaliers’ head coach.

Bizjack led all scorers with 25 points, and Butler forward Michael Ajayi added 17 points and a game-high 14 points. Another Bulldog, former UVA recruiting target Jamie Kaiser Jr., scored only five points but had 10 rebounds and four steals.

“They had many contributors,” Odom said.

With 10:08 remaining, Odom was assessed a technical after questioning a no-call. Butler made both free throws to stretch its lead to seven points, and the Hoos got no closer than four the rest of the way.

“My technical certainly hurt our team, which I’m sorry for,” Odom said. “Unacceptable for me to do that at that given time. These guys know that and understand how important it is to keep your poise and your composure in a hard-fought game. But again, it goes back to Butler and it being their day.”

The Cavaliers learned a lot about themselves during their stay at the Greenbrier resort, Odom said, “and so we’ll go back home and get ready, most importantly for ourselves and how we’re going to improve, but then also our next opponent.”

Thomas said the Hoos “would rather win and learn from it than lose and learn from it. But we’re going to take this as a lesson, because we’re only going to get better from here, and we’re only going to keep making strides as a team and find our identity … It’s a long season, so we’re going to continue to work on ourselves, not get too discouraged, and we’re going to just lock in on the details and just dive into what the coaches want us to do and just stay connected.”

UP NEXT
At 4 p.m. Friday, UVA hosts Queens University of Charlotte at John Paul Jones Arena. This will be the first men’s basketball game between these schools.

For Queens, this is its first year as a full-fledged Division I member. The Royals previously competed in the NCAA’s Division II.

Queens fell to 3-4 with a loss at Furman on Sunday night.

To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.