No. 24 Cavaliers Ride 3-Point Shooting to Win Over UMES

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In its first game as a top-25 team since February 2023-24, Virginia never trailed Tuesday night in an 84-60 win over Maryland Eastern Shore at John Paul Jones Arena.

The No. 24 Cavaliers (9-1) came into the game shooting 39.8% from 3-point range, and they stayed hot against the Hawks (4-9). Seven players made at least one trey apiece for UVA, which finished 13 of 31 (41.9%) from beyond the arc.

Those players included Jacari White, who came into the game having made a program-record 12 straight treys. Against UMES, however, White missed his first 3-point attempt and was the last Cavalier to connect from long range.

Virginia had more than enough firepower to overcome an off night from White. His teammates Sam Lewis, Thijs De Ridder, Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall and Devin Tillis made two 3-pointers apiece.

“They were scalding hot early,” UMES head coach Cleo Hill Jr. said of the Wahoos, who were 11 of 19 from 3-point range in the first half.

Virginia cooled off in the second half, but the outcome was never in doubt. The Hoos could have been sharper in several areas, head coach Ryan Odom said, but “all in all, I thought our guys did a nice job of finishing the game out.”

Lewis led UVA with 15 points, and De Ridder and Mallory added 13 and 10, respectively. Mallory, a 5-foot-10 freshman from Charlottesville, contributed, as usual, in multiple ways. He had a season-high six steals and a team-high five assists.

For the season, Mallory has 22 steals. No other Cavalier has more than eight.

“He just imposes his will,” Odom said. “He’s fast, he’s strong, he has great anticipation ability. He understands where it might go. And he’s hard to just get on a side because he’s always moving.”

This is Odom’s first season at UVA, and most of the players on his roster were elsewhere in 2024-25. When putting this team together, Odom said, outside shooting was a priority.

“A lot of these guys had shown that they could do it at other places, and certainly that was part of the equation,” Odom said, “putting together a collection of players that could fit together. And certainly shooting provides a lot of space and helps us utilize that open space and be able to get drives to the basket. And when you have two big guys that can shoot as well, that can be really helpful.”

Neither of UVA’s 7-footers—Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso—made a 3-pointer Tuesday night, but between them they’ve hit nine treys this season.

Having so many capable shooters, Mallory said, “just opens up the paint. When we’re attacking the paint with all these shooters around, [defenses] can’t really help.”

UVA is averaging 87.1 points per game and shooting 48.8% from the floor. Odom said the Cavaliers’ passing has been the key to their offensive proficiency.

“I think that’s the biggest thing right now,” he said. “And we have multiple options, guys that can shoot, guys that can drive.”

Odom said he believes “this could be one of the best passing teams that I’ve ever coached and we have ever coached. And we have a chance to do that. It’s easy to see when we get away from it. All of a sudden, we don’t have as much success. And so we want to keep our guys in that mindset.”

At the other end of the court, Odom said, the Hoos are getting stingier, “but I think that’s an area that we’re continuing to try to improve each and every practice and game. And the guys understand that we have to have both to be successful in our conference. We’re going to be facing some stiff competition and really good individual players that are all well-coached. We’re going to have to step up as we get to conference play.”

Final exams begin Thursday at the University, and UVA’s players will balance schoolwork and basketball for the next week or so.

“I’m excited about it, and the guys are excited about it as well,” Odom said.

Academics will take up much of their time, “and so it’s a release for them to come in the gym,” Odom said. “And so the focus for us right now is to improve as many areas as possible on both sides of the ball, and we’re going to utilize the days that way.”

UP NEXT: The Cavaliers won’t play again until Dec. 20, when they meet former ACC rival Maryland at JPJ. The 6 p.m. game will air on ESPN.

Maryland (6-4), which hosts No. 2 Michigan in a Big Ten game Saturday, is in its first season under Buzz Williams, who faced UVA regularly as Virginia Tech’s head coach. The Terrapins’ starters include 6-foot-8 forward Elijah Saunders, a transfer from Virginia who’s averaging 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

The Cavaliers have won eight of their past nine games with the Terps. Their most recent meeting was on Nov. 28, 2018, when No. 4 Virginia won 76-71 in College Park, Md.

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