CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 23 Virginia (9-1) hosts former ACC rival Maryland (6-5) in non-conference action on Saturday, Dec. 20. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN and Virginia Sports Radio Network.
For Openers
- No. 23 UVA meets Maryland for the first time since 2018-19.
- UVA is 6-0 at John Paul Jones Arena and 110-11 in non-league action at JPJ since 2009-10.
- UVA has scored 80 or more points in nine games, most since nine during the Cavaliers’ championship season in 2018-19.
- The Cavaliers are averaging 87.1 points, second-most in school history (89.8 ppg in 1954-55).
- UVA is 21st in NET rating and 24th in kenpom.com rankings.
- Maryland’s Elijah Saunders played at Virginia in 2024-25.
- UVA Director of Basketball Operations Kelsey Knoche is the daughter of Maryland radio broadcaster Chris Knoche.
Tickets
- Single-game, group and mini-plan tickets are on sale at uvatix.com. The four-game mini-plan features the choice of Maryland or North Carolina, one of Syracuse, Miami, or Virginia Tech, and two additional games of the fan’s choice. The six-game mini-plan features the choice of Maryland or North Carolina, one of Syracuse, Miami, or Virginia Tech, and four additional games of the fan’s choice.
- The Landing, UVA's premium group space in JPJ Arena, is available to reserve for home games during the 2025-26 season. Please contact the ticket sales team at (434) 924-8821 for more information.
Broadcast Information
- The Virginia-Maryland game will be televised on ESPN and streamed on ESPN.com/watch.
- The game will also be broadcast on Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
- Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
The New Head Coach
- Ryan Odom was named the University of Virginia’s Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach on March 22.
- He spent the last two seasons at VCU, leading the Rams to a 52-21 record and 2025 NCAA Tournament berth.
- VCU won the 2025 Atlantic-10 Tournament and shared the A-10 regular-season championship.
- UVA is Odom’s fifth stint as a collegiate head coach. In 12 seasons, he has compiled a record of 224-127, including stops at Utah State (2021-23), UMBC (2017-2021), Lenoir-Rhyne (2016), Charlotte (2015, interim).
- Odom led UMBC, Utah State and VCU to the NCAA Tournament during his second season at those schools.
- Odom coached UMBC to an upset against Virginia in 2018 NCAA Tournament, marking the first time a No. 16 seed defeated a No. 1 seed in the event’s history.
- Odom is the first UVA coach to start his tenure 5-0, surpassing the Cavaliers’ first coach Henry Lannigan who started 4-0 in 1905-06.
All-Time vs. Maryland
- Virginia is 76-107 all-time vs. Maryland, including a 76-71 road win in the last meeting in 2018-19, in a series that dates back to 1912-13.
- UVA has won eight of the last nine meetings.
- The Cavaliers are 46-41 vs. the Terrapins in Charlottesville, including a three-game win streak at John Paul Jones Arena.
- UVA has won eight of the last nine meetings and has scored 76 points in each of the last two contests.
Last Time vs. The Terrapins
- Kyle Guy had a game-high 18 points to lead then No. 4 Virginia to a 76-71 win at then-No. 24 Maryland in an ACC/B1G Challenge game on Nov. 28, 2018.
- Ty Jerome added 17 points and De’Andre Hunter chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
- Jack Salt added 12 points and seven rebounds.
- UVA built a 17-point lead, but Maryland sliced the margin down to four before a Jerome 3-pointer with 2:50 left.
- The Cavaliers sank 10 of 22 3-pointers and tied a school record with two turnovers.
- Anthony Cowan led Maryland with 15 points.
Last Time Out
- Sam Lewis tallied 15 points to lead No. 24 Virginia to an 84-60 home win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Dec. 9.
- Thijs De Ridder added 13 points and fellow rookie Chance Mallory added 10 points, six steals and five assists for UVA.
- UVA drilled 11 3-pointers en route to a 46-32 halftime lead.
- UVA had a season-high 11 steals and a season-low 32 boards.
Virginia Standard
- The Virginia Standard is to pursue excellence and is built on the six pillars of humility, passion, unity, servanthood, thankfulness and accountability,
• We play with pace, share the basketball and our defensive style is to dictate and disrupt.
Hoo Are These Cavaliers?
- The 2025-26 roster is highlighted by 12 newcomers, including Dallin Hall (BYU), Malik Thomas (San Francisco), Devin Tillis (UC Irvine), Jacari White (North Dakota State), Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State), Sam Lewis (Toledo) and Martin Carrere (VCU).
- UVA added European imports Thijs De Ridder (Bilbao Basket), Johann Grünloh (RASTA Vechta) and true freshmen Silas Barksdale, Chance Mallory and Owen Odom.
- Redshirt sophomores Elijah Gertrude, Carter Lang and Desmond Roberts are the lone returners from last year’s team.
- UVA returned four points (all from Roberts) from 2024-25.
- De Ridder leads UVA in scoring at 16.4 ppg, followed by Thomas (12.1 ppg), Mallory (11.9 ppg) and White (10.9 ppg).
- Grünloh leads the team in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and blocks (2.9 bpg), while Hall has a team-best 3.8 assists per game.
- UVA is averaging 87.6 points per game and limiting its opponents to 67.8 ppg.
New Kids on The Block
- Newcomers Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso provide elite rim protection for UVA.
- UVA ranks third nationally in blocks (7.1 bpg), highlighted by Onyenso’s eight-block effort vs. Butler and Grünloh’s seven-block effort vs. NC Central.
- Grünloh ranks ninth nationally with 2.9 blocks per game, while Onyenso is 11th at 2.8 bpg.
- Grünloh’s seven blocks vs. NC Central were most by a Cavalier freshman since Jason Clark’s eight vs. VMI on Jan. 24, 2002.
- Onyenso’s eight blocks vs. Butler were the most by a Cavalier since Jay Huff’s 10 vs. Duke on Feb. 29, 2020.
- Grünloh has two or more blocks in eight games, while Onyenso has multiple blocks in six games.
Crash The Glass
- UVA ranks 23rd in offensive rebounds (14.5 rpg) and rebound margin (10.2), and 24th in rebounds (42 rpg).
- UVA is 8-0 when out-rebounding its opponent.
- The Cavaliers have 49 or more rebounds in four games, out-rebounding Hampton (49-25), NCCU (48-34), Rider (49-32), Marshall (38-35) and Northwestern (49-25).
- UVA has 20 or more offensive rebounds in three games, including 20 or more in back-to-back games (Rider and NCCU) for the first time since November of 2007 (25 at Penn and 20 against Seton Hall).
Let it Fly
- Virginia is averaging a school-record 27.5 3-point attempts per game, surpassing 22.7 in 2007-08.
- UVA ranks 13th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (40%) and 27th in effective shooting percentage (.580).
- UVA’s 40 percent (110 of 270) 3-point shooting percentage ranks second on UVA’s single-season list (40.3% in 2015-16).
- UVA has shot 30 or more 3-pointers in three contests.
- UVA attempted 30 or more 3-pointers in back-to-back games (Rider and NCCU) for the first time since March of 2021 (Syracuse and Ohio).
- UVA’s 36 3-point attempts vs. NC Central were its most since 38 against Virginia Tech on Feb. 10, 2018.
• UVA has made 11 of more 3-pointers in seven games, including a season-high 15 vs. Queens. - UVA had a school-record eight players make at least one 3-pointer in its win at Texas on Dec. 3.
- In 2025-26, Devin Tillis (54.5%), Jacari White (50.9%), Chance Mallory (48.4%), Thijs DeRidder (42.3%), Dallin Hall (41.4%) and Sam Lewis (40%) are UVA’s 3-point shooting leaders.
- White set a UVA record with 12 consecutive made 3-pointers during a three-game stretch from Nov. 28-Dec. 6.
- White leads the team with 27 3-pointers, while Malik Thomas and Mallory each have 15.
On The Horizon
- No. 23 Virginia hosts American in non-conference play on Monday, Dec. 22. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 6 p.m. on the ACC Network and Virginia Sports Radio Network.