CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 23 Virginia (10-1) hosts American (7-5) in non-conference action 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.
For Openers
- No. 23 UVA closes its three-game homestand vs. American.
- UVA is 7-0 at John Paul Jones Arena and 111-11 in non-league action at JPJ since 2009-10.
- UVA has scored 80 or more points in 10 games, most since 11 in 2007-08.
- The Cavaliers are averaging 86.5 points, second-most in school history (89.8 ppg in 1954-55).
- UVA is 22nd in NET rating and 25th in kenpom.com rankings.
- UVA head coach Ryan Odom served as an assistant coach at American from 2001-04.
Tickets
- Single-game, group and mini-plan tickets are on sale at uvatix.com. The four-game mini-plan features 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-American game will be televised on the ACC Network 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. American
- The Cavaliers own a 6-1 advantage over the Eagles in the all-time series that dates back to 1938.
- Virginia defeated American 63-58 in the last meeting between the teams on Dec. 22, 2024.
- UVA added 91-70 win in the other meeting between the teams at John Paul Jones Arena on Dec. 28, 2006.
- UVA is undefeated at home against American, posting a 6-0 record in Charlottesville.
- Virginia’s lone loss to American was a 69-54 true road defeat on Feb. 3, 1951.
Last Time vs. The Eagles
- Elijah Saunders tallied a career-high 21 points to lead Virginia to a 63-58 win over American on Dec. 22, 2024, at JPJ.
- Taine Murray added 13 points and Isaac McKneely chipped in 11 points as UVA closed non-conference play with a 7-4 record.
- Saunders shot 7 of 9 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free throw line to extend his double-figure streak to three games.
- UVA out-rebounded the Eagles 33-26 and scored 26 points in the paint.
Last Time Out
- Dallin Hall scored a season-high 20 points to lead No. 23 Virginia (10-1) to an 80-72 win over Maryland on Dec. 20.
- Hall shot 8 of 8 from the field and had a team-high six assists in the Cavaliers’ fifth straight win.
- Jacari White (15) and Devin Tillis (10) helped UVA to a 38-25 advantage in bench points.
- UVA used a 17-0 advantage spanning halftime and a 15-2 run to gain a 48-37 lead to gain the victory.
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 15.1 ppg, followed by Mallory (11.2 ppg), Thomas (11.1 ppg) and White (10.9 ppg).
- Grünloh leads the team in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and blocks (2.7 bpg), while Hall has a team-best 3.9 assists per game.
- UVA is averaging 86.5 points per game and limiting its opponents to 67.9 ppg.
New Kids on The Block
- Newcomers Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso provide elite rim protection for UVA.
- UVA ranks third nationally in blocks (6.9 bpg), highlighted by Onyenso’s eight-block effort vs. Butler and Grünloh’s seven-block effort vs. NC Central.
- Grünloh ranks 10th nationally with 2.7 blocks per game, while Onyenso is 15th at 2.6 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 14th nationally in offensive rebounds (14.6 rpg), 33rd in rebound margin (8.6) and 34th in rebounds (41.3 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 26.8 3-point attempts per game, surpassing 22.7 in 2007-08.
- UVA ranks 16th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (39.7%) and 33rd in effective shooting percentage (.573).
- UVA’s 39.7 percent (117 of 295) 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 four 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 (58.3%), Jacari White (50%), Chance Mallory (45.5%), Dallin Hall (43.3%), Sam Lewis (40.5%) and Thijs DeRidder (39.3%) 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 30 3-pointers, while Malik Thomas and Mallory each have 15.
On The Horizon
- No. 23 Virginia opens ACC action at in-state rival Virginia Tech on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Tipoff for the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash at Cassell Coliseum is set for 2 p.m. on the ACC Network.