Special Season Ends for Cavaliers

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

PHILADELPHIA — For the Virginia Cavaliers, a wildly successful season ended sooner than they hoped. In the NCAA tournament’s second round, UVA lost 79-72 to Tennessee in a fiercely contested game Sunday night (March 22) at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Volunteers, seeded No. 6 in the Midwest Region, advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth straight season. They’ll face second-seeded Iowa State in Chicago.

Third-seeded Virginia finished its first season under head coach Ryan Odom with a 30-6 record. The Wahoos were looking to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2019, when they went on to win the NCAA title. They didn't achieve that goal, but they'll look back with pride on a season in which they were ACC runners-up and returned the program to national prominence. The 30 wins are UVA's most in a season since 2018-19.

“A lot of tears in [the locker room],” Odom said. “A lot of gratitude. Certainly, rarely does it end like any of us want it to end. You have to just try to put things in their proper perspective, which is not easy to do in moments like that. That was a good game and our guys fought. They just fought and fought and fought. Had a chance there at the end when we took the lead, but it wasn't meant to be.”

THE HOOS TAKE THE LEAD!

De Ridder nails the 3 and @UVAMensHoops lead 👀

📺 TNTpic.twitter.com/ff5uKA9Ggf

— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 23, 2026

Tennessee (24-11) surged ahead with a 12-0 run in the first half, and Virginia stayed on the back foot most of the rest of the way. The Hoos never stopped battling, however, and with 2:00 remaining a Thijs De Ridder 3-pointer put them ahead 71-70—their first lead since 20-18.

It didn’t last. On a drive on which Tennessee’s Nate Ament appeared to travel, Virginia was called for a foul, and the 6-10 freshman from Manassas, Va., hit two free throws to make it 72-71 with 1:37 to play. The Cavaliers missed at the other end, and then Tennessee’s Bishop Boswell went 1 for 2 from line to make it 73-71.

UVA’s only point in the final minute came on a foul shot by Chance Mallory with 11 seconds to play, and the Vols hit their final six free throws—all by All-SEC guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (21 points)—to seal the victory.

“We just couldn't really get over the hump,” Mallory said. “They went on that 12-0 run early in the first half, and we never really got over it. We were always just playing catch-up the whole rest of the game.”

The Cavaliers trailed by five at halftime and by nine with 9:13 to play. But they clawed back behind point guard Dallin Hall and De Ridder. Hall sliced through Tennessee’s defense for layups on back-to-back possessions, cutting Virginia’s deficit to four with 6:11 to play. Then, after a De Ridder steal, Hall fed 7-footer Johann Grünloh for a fast-break dunk that brought UVA fans to their feet and made it a two-point game.

“Coach called a good set that allowed us to get downhill into the paint and make some reads,” Hall said, “and we started making really good decisions and finding shooters, and guys stepped up and hit really big shots, so that was something that worked going down the stretch.”

With 4:44 remaining, De Ridder made two free throws to tie the game at 66-66, and the momentum continued swinging back and forth until the final minute.

“I think we did a little bit better job of getting the game going in the second half,” Odom said. “Obviously, they made some free throws down the stretch, but you got to give them credit. They made the plays they needed to make and answered at the end when we made our run, and that's how you win games.”

After leaving VCU for UVA last March, Odom began putting together a roster that ultimately would comprise 15 players. Twelve of them were newcomers, including seven transfers: Hall (BYU), Malik Thomas (San Francisco), Sam Lewis (Toledo), Jacari White (North Dakota State), Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State), Devin Tillis (UC Irvine) and Martin Carrere (VCU).

From the start, they bonded exceptionally well, and that chemistry proved critical for a team that exceeded the expectations of most in the basketball world.

“From the very beginning, it was amazing,” said De Ridder, who’s from Belgium. “Even with my years overseas, I never had a group this tight. Also, like Coach said, we're going to be brothers for life. It's really painful that it ended like this. We know we have more in us, more games, but it is what it is and I'm very proud that I can call my teammates my brothers for life.”

Tillis said he and his teammates “always had belief, but we didn't know it was maybe gonna go this great. But I think once we figured out how to play with each other and became even closer as a team, the sky was the limit for us.”

Odom has been a head coach for more than a decade: at Lenoir-Rhyne, UMBC, Utah State, VCU and, now, UVA.

“I don't know that I've ever had this much fun coaching a team,” he said. “I've been very fortunate in my life. Last year we won a lot of games [at VCU], and that was a fun year. These guys took it to another level. The respect that they have for everyone is evident. I can't tell you how many times I get emails from people, just random people that come across these guys in situations, and literally send me an email out of the blue just saying, ‘Man, I was so impressed with your guys in this interaction.’ I think that says a lot about them and their character and that’s one of the reasons that we brought them to Virginia ... I think that's what helped us win overall as much as anything. These guys are just good people.”

Virginia’s rosters includes five seniors—Hall, Thomas, White, Onyenso and Tillis—and for them the finale hit especially hard.

“I’m just grateful that I got to meet and play with these guys,” said White, who scored a season-high 26 points in UVA’s first-round win over Wright State. “I wouldn't have changed it. I wouldn't have done anything different. I'm just grateful to have these people around me.”

Hall said he felt “a lot of sadness and, once you get through that a little bit, gratitude for the relationships I formed with these guys, the brotherhood we have. Excited for a lot of these guys' futures and just grateful, I would say for what we did, what we formed, and what we'll have for the rest of our lives.”

In a key sequence in the final minute, a rebound bounced off the head off a Volunteer and then grazed the finger of Hall before going out of bounds.

“I was hoping [the officials] missed it, but I definitely got a piece of it,” Hall said.

After the officials awarded possession to Tennessee, UVA’s coaches challenged the call, and a video review followed. The challenge was unsuccessful, and the Vols retained possession.

Hall finished with seven points, seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists Sunday night. Hall and Mallory scored 10 points apiece, and the 5-foot-10 Mallory also pulled down six rebounds. The 6-foot-9 De Ridder made a season-high four treys and led all scorers with 22 points.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes praised his players’ effort. “They worked hard—they had to—to play a team like Virginia. I’ve got the most respect for Ryan Odom and what he's done in a short time there at Virginia.”

As the Tennessee band played “Rocky Top” for the umpteenth time, Virginia’s players gathered at the other end of the court for what became a postgame tradition late in the season. For the last time in a memorable season, the Cavaliers locked arms and stood in front of their band for the “Good Old Song.”

“I think it was something that was super special and important to us,” Tillis said, “Coach told us when we started doing it, he said, ‘Win or lose, you’ve got to be out there.’ And so just to be able to do that one last time was pretty awesome.”

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