By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In its final appearance of the season at John Paul Jones Arena, the UVA men’s basketball team delighted the sellout crowd—save the sprinkling of Virginia Tech fans in the stands—with a well-earned victory.
Virginia dropped only three ACC games during the regular season. One of those losses came on New Year’s Eve in Blacksburg, where Tech defeated UVA in triple overtime at Cassell Coliseum.
The 13th-ranked Cavaliers avenged that loss Saturday afternoon (March 7) in the second of the rivals' Commonwealth Clash meetings. With the 76-72 victory, head coach Ryan Odom’s first team at Virginia finished the regular season 27-4 overall and 15-3 in ACC play.
The Cavaliers wouldn’t have been so successful, Odom said, without the contributions of the five players who were honored Saturday, along with managers Artie Humphreys and Maren Council, in a Senior Day ceremony before the game.
The seniors “all, in their own way, impacted this place and made the most of their time here,” Odom said, “and I'm excited for what's to come for them as we head into the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament.”
To our seniors 🧡💙#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/jGD7Op4ZzR
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) March 7, 2026
Those five seniors—Dallin Hall, Ugonna Onyenso, Malik Thomas, Devin Tillis and Jacari White—were among the players who transferred to UVA after the 2024-25 school year, and each played a role in the victory Saturday.
Hall had a game-high nine assists. Tillis made a free throw that effectively sealed the win. Thomas scored 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting. White’s catch-and-shoot 3-pointer pushed Virginia’s lead to seven early in the second half, and Onyenso hit the game’s biggest shot.
That came on Hall’s final assist, a pass to the 7-foot Onyenso on the left wing. In recent games, Odom said, Onyenso had been hesitant to shoot from long range, but not on this possession.
“I’ve had my streaky shooting and everything,” Onyenso said, “but coming into this game, I said to myself, ‘Don’t think about it. Do not think about it. If you catch the ball, let it fly.’ ”
No. 33 let it fly, and the ball dropped through the net to give the Wahoos a 70-63 lead with 1:46 to play. Onyenso finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in 19 minutes off the bench.
“Ugo was a monster,” Odom said. “His shot was huge, and just his overall play.”
The Cavaliers came into the game having clinched the No. 2 seed (and a double-bye) in the conference tournament, which starts Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. The Hokies arrived in Charlottesville squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble, and their situation is more dire now.
“It doesn’t help us,” head coach Mike Young said of the loss.
The Hokies (19-12, 8-10) never led Saturday, but this was anything but a stress-free win for the Hoos. UVA raced out to a 22-5 lead, only to see the Hokies cut their deficit to six with five minutes left in the first half.
The Cavaliers separated again and went into the break leading 41-25, but Tech jumped on them early in the second half.
“You're not going to win a game in the first five minutes, or the first 10 minutes, or the first half, for that matter,” Odom said.
Five straight points by White gave Virginia a temporary reprieve, but the Hokies responded with a 7-0 run that tied the game at 51-51 with 10:57 to play. At that point, the momentum belonged to the visitors, but the Cavaliers didn’t unravel. They ran off eight straight points, with Hall picking up three assists in that stretch.
“Loved how our guys responded when it closed to 51-all,” Odom said.
The Hokies refused to let the Hoos pull away. Five straight points by Tech cut Virginia’s lead to 63-59 with 4:34 left, and it was still a four-point game with two minutes to play. But Onyenso’s second trey of the game brought the home fans to their feet, and UVA’s lead grew to nine when junior swingman Sam Lewis (15 points) made two free throws at the 1:25 mark.
“I think our guys just did a nice job down the stretch of figuring the game out and made some big plays,” Odom said.
Try as they might, the Cavaliers couldn’t fully shake the Hokies. With eight seconds left, a 3-pointer by Jailen Bedford made it 75-72. But after Tillis hit 1 of 2 from the line with 4.4 seconds to play, the Hoos could finally celebrate.
“Great game all around,” Odom said.
Heading into the game, he’d reminded his players that a win might improve UVA’s seeding in the NCAA tournament.
“The biggest thing I wanted them to do was just relax and play,” Odom said, “and I thought they came out with a really good fire and a relaxed but aggressive play. We did talk about NCAA tournament seeding and just painted a picture for them that we are playing for something right now. Even though this thing is set in Charlotte, it's not set past that. And so we wanted to do our part here at home.”