By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — He worked out Adeang Ring at John Paul Jones Arena a few times. Otherwise, Aaron Roussell has rarely been on the court since being hired in April to lead the University of Virginia women’s basketball program.
“By the time the roster had been put together, finals were coming, and so we weren't able to be out there with [players],” Roussell said.
That’s what makes next week such an important one for the Cavaliers’ coaching staff. Roussell’s first UVA team convenes Monday for the start of summer workouts at JPJ.
Virginia’s 2026-27 roster comprises 13 players: five returners, four freshmen and four transfers.
“It’s weird,” Roussell said. “You spend so much of your time trying to assemble a staff, assemble a team, even recruiting for the future, that you kind of forget that you get to actually coach basketball. So that'll be a welcome change, and I think that'll help with just the normal flow of the day.”
The Wahoos won’t have a full complement of players immediately. Sophomore Caterina Piatti (Italy) and freshmen Emilie Brzonova (Czech Republic) and Sintija Aukštikalnytė (Lithuania) are in Europe representing their respective countries, Roussell said, and freshman Lyla Coogen and redshirt junior Olivia McGhee are coming off injuries. Another player, graduate student Mary-Anna Asare, will be away from Charlottesville playing for Canada’s 3-on-3 team later in the summer.
“So we’ll have some time where we won’t have a lot here,” Roussell said.
That won’t change the staff’s focus. The emphasis this summer is on “player development,” Roussell said.
“I think that's something we really tried to sell to our players coming in—that we're here to make you better, whether that's for here or that's for post-grad, playing pro or whatever,” he said. “And so we really want to get to a point where players' skills are at the highest level. We'll do some team workouts, but, really, it won't be heavy on the install. It'll be about understanding our style, the flow of our offense, maybe understanding the transition parts of our offense.”
Hoos… can you lower the lights for us, please? 🎬🍿#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/wrYLFfypaT
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) May 13, 2026
Roussell came to UVA from the University of Richmond, where in seven seasons he posted a 148-72 record. When Roussell took over the program in 2019, the Spiders hadn’t advanced to the NCAA tournament in 14 years. They made the NCAAs in each of his final three seasons.
Much has changed in college athletics since Roussell took the UR job. Transfers weren’t nearly as prevalent in 2019, when he inherited a full roster at Richmond.
“We didn't have any open scholarships left,” Roussell said, “so good, bad, indifferent, it was vastly different."
When Ryan Odom took charge of the men’s program at UVA after the 2024-25 season, he had to build a roster almost from scratch. Roussell faced a similar challenge this spring, and he’s spoken with Odom about roster construction.
“It’s obviously two different worlds,” Roussell said, “but I tried to use them as a model to a certain extent. I think the biggest thing for us was just trying to get some of our players back. I thought some sort of continuity would be a positive. So the biggest part, and I think what took a lot of our time early, was trying to re-recruit our own players. And while that took a little time, it maybe made it a little bit easier to [fill out the roster].”
Ring, Tabitha Amanze, Breona Hurd, Olivia McGhee and Kymora Johnson chose to remain at UVA. Retaining Johnson, an All-ACC guard who’s from Charlottesville, was one of Roussell’s first priorities after being hired, and he came home early from a family vacation to Jamaica to meet with her and her parents on Grounds.
Johnson stayed in the transfer portal for about 10 days before announcing she was returning for her fourth year at UVA.
“You're trying to put together your team, and of course everybody wants to know what your team looks like,” Roussell said. “And so I think a hard part during all of that was just trying to recruit people to a situation that was very much unknown.”
By the time Johnson recommitted, McGhee had announced she was staying, “and I think that helped us a little bit,” Roussell said. “I do think that gave us a little steam and momentum with some of the players that were left.”
A 6-foot-2 wing from nearby Louisa County, McGhee received a medical redshirt after missing most of the 2025-26 season with an ankle injury. She has two years of eligibility left.
McGhee’s ankle is healing well, Roussell said, and “she’ll be doing workouts. She's been doing conditioning. We'll be smart about the transition, but she's back and close to full go.”
She’s yet to have a significant impact at UVA, but McGhee is “somebody we're very, very excited about,” Roussell said.
“I think she fits me and my style to a T, with the length and athleticism that she has, along with her skill set. I just remember being amazed at her abilities years ago when we were watching her in high school. We weren't really actively recruiting her necessarily, but on the circuit, seeing what she could do, she was kind of that prototypical player that has had success for us. There’s not anything she's done wrong or anybody else has done wrong [at UVA], but I'm hopeful that just finding a new start and a breath of fresh air will be a little bit of a boost for her.”