Returning Talent Puts Hoos in Enviable Position

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A year ago, all four were new to the University of Virginia. Two of them—Belgian forward Thijs De Ridder and German center Johann Grünloh—were new to the United States as well.

Whatever growing pains De Ridder, Grünloh, Sam Lewis and Chance Mallory experienced in 2025-26 are behind them now, and they form the core of head coach Ryan Odom’s second team at UVA.

“Obviously, it's huge,” Odom said Tuesday during a media availability at John Paul Jones Arena. “Being able to draw from the experiences from last season, both positive and negative, help you learn, help you grow, help you become closer together.”

Lewis summed up the foursome’s mentality when he said, “I know what to expect in every game ... I know how to handle situations and pressure better now. I just know what to expect.”

The 6-foot-9 De Ridder, the 7-foot Grünloh and the 6-foot-7 Lewis all started last season for a team that finished 30-6. “I feel like we already have something brewing, and Year 2 will be a lot of fun,” Lewis said.

The 5-foot-10 Mallory came off the bench, but he averaged more minutes than two Virginia starters did. “Chance will be easy just to throw in [the starting lineup],” Lewis said. “He played a lot off the bench, and I don't think that will be a struggle.”

De Ridder led the Wahoos in scoring and rebounding and made the All-ACC first team. Lewis shot 40.3 percent from 3-point range and was third on the team in scoring (10.6 ppg). Grünloh blocked 80 shots and averaged 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, and Mallory led the Hoos in steals (57) and was second in assists (121).

“They all had their individual moments where they helped us win games,” Odom said. “They had moments when they didn't play their best and their buddy picked them up. I think they enjoyed the overall experience, and we'll be able to give that to the new guys when we embark on the season.”

Odom said he’d like to see De Ridder step forward as the Cavaliers’ closer in tight games.

“At times it doesn't mean he has to take the shot,” Odom said, “but having the balance to be able to finish when it's one-on-one and it's there, get fouled or make the right pass or get somebody else a cleaner look ... And in order to do that, you have to slow down. Last year was his first time full-time playing on the perimeter like that. Obviously, we put him inside as well, and we'll still do that. We’re trying to leverage his abilities.”

The game is slowing down for De Ridder, Odom said. “His ballhandling has gotten much better, which is really important.”

Ballhandling has long been one of Mallory’s strengths, and he’s ready to take over as Virginia’s starting point guard.

“He’s been dynamite,” Odom said. “He’s really worked on his body and he's worked really hard in the gym, on his game, and he just seems really committed. He's ready to step up.”

Lewis had arthroscopic surgery after the season to repair an injury in his right (shooting) elbow. He’s back at full strength, Odom said, and looks stronger than he did in 2025-26.

Already a lights-out shooter, Lewis is working to expand his skill set.

“We need him to increase his ball handling and passing,” Odom said. “He's gonna be asked to do that more this year, and so he's working really hard on that. Defensively, [Lewis is working on] becoming a lockdown defender on the wing. He's going to be guarding 2s and 3s and sometimes point guards, so becoming a guy that we can really count on that side of the ball to defend and rebound. He's got that in him. And so we've got to push him to get there.”

Grünloh weighed about 235 pounds when he enrolled at UVA last year. He’s close to 250 pounds this summer and “looks different,” Odom said, “which is what you want to see for a younger player.”

No. 17 is healthy, too. Grünloh played the final part of last season with a broken right (shooting) wrist that limited him offensively. A gifted 3-point shooter, he didn’t attempt a shot from beyond the arc in any of the Cavaliers’ final five games.

“I'm excited for him and what's next,” Odom said. “I think you'll see him dribble the ball more. We're allowing him to kind of rebound it and go and bust out and start the break a little bit to make us a little bit faster.”

De Ridder, Grünloh, Lewis and Mallory aren’t the only returning players in the program—Elijah Gertrude, Martin Carrere, Carter Lang, Desmond Roberts and Owen Odom are also back—but they’re the most experienced members of that group.

“I think that's our advantage this year,” De Ridder said. “I think that helps a lot. The experience that we have from last year, we know the arena, we know JPJ, we know how it is on the road with some teams, especially like at Duke. It was a bad loss, but we'll try to fix that this year. So we bring ACC experience this year with us as well.”

From a team that advanced to the ACC championship game and the NCAA tournament’s second round, UVA lost five rotation players: Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall, Ugonna Onyenso, Jacari White and Devin Tillis. As valuable as their on-court contributions was the leadership those five provided, and De Ridder, Grünloh, Lewis and Mallory will be asked to fill that void.

“Devin and Dallin really led the charge in a lot of ways,” Odom said. “Malik certainly and Jacari and Uugo in their own way impacted the team as well. And so I'm gonna need those four guys to really lead this team.”

In the offseason, the Hoos filled out the roster by adding six scholarship players: transfers Christan Harmon (6-foot-6 forward from Arkansas State), Jurian Dixon (6-foor-4 guard from UC Irvine), Kalu Anya (6-foot-8 forward from Saint Louis) and Jan Vide (6-foot-6 guard from Loyola Marymount), plus forward Nolan Adekunle (6-foot-6 import from Germany) and center Favour Ibe (7-foot-1 freshman from Lanham, Md.).

“They all fit with the current roster and the guys that we were returning,” Odom said.

Adekunle has yet to arrive in the U.S., but the other newcomers have been practicing and working out with the team since last month.

“We’re excited about them,” Odom said. “I think the one common thread is they're all good guys. That is a good commonality with the guys that we lost. They’re good high-character guys that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and they're fun to work with so far.”

Dixon said the team’s returning players deserve much of the credit for easing his transition.

“They’ve helped me a lot and they communicate a lot,” he said, “and they’ve just been welcoming. Coming into a new program can be a little hard, just a little different, so I'm thankful.”

Mallory, who grew up in Charlottesville and starred at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, said one “of the things the coaches have told me I should be working on a lot is using my voice. So I've been trying to do that a lot.”

Heading into only his second year, Mallory said, he might not describe himself as a veteran, “but I definitely feel like I'm more accustomed to what the coaches want,” and he tries to share that information with the team’s newcomers.

“I feel like that's what my job is as a point guard,” Mallory said, “to just try to help people whenever they need it.”

Odom’s first team at UVA included only three players who’d been in the program in 2024-25, and none had a big role.

“It was basically a whole team,” Mallory said, “so we had to instill that foundation that the coaches wanted. [This year] we already have that foundation set, and we just have to build our new transfers up and bring them to that level, and it’s been going pretty well so far.”

The Cavaliers figure to start the 2026-27 season ranked in the top 15 nationally, but that’s not “what we're worried about,” Mallory said. “We want to be this year's team, so not really worried about outsiders saying what we need to do. We're just trying to do our best.”

Odom said: “We aren’t going to put pressure on ourselves to, hey, we have to win this many games. It's going to be about trying to compete again for a championship, trying to advance in the NCAA tournament and running this race with this particular team without comparing it to a year ago.

“We certainly want to draw from our experiences from a year ago and learn from some of the lessons, but this will be a different team and we've got to treat it that way.”

To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.