Hoos Ready for Preseason TestsHoos Ready for Preseason Tests
Jamie Holt

Hoos Ready for Preseason Tests

In the first of its three preseason exhibition games, Virginia meets Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Sunday in Charleston, S.C., as part of The LinkU Invitational.

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — With only the occasional break in their training schedule, they’ve been battling each other at John Paul Jones Arena since the middle of June. The players on the University of Virginia men’s basketball team can’t wait to test themselves against new competition.

“Man, I’m ready,” All-ACC forward Thijs De Ridder said.

UVA officially opens the season, its second under head coach Ryan Odom, on Nov. 3 against Drexel at JPJ. Before then, though, the Cavaliers will play three exhibition games, the first of which is Sunday in Charleston, S.C.

As part of The LinkU Invitational, Virginia will meet Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Weather permitting, the game will be played outdoors at Credit One Stadium.

“It's going to be a good test against a good team,” center Johann Grünloh said, “and it's going to help us prepare for the season.”

The other two exhibition games are next month. UVA hosts Richmond on Oct. 9 at JPJ before traveling to Philadelphia to face Villanova on Oct. 22.

These exhibitions are open to the public, and for many programs they’ve taken the place of the closed scrimmages that for years were a preseason tradition.

“Truth be told, I love the closed scrimmages,” Odom said. “There’s no eyes on it, and it’s a chance for two teams to get in there and be really competitive and learn from one another and see different combinations and try new things. But the way the climate is now in our game, it's important that we get our teams out there in front of our fans as early as we can, so they can begin to get to know the guys.”

From a team that finished 30-6 in 2025-26, the Wahoos return three starters—the 6-foot-9 De Ridder, the 7-foot Grünloh and 6-foot-7 Sam Lewis—as well as 5-foot-10 Chance Mallory, who came off the bench but averaged starter’s minutes.

De Ridder led the Wahoos in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 per game). Grünloh blocked 80 shots and averaged 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, Lewis shot 40.3 percent from 3-point range and was third on the team in scoring (10.6 ppg), and Mallory was first on the team in steals (57) and second in assists (121).

Odom said he’s yet to decide who’ll join those four in the starting lineup.

“We have four guys coming back that are known quantities, basically,” he said. “We know their games and how they have performed so far under the lights. We certainly want those guys to improve, we need them to improve, but [the exhibitions are] a bigger chance for the other guys to get out there. We want to see different combinations and give guys a chance to get out there and perform.”

Six scholarship players have joined the program since the end of the 2025-26 school year: transfers Kalu Anya (Saint Louis), Jan Vide (Loyola Marymount), Jurian Dixon (UC Irvine) and Christian Harmon (Arkansas State), plus first-years Nolan Adekunle, who’s from Germany, and Favour Ibe. Rounding out the roster are returners Elijah Gertrude, Martin Carrere, Carter Long, Desmond Roberts and Owen Odom and new walk-ons Nick Rotter and Quincy Watson.

“The starting five is going to be pretty much the same as last year,” De Ridder said, “with Chance on and with another new guy, so I think it's going to click right away. I think that it's one of our big advantages going into this season, so I’m excited for that.”

At this time last year, De Ridder, who’s from Belgium, and Grünloh, who’s from Germany, were new not only to UVA but to the United States.

“It's so much different now,” Grünloh said this week. “You start to know the place, know where to go, where to get something to eat or just hang out a little bit. You really start appreciating the place. It never gets boring.”

He’s healthy again, too, after playing the final stretch of last season season with a broken wrist on his shooting hand. That limited what Grünloh was able to do on offense, and he didn’t attempt a 3-pointer in any of Virginia’s final five games.

De Ridder is in a better place, too.

“I worked my butt off this summer,” De Ridder said. “So I feel more comfortable with everything. I'm just excited for myself, too. I'm ready.”

He smiled. “After the season, I have to get a job somewhere, so it's kind of a pressure on me. I'm ready for that pressure and I'm just excited for the team.”

Odom has seen De Ridder and Grünloh grow on and off the court, but he said he “thought they were pretty comfortable right away last year. I think that's one of the reasons they're still here: they found a home away from home. So there's definitely a level of comfort. They know what to expect to meet the challenges necessary to be successful but also enjoy UVA as well.”

Johann GrünlohJohann Grünloh

UVA lost five rotation players from the team that advanced to the ACC championship game and the NCAA tournament’s second round: Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall, Ugonna Onyenso, Jacari White and Devin Tillis.

Hall and Tillis had prominent leadership roles, “so there’s a void there,” Odom said. “Those were the two vocal leaders for last year's team. So we're going to have to fill that void.”

Odom’s first team at UVA included only three players who had been in the program in 2024-25. With a much larger group of returning players this year, the Cavaliers head into the season with better on-court chemistry, Grünloh said. “You know what everyone can do, what they can't do. So it's helping us a lot.”

His advice for the newcomers?

“Be open and embrace the place, embrace the people here,” Grünloh said. “It's a special opportunity and you've got to take advantage of it.”

The offseason flew by, De Ridder said, and “we are already gaming in September, so that’s pretty crazy. These first couple [exhibition] games, we're gonna see where we're at with the team and stuff. We’re going to make a lot of mistakes, but I think that's normal for our first game.”

The Hoos have lofty goals, and Odom lined up a rugged non-conference schedule to prepare his team not only for ACC play but for the postseason. Among the opponents Virginia will face before the calendar flips to 2027 are Arkansas, Maryland, Marquette, Xavier, Kentucky and Connecticut.

“This is going to be a challenge from the jump,” De Ridder said.

“It's definitely going to be tougher than last season, our non-conference schedule,” Grünloh said. “Tougher by far. And then in conference, we play Duke twice ... It's going to be a real test to see if we can translate what we did last season to this season. It's going to be hard, but I think we're going to get through it. Being tested early in the season, that's good. That helps us at the end when we play tougher teams.”

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Thijs De RidderThijs De Ridder