Cavaliers Race Past Spiders at JPJ

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After a sluggish start Friday night, the UVA men’s basketball team hit the Richmond Spiders with a punch from which they never recovered.

In the second of the Cavaliers’ three preseason exhibition games, they pounded UR 96-53 before an appreciative crowd at John Paul Jones Arena.

“Obviously we weren’t ready for a game like that or an opponent like that,” Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said.

Midway through the first half, the Spiders led 20-12. By the time they scored again, UVA had run off 26 unanswered points.

“I thought Richmond did a really nice job to start the game,” said Ryan Odom, Virginia’s second-year head coach. “They had us on our heels. We were a little bit tentative, not as aggressive as I'd hoped we would be to start the game.”

Second-year point guard Chance Mallory swung the momentum back in the Wahoos’ direction. Mallory, who sat out UVA’s first exhibition with a minor injury, scored the first seven points in the 26-0 run that broke the Spiders.

"Chance is really the key," Mooney said. "He puts so much pressure on you."

A graduate of nearby St. Anne's-Belfield School, Mallory "is the engine," Odom said. "There’s no question. He’s so fast up the court and just really ignites our offense and our defense in a lot of ways.”

See you again real soon 👋 #GoHoos https://t.co/QP2lI53J5I

— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) October 10, 2026

Up 43-28 at the half, Virginia overwhelmed Richmond the rest of the way. UVA outrebounded the smaller Spiders 54-29 and held them to 25.4% accuracy from the floor. The Hoos recorded 21 second-chance points.

Five Cavaliers scored in double figures—Mallory (12), Thijs De Ridder (12), Martin Carrere (12), Elijah Gertrude (11) and Jan Vide (11)—and two others (Nolan Adekunle and Johann Grünloh) finished with nine points apiece.

Led by Carrere (4 for 6) and Gertrude (3 for 5), Virginia shot 50% (14 for 28) from 3-point range.

“We have some good shooters,” said Odom, who went 3-1 against Richmond in his two years as VCU’s head coach.

Carrere, a 6-foot-9 wing, began his career at VCU, where he redshirted in 2024-25. He followed Odom to Charlottesville last year but played little for the Cavaliers in 2025-26. Gertrude, a 6-foot-4 guard, had a minor role for Virginia too last season.

“I'm just glad I'm getting an opportunity to play and to show what I can do and what I've been working on,” Carrere said.

Odom said: “Martin’s worked really hard. He worked really hard this summer. He worked hard last year. So did Elijah. And they were on a team that had some other really good players ... And so there's no shame in not being able to enter that rotation.”

UVA played its first exhibition game, against Vanderbilt, on an outdoor court in Charleston, S.C. The Cavaliers’ newcomers include Vide, Adekunle, Jurian Dixon, Favour Ibe and Kalu Anya, and Friday marked the first time they’d played in front of a crowd at JPJ. (Another newcomer, Christian Harmon, is recovering from an injury but is expected to be available soon.)

“It was definitely a great experience,” said Vide, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, “just seeing the fans and then at the end seeing the Good Old Song together. It was an amazing experience, and hopefully during the season we're gonna have the support the same way as we have it today.”

Sam Lewis, one of the returning starters from a team that finished 30-6 last season, led UVA with five assists Friday night. The 7-foot Grünloh pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and Ibe, a 7-foot-1 freshman, grabbed seven boards in about 13 minutes off the bench.

“Their size is impressive,” Mooney said. “It’s very hard to rebound the ball defensively [against them]. They send everybody to the glass, and it’s very, very effective.”

Virginia opens the season Nov. 3 against Drexel at JPJ. The Cavaliers’ third and final exhibition game is Oct. 22 against Villanova in Philadelphia.

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