No. 9 Cavaliers Open Season With One-Sided Win

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Six seconds into the game, Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder scored his first points, and that was a sign of things to come Tuesday night (Nov. 3) at John Paul Jones Arena.

The 6-foot-9 De Ridder, the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, poured in 12 points in the first 140 seconds to stake No. 9 UVA to a 14-2 lead, and Drexel never really recovered in the season opener for both teams. Eight minutes in, the Dragons trailed 25-4.

“I feel like we just came out and punched them in the face,” Virginia guard Sam Lewis said. “Thijs came out really big for us.”

De Ridder totaled 24 points, nine rebounds and two steals in 26-plus minutes to lead the Cavaliers to an 89-60 victory.

“I was just really, really excited for this season,” De Ridder said. “Now it's finally begun.”

Watch ya head 💥🔨 #GoHoos https://t.co/DY7atEtCQc

— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) November 4, 2026

UVA head coach Ryan Odom didn’t necessary expect his team to take control of the game immediately, but that’s “what I was hoping for, there's no question. All coaches hope for your team to come out ready to play. I think our guys were energetic, they were enthusiastic, they were playing well together, they were playing physical. playing fast. Thijs made some shots.”

His teammates are accustomed to seeing De Ridder shine in games, but never before as a Cavalier had he had a stretch like that one.

“He just set the tone from the beginning, and that got us going,” Lewis said. “We got a big lead from the jump, and that's just how we want to start our season.”

16th steal of the night, tied for most ever in JPJ 🔒 #GoHoos https://t.co/PXzuFXifC0

— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) November 4, 2026

De Ridder’s dominance aside, the story of this game was the havoc Virginia wreaked defensively. The Hoos, who generally press full court for all 40 minutes, came up with a JPJ-record 18 steals and scored 25 points off turnovers.

“That's a defensive style and way to play that is hard for a lot of teams to replicate in preparation,” Drexel head coach Zach Spiker said. “They didn't do anything to surprise us. They just did it really well. Credit to them and their staff. They were ready to play.”

Full-court pressure is an integral part of Odom’s system, and his players have “gotten progressively better at it over the course of practice,” he said. “After each exhibition, we targeted it and focused on it a little bit, just being more disruptive and more active. Thankfully, it showed some tonight.”

Point guard Chance Mallory led Virginia with four steals, and three other Cavaliers (Lewis, Nolan Adekunle and Elijah Gertrude) had three apiece.

When they press, Odom said, the Cavaliers aren’t looking to produce steals, “but this team, we feel like, has the ability, the potential, I guess is the better word, to be a really disruptive team. That's what we're trying to do, but the goal is not to steal it.”

UVA went 10 of 29 from beyond the arc, and Lewis hit a game-high four 3-pointers. He finished with 20 points, and 7-footer Johann Grünloh (11 points) also scored in double figures for the Cavaliers.

Like De Ridder, Grünloh pulled down nine boards, and Virginia outrebounded Drexel 42-33.

The Cavaliers went up 51-22 with 1:28 left in the first half, but the Dragons went into the locker room on a 5-0 run and then slowly chipped away at their deficit early in the second half. The Hoos saw their lead cut to 16 before they steadied themselves and pulled away  form and pulled away in the final eight minutes.

“I was hoping for more at the beginning of the second half,” Odom said, “and we didn't really see it. You have to give Drexel credit. They came out and were more physical, and we settled for poor shots and weren't great in the half court. And we certainly have got to get better there. We can't play that way out of halftime when we played a pretty good half overall. We've got to be able to do it again. Thankfully, the guys did a nice job to finish it out.”

Reserve guards Gertrude and Jurian Dixon scored eight and seven points, respectively. Dixon was one of seven players to make their UVA debuts Tuesday night, along with Adekunle, Kalu Anya, Jan Vide, Christian Harmon, Favour Ibe and Silas Barksdale.

Dixon, Anya, Vide and Harmon are transfers. Ibe and Adekunles are first-years, and Barksdale redshirted at Virginia last season. Adekunle started, but the other newcomers will be asked “to bring energy off the bench,” Odom said.

“This is not Jacari [White] necessarily flying in there and throwing up 3s and doing all that,” Odom said, referring to one of UVA’s top reserves last season. “These guys, they're different. It's not what we had last year. They're good in their own way and different in their own way.”

This marked the seventh consecutive season that the Cavaliers have opened with a win. Drexel’s head coach expects many more victories to follow.

“Great depth, great skill, great size,” Spiker said. “They’re going to be a tough team, home and away, all season, and could play deep into March.”

UP NEXT: At 5 p.m. Friday, in a game to air on ACC Network, Virginia (1-0) hosts Northeastern (0-1) at JPJ.

Northeastern opened the season Monday night with a 93-85 loss to Boston University.

The Cavaliers are 2-0 all-time against the Huskies. In their most recent meeting, Virginia edged Northeastern 56-54 at JPJ on Dec. 16, 2023. Reece Beekman, who now plays for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, led UVA with 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in that game.

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