After an offseason coaching change and roster shift, the long wait to learn more about the new-look Hoos finally ended for Virginia basketball fans Thursday night.
UVA faced Vanderbilt in a preseason exhibition game in Nashville. Under new NCAA rules, these preseason exhibition games took the place of secret scrimmages so that allowed fans to be in the building and a little more information to be public. The format for this exhibition was four 12-minute quarters, making it the length of an NBA game vs. the standard 40-minute college game, and it was split into two halves. Players could not foul out. Vandy won the first half 44-41 and the second half 51-46, making it a final combined scored of 95-87.
While that is an 8-point “loss” on the road, the two halves featured see-saw leads and what sounded like a competitive first exhibition. New Virginia coach Ryan Odom said that the setting benefitted both teams.
“Overall, I thought this was obviously great for both teams to be able to play a real game with fans and obviously in a competitive way,” Odom said. “I was really impressed with Vanderbilt, their speed in transition, their offensive efficiency throughout the game. I thought they did a nice job of moving the ball and sharing it and got it to the spots that they needed to. There were a couple of spurts in both halves that ended up dictating the outcome of both halves, but overall I thought there were some good things for us certainly that we can go back and really take from this game. And there are certainly things that we’ll need to really get back and work on, which is going to be really important for both teams going forward.”
“It's the first game. You can't overreact in a good way or a bad way,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “We're not winning a National Championship because of this, and we're not going to suck because of this. It's a great learning experience. And I know Ryan will say the same thing, like, this is what it's for. You play, and you figure out what you do right and what you don't do right. As coaches, you kind of huddle up and try to cover some weakness, emphasize stress and try to fix it.”
Some scoring statistics from the game for UVA included newcomer Malik Thomas leading the Hoos with 18 points. The San Francisco transfer averaged 19.9 points per game last season so that’s not a surprising number, particularly in an up-tempo game. Six Virginia players had double digits in scoring with Thijs De Ridder (15), Johann Grünloh (13), Jacari White (12), Ugonna Onyenso (12), and Chance Mallory (10) joining Thomas. (Note: some statistics reports out there vary on points totals.)
In terms of rotation, Virginia started Dallin Hall, Sam Lewis, Thomas, De Ridder, and Grünloh for this exhibition. Mallory, White, Devin Tillis, and Ugonna Onyenso were the most prominent subs, but Elijah Gertrude, Martin Carrere, Silas Barksdale, and Carter Lang also got some minutes.
Some thoughts from the Vanderbilt radio broadcast pulled out some information as well. UVA, as expected, played at a higher tempo. One moment saw Lewis hit a 3-pointer just seconds after Vandy had scored. On the flipside, turnovers were too high as the Hoos had several while trying to force that tempo with the Commodores jumping the pass. Of course, that was part of what definitely sounded like a sloppy game at times with both teams fouling 3-point shooters, missing free throws, and committing some of those turnovers.
The Vanderbilt radio crew was impressed with Grünloh’s ability to score around the paint and noted that he played at the top of the press once using his wingspan to make it difficult for the inbounds passer. The radio also pointed out that Onyenso was active with rebounding. And, finally, playing defense without fouling came up during UVA’s media day last week and that part didn’t go well. Vandy had 20+ free throw attempts in the second half (24 minutes).
Virginia fans shared some thoughts on the message board too. Here are a couple of threads from Hoo fans that were in attendance in Nashville: "Just got home from the game. I'll reiterate a few points below." and "Quick Recap. Vandy Won, competitive scrimmage". Jump on the message board and share your own thoughts too. UVA plays a home exhibition game against Villanova next Friday at 7 p.m.
The full postgame video from Coach Odom and a couple of brief highlight clips from UVA basketball’s social media follow. There is also a clip from Vandy’s SI reporter.
Favorite buckets from last night…
(a thread??) pic.twitter.com/1730dzN8hA
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) October 17, 2025
After two quarters: Vanderbilt: 44, Virginia: 41.
Tyler Tanner hits a layup to end the half. He’s up to 13. pic.twitter.com/kGHHhFOufP— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) October 17, 2025
Fan(s) Of The Week
Cheering the Hoos from the upper deck at Scott Stadium!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
Wahoowa!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Anthony Britton has helped the Virginia defense with 12 tackles this season.
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