CHARLOTTE - An ugly start blossomed into a beautiful finish for the Virginia basketball team. The Cavaliers took over late in the first half on Friday against Miami and won 84-62 to advance to the ACC Tournament Championship Game for the first time since 2023.
A day after shooting nearly 50% from 3-point range in the quarterfinals, UVA started the game 0-7 from distance before Thijs De Ridder hit the team’s first triple with 2:47 left in the half. That 3 sparked a 13-2 run to close the half against Miami, a surge capped by a Chance Mallory buzzer-beater 3-pointer to give Virginia a 38-23 halftime lead. That was more than double the team’s largest lead (7) against the Hurricanes in the regular season meeting.
“I think it was good for us to just see a couple of good things happen because once we get rolling, we’re like a freight train,” UVA guard Malik Thomas said.
Miami made a run in the second half to pull within 11, but Thomas responded for the Cavaliers by scoring 9 of the team’s next 11 points. The 22-point win was Virginia’s largest margin of victory at the ACC Tournament since 1983, the first season on staff at UVA for Ryan’s dad, Dave Odom.
Virginia was led on the day by Ugonna Onyenso with 17 points, who received MVP chants from the UVA fan section after hitting a 3 in the second half. His 4 blocked shots give the Virginia center 92 for the season, moving into 5th place on the program’s single-season block list. He now trails only Ralph Sampson’s four seasons protecting the rim. Onyenso also now has an ACC Tournament record 12 blocks in just two games, surpassing NC State big Mohamed Diarra’s previous record of 11 blocks in five games.
Thijs De Ridder (16), Sam Lewis (16), Thomas (15), and Mallory (12) also finished in double figures for a balanced scoring night from the Cavaliers. Mallory also had 5 rebounds and 6 assists, while Lewis had 5 rebounds and 1 steal. De Ridder chipped in 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. Dallin Hall had 2 points and 5 assists.
On the other side, the Virginia defense held Miami First Team All-ACC forward Malik Reneau to just 8 points on 1-6 shooting from the field. The Hurricanes’ top two scorers combined for only 4 made field goals in Reneau and Tre Donaldson, who hit 3 of 8 attempts.
Virginia advances to Saturday’s ACC Championship game to face Duke for a chance at the program’s first ACC Tournament Championship since 2018 and the fourth in program history. Here are a few takeaways from a dominant Virginia win at the Spectrum Center.
Cavaliers Are Suffocating
The biggest challenge of facing Miami is finding a way to slow down First Team All-ACC big man Malik Reneau, who led the Hurricanes with 19.2 points per game entering Friday night. Having witnessed this in person when Reneau scored 16 points on 7-10 shooting in Charlottesville, Odom knew heading into the game the Cavaliers needed to make things difficult.
“He’s just a really good player, and if you leave him alone one-on-one, he’ll do damage,” Odom said. “We felt like we needed to double him.”
Virginia sent the double team at the Miami big from the first possession, usually bringing either center in Johann Grünloh or Ugonna Onyenso over to force a trap on Reneau. The goal was to force Reneau into a turnover or heavily contested jumper and simply make life difficult for Miami’s top player.
“The plan was just to make it hard on him,” UVA forward Devin Tillis said. “We sent our five man on double teams a lot so he couldn’t get a layup in. We just made his life pretty tough. He’s like the head of their snake, we’re not going to be able to stop him for 40 minutes, but we need to make his life hard for 40 minutes.”
Reneau finished the game with 8 points on 1-6 shooting and 3 turnovers as the Virginia defense converged on him any time the ball touched his hands. Thijs De Ridder drew the main defensive assignment against Reneau and used the opportunity to display how good of a defender the Belgian has become this season.
“I think my defense has been slept on all season,” De Ridder said. “I’m pretty confident to switch onto a guard and take him one-on-one. Of course I got better at it.”
Miami’s 62 points are tied for the second fewest total this season and its 23 first half points are a season low. The performance was the latest sign of Virginia’s defensive improvement, a unit that ranks 16th nationally in defensive rating, according to KenPom.
“I think our effort intensity has raised and just our overall connectedness, togetherness, something we talk a lot about,” Hall said. “Bringing guys from all across the country, different teams, different systems. It took us a little bit, but I feel like we’re really starting to play our best basketball at the right time.”
A switch flipped at the beginning of January for UVA on the defensive end. Since Jan. 1, the Cavaliers are a top 10 defense nationally according to Bart Torvik’s adjusted defensive efficiency. Anchored by the brick wall at the rim in the form of Onyenso and Grünloh, Virginia might once again enter March leaning on its defense.
“Our identity is playing defense,” Onyenso said. “We have each other’s back defensively. If someone makes a defensive mistake, we get to clean it up. I’m really glad we’re playing the way we’re playing at a time like this.”
Chance Mallory With A Flair For The Dramatic
Virginia had already started to make its run toward the end of the first half. After trailing 17-15, the Hoos had taken the lead at 23-17 with an 8-0 burst. After trading baskets for a string of possessions, Thijs De Ridder’s late 3-pointer had started another 10-2 run. But freshman Chance Mallory had something else in the bag.
With just 3 seconds left in the half, Mallory picked the pocket of Miami guard Tre Donaldson, raced down to the other end, and pulled up for a 3-pointer, splashing one home right before the buzzer. The moment felt big and left the Hurricanes with a feeling of helplessness going into halftime.
“It was just cool to be able to hit that shot in front of this big of a stage,” Mallory said. “Just to be able to get a stop, a key stop that we needed to have.”
The shot gave Virginia a 15-point halftime lead and all the momentum. The two late runs combined to give UVA a 23-6 close to the half. Mallory was surrounded by teammates walking off the floor, but was determined to finish the job after seeing the Cavaliers lose halftime leads earlier this season.
“I feel like it gave us a little bit of a spark of energy,” Mallory said. “We had leads at halftime, not letting that reoccur. I feel like we came out and punched first, and that’s what kept the lead.”
Mallory finished the game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and that big steal in the latest signs of his growing maturity on the floor. The hometown kid was chosen postgame to slap the UVA logo sticker on the ACC Tournament Championship bracket.
“He’s long past being a freshman,” Thomas said. “I think that shot really carried us into the half the right way. And it was a big shot for him. Got him going even more. And I think he was huge for us. He impacts the game in so many different ways.”
UVA Dominates The Glass
One things still irked this Virginia team from its 86-83 regular season win over Miami in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers, one of the country’s top offensive rebounding teams, only grabbed 4 offensive rebounds and scored just 2 second chance points against the Hurricanes previously despite winning the game. The 4 offensive rebounds were a season-low in an area Ryan Odom constantly emphasizes.
“I felt like they got a lot of 50/50 balls back in Charlottesville, and we wanted to come out hungry and get this dub,” Thomas said.
For as good as Virginia’s defense was throughout, the offense was slow to start. What changed was 8 first half offensive rebounds and 14 second chance points.
“The real game begins, can you clean it up with a rebound,” Odom said. “Our guys did a nice job overall on both sides. We encouraged them to crash on offense, we got some offensive rebounds to get our offense going in the first half.”
A month ago, Miami’s physicality admittedly flustered Virginia. But the offensive rebounds Friday gave UVA momentum even when the team started 0-7 from 3-point range and the work on the glass deflated Miami.
“You can feel it, everybody from the defensive team knows coach is going to be mad,” Virginia Johann Grünloh said. “They already have their head down and you get a second chance.”
Ugonna Onyenso On An MVP Run
As if teammates hadn’t already run out of words to describe the play of Ugonna Onyenso, the 7-footer continues to put together a special ACC Tournament run.
Onyenso blocked 4 shots to set a new ACC Tournament record for blocks in a single tournament with 12 in just two games. The previous record-holder needed five games just to get 11 blocks. The Nigerian has firmly set himself apart in the UVA record books as the greatest shot blocker not named Ralph Sampson.
“He’s worked so hard for this moment,” UVA guard Dallin Hall said. “So it’s super cool to see him find that success, and we’re not done yet, so hopefully he makes it so no one ever beats the record tomorrow.”
Even with the ongoing block party, what stood out more on Friday night was Onyenso’s impact offensively. Early in the game when Virginia was struggling from the perimeter, Onyenso had 8 points inside. Then in the second half, Onyenso was left alone at the 3-point line and splashed home a triple, his 10th of the season. Onyenso finished with 17 points, the second-most in his career and one off his career-high of 18 points scored earlier this season against Hampton.
As impactful as Onyenso has been defensively, he’s made big strides offensively to be a threat at all times on the court.
“The coaches have allowed him to play with more freedom than any coach in the past,” Hall said. “He had no three field goal attempts before this year, which is crazy to think about. So, it’s a lesson in life, like when you install that belief in someone, provide them a space to grow, some good things can happen.”
How Far Virginia Has Come In 8 Months
It was only eight months ago when 12 new players from across the globe and a brand new coaching staff arrived in Charlottesville with the task of putting a competitive team together. Flash forward and Virginia is headed to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2023 and has a 29-4 record.
“I’m really surprised,” Onyenso said. “My first two months with the team, I really saw that we really love one another, we play for one another. When I saw that, I was like this is going to be a really good year.”
The credit in large part goes to a coaching staff tasked with bringing a brand-new roster together with transfers, international players, and freshmen. Odom instituted a book club when he arrived for the book called “Legacy” on the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team and preached leaving the jersey in a better place.
“When you first get to a new program, your goal is always to win,” Thomas said. “Anywhere you go, your goal is to win an ACC Championship and to compete for a National Championship. But I don’t think we had that in the back of our heads, but we just needed that plan to get us there. And shout out to the coaches and the organization just for creating a process that gets us there because we know that we can just continue to get better each game.”
If Virginia wants to claim the program’s fourth ACC Tournament Championship, the Cavaliers will have to go through Duke. A few weeks ago the Blue Devils handed UVA a 26-point beatdown in Durham, their largest loss of the season. When players were asked postgame what needs to change this time around against Duke, the answer was everything.
“The moment can’t be too big for us,” Odom said. “We’re just going to prepare for the next game, whoever we play, and get ready just like we did today. There’s no reason to change anything at this point. We’re however many games into the season and these guys know how we do things, and there’s a process, and we’ve just got to stick with that.”
As much as a surprise their instant success under Odom has been, any program will tell you championships are the goal. Virginia has a chance to accomplish just that and cap off an unexpected turnaround in year one of the Odom era.
“This season we wanted to compete for a championship and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Grünloh said. “We just have to finish the job.”
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