Virginia never trailed and led by as many as 31 points in an 81-62 win Friday over NC Central at John Paul Jones Arena — backed by newfound pace, ruthless rebounding and a wave of threes despite the Eagles’ proven zone defense.
The Cavaliers’ (2-0, 0-0 ACC) win over the Eagles (0-2, 0-0 MEAC) was characterized by a strong offensive showing and huge jolts off the bench — 20 offensive boards, the same amount of second-chance points and 32 points off the bench.
Coach Ryan Odom deployed a starting five that is becoming typical. Graduate point guard Dallin Hall set the tone early with a pair of offensive rebounds, freeing freshman forward Thjis De Ridder and junior guard Sam Lewis to each make second-chance threes. This trio was joined by freshman center Johann Grünloh and graduate guard Mailk Thomas to begin the Cavaliers’ run.
This momentum continued with sparks from the bench — the unit of freshman guard Chance Mallory, graduate guard Jacari White and senior center Ugonna Onyenso were firing within a minute of stepping on the court. A block from Onyenso, followed by defensive rebounds from Mallory, allowed White to hit back-to-back threes — right wing, then trailing in transition — blowing the game wide open. A series of putbacks and rim runs from Onyenso piled on, and by the midpoint of the half, the scoreboard read 26-5.
“I'm proud of our bench,” Odom said. “Chance always comes in and gives us a lift … Jacari certainly as well, and Ugo has been excellent off the bench so far. When you press, all of a sudden you have that next wave of guys coming in. Hopefully, the team that you're playing keeps some of the same unit in there and now they're facing a fresh guy.”
After a frigid first-half from three Monday against Rider, Virginia’s improved shooting Friday authored a quick redemption arc, from the arc. Virginia shot 36.5 percent from three in the first half after a shockingly poor 10.5 percent against the Broncs. Hall said shot selection from three has been a focus for the coaching staff and players.
“Some of these teams have baited us into shooting some threes,” Hall said. “We have a really good shooting team, so we definitely always want to be shot-ready and shoot it with confidence, but we want to make sure we get into the heart of the defense.”
Despite Virginia’s rotational depth, NC Central did find a brief pulse near the end of the first half, with senior guard Dionte Johnson sinking a mid-range jump shot, followed by a rim-rocking dunk from senior forward Kelechi Okworogwo, closing the gap to 36-20 on a 10-0 run. But Thomas responded with a driving layup and a fast-break three, solidifying a 42-25 lead for the Cavaliers as they ran into the locker room for halftime.
The opening minutes of the second half continued that hot streak. The European frontcourt of De Ridder and Grünloh kicked off the half with a series of driving layups and dunks. White drilled yet another corner three, Mallory stacked a pull-up three with two free throws, and the Cavaliers’ margin swelled to 65-34 by the midpoint of the second half.
The Eagles made a late push, with sophomore guard Gage Lattimore racking up 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. Odom said Virginia allowed the push due to a lapse in defense that needs to be cleaned up in practice.
“When our defense was tight, we were able to rebound,” Odom said. “The last 10, we took the foot off the gas a little bit on that side and made some uncharacteristic mistakes.”
Even with some Virginia errors, the Eagles simply had no answer for Virginia’s size, physicality and rotation depth — and plays such as Mallory’s second-chance corner three with only minutes left snuffed NC Central’s mini run for good.
“It was one thing to see [Virginia] on tape, but another thing to kind of experience that in person,” Eagles Coach Levelle Moton said. “Their physicality just wears and wears, and then they’re subbing two more [guys] that are just as strong. It started wearing us down a little bit, but I thought in the second half we responded.”
Along with Virginia’s 87-53 win against Rider, Friday’s win marked the first time since the 2007-08 season that the Cavaliers have scored more than 80 points in their first two games — helped by Virginia’s launching over 30 threes in both games and creating a pace of play that is becoming an Odom signature.
De Ridder was, once again, the production hub for Virginia, notching 20 points with three triples — he is the first Cavalier to score 20-plus points in the first two games of the season since Ty Jerome in 2018-19. Grünloh vacuumed 11 rebounds, and his seven blocks are the most from a Virginia freshman since Jason Clark in 2002. Thomas also added 12 points, with a career-high six assists, as a proven pace-setter and crack-filler in Odom’s backcourt.
Odom also experimented with rolling out his two seven-footers together for the first time this season, placing Grünloh and Onyenso in tandem. Hall called the pairing “a nightmare to deal with” for opposing teams — Moton mentioned their length made it “damn near impossible to get the rebound.” Odom said he’ll fit this duo in and around media breaks as both bigs get comfortable with back-to-back stretches on the court.
“We’ve practiced it four, five times at this point … I thought they did pretty well,” Odom said. “You have to monitor when they’re in there… we’ll see how that progresses, but it’s certainly something we wanted to investigate.”
With a lighter non-conference schedule, Odom has the opportunity to continue to experiment with this new-look roster. After a weekend of practice, the Cavaliers will be back in action for a late-night tipoff against Hampton, 9 p.m. Tuesday at JPJ.
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