By Jerry Ratcliffe
PHILADELPHIA — Lots of tears and lots of gratitude is how Virginia coach Ryan Odom described the bitter end to the Cavaliers’ season Sunday night in a 79-72 loss to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Region.
In a somber UVA locker room, the 30-win season was temporarily put aside as a team that was brought together from every corner of the country and from across the ocean, mourned its demise.
Sixth-seeded Tennessee (24-11) used its size advantage to disrupt Virginia’s 3-point shooters and held off a furious comeback by the third-seeded Cavaliers (30-6) to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
As Odom said in his postgame, every team has one life and this one ended earlier than desired. With five contributing seniors, this special group of Wahoos will scatter now, but their bond is forever.
“This group was tight from the beginning,” said one of those seniors, guard Dallin Hall. “We had two goals at the start of this year, back last June, a bunch of guys, myself included, took a chance on a new coach, a new school, a new situation. Two goals was to really connect with UVA as an institution and really connect with one another as a team, and we did a really good job of that.
“I look at every one of those guys in the locker room as a brother. That’s why I shed a lot of tears because the season was something special.”
If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!
Thijs De Ridder, the 23-year-old freshman from Belgium, fought hard to bring Virginia back, scoring a game-high 22 points, leaving nothing on the court.
“This team was just amazing,” De Ridder said. “Even my years overseas, I never had a group this tight. They’re going to be brothers for life.”
Those sentiments may be rare in this day of college basketball, heavily impacted by multiple transfers from school-to-school-to school and NIL treasures. Credit Odom, who grew up under the Virginia flag during another one of the program’s Golden Ages, for spoonfeeding that culture to his newly constructed roster from Day One.
In the end, the culture shone through after Tennessee separated from a closely-played game, jetting to a 60-51 lead on a Ja’Kobi Gillespie 3-pointer with 9:37 to play, the Vols’ largest advantage in the game.
De Ridder, who only had 5 points in the first half, helped the Cavaliers storm back. A couple of triples, followed by a strong series from Hall, made it a one-possession game.
Hall scored on two successive drives, then lasered a pass to 7-footer Johann Grünloh on a fast break for a dunk that cut Tennessee’s lead to 66-64. De Ridder knotted it at 66-all with two free throws with 4:44 to play.
From that point on, it was a dogfight, with UVA taking its only lead at 71-70 on another De Ridder triple with two minutes to go.
Tennessee made 9 of 10 free throws from that point on to ice it, as Virginia missed some clutch shots.
“We found a way,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said.
Barnes, a close friend of the Odom family for decades, was full of praise for Virginia’s effort.
“They’re a terrific team. They won 30 games. They’ve been in close games all year. Really well-coached. We were really trying at the end to spread out and take away their three as much as we could,” Barnes said.
De Ridder’s made 3 with two minutes to play was Virginia’s last field goal of the game and of the season, as the curtain closed on a spectacular campaign that defied the odds.
Tennessee had something that the Cavaliers hadn’t really faced much since playing at Texas in early December — lots of athletic length.
The Vols’ size disrupted Virginia’s interior game (15 of 34 on 2-pointers) and also managed to defend the long ball (12 of 35).
“They definitely have size up front and they played two 5-men basically for the majority of the game,” Odom said after. “Texas was one that had that type of size and I thought the guys did a nice job from a rebounding perspective (39-35, Tennessee).”
The Vols, like Virginia, a strong offensive rebounding team, only had 3 at the half, but finished with 11, as opposed to 16 by the Cavaliers. Tennessee starting switching at the end of the first half, which hurt UVA’s cause.
“You’ve got to give Tennessee credit,” Odom said. “They made the plays they needed to make to answer at the end when we made our run, and that’s how you win games.”
The Vols closed the chapter on Virginia basketball, which will go down in Wahoo lore as one of a handful of teams that reached the 30-wins level with a team built from scratch by a first-year coach fueled by history and tradition and ambition.
“We fought and fought and we had a chance, but it wasn’t meant to be,” Odom said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had this much fun coaching a team. We want to continue to advance and try to cut down nets in our conference and in the NCAA Tournament.
“This group has set the table and set the bar really high for future teams.”
Thirty wins high.
If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!
