By Scott Ratcliffe

No. 11 Virginia recorded its ninth victory in a row on Tuesday night, and did so in blowout fashion with a 90-61 rout of visiting NC State on Tony Bennett Court at John Paul Jones Arena.

It was the second win of the season for the Cavaliers (25-3, 13-2 ACC) over the Wolfpack (19-9, 10-5), after having won convincingly in Raleigh on Jan. 3, 76-61.

UVA led for almost the entirety of Tuesday’s tilt, shooting an eye-popping 70 percent in the second half alone (59 percent for the game), connecting on 21 of its final 30 field-goal attempts (7 for 14 from deep).

The Cavaliers also defended at a primetime level, recording 12 blocked shots and 7 steals while limiting State to 29-percent shooting from the field, including 18 percent in the opening half (6 for 33).

The Wahoos held the Wolfpack to just 27 percent from 3-point range (9 for 33), while winning the rebound battle (40-36) and outscoring the visitors in transition (24-10; 11 points off of 10 Pack turnovers), in the paint (34-22), on second-chance points (13-6) and off the bench (32-5). UVA sank 12 of its 26 3-point attempts (46 percent), with the final two serving as the proverbial dagger in the closing minutes.

Jacari White delivered the first from the corner, and then Chance Mallory followed with another trifecta with just over two minutes remaining, as Ryan Odom was able to give his reserves some playing time at the 1:40 mark.

If those two triples weren’t enough, Elijah Gertrude threw down another highlight-reel, poster-worthy dunk to set the JPJ crowd into an absolute frenzy.

It was a fun night for the Hoos fans in attendance, witnessing their team completely dismantle their old ACC rivals, a team — in the top 30 of both the NET rankings and Kenpom — that had won 7 of their last 9 entering Tuesday and have a very strong chance at making the NCAA Tournament in a few weeks.

Those in attendance also saw a small pushing-and-shoving skirmish that broke out on the sideline in front of the scorer’s table a few minutes into the second half, resulting in one player ejection (Wolfpack reserve Scottie Ebube came off the bench and shoved Sam Lewis following a technical foul charged to State).

When the dust settled, Virginia continued to add to its total, extending the lead to 51-33 after a throwdown jam by Thijs De Ridder followed by an alley-oop flush from Mallory to fellow Bench Mob-mate Ugonna Onyenso.

When State got within a dozen [60-48] on a Matt Able 3-ball midway through the half, the Hoos unleashed an old-fashioned, 18-5 Cavalanche — capped by 10 unanswered points — to push the lead to 78-53. The highlight sequence of the spurt was a De Ridder corner triple followed by a ferocious De Ridder jam off of a State turnover just seconds later.

Shortly after, Johann Grünloh recorded his career-best 8th block of the evening to the delight of Wahoo fans to cap his memorable night.

The duo of Grünloh and Onyenso racked up a third of their total by the first media timeout to set the tone defensively. The Wolfpack misfired on 14 of their first 16 field-goal attempts as UVA jumped out of the gates with a 15-3 advantage.

State returned the favor, using a 10-0 run to get within two points as the first-half clock went under eight minutes, and that’s as close as the Wolfpack would get the rest of the way. Virginia built a 32-19 halftime lead, closing the period with a 12-1 run.

De Ridder provided a team-high 19 points (7 of 10 FG) and was joined in double figures by Sam Lewis (16; 7 for 11 FG), White (15; 4 of 5 from downtown), Malik Thomas (12 in just 19 minutes) and Mallory (11; 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of steals, also in 19 minutes.

NC State was led by Paul McNeil Jr.’s game-high 22 points, while Darrion Williams added 14 and ACC journeyman Ven-Allen Lubin added 11. State senior guard Quadir Copeland (14 ppg) was held in check by the Cavalier defense, finishing with a season-low 3 points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• No. 11 Virginia improved to 25-3, 13-2 ACC
• UVA has a nine-game win streak
• Ryan Odom’s 25 wins are the most for a first-year head coach at UVA
• UVA is 14-1 at home, including a 6-1 mark in ACC contests
• UVA is 7-0 when scoring 90 or more points
• UVA has scored 80 or more points in 18 games (most since 21 in 2000-01)
• UVA is 64-3 when scoring 80 or more points (16-2 in 2025-26) since 2009-10
• UVA (12 3-pointers) extended its school record of making 10 of more 3-pointers to 18 games
• UVA ended the first half on a 12-1 run to take a 32-19 lead
• UVA held NC State to a season-low 19 points in the first half, the least in a half for the Wolfpack since Dec. 24, 2024 vs. Virginia
• UVA used a 12-0 run to gain a 15-3 lead
• NC State answered with a 10-0 run to cut UVA’s lead to 15-13
• Virginia had a season-high 12 blocked shots

Series Notes

• UVA’s 29-point win was its largest vs. NC State since a 32-point win (104-72) in 1991
• Virginia is 73-87 all-time vs. NC State in the series that dates to 1912-13
• UVA has a three-game win streak in the series, including 76-61 road win on Jan. 3
• UVA is 45-25 against the Wolfpack in Charlottesville, including a 12-2 mark at John Paul Jones
Arena
• UVA has a four-game win streak vs. the Wolfpack at JPJ

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Thijs De Ridder (19), Sam Lewis (16), Jacari White (12), Malik Thomas (12), Chance Mallory (11)
• De Ridder has reached double figures in 21 games
• Lewis has reached double figures in 16 games (49 career)
• White has reached double figures in 10 games (61 career)
• Thomas has reached double figures in 20 games (75 career)
• Mallory has reached double figures in 18 games
• Johann Grünloh blocked a career-high eight shots
• Grünloh has multiple blocks in 17 games
• Ugonna Onyenso (4 blocks) has multiple blocks in 18 games
• Onyenso matched a career best with two steals
• UVA started Dallin Hall, Thomas, Lewis, De Ridder and Grünloh for the 27th game

UP NEXT

UVA travels down Tobacco Road to face top-ranked, first-place Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday at noon on ESPN. The Blue Devils collected a lopsided victory of their own Tuesday with a 100-56 drubbing at Notre Dame.

This Week’s ACC Scoreboard

Monday
North Carolina 77, Louisville 74

Tuesday
Virginia 90, NC State 61
Duke 100, Notre Dame 56
Miami 83, Florida State 73

Wednesday
Wake Forest at Boston College, 6 p.m. (ACCN)
Pitt at Stanford, 8 p.m. (ACCN)
SMU at California, 10 p.m. (ACCN)

Saturday
Virginia at Duke, Noon (ESPN)
NC State at Notre Dame, Noon (The CW)
Florida State at Georgia Tech, Noon (ACCN)
Louisville at Clemson, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
Boston College at Miami, 2 p.m. (ACCN)
Pitt at California, 4 p.m. (ACCN)
Syracuse at Wake Forest, 5:45 p.m. (The CW)
SMU at Stanford, 6 p.m. (ACCN)
Virginia Tech at North Carolina, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2)