By Jerry Ratcliffe

Malik Thomas hasn’t shied away from expectations of becoming Virginia’s scoring leader this season after being one of the top scorers in the West Coast Conference last season at San Francisco.

For the second straight exhibition game, Thomas led the Cavaliers in scoring with 16 points in pacing UVA to a 75-72 win over visiting Villanova on Friday night. Previously, Thomas led Virginia with 18 points in an exhibition game at Vanderbilt last week.

The 6-foot-5 guard was 5 of 10 from the field, knocked down 3 of 4 from the 3-point arc and converted all three free throws in 29 minutes of floor time.

“Malik’s a natural scorer,” said Virginia coach Ryan Odom. “He can shoot behind the arc. He can get to the basket, he draws fouls. He’s always done that throughout his career and I think he had a good night tonight.”

Thomas ended the first half with a bang, swishing a 3-pointer, then scoring on a drive and drawing a foul, waving to the crowd to raise the energy level in the arena as Virginia made five consecutive 3-pointers (Ugonna Onyenso, Jacari White, Chance Mallory, Thomas) and Thomas’ old-fashioned 3 with the and-one.

“It was great to get that and-one and get the crowd into it,” Thomas said. “Words can’t describe how I was feeling. Energy plays like that you dream of as a little kid.”

Virginia led wire-to-wire and built up strong leads, such as 51-40 early in the second half and 71-62 late in the game before Villanova made the Cavaliers sweat in the final minute, cutting it to a one-possession game twice in the last 21 seconds.

Mallory, a freshman guard and Charlottesville native (St. Anne’s-Belfield) and already a crowd favorite, wrapped up the win with two free throws.

“Bangs a 3 out there, handles the ball, is a tough defender,” Odom said of Mallory. “He’s everything that we want in a guard. It’s fun to hear the crowd react to him when he does something.”

Mallory finished with 5 points and 2 assists.

Virginia’s pair of international big men were strong contributors as well, as Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grünloh combined for 20 points and 16 rebounds, while Ugonna Onyenso added 7 points, including a 3-pointer and a thundering dunk on an alley oop pass from White.

Guard Dallin Hall also added 7 points and White 8, as all 11 Cavaliers who played managed to score (see full box score on this page).

De Ridder, Grünloh, Onyenso and Tillis added a powerful presence in the paint on both ends of the floor, as UVA outrebounded the Wildcats, 39-32, and blocked seven Villanova shots, even though the visitors got exactly half their points in the paint.

“Their physicality kind of surprised us early on,” said Villanova coach Kevin Willard, who left Maryland after last season to take over the Big East program. “We dug a hole twice and I wanted to see what we would do. I was proud of the way we fought back.”

Odom was pleased with the progress his team showed after last week’s loss at Vanderbilt, particularly on defense.

“I thought the guys were much better [defensively] than the last game,” Odom said. “Certainly more intensity, more willingness to play deeper into the clock. Clearly things that we’ve got to get better at is our switching defense left a lot to be desired.”

Odom also was pleased that Virginia’s pressing defense improved, just as he predicted after the game in Nashville last week.

“I think our guys got the message,” Odom said. “There were too many times in the first scrimmage where we would score a basket and we were just not there. That has the ability to wear your opponent down at times.

“I don’t necessarily think that we got there tonight, although we did get that one spurt in the first half and then got another spurt in the second half.”

Odom said he wants to play 9 or 10 guys because pressing is taxing, so demanding that it’s rare for players to clock more than 27 minutes in his system. Case in point, Thomas led the team with 29 minutes, Hall had 27 and De Ridder 26.

The Virginia coach wasn’t overly happy that the Cavaliers turned it over 18 times, leading to 18 Wildcat points. Villanova pressed UVA effectively at times.

“We got a little stagnant there in the middle of the first half, certainly in the second half, and a lot of that was due to the fact that Villanova was pressuring us,” Odom said. “They were pressuring our guards out front, so our starts to our offense were very slow and we’ve got to do better there. 18 turnovers is too many.”

All in all, Odom got a lot more out of an exhibition game against a quality opponent than in a close scrimmage.

“I’ve got to see what these guys can do under the lights,” Odom said.

Virginia opens the regular season on Monday, Nov. 3, at home against Rider in a 7-p.m. tip.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA shot 24 of 53 (45.3%) from the field, including 10 of 26 (38.5%) from 3-point range
• UVA held Villanova without a field goal for 5:44 until a 3-pointer by Matt Hodge at 1:20 of the second half
• UVA won the rebound battle 39-32
• UVA’s largest lead was 11 (53-42) at 14:36 of the second half
• UVA went 8 of 16 from 3-point range and led 40-35 at halftime
• UVA used a 7-0 run to gain an early 17-8 lead

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Malik Thomas (16), Johann Grünloh (12)
• Thomas scored nine of his points in the first half
• Grünloh and Thijs De Ridder each pulled down eight rebounds
• Dallin Hall had a game-high five assists
• UVA started Hall, Thomas, Sam Lewis, De Ridder and Grünloh
• Jacari White, Devin Tillis, Chance Mallory, Ugo Onyenso, Elijah Gertrude and Martin Carrere also saw action