UVA makes cut for pair of portal scorers

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia has made the cut list for two players in the transfer portal looking for new basketball homes. Meanwhile, former Nevada center Nick Davidson, considered one of the top 15 players in the transfer portal, and who visited UVA last weekend, announced Wednesday that he has committed to Clemson over the Cavaliers, Texas, Notre Dame and Washington.

Jamichael Stilwell, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward from Milwaukee, and Sam Lewis, a 6-6 guard from Toledo, have indicated the Cavaliers are on their lists of schools to choose from. The transfer portal, which opened last week, closes later this month and already has more than 1,500 players entered.

It was also reported Tuesday night that new Virginia coach Ryan Odom was visiting with former Davidson forward Reed Bailey, who was the Atlantic 10’s Most Improved Player in 2024-25. Bailey, a 6-10, 230-pound standout from Groton, Mass., scored in double figures in 30 of 33 games for the Wildcats last season, while averaging 18.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

Bailey made 41.5 percent of his 3-point attempts and posted a dozen games of 20 or more points, including two games where he scored 30 points as a junior.

Stilwell, an Atlanta native, has a list of six schools: UVA, Oklahoma, Memphis, Xavier, West Virginia and UCF. In his first year of Division I basketball this past season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he averaged 13 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, a double-double for the entire season. He was seventh in Division I in rebounding. Stilwell also averaged 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He started his career at Butler Community College in Kansas.

Lewis has four schools in mind: UVA, Villanova, Xavier and Gonzaga. A second-team All-MAC player this past season, the sophomore from Chicago averaged 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Lewis started 33 games for the Rockets and averaged 31.4 minutes per game. He led the MAC in 3-point percentage at 44.4 and posted a team-high 11 20-point outings, in addition to 31 double-digits scoring games.