By Jerry Ratcliffe

North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton kept watching Virginia’s bigs grab rebound after rebound on Friday night and marveled at the Cavaliers’ size.

“Man, I asked, how many seven-footers did they have?” Moton said after an 81-62 loss at John Paul Jones Arena. “How many do they have? They made it impossible to get a rebound. They were getting three and four opportunities, and when they throw it back outside, you’re going to make [shots] as an ACC school.”

Virginia only has two seven-footers, freshman Johann Grünloh and veteran transfer Ugonna Onyenso, but it must have seemed like they were cloned in Friday’s game. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Eagles, 48-34, and had 20 offensive rebounds, plus blocked 11 shots (Grünloh 7, Onyenso 2) as UVA picked up its second win of the young season, overwhelming 0-2 Central.

Every opposing coach so far — in both the exhibitions and the two regular-season games — has spoken about Virginia’s physicality. Ryan Odom’s squad features four players who are 6-foot-9 to go along with the pair of seven-footers.

One of those is Thijs De Ridder, who led the Cavaliers in scoring for the second straight game with 20 points (he had 21 in an earlier win over Rider). De Ridder is about as physical as it gets.

“Like, we shook hands with them and I’m looking at these guys’ muscles and, good gracious, like that’s all they do is just lift weights,” Moton said. “So it’s eye-opening for our guys.”

While UVA’s bigs were physical and impressive, as in Grünloh’s 11 rebounds and Onyenso’s 10 points and 7 boards, it was the Cavaliers’ guards and wings that piled up the points, putting up 36 triples, making 14, a huge improvement from the opening game.

“You have to pick your poison,” Moton said. “We can’t simulate that size in practice.”

De Ridder was 6 for 10 from the field and made 3 of 4 shots from Bonusphere, one of four Wahoos in double figures: Malik Thomas 12, Sam Lewis 10 and Onyenso 10, while Chance Mallory and Jacari White each finished with 9.

Odom, like most coaches, used this early-season game to experiment and tinker a bit with various aspects of his team, such as playing both seven-footers at the same time, along with two point guards, Mallory and starter Dallin Hall (seven assists), something Virginia fans could see at times in the future.

“The ball handlings and passing, plus they both can shoot,” Odom said of the dual point guards, a strategy that his predecessor, Tony Bennett, was known for. “They’re both point guards and understand what to do out there.

“We played that lineup with the two bigs a little bit and I think we had a pretty good ball-handling lineup with them just to help [the bigs] out a little. I do like that lineup. It’s fast and we take care of the ball.”

Putting both seven-footers on the floor was an interesting concept that Odom was eager to display.

“That’s the first time we’ve done that, and we’ve practiced it four or five times,” the coach said. “I thought they did pretty well in both halves. Certainly in the first half, you could see they’re two tall guys out there and you have to monitor when they’re in there and you try to do it around a break, if you can, so they get a little bit of rest and they’re not having to go two stretches, or at least one of them isn’t.”

Virginia dominated for most of the evening, building a 42-25 lead by halftime on the strength of an 8-of-22 performance from the 3-point line. The Cavaliers led 65-34 midway through the second half and kind of lost interest the rest of the way, as NC Central outscored Virginia 28-16 down the homestretch.

UVA held Central to a 31.7 shooting percentage on the night (19 for 60) and dominated off the bench, outscoring the Eagles’ bench, 32-7.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA (2-0) has scored 80 or more points in its first two games for the first time since 2007-08 (Vermont and Howard).
• UVA improved to 3-0 all-time vs. NC Central, including a 77-47 win over the Eagles in 2023-24 and 73-61 win in the season opener in 2022-23.
• UVA is 42-10 in its last 52 home contests.
• UVA is 106-11 at JPJ in non-conference play since 2009-10.
• UVA started the game on a 15-2 run, highlighted by 4 of 8 3-point shooting.
• UVA extended its lead to 26-5 at 11:14 of the first half
• NC Central’s 10-0 run cut the UVA margin to 36-20 at 3:23 of the first half
• UVA led 42-25 at the half
• UVA’s largest lead was 31 at 10:39 of the second half (65-34)
• UVA went 14 of 36 from 3-point range
• UVA has attempted 30 or more 3-pointers in both games this season (30 vs. Rider)
• UVA won the rebound battle 48-34 (20 offensive)
• UVA has 20 or more offensive rebounds in both games this season (22 vs. Rider)

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Thijs De Ridder (20), Malik Thomas (12), Sam Lewis (10), Ugo Onyenso (10)
• De Ridder reached double figures for the second time
• De Ridder posted his second straight 20-point game (21 vs. Rider)
• Thomas reached double figures for the first time (56 career)
• Thomas had a career-high six assists
• Grünloh had game highs in rebounds (11) and blocks (7)
• Grünloh’s seven blocks were most for a UVA player since Ryan Dunn had seven vs. Wake Forest on Feb. 17, 2024
• Grünloh’s seven blocks were most by a Cavalier freshman since Jason Clark’s eight blocks vs. VMI on Jan. 24, 2002
• Lewis reached double figures for the second time (35 career)
• Onyenso reached double figures for the first time (3 career)
• Dallin Hall had a game-high seven assists
• UVA started Hall, Thomas, Lewis, De Ridder and Grünloh for the second consecutive game