Everything From Virginia's Four Key Players Ahead of UVA's Matchup vs. Wright State

The Virginia Cavaliers are rounding the corner to their First Round NCAA Tournament matchup against the Wright State Raiders. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:50 p.m. ET on Friday, March 20. Ahead of the meeting, UVA stars Malik Thomas, Thijs De Ridder, Dallin Hall and Devin Tillis sat down with the media to discuss the upcoming game. Here's everything they had to say.

(Moderator) Opening Statement...

"All right, we have student athletes from the University of Virginia. They are the third seed in the Midwest region. This is the 27th appearance for the Cavs in the NCAA Tournament. They're in the at-large bid. They are 35-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, winning the 2019 National Championship. They reached a Final Four in 1981 here in Philadelphia and also in 1984. This is also the first time since 2018 that both the men's and women's teams at Virginia have advanced to the NCAA Tournament. We will take questions for the student-athletes."

On if UVA is walking into the NCAA Tournament with confidence, or if their loss to Duke still stings...

Malik Thomas: "Yeah, I think it still stings. We don't want to lose to a team twice, but I think we learned from that game, especially from the first game to the second game, I think that us as a team, we grew together as a program. We're just going to continue to use that as momentum and carry that into the tournament."

Devin Tillis: "I think we definitely built some confidence from that game. I have never been to March Madness before. This is my first time, but we got a feel for what these games are going to be like and how we're going to battle through them. Duke is a great team, credit to them. I definitely feel like we can play with anybody in the country, so we have confidence going into the tournament from that game."

Dallin Hall: "Yeah, I will double down on what's been said but that physicality and desperation, I think it was important that we had that and experienced it beforehand. We utilized that going forward, and now we're more prepared and better for it."

Thijs De Ridder: "Yeah, just like these guys said. Some good things happened, some bad things happened and just have to build on the good moments."

(For Hall): On having the most tournament experience out of the Cavaliers, and what he's shared with his teammates...

Hall: "I'm fortunate to be around some really high-character teammates and guys who have played a lot of basketball in their career. If you look at the guys next to me, they've played at some of the biggest stages in basketball, whether that be here or across the world in Europe.

Ultimately, I try to tell them the intensity level, the focus level, the physicality level is very similar to what we just experienced in the conference tournament, every game, and you have to come out and dominate every possession from the start.

And these guys have responded all year, like, that's what we've done. We answered when things haven't gone our way or we lost a tough one. We're excited to get out there and put our best foot forward and I know our guys are ready for it."

(For De Ridder): On if he knew anything about March Madness while living in Belgium, and what's it's like playing in this style of tournament...

De Ridder: "Yeah, I have been playing with American guys when I was 17, 18 in Belgium. And every time there's an American guy on my team, they're always talking about March Madness. And now that I'm here, it's such an organization, and it just made me really excited to play here, so now I'm finally here. So hopefully, we can do some great stuff."

(For Tillis and De Ridder): On what Odom has shared with his team, for those who haven't been to the tournament, on preparation...

Tillis: "I think he shared really cool stories and great things. The biggest thing for us is just to be us. No game is bigger than the next one. Kind of just giving us that mentality to take one game at a time. I played in the NIT the last four years, so I know a little bit about tournament basketball. Obviously, not to this extent, but just sharing that we need to be us and just continuing to do the things that got us here, continue to thrive in our roles, so, yeah."

De Ridder: "Yeah, and also the biggest part is just having fun and, like Devin said, just live in the moment and just enjoy every game."

On Odom's UMBC upset, and if they were watching, or if Odom shared that with the team...

Tillis: "Well, at Virginia, we don't talk about UMBC too much. (Laughter) That's a touchy subject, but taking his experience being at a mid-major school and being one of the only 16 seeds to win a game, he knows that every team in this tournament is capable of doing anything, and sharing his experience from his time at a mid-major school, he knows that it means a lot to every school that's in this tournament. He knows that taking stuff away from that game that we need to continue to be on one and not take any game too lightly."

(For Thomas): On what he knows about Wright State...

Thomas: "We did a lot of personnel. We know that they're a great team that moves the ball, likes to play through their bigs, an organized team that likes to cut. So we're just going to continue to learn more and more about them, and just like Dallin and everybody has said, just come in with that intensity knowing that this team is going to be on the court with us, just wanting to compete, wanting their chance and wanting to bring the energy from their program and their school, so we're just going to continue to do what we do best and stick to our process."