Key Takeaways From Virginia's Dominant 95-51 Victory Over American

The Hoos were without one of their best players, and it didn’t matter at the end of the day. Virginia proved how deep a roster they have and how potent their offense is. They dominated on the offensive side of the ball and shut down American in an emphatic win. Virginia has been good all season and continued to add more wins to its resume. The Hoos proved that even without one of its better players, they can play at a high level. Let’s take a look at some of the key takeaways from the game.

1. Thijs De Ridder Scores A Career High In Points

In the first half alone, he scored 21 points and went 8-10 from the field. De Ridder went 3-4 from beyond the arc as well in the first half of the game. He hit his career high in points in the second half after a thunderous slam on the fast break. De Ridder finished with a career-high 27 points on 11-15 shooting from the field. He also grabbed eight rebounds and was a go-to player on offense all night for the Cavaliers. Whatever they needed, whether from the paint, perimeter, defending and rebounding, he stepped up big in the game for Virginia. The true freshman will have a lot of people talking after this game.

2. No Jacari White No Problem

You can tell the Cavaliers are a complete team with how dominant they were on Monday, without one of their better players, Jacari White. We talked about De Ridder earlier, but Malik Thomas was another who stepped up big and scored the ball at a high level. Thomas finished with 11 points. Elijah Gertrude, who has played limited minutes this season, also came up big for the Hoos, scoring 11 points on 4-4 shooting. Chance Mallory contributed 10 points on 5-6 shooting from the floor. Sam Lewis also hit double-figures in the game and added 11 points. While De Ridder will get a lot of the attention, it was a complete effort from everyone who made up for the slack of Jacari White. Virginia also got 36 points off the bench in the dominant win.

3. Virginia shoots the basketball well

They went 54% from the field in the first half and did even better in the second half of the game, which allowed them to exert their dominance. The Hoos shot 21-30 from the field (70%) in the second half. We have seen explosions from several players from the Hoos this season, especially in the second half of games. Last game was Dallin Hall, who scored 17 points in the second half with 7-7 shooting from the floor. Jacari White also contributed in a major way in a win over Dayton, where he went 7-7 from beyond the arc. However, on Monday, it was a complete team effort with five players hitting double figures.

4. Virginia shuts down American with their elite defense.

American shot just 32% from the field and only made 19 baskets on the night against the Cavaliers, and struggled to find the basket consistently. American also struggled from beyond the arc, shooting 8-34. The Hoos made it tough all night and forced 10 turnovers, and turned it into 18 points. They also dominated the glass with a 45-23 advantage on the boards. The Hoos finished with 31 defensive rebounds compared to just 13 for American. When Virginia is playing at that level defensively, coupled with the offensive firepower, they are practically unbeatable. Monday was a glimpse of how good they can be in 2025.

5. The Free Throw shooting wasn’t the best

Despite a dominant game for the Hoos on Monday night, they struggled from the free-throw line. They shot just 59% from the line. It has been an area of concern this season with the Cavaliers just shooting 68.6% from the free-throw line prior to the game. When you get to those big-time ACC games and the games are closer, you have to hit free throws at a high level. This will be an area of concern and one that the Cavaliers need to clean up if they want to reach their true potential and finish ACC play on a high level. They are a very good basketball team and have the potential to make a deep run in the tournament.

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