The Maryland Plus/Minus: Virginia Runs Away from the Terps

Plus

While a win is a win is a win, there are few things better than beating Maryland. Oh wait, there is. Beating a Maryland team coached by one Buzz Williams, who used to be at Virginia Tech, is even better.

Plus

Dallin Hall put on a show, scoring a game-high 20 points. Hall was a perfect 8/8 from the floor (1/1 from deep) and 3/4 from the pinstripe. Hall attacked the rim relentlessly. While Maryland was scrappy (more on that first half rock fight later) the Terps were consistently soft in transition and Hall exploited this time and time and time again.

You asked. He delivered.

Dallin Hall led UVA with 20 points on 8-8 field goal shooting and 3-4 free throw shooting, while adding six rebounds, three steals, and two assists. @UVAMensHoops | @VirginiaSports | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/0pYMtwrAoC
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) December 21, 2025

I spent a lot of time with Virginia fans this past weekend, and most seem ready for Chance Mallory to replace Hall in the lineup. That would be shortsighted. Hall is the ultimate glue guy, maybe Virginia’s best since Isaiah Wilkens. On a night when Malik Thomas was 2/6, Sam Lewis 2/7, Thijs De Ridder 1/8 and the aforementioned Mallory was 2/9, Hall stepped up because that was what was needed from him.

Minus

The first half was as scrappy as any in the Tony Bennett era. With two minutes left in the first frame, the two teams had combined 11 turnovers and just 10 made baskets. The very Bennett-esque halftime score had Virginia up 24 – 19.

Virginia “jumped” out to an early 7 – 0 lead, only it took them four minutes to do so. But after the 16-minute media timeout, Maryland outscored Virginia 19 – 4 as the Cavaliers went 1/17 from the floor. Those 12 minutes were the worst Virginia has played all season as defensively they were slow on every rotation. Maryland, playing without their best player, the injured Pharrel Payne, looked battle-tested: their last four games were all against KenPom top-25 teams Gonzaga, Iowa, Alabama and Michigan. Virginia, by contrast had still been feasting largely on cupcakes. Virginia was struggling with late close-outs and having to lunge at players who were earning easy fouls.

Plus

This is not a good Maryland team. Those four teams that had hardened Maryland? They pummeled the Terps by an average of 27 points. While the Maryland pressure was wreaking havoc with the Virginia game plan, it did take the Terps 12 minutes to score those 19 points. In other words, the game was still very much for the taking, and it was Virginia’s Devin Tillis who grabbed the brass ring. In one crucial minute, Tillis drew a charge, scored on the next Virginia possession, forced a turnover, and grabbed a rebound. Again, Thomas and Lewis were non-factors, and it was Tillis who stepped up and keyed Virginia closing on a 13 – 0 run to take the lead into halftime. For the game, Tillis scored 10 points on 4/4 shooting.

Minus

Thijs De Ridder had his worst game in a Virginia uniform as he scored just five points on 1/8 shooting and going 3/6 from the free throw line. De Ridder doesn’t have a post-up game per se. He gets the ball at the top of the key and wheels around trying to get to the rim. It’s worked so far against the cupcakes of the world, but against a Power 5 school, even one lacking their best interior player in Payne, De Ridder was essentially neutered. He had almost as many fouls (3) as rebounds (4.) How well he adjusts will go a long way towards determining how far Virginia goes in the NCAA Tournament.

Plus

What a second half. After scoring 24 points in the first half, Virginia scored 56 points in the second. The Hoos were 21/33 from the floor and 6/11 from deep. They went to the foul line for 16 shots. After turning the ball over six times in the first half, Virginia was only turned over twice. Hall took over, scoring 18 of his 20 points after the intermission, and Jaccari White, who had been quiet for the first half, went 3/6 from deep.

Oh, and lest we forget this play:

JACARI WHITE ARE YOU SERIOUS 😱 @UVAMensHoops

(via @espn)pic.twitter.com/awlrx2EOKn
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) December 21, 2025

He did convert the And-1.

Minus

About 25 minutes after the conclusion of the game, this flashed on my RSS feed:

Note, that the graphic does admit that AI can make mistakes, but did it ever. First off, the score is wrong. Second of all, De Ridder did not lead all scorers. Virginia’s next game is not Louisville. The picture is taken on Michigan State’s home court. And it seems to imply that the source for this information is viginiasports.com, the official UVa athletics site. There’s no way it could have come from there. The game report hadn’t even been written yet. The stock market is soaring largely on the strength of AI, but this example suggests AI ain’t ready for prime time. This bubble is going to pop soon.

Plus

This was the first in a four-year series with Maryland. This is good because the ACC is weaker for not having Maryland in it. I’d never really hated Maryland until after they fled for the Big 10’s riches, so any chance you get to stomp Maryland is a good day. And with the women having defeated Winthrop behind Kymora Johnson’s 41-point career day, the JPJ saw a double-header victory.

Next Up: It’s a quick turnaround as the Hoos will squeeze in one more game before Christmas, hosting American on Monday, December 22nd at 6:00pm.