The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Crashes out of NCAAs, falls to Tennessee

Minus

Take two evenly matched teams, throw them into the meat grinder that is a win-or-go-home tournament, and the games will be decided on the margins. On this night, Virginia lost at the margins and thus the entire game went. Philosophically, we can look at a 30-win season, second place finishes to a Duke team with seven top 100 recruits in both the regular season and the ACC tourney, and an exciting start to the Ryan Odom era, and we can cheer. But that is for another day. This one hurts.

Minus

That first margin failure belongs to Odom. Still early in the first half, Virginia had gone a 14 – 5 run to take a 20 – 15 lead following a Malik Thomas three. Jacari White and Dallin Hall also hit threes in that run and Virginia was looking good. Tennessee then had a mini-run of their own, scoring eight straight to reclaim the lead. Momentum was clearly shifting and after Ja’kobi Gillespie hit a three to give Tennessee a 23 – 20 lead, Odom should have called timeout. He didn’t because he presumably didn’t want to burn a timeout. It was the wrong move as Tennessee’s Bishop Boswell hit a three in transition and Felix Okpara got back door for an alley oop. By the time Odom called time, the damage was done and Tennessee had an eight-point cushion that was all but insurmountable.

I know coaches hoard timeouts and there are plenty of examples of teams losing the end game because they don’t have timeouts. But in the first half? Your first time out is use or lose. You can’t take it with you. The moment demanded a time out; Odom just brain-farted.

Minus

And yes, sometimes the refs can muck up the margins. With 30 seconds remaining and Tennessee up 73 – 71, White took it to the rim and missed. In the scuffle for the rebound, Nate Ament tapped the ball off of Boswell’s head and it bounced up over Dallin Hall’s outstretched hands. It was originally ruled out on Hall, Tennessee ball. Virginia challenged and it looked to me a pretty easy reversal.

Here. You can see for yourself.

How did the refs miss this? I mean, looking at the monitor and all... pic.twitter.com/74pNP7hjCy
— jerzy walker (@Jerzy_Walker) March 23, 2026

Nope, the refs overruled the objection and it was Tennessee’s ball. Pretty much all that was left was fouls and free throws which gave Tennessee the seven-point margin.

That was the ball game.

Plus

Thijs De Ridder awoke from his two-game slumber to score a game-high 22 points on the strength of a 4/6 night from beyond the arc. He grabbed five rebounds, two assists and a steal on the night. During pre-game De Ridder expressed amazement at the hype over March Madness, saying, “We don’t have anything like this.” Keep in mind that De Ridder has played professionally in Europe for three years. He played like a guy who wanted to keep playing. With Virginia down, 66 – 64, De Ridder canned both free throws to tie the score. Next Virginia possession, with the Hoos again down by two points, he took it to the rim to knot the score at 68. Two possessions later De Ridder hit a three to give Virginia a fleeting lead, 71 – 70.

Minus

This was a strange game. Tennessee came in rebounding 45% of their own missed shots, the third highest offensive rebounding rate of this century. And they sure seemed the beasts on the boards, but Virginia out-rebounded them on the offensive end 16 – 11. Neither team was particularly effective turning those offensive boards into points as they both had just nine second-chance points. Tennessee could throw just as much size at Virginia as anyone has all season, they were just tougher and stronger, blowing up multiple ball screens and forcing lots of tough takes. On the night, Virginia actually took 14 more shots than did Tennessee, but they converted at a 39% clip. (Tennessee shot 47%.) Virginia was 12/25 at the rim while Tennessee was 8/15.

Minus

More strangeness: Virginia attacked the rim more than did Tennessee, yet the Volunteers had a commanding 19/25 advantage at the line vis a vis the Cavaliers, who went 6/11. Six of those Tennessee free throws came in the tactical fouling portion of the game, but subtract those six, and Tennessee still held a sizable 19 – 11 lead in shots taken. Aside from the non-call on the Hall out-of-bounds play already mentioned, I didn’t think the refs had a bad game. Virginia just committed more fouls.

Minus

Virginia shot a perfectly reasonable 34% from deep (12/35.) All season long the assignment was simple: just don’t suck at shooting the three-ball. On the season, the Cavaliers were 26 – 0 when shooting 30% or better. They were 4 – 6 when shooting worse. Tennessee shot better – 8/19 or 42% -- but that Virginia volume just meant more squandered opportunities.

Minus

Two NCAA games, two stupid technicals committed by Sam Lewis.

Plus

Maybe Lewis knows something I don’t. Just like Saturday’s game against Wright State, the Cavaliers responded with a vengeance, this time getting the first nine points in a 16 – 8 run culminated in the De Ridder triple for their last lead. Like I said, this was a strange game to watch.

Next up: Well, there is no next-up. The season is over and we say goodbye to Hall, White, Ugonna Onyenso, Devin Tillis and Malik Thomas. Lewis and De Ridder each have a year of eligibility and Johan Grunloh has two more. The portal opens soon and Odom will be busy reloading for next year. First order of business is to convince that trio to stay for another year. After watching De Ridder and Grunloh play in 33 games this year, I don’t think either has a future in the NBA and odds are they can make much more under the NIL regime than they will on a succession of 10-day contracts or returning to Europe. We shall have to wait and see. One thing we do know; Odom can recruit from the portal in a hurry and he can get players to buy into culture he’s trying to establish. Onward and upward!

(Nope. Still too soon.)