The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Finishes Strongs, Drops Syracuse

Plus

A win is a win is a win and this win marked head coach Ryan Odom’s fourth straight season, across three schools mind you, with 20 wins. With even bottom feeders now getting 30+ games a season, the 20-win threshold may not mean as much as it used to; however, it is still a nice number to hit by the first week of February.

Plus

Jacari White had a pretty bad game last time out, going 0/7 from three-point land, but Odom giving him 20 minutes was telling: he knew that White physically had gotten back into shape. White had his best game since returning from injury six games ago. White went 2/5 from deep including this shot at the first half buzzer:

YUP. Hoos back up.

📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/UgYN6U6cvU
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) February 7, 2026

White also handed out three assists and had two steals as he’s been more active and energetic on the court. That above three? That’s classic Jacari hair-trigger release and it’s good to see.

Plus

With Virgina up 61 – 56 and it looking like Syracuse was ready to make one last run, I was writing notes in my book. I looked up to see Syracuse’s Naithan George, the game’s high scorer, driving into the lane and barreling into a Virginia player who went sprawling. Charge. Virginia ball.

I didn’t see who drew the charge, but I didn’t have to. I knew, I knew, who drew that charge. You do too, even if you didn’t see the game. It was, of course, Chance Mallory. I’m pretty sure that if I were preparing to give a scouting report on Virginia, my #1 item would be that everyone has to know where Mallory is on the court at all times, be it offense, defense, or in transition.

Plus

A minute later, Dallin Hall made the other signature play of the game. In transition, Hall had all of his shooters spaced out to his left. Hall paused to let his defender close on him and then Hall drove down the right side of the lane to rim for the bucket and the And-1. Hall doesn’t hunt his shot often, he’ll shoot it when the ball comes to him, but this was a moment where he knew he was going to rack the whole way down the court.

There was a lot of chatter on message boards and social media earlier in the season wondering why Hall was starting over Mallory. Hall is a distribution first point guard, but as this drive showed, he does know how to get a bucket.

Minus

On the other hand, I think its time to wonder when Ugonna Onyenso is going to replace Johan Grunloh in the starting lineup. Grunloh had a really fine game against Louisville, but in the five games since then, Onyenso has been the better player. Onyenso has played comparable minutes in four of those five games and as the saying goes, “it’s better to finish the games than start them,” but as our own Maria Aldritch has documented, Virginia has been slow getting out of the starting gates. For the record, Onyenso was one of just two Hoos in double figures (the other was Sam Lewis) with 10 points, a game high eight rebounds, two steals and three blocks. He also changed more Syracuse shots than did Grunloh.

Plus

Sam Lewis picked up his second foul just two minutes into the game. Odom got him immediately off the court, but he did re-insert Lewis with 11 minutes remaining in the half. Lewis immediately hit a three and then a pair of free throws from a Donnie Freeman technical. Lewis would end up with 18 points to lead the Cavaliers, going 4/8 from beyond the arc in the process. I doubt he would have had that impact if Odom had iced him for the entirety of the first half. Lewis is a mature guy, picking up just a single foul in the remaining 24 minutes he played. I was glad to see Odom ignore the two-fouls-and-you’re-sitting first half rule that plagues so many coaches.

Fun fact about Sam Lewis: He's gonna make the three

📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/IXGwbOLuSL
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) February 7, 2026

Plus

It's been going around the Virginia hoops punditocracy that if Thijs De Ridder has a flaw in his game, it’s his lack of explosiveness. He’d made 132 baskets entering this game, but was in single digits in dunks made. That hints at a lack of athleticism, and while it has been decades since the NBA drafted the likes of Dasagna Diop, Eddie Curry and Kwame Brown because of their “potential,” NBA GMs still prize explosiveness.

Well, it’s as if De Ridder read some of this. He was much more aggressive going to the rim with one slam and a second, if somewhat ill-advised, 1 v 2 that he was going to slam. Good for him: the NBA rewards clickable slams more than 2-foot shots.

Plus

In four ACC games on the road, Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman has scored 23 points per game, yet in this road game, he was held to five points. It was such a trying afternoon that on his best play of the game, he had to chirp at some Virginia player and he gave his points back on a technical. De Ridder and Devin Tillis shut him down all game. He never got going.

Plus

Virginia turned a 4 – 8 deficit into a 16 – 8 lead thanks to a 12 – 0 run. Tillis had a pair of free throws and a nice post-up in the lane. Hall made a three. And little-used Martin Carrerre, seeing his earliest playing time in maybe forever, went backdoor for a nice baseline slam. It was only his fifth field goal of the season, but it came at a nice time. 12 – 0 runs fueled by your back-end scorers are wondrous.

Martin Carrere having a moment 🤩 Big dunk to put the Hoos up by 8️⃣

📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/f5A5zzIj6V
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) February 7, 2026

Minus

Malik Thomas’ stat line looks uninspiring: 3/9 from the floor and 2/5 from deep. But twice this game, Lewis once and Hall once, tossed him the ball with three and four seconds left on the shot clock, expecting him to pull off some magic. While it’s nice to have the trust of your teammates, it’s bad for the stats.

Next Up: Virginia travels to Tallahassee to take on Florida State on Tuesday, February 10th. Game time is 7:00pm and the game is on ESPNU.