The Plus/Minus: Virginia Basketball Holds off Miami

Plus

A win is a win is a win. On a day when Tony Bennett was honored with the court at the JPJ being named after him, it was imperative that Cavaliers hold serve on the hardwood. What a downer it would have been to have lost.

Plus

This was the marquee matchup of the weekend in the ACC featuring the #2 and #3 teams in the standings with Virginia coming in on a seven-game win streak and Miami bringing their four-game win streak. In a faux stat that only means anything to me, these two teams combined for an 11 – 0 streak. By comparison, the next “hottest” matchups of the weekend zeroed out: Wake Forest was on a one-game losing streak vs Virginia Tech’s one-game winning streak. The same was true for Stanford and Cal with the Cardinal coming in having lost their last game and Cal was on a one-game winning streak. Only Duke v Virginia has the potential to pit two equally “hot” teams the rest of the season.

Plus

Miami is the most physical team in the ACC and Virginia absorbed every hit and responded to every Miami run. The refs were a complicating factor as they allowed Miami, especially Shelton Henderson, to push off every time they went to the rim. I started counting about midway through the first half, but Henderson initiated contact with his forearm nine times. Lot of refs have called that, but not on this day.

Plus

Johan Grunloh, who has been outplayed by Ugonna Onyenso of late, and whose lack of strength in the post has been a noticeable deficit, had his most physical performance of the season. Grunloh scored 12 points (only the fourth time he has scored in double digits in ACC play) and blocked five shots, all while committing just one foul. In the last four minutes, with the game very much in doubt, Grunloh had a pair of blocks, both of which Virginia secured.

Plus

In the absence of Devin Tillis, Thijs De Ridder played a whopping 36 minutes, easily the most he’s logged in a non-overtime game. He scored 14 points, and in a battle royale on the boards, was tagged for just one foul, same as Grunloh.

Minus

Miami pounded Virginia on the boards, winning the battle 30 – 23 and recording a 12 – 4 advantage on the offensive glass. As such, the ‘Canes were able to outscore Virginia 18 – 2 in second chance points. Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be praising Grunloh and De Ridder for playing foul-free ball when what they needed, as the English would say, was to get “stuck in.”

Plus

I think it’s safe to say that Jacari White is back. White was Virginia’s leading scorer, on a day when Virginia had six scorers in double digits, with 17 points on 5/8 shooting from deep. This shot, with 70 seconds remaining, was unconscious.

JACARI WHITE HAS ICE IN HIS VEINS 🔥 @UVAMensHoops pic.twitter.com/jYRaUmGLUi
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) February 21, 2026

White is now 14/28 over his last five games. He’s been using the greater attention paid to him to become more integral to the team. Today he recorded a season-high five assists.

Minus

Ten minutes into the first half, Miami opened up a 24 – 13 lead. Miami’s Trey Donaldson was beating both Dallin Hall and Chance Mallory off the screen and getting into the lane at will. It’s been long apparent that this team does not have an on-ball stopper. Part of the reason that Virginia was outrebounded is that after Donaldson, and Tru Washington, got into the lane, Virginia’s bigs had to move farther away from the basket to defend. Virginia doesn’t switch well on defense, which is why the game plan is for defenders to run around screens, but fast guards can put Virginia’s D to the torch.

Plus

Coach Odom’s half time adjustments. Virginia was getting beaten physically in the first half, so Odom had the team attack the rim. On Virginia’s first three possessions of the second half, Grunloh, De Ridder and Malik Thomas all went to the rim with De Ridder and Thomas drawing fouls.

Plus

Chance Mallory. With the game tied at 83 with 3.6 seconds remaining, Donaldson fouled Mallory in the act of shooting a three. Mallory did his best Kyle Guy impression by calmly stroking all three. Mallory had a three-game blip where he went 3/9 from the line, but these three free throws highlighted a 7/7 performance from the charity stripe.

It was a great day from the line for both teams. Miami was 16/17 while Virginia was 16/18. I like good free throw shooting.

Plus

It was a great day from beyond the arc for both teams as well as Miami went 9/18 and Virginia 12/24. I appreciate good three-point shooting.

Minus

So it was Miami ball with those same 3.6 seconds remaining. On the inbounds, Virginia dropped all five players back to defend in depth. Ryan Odom is old enough to have seen this live:

Other than Kihei to Mamadi, this is the greatest play in NCAA tournament history. But the lesson is clear: you always put someone on the in-bounds. (I had to bold and italicize to make the point.) On a play like that, someone is going to get open. Every time. The issue is that you want to make the entry pass difficult.

Miami’s Shelton Henderson, left alone, threw a bullet pass to Tre Donaldson past half court. He caught the ball, called time out and stepped out of bounds. Total elapsed time: 0.4 seconds. On the next in-bounds Odom had someone on the ball and Miami struggled to get the ball in bounds so the ball was finally tossed to Malik Reneau, who was not in position to shoot the three. He made a clumsy pass which De Ridder intercepted, and it was game over.

The takeaway? This is coaching 101: always put a man on the ball for the crucial play.

Plus

Tony Bennett joined the broadcast crew for five minutes and related the story of his introduction to ACC basketball. While playing professionally, he was invited to the ACC tournament in March 1995. Every hard-core ACC fan remembers that tournament as it was probably the greatest performance ever. Wake’s Randolph Childress scored 107 points in three games to help the Deacons claim the title. He took over the first game, scoring 20 straight points over Duke and he scored all nine points in overtime during the title game over North Carolina. He was electric. He was Carson freaking Edwards, only for three straight games. Today’s broadcast crew? No less than Randolph Childress.

It was a sweet moment, and oh so Tony Bennett. Even when he’s the one being honored, he wanted to talk more about Childress than about himself.

This is a nice re-cap of Childress' tournament.

Plus

This was a wildly entertaining game. Ryan Odom has re-built this team and is the winningest first-year coach in Virginia history. Miami’s Jai Lucas is the fastest first-time head coach to get to 20 wins since Bill Guthridge took over a stacked UNC in 1997. This game had everything.

Time to break out the Good Ol’ Song!

Up Next: The Hoos host NC State in a rematch at the JPJ on Tuesday, February 24th. Gametime is 7:00pm and the game is on the ACC Network.