Skip to main content
Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Thrashes Arkansas

Arkansas put their prodigious youthful exuberance on the line against an experienced Virginia squad as the graybeards prevailed 91 – 72.
Val Prochaska|
Virginia's Chance Mallory drives by Arkansas' Jordan Smith Jr.
Virginia's Chance Mallory drives by Arkansas' Jordan Smith Jr. | Photo by Aaron Snyder.

Plus

Arkansas’ John Calipari remains the most successful, and entertaining, coach in college basketball.  He brought his team, with eight freshman (and just one senior) to take on a Virginia team that retained every player from last year and has a trio of 24 year-olds in Thijs De Ridder, Johan Grunloh and Nolan Adekunle.  Virginia’s players have multiple thousands of minutes of experience, while for those eight freshman, this was their second game.

Plus

Thijs De Ridder played maybe eight minutes in the first half and yet just about had a first half double-double with nine points and seven rebounds.  Sitting early because of early foul trouble, coach Ryan Odom inserted De Ridder back into the game with Virginia down 13 – 12.  De Ridder keyed a 14 – 4 spurt as the Hoos took a 27 – 16 lead and never looked back.  Arkansas, despite having a pair of seven-footers in Mikka Muurinen and Maper Maker (who very much had a Grunloh/Uganna Onyenso dynamic going on,) simply could not contain De Ridder.  He got to the rim whenever he wanted and he drained a pair of threes.  The only one who could stop De Ridder was…

Minus

Thijs De Ridder. 

For a guy who has played a lot of basketball, his fouls were pretty stupid and he nearly hamstrung the entire team.  He was called for a foul in the first minute, which should have put him on notice that he had to be careful.  As of right now, there’s not a lot of depth behind him and Grunloh.  So, was he careful?  No.  He stupidly challenged a deep three and was whistled for his second foul a minute later.  103 seconds into the game and Odom had no choice to but to bench De Ridder.  Odom talked to De Ridder for almost a full minute on the sideline.

But De Ridder, he’s got the experience, you’d think he’d get collected and pull himself together and show the experience as befits a former European professional.  Not really.  He picked up a third foul in the first half when he tried to poke the ball out of the hands of the much quicker, and more explosive, Jordan Smith, who had already blown past him.  Really, boneheaded play from the preseason ACC Player of the Year.

Plus

Kalu Anya’s season effectively started today.  After De Ridder sat for the final time in the first half, Anya came in and he immediately went right at the 7-foot Muurinen, drawing a second foul on him, and forcing Calipari to sit him.  It was a statement play from a guy who has had sparse minutes the first two games.  For good measure, he drained the And-1.

Those were the only points Anya got this game, but he gave 18 solid minutes as the ultimate glue guy:  six rebounds (three on the offensive glass,) three assists and a steal and a block.  He’s a good passer and the ball does not stick on his hands, and he also looks like he’s got good footwork around the rim.  To date, the team’s only bench contributions had been from Elijah Gertrude, who was good, but Anya was the best off the bench in this one.

Plus

Nolan Adekunle also had his breakout game today, scoring a career-high 13 points on the strength of going 3/7 from deep.  He’s a big, strong man (he is 24) but quick feet allowed him to stay in front of Jordan Smith and Davion Thompson in the open floor.  Like Anya, this was Adekunle’s best game of the season.

Minus

Either Odom hasn’t figured out his rotations yet or he has looked at his bench and deemed it not worthy.  For all intents, Odom played just seven players – the five starters plus Anya and Gertrude – and this game was a blow out.  (Virginia was up 76 – 49 with about eight minutes to go.)  Arkansas did a reasonably good job attacking Chance Mallory on switches and in the paint.  Jan Vide was supposed to be the 6’ 6” complement for the diminutive Chase Mallory in such cases, but he only saw the court in the last minute.  Jurian Dixon only played two minutes, and to be frank, they were pretty impactful.  He had a steal and a nicely taken jumper in the lane.

Plus

Arkansas has a young, uber-athletic team, and they wanted to come out and run.  Tony Bennett would be proud on this day:  Virginia didn’t let them and the Cavaliers’ transition defense was excellent.  The stats will say that the Razorbacks had 13 fast break points, but eight of those came in the last eight minutes, well after the game had been decided.  For the most part, Virginia made Arkansas play out of the half court, and the team that dictates the terms, usually wins.

When the game was still reasonably close, and Arkansas was able to run, this is what awaited them at the rim:

Plus

Virginia went 12/32 from deep, or right at 38%.  That’s what they have done every game.  Mallory, Adekunle and Sam Lewis all made three three-pointers.

Minus

Looks like Grunloh is growing a mustache.  If you are a public figure and going to be on TV, I would wait til the summer to start it.

Plus

This is a busy day for Virginia sports: the men and women both have games and the women’s soccer team plays FSU in the first round of the ACC tournament later this evening.  It’s going to be a long night, but starting off with such a resounding win is just the ticket.

Next Up:  The heavy slate continues as Virginia takes on Bucknell in two days on Tuesday, November 10th at 9:00pm.  The game will be on the ACC Network.

Add us as a preferred source on Google
Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for ten years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

Share on XFollow Jerzy_Walker