The Snowmagedden Plus/Minus Part III: Virginia Basketball Triumphs over Notre Dame

Plus

A win is a win is a win and this was as gut-wrenching in victory as the triple overtime game was in defeat to Virginia Tech. In a game that flipped the script from the UNC loss, Virginia was down by as many as 19 points in the first half as Notre Dame’s Cole Certa and Braedon Shrewsberry combined to go 7/9 from deep. Virginia, meanwhile, was 3/12 and had started out even worse at 1/9 from beyond the arc. In the second half it was Virginia who got hot as Notre Dame sputtered along. In both of these games, it was the home team that fell apart. Virginia has yet to string two solid halves together playing in this frigid vortex.

Plus

It is hard to overstate just how ridiculous some of Shrewsberry and Certa’s shots were. Certa has be two feet into the Notre Dame logo on this one.

From the LOGO 😳🔥

Cole Certa connects from DEEP for @NDmbb!

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/hlUORU5MdL
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) January 28, 2026

The Virginia defense was fine on all of these. These guys were either really well covered, or they were shooting five to ten feet beyond the arc. This was a gut punch, and yet Virginia weathered the storm and actually pounded the ball down low with some back-to-the-basket hoops from Thijs De Ridder and Devin Tillis.

Plus

De Ridder scoreline jumps off the page: 32 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a 14/15 outing at the charity stripe. But it was his defense on Braedon Shrewsberry in the second that turned the game around. Shrewsberry had 15 points at the half on 4/4 shooting from three-point range, but with De Ridder drawing the primary defensive assignment in the second frame, he went 0/4. De Ridder stayed in front of him and his length really disrupted Shrewsberry’s shot. After hanging 44 first-half points on Virginia, Notre Dame only scored 29 points in the second half and it all started with De Ridder’s defense.

Minus

It was frustrating to watch the officials in this game. The numbers look pretty even: Virginia was whistled for 27 fouls to Notre Dame’s 25 and the Hoos actually got more foul shots, 35 to 34. Notre Dame even had three players foul out, but so many of Virginia’s fouls were touch fouls. And it sure as heck seemed like Notre Dame got six seconds to inbound the ball. Sure, I am biased, but three times Notre Dame should have been whistled for failure to in-bounds the ball.

Plus

I like the little things, like teams that make their free throws. Notre Dame is one of the very worst free throw shooting teams in the ACC having actually gotten worse over the course of ACC play. But they had players go 9/11, 9/10 and 8/10 from the pinstripe. Virginia was led by De Ridder’s 14/15 outing. Chance Mallory, the number four free throw shooter in the ACC started the night horribly (1/4) before righting the ship as it were and going 3/4 in overtime. Both teams were over 80% for the game.

Minus

Virginia’s slow start to the game as well as collective failure from deep (one for their first nine shots) got into Dallin Hall’s head, and to a lesser extent, that of Tillis. Both passed up good looks repeatedly in the first half. Then, with shot clocks winding down, Virginia would have to force a worse shot, so their unwillingness to shoot just compounded the problems Virginia had scoring.

Plus

De Ridder was 0/5 from deep and Malik Thomas was largely invisible. Jacari White is broken at this point (six minutes, three fouls, including Virginia’s eighth foul on a three-pointer this season.) Hall and Tillis were passing up shots and Mallory missed his first two threes. Sam Lewis stepped into the breach, going 5/8 from deep and was the only backcourt player who wanted to shoot. Lewis scored seven points in OT, including this stunner to send the game into second overtime.

SAM LEWIS FOR THE TIE 🤯

Headed to double OT ➡️

📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/B2su9pTEmx
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) January 28, 2026

Plus

Chance Mallory’s situational awareness. One minute into the first overtime and Virginia down 77 – 75, Mallory forced Notre Dame’s Jalen Haralson to fumble the ball out of bounds. It was right in front of the official who called it out off of Mallory. He immediately got up, spinning his right index finger in what is now the universal signal from player to coach to challenge the call. All the teams have live video now and while Ryan Odom was making a sub to give staff more time to review the footage, Mallory was bouncing around telling everyone he never touched the ball. Odom made the challenge and it showed that Mallory wasn’t close to the ball and the call was overturned, Virginia ball. As announcer Debbie Antonelli noted, there’s a lot of pressure on the folks in the second row. Play of the game right there, and back row folks got it right.

Minus

Don’t like this uniform combination. Looks like blue jerseys with red numbers and trim, which are not UVa colors.

Plus

Coach Micah Shrewsberry and son Braedon sure give off that Buddy and Jim Boeheim vide, don’t they? In this wild west of unrestricted NIL free agency, one way to keep your players around is to grown them yourself.

Plus

A valuable heat check game for Virginia fans. This is a jump shooting team, the heroics of Thijs De Ridder notwithstanding. When the threes are falling, the Hoos can play with anybody. When they’re not, a Markus Burton-less team can run the Cavaliers off the court, though it really is hard to overstate just how ridiculous most of Cole Certa’s shots were. But for now, it is still January and Virginia has already eclipsed last season’s win total. There will be many more meaningful games to play.

Next Up: Virginia remains on the road as they travel to Beacon Hill to take on Boston College on Saturday, January 31st. Game time is 1:30 and you’ll have to find your way to the CW for this one.