Five takeaways from UVA basketball’s NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee
· Yahoo Sports
The Virginia Cavaliers’ season is over, and what makes this one sting is that it never really felt out of reach.
The No.3 seed Wahoos fell 79-72 to No. 6 seed Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday night in Philadelphia, ending a season that delivered far more than many expected in Ryan Odom’s first year. But this was not one of those clean tournament losses where the better team simply controls everything for 40 minutes and leaves no room for regret. Virginia stayed within striking distance all night, fought back from multiple second-half deficits, and even grabbed a 71-70 lead with just over two minutes left before the Volunteers closed the game at the free throw line.
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That is what makes the final margin feel a little misleading. Tennessee was the better team over the full 40 minutes, yes. But Virginia had real chances to turn this into another memorable March escape. Instead, the Cavaliers are headed home one game short of the Sweet 16.
The threes were there, but the easy points weren’t
Odom has made three-point shooting a calling card of this Virginia offense this year and today was no exception. Virginia actually got one major thing it needed offensively: enough perimeter shot-making to win this game. The Cavaliers hit 12 threes and made 34% of their shots from deep, which is a perfectly respectable number against a Tennessee defense known for clamping down on opponents three-point shots with length and physicality.
That part of the formula showed up. The problem is that almost everything closer to the rim felt harder than it should have. Virginia finished just 27-for-69 from the field overall, and the Cavaliers missed eight of their first 11 layups in the first half. This is especially painful when the Cavaliers lost by just second points.
Tennessee, meanwhile, found cleaner offense for most of the night. The Volunteers finished with 20 assists on 26 made field goals, while Virginia had just 12 assists on 27 made baskets. That gap says a lot. Tennessee’s offense looked connected, purposeful, and generally one pass ahead.
Virginia’s often looked like it was scraping and improvising just to get to a decent shot. The Cavaliers still made enough difficult jumpers to stay alive, but too many of their “easy” points turned into misses, and too many of Tennessee’s possessions ended with cleaner looks at the basket.
Jacari White and Thijs De Ridder flipped the script
Two days earlier, Jacari White was the top headline of my five takeaways. Against Wright State, he came off the bench and saved Virginia’s season, pouring in 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting and 6-of-8 from three in one of the biggest shot-making performances by a Cavalier in recent NCAA Tournament memory. It was the exact kind of eruption Virginia needed, and it completely changed the feel of that first-round game.
On Sunday, the script flipped. White finished with 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting and a 2-of-9 mark from three. The closing sequence was brutal: first two airballs on one late possession, then the missed layup attempt after Tennessee had retaken the lead.
That is not meant to dump on White. After all, he was a huge reason Virginia was even playing in this game in the first place. It is just the reality of March.
On the flip side, Thijs De Ridder turned into the version of himself Virginia had badly needed in games prior. He led the Cavaliers with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 4-of-6 from three, with 17 of those points coming in the second half.
De Ridder tied the game multiple times, punished Tennessee for leaving him space, and then hit one of the biggest shots of Virginia’s season: the go-ahead three with 2:03 left that made it 71-70. White was the hero on Friday. De Ridder tried to be the hero on Sunday. Virginia just could not get one more play after that.
Virginia kept answering, which is why this one hurts so much
There were multiple points in the second half where this game felt ready to get away from Virginia. Tennessee pushed the lead to 62-53 with 9:15 to go after Ja’Kobi Gillespie hit a deep shot-clock-beating three and J.P. Estrella followed with a fast-break dunk.
Against a team as physical and defensively sturdy as Tennessee, that had all the makings of the decisive blow. Instead, Virginia answered again. For the second game in a row, the shift in intensity came following a Sam Lewis technical foul, which for the second game in a row was a fairly soft, albeit technically correct call. This kick-started a 7-for-7 shooting run as the Cavaliers were determined to not be put away that easily.
That sequence is why this loss feels so much worse than a standard second-round exit. Virginia actually climbed all the way back and took the lead with just over two minutes left. For a moment, it looked like the Cardiac Cavs might have another March escape in them.
Instead, De Ridder’s three at 2:03 was Virginia’s last field goal of the night. Tennessee scored its final nine points from the line, and the window slammed shut. That is a brutal way for a season to end after doing all the work to put yourself in position.
Virginia won some margins, but lost the ones that decided the game
This is the part that will probably drive Virginia fans crazy when they stare at the box score later. The Cavaliers only turned the ball over seven times, a dramatic improvement over their fourteen against Wright State. They grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and held up decently well against one of the best rebounding teams in the country.
Usually, if you protect the ball that well, create that many second chances, and are hitting the three-ball as highlighted earlier, you give yourself a very good shot to survive and advance.
But Virginia lost the more decisive categories. Tennessee shot 47 percent from the floor to Virginia’s 39 percent. The Vols hit 42 percent from three, continuing the time-honored tradition of Virginia tournament opponents suddenly catching fire from beyond the arc. They went 19-for-25 at the free-throw line while Virginia went just 6-for-11.
Tennessee also had the cleaner offensive process all night, with those 20 assists on 26 made baskets compared to Virginia’s 12 assists on 27 makes. Add in the foul disparity (19 fouls on UVA, 14 on Tennessee) and it is easy to understand why this one felt so uneven in certain moments, even as the score stayed close.
The whistle and a few 50-50 plays late will frustrate people, and fairly so. Most notably, Nate Ament had one sequence where he seemed to launch straight into a Virginia defender, stumble, and, somehow, the result was a foul on UVA instead of a travel. It was the kind of call that makes you stare at the screen in disbelief. But the more honest takeaway is that Virginia did enough in some classic winning areas while still losing the areas that actually decided the game.
This season still deserves to be remembered as a success
That does not make the ending hurt less. It just means the ending should not define everything.
Virginia finished 30-6, won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since the 2019 national title run, and reached the ACC tournament final in Odom’s first season. Considering the uncertainty around the program a year ago, and considering how much March baggage this fanbase was carrying into Friday’s win over Wright State, that matters. A lot.
The first round game against Wright State was more than just a box-score result, it was a release valve for a program that had gone seven years without an NCAA tournament win. This team then followed it by going toe-to-toe for 40 minutes with a Tennessee team that was favored to win.
That is why Sunday was a night for both disappointment and appreciation. The Cavaliers absolutely had a path to the Sweet 16, and there is no point pretending otherwise. This was not some hopeless draw where the Cavaliers were clearly outclassed from the opening tip. They had chances. They had the lead late. They had a player in De Ridder catching fire at the right moment. They just could not find the last couple plays the game demanded.
But, zoom out, and this season still overachieved expectations at this time last year. It got Virginia back into meaningful March basketball, back into ACC contention, back into the NCAA Tournament win column, and back into the kind of position where a future NCAA tournament run with Odom at the helm feels inevitable. This is not the finish anyone wanted, but it is real progress.
And, before turning the page, it is worth recognizing Virginia’s five departing seniors: Devin Tillis, Ugonna Onyenso, Jacari White, Malik Thomas, and Dallin Hall. They will leave without the ending they wanted, but they do so having helped restore belief around this program. They brought experience, toughness, and maturity to a team that exceeded expectations, won an NCAA Tournament game, and spent all season proving the doubters wrong. That is a meaningful legacy, even if March almost always leaves you wanting one more game.