The highlight of the night to me, in Virginia’s 95-51 win over American, was Elijah Gertrude getting 15 minutes and scoring 11, with a pair of threes.
Gertrude had averaged 16.0 minutes in the first three games of the season, but then got a total of 18 over the next eight, all in garbage time.
Gertrude, a redshirt sophomore, coming off injuries sustained in a scooter accident in the spring of 2024, got three first-half minutes tonight, then logged 12 in the second half, finishing out the last 9:29.
ICYMI
Looked bouncy – his first bucket was a nice and-one on a baseline drive – and his form on the threes was better than I’ve ever seen it.
If Gertrude can earn some minutes, that will help over the next few weeks with the news from the weekend about Jacari White, a double-digit scorer (10.9 points per game this season), who is out with a broken wrist suffered in Saturday’s 80-72 win over Maryland.
Word got out on Sunday that White had done something to the wrist. Ryan Odom confirmed that it was a fracture in a pregame interview with the broadcast folks.
Player Notes
- Thijs de Ridder had a season-high 27 points (11-of-15 FG, 3-of-4 3FG) and eight boards in 24 minutes. De Ridder has six 20-point games this season.
- The other double-digit scorers: Malik Thomas and Sam Lewis (11 each) and Chance Mallory (10).
- Bigs Johann Grunloh and Ugonna Onyenso had similar statlines: eight points, six rebounds, one block.
- Dallin Hall, who had 20 points in Saturday’s win, had two, on a basket with 2:06 to go; he did also have seven assists and two steals.
Team Notes
- Virginia shot 70 percent (21-of-30) in the second half and 62.3 percent (38-of-61) for the game.
- It helps to be 21-of-27 at the rim to get to 62.3 percent for the game.
- Rebounds: Virginia 45, American 23
- Defense: American was 19-of-60 (31.7 percent) from the floor and 8-of-35 (22.9 percent) from three. That’s a lot of threes for AU, which came in averaging 28.1 attempted threes per game.
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Chris Graham
