UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has a nice problem, if you can call it a problem, on his hands – that his starters are averaging 70.4 points per game as a unit.
We knew going into the season that having three returning starters, and a fourth guy, in Chance Mallory, who got starter’s minutes, would be a strength of this team.
But we also want to have it both ways – a strength of the 2025-2026 ‘Hoos was its depth, with nine guys averaging at least 15.9 minutes per game.
And, with productivity:
- Jacari White averaged 4 points per game, and had two games in the mid-20s, and 14 games in double-digits.
- Mallory averaged 3 points and 3.4 assists per game, and was in double-digits 21 times.
- Ugonna Onyenso led the ACC with 9 blocked shots per game, averaged 10.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.0 blocked shots per game in the ACC Tournament, and was a second-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Odom’s second bench mob is still trying to find its sea legs.
The second unit, through five games:
- Elijah Gertrude: 15.8 minutes/g, 7.4 points/g, 2.6 rebounds/g, 2.4 assists/g, 50.0% FG, 42.9% 3FG
- Kalu Anya: 13.0 minutes/g, 2.6 points/g, 2.0 rebounds/g, 2.0 assists/g, 45.5% FG
- Martin Carrere: 10.4 minutes/g, 3.0 points/g, 3.0 rebounds/g, 40.0% FG, 22.2% 3FG
- Jurian Dixon: 8.8 minutes/g, 3.8 points/g, 53.3% FG, 33.3% 3FG
- Jan Vide: 7.0 minutes/g, 2.0 points/g, 40.0% FG
Vide (three minutes) and Dixon (one minute) barely got on the floor in the 87-83 win at Maryland on Friday night, and only got in during the garbage-time segment of the 91-72 win over Arkansas last week in DC.
Christian Harmon, who averaged 12.8 points per game at Arkansas State last season, is only getting minutes with the third unit.
“We have guys that can play on that bench, but the guys that are the starters, they deserve to be out there right now,” was how Odom explained the situation to reporters after the win in College Park on Friday night.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: #6 ‘Hoos rally from 11 down to win at Maryland, 87-83
- UVA Basketball: #6 Virginia passes first road test with gritty win at Maryland
- UVA Basketball: Any paint left on the walls of the visiting locker room at the Xfinity Center?
Hard to argue that, but.
How long can Odom sustain going 30 minutes-plus with his starters, as he did in the Arkansas and Maryland games, given the pace and intensity that his system demands?
The 2026-2027 ‘Hoos are averaging 71.8 possessions per game; the fastest Tony Bennett UVA team was his first, in 2009-2010, and that one averaged 61.7 possessions per game.
The extra 10.1 possessions per game on offense means another roughly 10.1 possessions per game on the defensive end – meaning, more up and down and up again, more transition translating into more sprints, more sprints putting pressure on soft tissues.
Bennett’s slower pace of play allowed him to get away with riding his starters – the 2019 national champs, for instance, got 77.1 percent of their minutes from the starting five, and that was with future NBA guys Jay Huff, Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key being bench players.
The construction of the roster for 2026-2027 is going to mean that Johann Grunloh (35 minutes vs. Arkansas; 37 minutes vs. Maryland) and Thijs de Ridder (25 minutes, with foul trouble, vs. Arkansas; 33 minutes vs. Maryland) will need to be iron men.
I say that because the frontcourt depth appears to be just Kalu Anya, who at 6’8”, 225, is a four – he can spell de Ridder at the four, or slide in for Grunloh with de Ridder moving over to the five.
There’s no Ugonna Onyenso to split minutes with Grunloh at the five, no Devin Tillis to split time with de Ridder at the four.
The other guy in the mix there is seven-foot freshman Favour Ibe, a development project if there ever was one – Ibe got two minutes in the Arkansas game, as Odom was trying to work out the early de Ridder foul trouble, and a DNP at Maryland.
The backcourt probably is what it will be: with Sam Lewis and Chance Mallory set to get 30-plus per night, the third starter, Nolan Adekunle (22.8 minutes/g), splitting minutes with Elijah Gertrude, and Jurian Dixon being the fifth guy.
Color me … uneasy.
I love the top six – the four starters who average in double figures, and the combo of Adekunle and Gertrude.
After that …
“It’s not a concern,” Odom said. “It makes sense when you think about it. These guys are back. They’ve been in big games, you know, they’ve established themselves. It’s way different than last year. Last year, everybody was new. You couldn’t tell the difference between the starting lineup and the guys that came in off the bench. Now you can, and that’s not the bench’s fault. It’s, they’ve got to earn a little bit more trust.”
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
