Thijs de Ridder earned some pre-NBA Draft buzz last spring after putting up good numbers in Spain, averaging 10.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game, shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three, for Surne Bilbao Basket in Spain’s Liga ACB.
The word he got back from the front-office types who monitored his workouts: now we need to see you play a season against the top U.S. college prospects.
“I did a couple of NBA workouts last summer and the summer before, and they always said, like, Hey, if you go to college, we can compare you, like, with other guys who are going for the draft, you know? And I said, OK, let’s do it. I want to show myself, improve myself, and get ready for the NBA, and that’s my biggest dream, of course. So, that’s why I chose this path, to show myself,” de Ridder said after his debut with Virginia on Monday, in which he had a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes in an 87-53 win over Rider.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos get Opening Night win, but still ‘plenty to clean up’
- ‘Hoos 87, Rider 53: Go figure, a UVA Basketball team winning with defense
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos shake off sluggish first half, defeat Rider, 87-53, in opener
The 22-year-old De Ridder, listed at 6’9”, 238 pounds, was 10-of-14 from the floor – breaking it down, per numbers from CBB Analytics, he was 6-of-8 inside 4.5 feet, 2-of-2 on in-the-paint jumpers, 1-of-2 in the midrange and 1-of-2 from three.
It seemed watching that there was a concerted effort to get de Ridder good touches, and first-year UVA coach Ryan Odom confirmed that afterward.
“I mean, on his team overseas, you know, he was not the go-to guy, and so that’s, you know, new for him,” Odom said of his new star, who was the focus of an effort with the NCAA to ascertain eligibility that stretched uncomfortably into mid-summer.
“Certainly in this particular game, we felt it was important in the first half to establish that and try to get him the ball as much as we could, because they were going to be in that zone, and we wanted to try to establish him down low,” Odom said. “And he did a really nice job of, when they didn’t double, scoring, getting fouled, and when they did double, getting it out, and we got some quality looks, you know, from that, and so I was impressed, you know, with his overall game.”
The only issue for de Ridder was his four fouls – a couple of the ticky-tack variety, in a game in which the officials whistled the two teams for a combined 48.
“I think a couple rules are, I mean, it’s not excuse, but couple rules are different than in Europe,” de Ridder said. “But of course, I made a couple of mistakes, I was maybe lazy on my feet, but that’s also a thing I have to work on, just being solid in defense and be physical without fouling, that’s our line that we always say.”
De Ridder brings an edge from having played the past two years against pros in Spain, but the difference in the game in Spain and the game in the U.S. – and why the scouts wanted to see de Ridder get a year of college ball under his belt – is the speed of the game.
“In Spain, it was more controlled. There were much more experienced and faster and slower guys, I mean,” de Ridder said. “Here’s just, the young energy, that’s different, all the guys are really young, just running up and down, and that is basically the biggest difference. There’s a lot more energy.”
De Ridder’s self-assessment after one game as a U.S. collegian:
“I think overall, I was pretty solid,” he said. “Of course, there were some points that I can still work on, and this is just the first game, and hopefully I can do it every game again and help the team win.”
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
