Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP
I wrote on Thursday, on the train to Philly, about the one concern I had for UVA Basketball heading into its first-round NCAA Tournament game – that for seven of the nine rotation guys, it would be their first NCAA Tournament game.
The concern, turns out, was well-founded.
“When you’re walking out there, your adrenaline’s pumping, so you get tired a lot easier, until you settle down. And I feel like it took us a little bit to settle down, me included,” said Chance Mallory, a freshman, who had two points and two rebounds in 19 minutes in the 82-73 win over Wright State, which for the longest time on Friday, looked like it was going to be anything but a win for the good guys.
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The Wright State side, to be candid here, had a total of one guy with NCAA Tournament experience – in the form of 6’5” senior Sam Alamatu, who played all of five minutes in Friday’s game.
Alamatu got garbage time at the end of a 78-61 Vermont loss to Marquette in 2023, and 22 minutes, scoring two points and pulling down seven rebounds, for the Catamounts in a 64-47 loss to Duke in 2024.
The advantage in first-round games goes to the underdogs, who have nothing to lose, right – Virginia, as a #3 seed, is expected to get to a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight; Wright State, as a #14 seed, is expected to hang around for a few minutes at the outset, then take the fall and collect the check on their way out.
The Raiders made Virginia earn the dub, leading by five at the half, and by three with 5:13 to go, before the ’Hoos closed on a 15-3 run to survive and advance.
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“Honestly, you have these expectations on what the game is going to be, what it’s going to look like, but once you get out there, you have no idea what’s gonna happen, and I think it caught me by surprise little bit,” said Malik Thomas, a senior in his first NCAA Tournament game, who finished with 11 points, but also had three turnovers – on a day in which Virginia finished with 14 turnovers.
“Everything in March is exaggerated times 10,” Thomas said. “Teams are playing way better. Teams have nothing to lose. This is do-or-die. This is wartime.”
“They came out fighting,” said Sam Lewis, another Virginia guy who played in his first NCAA Tournament game on Friday, and finished with 12 points, but also was assessed with a technical foul at the 5:32 mark, after getting fouled by Wright State guard TJ Burch, who hounded Virginia on the ball, collecting five steals on the afternoon.
“I’ll just say, that was just so intense, 1,000 percent, everybody’s going that hard. That’s the difference,” Lewis said.
I particularly wanted to get the perspectives of the two Euro guys on the Virginia roster, Johann Grunloh, a seven-footer from Germany, and Thijs de Ridder, the 6’9” Belgian who was named to the All-ACC first team earlier this month.
De Ridder was eyes wide open describing his surprise at how big the NCAA Tournament is here in the States.
“I thought it’s gonna be another, like, regular tournament,” de Ridder said. “I knew it was big, of course, but not that big, even like, the day before, when we walked in for our first practice here, there are fans in the stands, you know, our band was here, like, such organization, everything is so planned, so scheduled, but it’s really cool to see, it was really nice.
“You see so many things online. I mean, all the fans are rooting for you, like, everybody made a bracket in America. It’s just the thing that, like, lives here. I mean, I never saw something like this before,” de Ridder said.
“The atmosphere was great, especially having so many Virginia fans here,” Grunloh told me. “I think the biggest part was like mentally preparing for the game when you have in mind that this could be your last game of season, do-or-die, and that’s what made all the made me feel a bit nervous, excited.”
Alright, so, now they’ve got the experience – Sunday’s game with #6 seed Tennessee won’t be the first NCAA Tournament game for the guys who’d only watched March Madness and wondered what it was like up until 48 hours ago.
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“We’ve just got to learn from that and just not let the pressure build up and just play our own game. Just trusting our training, is what our coaches say,” Mallory said.
“I think after getting that game under my belt, I’ll be much better for the next game, as far as the reads, adjusting to, you know, the coverages, and the intensity,” said Thomas, who has something hanging over his head that Mallory, as a freshman, doesn’t.
“I could be playing my last game any given day, so I’m just trying to take that, and like, all of our seniors, it’s our last go-around at this, so we’re just trying do our best to just stay together and just play with the most intensity possible,” Thomas said.
“I mean, it was pretty awesome to, you know, be able to step out of the court and see the March Madness manner and kind of just the vibe of the fans and arena,” said Devin Tillis, a fifth-year senior in his first NCAA Tournament. “I think it’s pretty much everything I dreamed of. Obviously, I wish we played a little bit better than we did, but I think it’s gonna be even more fun tomorrow.”
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