By Jeff White ([email protected])
VirginiaSports.com
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — On the road, down 19 points late in the first half against an ACC rival, the Virginia Cavaliers found themselves in dire straits Tuesday night (Jan. 27). Everything that could go wrong seemed to be going wrong for the nation’s 17th-ranked team, much to the delight of the home fans in the crowd of 4,012 at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion.
“We were reeling a little bit,” head coach Ryan Odom said, “and that’s probably an understatement, of course. But in the timeouts, our guys came in and they were communicating with one another in a positive way.”
It took 10 extra minutes of basketball, but the Wahoos finally saw their perseverance rewarded on a night when little came easily for them.
In the waning seconds of the first overtime, UVA swingman Sam Lewis hit a contested 3-pointer to extend the game. In the second OT, Virginia went ahead to stay on two free throws by forward Thijs De Ridder with 1:11 to play. Lewis scored four points in the final 15 seconds to help the Hoos secure a heart-stopping 100-97 win.
“Without Sam, we probably would have lost the game,” De Ridder said.
Lewis is from Chicago, about a 90-minute drive from Notre Dame’s campus, and he had about 15 friends and relatives cheering him on at Purcell Pavilion.
“I’m super happy that we came out and got this road dub,” Lewis said.
Not since Nov. 12, 2006, when the Cavaliers erased a 19-point deficit in a win over Arizona, had they posted such a big comeback.
Freshman guard Chance Mallory said UVA focused on “chipping away on every possession. Coach said we can’t have home-run plays. We can’t get it back in one possession. So just keep chipping away, chipping away, and playing solid.”
Thijs on the mic 🎤
“We just woke up, we know what we can do and we believe in that”
📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/snGhJjlXH1
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) January 28, 2026
The 6-foot-9 De Ridder fouled out with 45 seconds remaining in the second overtime, but not before scoring a season-high 32 points and grabbing eight rebounds. The 6-foot-7 Lewis finished with 21 points and led the Cavaliers (17-3 overall, 6-2 ACC) with nine rebounds and six assists. Off the bench, the 5-foot-10 Mallory contributed 17 points, three assists and two rebounds.
De Ridder became the first Cavalier to reach the 30-point mark since Kyle Guy, who scored 30 against Marshall on Dec. 31, 2018.
“So many great plays out there,” Odom said. “It’s hard to recount all of them on both sides. The shots that were made and the big plays that these young people were making … made for a great college basketball game. It’s one of those that you hate anybody ends up losing.”
For Notre Dame (11-10, 2-6), guard Cole Certa scored 34 points, 12 more than his previous career high. Guard Braeden Shrewsberry, whose father, Micah, is Notre Dame’s head coach, added 18 points, though all except three came in the first half.
“I can’t say enough positive things about Notre Dame, Coach Shrewsberry, the players on his team and the fight that they gave us today,” Odom said. “Certainly, they played an awesome game. They got off to a great start. They were really comfortable, and we were uncomfortable.”
The Cavaliers were coming off a loss to North Carolina in which they’d built a 16-point lead in the first half. Odom wasn’t happy with his team’s defense against UNC, and the Hoos struggled at that end of the court for most of the first half Tuesday night. The Irish hit 8 of 13 shots from 3-point range and shot 57.7% overall in the first 20 minutes.
“I feel like in the first half, we came out too lackadaisical as a team,” Mallory said.
Lewis agreed. The Irish “came out and punched us in the face,” he said.
With 6:04 to play in the opening half, Certa made his second straight 3-pointer to push the Irish’s lead to 39-20. The Cavaliers could have folded at that point, but they regrouped and battled back. In the final 5:43 of the half, De Ridder scored 10 points and Mallory scored five, and UVA went into the break trailing by nine.
“Certainly, we did not intend to get down [by 19],” Odom said, “but we were in that moment, and Notre Dame was putting a ton of pressure on us. And our guys had to answer.”
Mallory said: “When we were able to cut it down to single digits before half. I feel like we really took a step to where we needed to be in order to give ourselves a chance to win.”
The Cavaliers kept coming in the second half, and De Ridder’s two free throws at the 9:05 mark gave them their first lead since early in the game. Then it was Notre Dame’s turn to rally. The Irish went up 70-64 with 2:13 left. Virginia answered with seven straight points, only to see Certa hit an NBA-length trey that gave Notre Dame a 73-71 lead.
Once again, the Cavaliers responded. Forward Devin Tillis, who finished with 12 points off the bench, scored the final points of regulation, sinking two free throws to tie the game at 73-73.
SAM LEWIS FOR THE TIE 🤯
Headed to double OT ➡️
📺 @espn #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/B2su9pTEmx
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) January 28, 2026
The Hoos started slowly in the first overtime, and with a minute remaining they trailed 83-80. Two free throws by Certa put the Irish up 85-82 with 19.2 seconds left, and UVA looked out of sync on the possession that followed. With about six seconds left, the “play was kind of evaporating,” Odom, and he considered calling a timeout. He chose not to, however, and Lewis made that decision a wise one. With a defender in his face, No. 5 knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3.5 seconds left.
“That shot by Sam was incredible,” De Ridder said.
