Virginia Cavaliers forward Devin Tillis missed the team’s season opener against Rider on Monday while recovering from knee surgery, head coach Ryan Odom revealed postgame.
According to Odom, after the exhibition
versus Villanova, “his knee kind of blew up,” despite the fact that Tillis didn’t feel anything wrong during the scrimmage.
Tillis has since had surgery, which was the best path for him to realistically be able to play for the ‘Hoos at some point this season, per Odom.
“We’re not sure exactly how long [he’ll be out],” Odom explained.
Tillis, a transfer from UC Irvine, was projected to provide valuable depth in the frontcourt. He has the most college basketball experience of any of UVA’s bigs and fit nicely as a foil to starter Thijs de Ridder at power forward.
In Tillis’ stead, UVA split reserve power forward minutes between Sam Lewis and Martin Carrere. The 6-foot-7 Lewis started at the three for the ‘Hoos, but featured in a small ball lineup at the four at times when De Ridder wasn’t on the floor. Carrere logged eight minutes, roughly evenly split between the three and the four.
“We had to try some new things,” Odom said. “One [lineup] we didn’t try was Ugo [Onyenso] and Johann [Gruenloh] together [in the frontcourt]. Maybe there will be a time for that at some point, we practiced it a little bit.”
“We wanted to give Sam and Martin some time back there and get Elijah [Gertrude] in the game. And I thought that was good for tonight,” he added.
Odom’s suggestion of the potential to play centers Gruenloh and Onyenso together up front is an intriguing one given the likelihood that TIllis is out for an extended period of time. That would be both a fun lineup – with two 7-footers who can block shots and shoot the rock – and it would also feature Virginia’s two best frontcourt players outside of De Ridder.
Lewis is a perfectly fine small four to roll out and, frankly, may have infringed on Tillis’ playing time regardless of injury. But, as the quality and size of UVA’s opponents heats up, so will the likelihood that Onyenso and Gruenloh team up in the frontcourt.
