Two days after a statement win over No. 12 Arkansas in Washington, No. 6 Virginia returned to John Paul Jones Arena for a 9 p.m. tip Tuesday against Bucknell. It was the Cavaliers’ third game in five days and their fourth in eight. The Bison came in 0-2, picked sixth in the Patriot League and coming off losses to Maryland and Old Dominion in which they were outrebounded 91-42. DraftKings opened Virginia as a 37.5-point favorite, and the line moved to 38.5 by tip.
This one was over early. Virginia
jumped out to an 11-3 lead, pushed it to 26-5 on a Chance Mallory three and took a 53-31 lead into halftime, its most first-half points of the season. The lead peaked at 37. Virginia outrebounded the Bison 52-29 and handed out 30 assists on 37 made field goals.
Virginia is 4-0, and Bucknell falls to 0-3.
Here are my six takeaways.
Virginia took care of business, and the starters got their legs back
The most important number Tuesday might be 21. That is the most minutes any Virginia starter played. Two days after the starters played 156 of 200 minutes against Arkansas, they played just 101 Tuesday, and Ryan Odom was able to lean on his bench for nearly half the game.
After a very physical game Sunday, that extra rest is much appreciated. Johann Grünloh played 35 minutes Sunday on an ankle that limited him to 21 against Northeastern two days earlier, and Mallory was fouled four times against Arkansas, including a hard foul that left him holding the back of his neck. Both played 21 minutes Tuesday, as did Thijs De Ridder, and all three were able to start thinking about Friday’s game with about 10 minutes left.
The starters made the most of their time. Mallory led the team with 16 points and added six assists and three steals. De Ridder had 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in 21 minutes, and Nolan Adekunle scored 14 on 5-of-6 shooting in 19. Virginia scored 27 points off Bucknell’s 16 turnovers, outscored the Bison 46-16 in the paint and 22-13 on the fast break, and added 12 more steals to bring its season total to 53.
Sandwiched between two big Power Four nonconference matchups, this game had the makings of a classic trap on a short week. The Virginia starters quickly put those concerns to bed by blitzing Bucknell from the opening tip.
Virginia owned the glass
Virginia outrebounded Bucknell 52-29, including 23-11 on the offensive glass. At halftime, the margin was 28-9.
The offensive rebounding came from everywhere. De Ridder had four, Grünloh, Martin Carrere and Elijah Gertrude had three each, and Gertrude’s three were a career high. In one second-half sequence, Virginia missed three straight threes, grabbed the offensive rebound every time and kept the possession alive until Mallory drove for an and-one. Grünloh finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, one rebound shy of his second career double-double.
That said, this margin needs some context. Bucknell is undersized, with a typical starting five that runs from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-8, and Maryland outrebounded the Bison 54-22 eight days earlier. Given Virginia’s excellent positional size everywhere but point guard, a big rebounding margin against this team is expected.
What is encouraging is the consistency. Virginia grabbed 19 offensive rebounds against a big, athletic Arkansas front line Sunday and 23 Tuesday. That is a product of effort and of crashing the glass from the wing, not just size. Offensive rebounds are a big part of why Virginia keeps winning the possession battle on top of its turnover margin, and that is a formula that should travel as Virginia heads on the road for its next matchup.
The block party is back, and Favour Ibe has arrived
Last season, Virginia led Division I with 6.4 blocks a game, as the broadcast pointed out Tuesday. Through three games this season, it had 13. On Tuesday alone, it had 11.
Grünloh had three, bringing his team-high total to 11 through four games. Sam Lewis blocked a shot early in the second half, and Gertrude had a highlight-reel rejection in the first half before trying to save the ball with a behind-the-back throw.
The headline, though, was Ibe. The 7-foot-1 freshman checked in midway through the second half and blocked four shots in seven minutes. He blocked a drive and then a second shot on the same possession, stood his ground when a Bucknell player tried to back him down for his third, and ended the game with his fourth, an exclamation point on the victory. He also scored four points on a hook shot and a putback.
In my preseason profile of Ibe, I said I would be watching for his first blocks. After blocking 2.8 shots a game at Mt. Zion Prep, he had struggled to show the same effectiveness in his limited minutes this season. Tuesday was his coming-out party and the first glimpse of the rim protector Virginia recruited.
It is important to keep it in perspective. Ibe’s minutes came against Bucknell’s backups with the game well out of reach, and he still had moments that looked like a freshman’s. He was a step late on a drive and picked up a foul, and he turned the ball over trying to pass out of a drive. But the backup center spot has been one of the biggest questions on this roster since Ugonna Onyenso left for the NBA, and four blocks in seven minutes is a promising sign of what is to come.
The shooters are shooting, with one exception
Adekunle, De Ridder and Mallory combined to go 9-of-14 from three. Everyone else went 3-of-21.
Adekunle has been exactly what Virginia needed in the starting lineup as a complementary piece. Billed as the prototypical 3-and-D wing, he went 3-of-4 from three Tuesday, including one in transition off a Gertrude push, and attacked a closeout for a layup off a cross-court pass from Jurian Dixon. He is 6-of-11 from three over the last two games.
De Ridder’s shooting may be the most important development of the young season. He went 3-of-5 Tuesday and is now 8-of-14 from three through four games. Last season he shot 41.2 percent from three in nonconference play but just 29.8 percent in the ACC regular season, and shooting was the first item on his summer to-do list. It is a small sample against nonconference competition, but if defenses have to respect his jumper in ACC play, he becomes much harder to guard in the post. Mallory added 3-of-5, including one to answer a Bucknell transition basket in the first half.
Christian Harmon is the one exception I am choosing to highlight, given the trend we are starting to see. The Arkansas State transfer, who averaged 12.8 points and made 2.6 threes a game last season, went 0-of-2 from three in five minutes of garbage time Tuesday. He is 0-of-6 from the field this season, and his shot has looked off. There is a likely explanation. SI reported Sunday that he is still rehabbing a broken foot. Until he is fully healthy, it does not look like he will be part of the rotation, which ran 10 deep Tuesday without him. That said, even when he returns to full health, it looks like it will be a challenge for him to crack the rotation beyond green-team minutes.
The backup playmakers showed up
After Arkansas, I wrote that Virginia’s backup ball handling was something to watch. Mallory is the only player on the roster who consistently organizes the offense, and the offense sputtered at times Sunday when he sat. Jan Vide, who was expected to be the backup point guard, did not play until the bench emptied.
Tuesday, the bench took a step forward. Gertrude had a career-high seven assists in 13 minutes, more than double his previous career high of three, with one turnover. He found Carrere for an alley-oop when Bucknell tried to trap, swung the ball to De Ridder for a corner three and looked much more comfortable attacking the paint, including a smooth floater on a drive. Vide added four assists, two steals and no turnovers in 17 minutes. His best play was a bounce pass that threaded two defenders and set up Adekunle for a layup attempt, on which he was fouled, and he later drove and kicked to Adekunle for a three.
Virginia’s bench accounted for 16 of its 30 assists. The team’s 30 assists came four days after it had 26 against Northeastern, which ESPN noted was Virginia’s most in a game since March 2016. Mallory had six assists, but also four turnovers.
There is still one question with Vide, and it is spacing. He went 8-of-29 from three at Loyola Marymount last season, and he did not attempt one Tuesday. Late in the second half, Virginia had a unit on the floor with Vide, Silas Barksdale and Ibe, three players defenses do not have to guard on the perimeter, and the offense bogged down. Vide’s playmaking is valuable, but Odom will have to be careful about who he pairs him with.
The loose ends are worth tightening before Maryland
Tuesday was a 34-point win, so this section comes with a grain of salt. But there were a few things Virginia will want cleaned up before it plays a road game in a hostile environment.
The first is free-throw shooting. Virginia went 9-of-16 at the line. Grünloh went 3-of-6, Mallory missed the free throw on two of his three and-ones, and De Ridder missed the front end of a one-and-one. Through four games, Virginia is shooting 73.7 percent from the line, right in line with last season’s 72.8 percent, so Tuesday looks more like an off night than a trend. But free throws were already a weakness last season, and they could come back to bite Virginia in close games.
The second is defensive focus. Some of this is to be expected in a blowout and an emotional letdown spot, two days after a game in which the starters had to play big minutes. Still, there were stretches in both halves where the rotations were a step slow. The first team was one thing, but I also noticed it during some of the minutes with the backups, which is disappointing, since they are still fighting for playing time. Bucknell made four of five shots during one first-half stretch, scored 13 fast-break points against a team built on pressure and grabbed a few offensive rebounds in a row in the second half.
Finally, Tuesday’s margin should not be overread. Maryland beat this same Bucknell team by 29 on Nov. 2, then turned around and lost by 12 at Georgetown five days later. Thus, blowing out Bucknell by 34 is nothing more than the baseline expectation.
Bonus: Silas Barksdale does not look ready yet
Barksdale, who flipped from VCU in April 2025 and redshirted last season, played six minutes Tuesday and finished with one rebound, a turnover when he stepped out of bounds and no shot attempts. At one point, Virginia forced Bucknell to rotate and he passed up a three. Through four games, he has played about 13 minutes.
He showed flashes in the Vanderbilt exhibition, with seven points, a putback and a smooth three, and I thought he could be primed for real minutes this year. Right now, Kalu Anya and Ibe are ahead of him in the frontcourt rotation, and in my opinion he does not look ready to play meaningful minutes outside of the green team. That said, he is a redshirt freshman with plenty of time to develop, and there is no rush.
What’s next
Virginia plays its first true road game Friday at Maryland, at 8 p.m. on Peacock. The Terrapins are 1-1 in Buzz Williams’ second season. They beat Bucknell 96-67 in their opener and lost 86-74 at Georgetown on Saturday, when the Hoyas made 15 threes.
Last season, Virginia beat the Terrapins 80-72 in Charlottesville, and Maryland went on to finish 12-21. This is the second game of a four-game series, and the Xfinity Center should be loud. It will be the first real test of how this team handles a road environment.
Virginia may also be climbing. No. 2 Duke lost 79-73 to No. 5 Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night, and No. 3 Illinois lost 84-78 at No. 16 Texas Tech, which could open the door for the Cavaliers to move up in Monday’s poll, especially with a road win in College Park.
