Jacari White Leads the 'Hoos to Escape the First Round Against Wright State 82-73

There was plenty of things to worry about if you were a Virginia fan Friday afternoon. Having not won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 National Championship, pressure was not a strong enough word to describe the types of emotions Virginia faced against Wright State. On paper, Wright State felt like a very good pull to play in the tournament and felt like an opponent Virginia could beat with ease. With many prior tournament upsets however, there was many things to worry about as a Virginia fan, but with a new Coach and a COMPLETELY different style of play, it felt as though this first round game would be different. This game did not feel very different from games like Furman, Ohio, UMBC, or Colorado State, as Virginia struggled early and often. One helping factor for UVA was having a veteran presence like Dallin Hall who has a lot of tournament experience. Hall mentioned, "Yeah, I think that the conference tournament and ACC championship gave us a good indication of what it looks like. Credit to Wright state. They came out and played with a lot of freedom and physicality, it took us a while, but we finally responded. I'm proud of our guys." With the help of Jacari White and company however, Virginia was able to secure the win. Coach Odom did mention postgame that he and his team did not feel the pressure, "We never talked about it (UVA's Tournament history). We only talk about what this team wants to accomplish. We had no thought about the history other than being proud of the history of Virginia basketball."

Jacari White was his best version Friday afternoon, lighting the floor up from three. White finished 6-8 from three and 10-12 from the floor. White also had 3 rebounds and an assist. He finished with 26 points which is a season high for the former North Dakota State Guard. "I think our defense really helped our offense a lot, getting stops," White mentioned postgame, "We were able to get out in transition. We were able to put them in a scramble. It's hard for them to close out for everyone, and we made the right passes. I think that really helped us a lot." Sam Lewis was the next highest scorer with 12 points. Lewis also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Malik Thomas shot 3-6 from three finishing with 11 points.

While Virginia's defense did struggle early, it did not fret from forcing turnovers. UVA forced 8 turnovers, 4 steals 5 blocks. Here is the part of the postgame article where I will let you guess which two Cavaliers combined for those 5 blocks. Final answer? If you said Johann Grunloh and Ugonna Onyenso, you were correct! Grunloh had 3 blocks to complement Onyenso's 2.

The game began ugly for both sides; no scoring was taking place. A couple of turnovers and missed shots made the score 5-2 at the first TV timeout. An early turnover from Thijs De Ridder led to points for the Raiders. Michael Imariagbe began to emerge as a scorer for Wright State. He went 5-9 from three and was a spark early for the Raiders. By the 11-minute mark, the Raiders would gain a 19-13 lead after a collection of shots and free throws. Malik Thomas and Jacari White proceeded to hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead down. However, Imariagbe once again hit a big three to stop the Cavalier run. Virginia would finally grab another lead with 6:49 to go when Jacari White hit another three off of an assist from Ugonna Onyenso. The game continued to go back and forth with around 4 minutes to go in the first half when Burch hit a three for the Raiders, White responded with a three of his own to tie, and then Imariagbe hit another one to take a 3-point lead. Wright State ended the first half scoring 4 points in the final minute and grabbing a steal from Virginia to keep their lead at 43-38. Dallin Hall shared postgame what the message from Coach Odom was at halftime, "Just lock in on the defensive end. Make life harder for them. Be more physical without fouling at the point of the screen. Make them score over us. Things that we've done all year that we just didn't do at a high level in the first half."

Virginia opened the second half excellently gaining 5 defensive stops in a row and 5 of their own between Dallin Hall and Malik Thomas to tie the game. A common theme in this matchup however, anytime Virginia would hit a big shot or begin to make a run, Wright State would answer or even go on a run of its own. Lewis and De Ridder hit back-to-back three-point shots just for Michael Cooper to hit a big one for the Raiders. A turning point for the Cavaliers was gaining a 9-0 run in a three-minute span ending it with just under 8 minutes to go. At the start of that run was a Jacari White three pointer in which two Raider defenders initially were guarding him and then both ran off to guard someone else. White immediately set his feet and drilled the three. When asked about that play specifically postgame he said, "I was just as surprised as you were. (Laughter) I made them pay for it. Bad miscommunication by them. I just made them pay for it and hit the shot." Finally, putting an official end to the Virginia run was TJ Burch hitting an ice cold three to make it a one-point game once again. Wright State then went on a 7-0 run of its own.

With 5 and a half minutes to go, Sam Lewis lost his temper a bit and earned a technical foul. On the technical free throws, the Raiders took a 70-67 lead. A bad thing for Virginia, right? Well actually, it ended up being one of the best things to happen for the 'Hoos. From the time of the technical foul, Virginia would go on an 11-0 run. Coach Odom commented on the technical afterwards and how he utilized it to Virginia's benefit, "Sometimes these pauses can reset you and you're able to just communicate, look one another in the eye and begin to figure out the plan of how we're going to get it done." That 70-67 lead for Wright State would be their final lead of the entire game. Jacari White hit another clutch three with 1:24 to go to push the lead to 8 which most thought was the dagger. The Raiders had a little more fight in them as Imariagbe responded with a quick three. However, White would respond with a quick layup, and after some free throws, the game was final, 82-73. Captain of the Cavaliers Dallin Hall mentioned Virginia has more confidence now after the way the game ended, "Yeah, we're super confident. We have to be. We wouldn't want to put our faith in any other team but ourselves. We put in too much work. Too much time to not believe in ourselves." Malik Thomas said postgame that Wright State had a great gameplan and executed well. "I think the first game is always the hardest, especially Wright State, credit to them," Thomas explained, "They did a great job executing. Their game plan was amazing. As a team, we were a little bit nervous.

After Tennessee blasted Miami Ohio Friday evening, Virginia is set to face off with the 6 seeded Volunteers Sunday. Tip-off time is TBD.

Photo Credit: ACC