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PHILADELPHIA, PA — Virginia basketball coach Ryan Odom did not mention the elephant in the room with his team heading into Friday’s Men’s NCAA Tournament First-Round game against No. 14 seed Wright State.
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“We never talked about it,” Odom said following his team’s 82-73 opening round win of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. “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.”
There was no need to. To Odom’s point, the 2025-26 Cavaliers roster features 12 newcomers from last season, and Odom, himself, is in his first year on the sidelines in Charlottesville.
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The 3-seeded Cavaliers’ first NCAA Tournament win in 2,538 days didn’t come easily, however. The Raiders had Odom’s squad on upset watch for much of the game and forced them to fight until the end to break their three-game losing skid. Nonetheless, a win in March Madness can go a long way toward building a new team’s confidence for a run in March.
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“The first game is always the hardest, especially Wright State, credit to them. They did a great job executing. Their game plan was amazing,” Virginia guard Malik Thomas said. “As a team, we were a little bit nervous. … After we got our jitters out and we started to play our basketball and come together, we were able to string some shots together and hit some big shots.”
Virginia struggled in the first half with Wright State’s fast tempo. The Cavaliers turned the ball over seven times compared to Wright State’s single turnover. Those seven turnovers led to four points for the Raiders in the first half, and a five-point halftime deficit.
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Publish date : 2026-03-20 22:39:00
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