Sam Lewis, Chance Mallory Score 20 Each as No. 9 Virginia Pulls Away From Northeastern 97-72

For about eight minutes on Friday night, John Paul Jones Arena watched the No. 9 team in the country look like it had misplaced its jump shot somewhere between Tuesday and tipoff. Then Virginia found it, found its legs, found Chance Mallory and Sam Lewis, and turned a sloppy, nervy evening into a 97-72 rout of Northeastern.

Lewis and Mallory scored 20 points apiece, Thijs De Ridder added 16 on 7-of-9 shooting, and Johann Grunloh gave the Cavaliers 13 while playing on an injured right ankle. Virginia moved to 2-0, and it did so efficiently enough that the starters spent the final six minutes resting for Sunday's real test against No. 12 Arkansas in Washington. Northeastern fell to 0-2 despite a 26-point night from Rashad King and 23 from Louis Bond.

The final margin says blowout. The first 12 minutes said something very different.

A Cold Open in Charlottesville

Virginia's start was genuinely ugly. Through the first eight minutes the Cavaliers made 2 of their first 10 shots, missed all seven of their 3-point attempts and turned it over four times, according to the Associated Press game story. The crowd of 12,620 spent most of that stretch waiting for the rim to cooperate.

Northeastern took full advantage. The Huskies, on the schedule as a tune-up, instead played with poise, got to the line and kept Virginia from leading at all for nearly 12 minutes. Their largest lead was five points, and they held the advantage for 16 percent of the game, which does not sound like much until you remember who was on the other bench.

King was the engine, attacking closeouts, drawing fouls and finishing 8 of 14 from the field and a perfect 9 of 9 at the line. Bond complemented that with 9-of-16 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and three steals. For a while, the two of them were the best backcourt in the building.

Virginia did not take its first lead until Mallory slipped in a layup with 8:23 left in the half. That basket changed the temperature of the night.

The Nine Minutes That Flipped It

From there to halftime, Virginia outscored Northeastern 22-11 and walked to the locker room with a 38-31 lead. The shooting slump broke, too. After that 0-for-7 start from deep, the Cavaliers made 6 of their final 10 3-point attempts of the half, a swing that turned a grind into a cushion.

The half was messy on both sides. The two teams combined for 18 turnovers before the break, 11 of them by Northeastern, and Virginia's defense began to live in the passing lanes the way it had against Drexel earlier in the week, when the Cavaliers set a John Paul Jones Arena record with 18 steals in their opening win. Friday's total was 12 steals, four apiece from Mallory and De Ridder, and those takeaways fueled a transition game that kept humming after halftime.

That is the turning point worth circling. Virginia did not need a hot shooting night to beat Northeastern. It needed its defense to manufacture easy offense while the jumpers were cold, and once that happened, the shots followed.

A Second Half That Erased the Doubt

If the first half was a test of patience, the second was a demonstration. Virginia scored 59 points after the break, shot 61.3 percent from the floor and went 6 of 14 from 3-point range, per the AP. The lead swelled to 27 at its widest, and the Huskies, who scored a respectable 41 in the second half, simply could not trade baskets with an offense moving that freely.

The numbers across the full 40 minutes tell the story of a team that controlled the margins:

Virginia shot 54 percent overall (34 of 63) and 39 percent from deep (12 of 31). It won the rebounding battle 37-27, including 11 offensive boards. It dished 26 assists on 34 made baskets. It scored 44 points in the paint to Northeastern's 22, 23 fast-break points to 15, and 22 points off turnovers to 13. Northeastern finished with 19 turnovers, and that, more than anything, was the difference.

Lewis was an odd sort of efficient, making 5 of 11 shots and going 8 for 8 at the free throw line for 20 points, but also committing six of Virginia's 14 turnovers. That is the kind of line coaches will happily take in November and will want cleaned up long before March.

Mallory Runs the Show, De Ridder Barely Misses

Mallory was the steadying hand. The guard scored 20 on 7-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers, handed out five assists, collected four steals and committed just one turnover in 28 minutes. When Virginia was flailing early, it was Mallory's layup that gave the Cavaliers their first lead, and it was Mallory's poise that kept the offense organized while the shooters found their range. Mallory is on the Cousy Award preseason watch list, and Friday looked like an audition tape.

De Ridder, the preseason ACC Player of the Year and a Naismith Trophy watch list name, followed his 24-point opener with a quieter but ruthlessly efficient night: 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in just 24 minutes. There is something almost unfair about a forward who can be this productive while never seeming to force anything.

Grunloh's 13 points came with a footnote. The AP reported the big man was playing on an injured right ankle, which makes 5-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 21 minutes look even sturdier. With Arkansas up next, how that ankle responds over the next 48 hours is the most important injury question in Charlottesville.

The four returners from last season's 30-win team, De Ridder, Grunloh, Lewis and Mallory, combined for 69 of Virginia's 97 points. Elijah Gertrude, another holdover, added 10 points off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting, all three makes from beyond the arc, plus five rebounds in 18 minutes. Virginia's bench outscored Northeastern's 25-4.

What This Means for Virginia

Two games in, the Cavaliers look like a team that knows exactly who it is. The core is experienced, the defense creates chaos, and the offense has enough shot creation to survive a cold stretch without panicking. Friday proved that last point in real time.

There are still questions. The early shooting drought against a mid-major opponent is worth noting, even if it ended. Lewis's turnovers need to come down. And the reliance on four players for nearly three quarters of the scoring is a strength until one of them is hurt or in foul trouble, which is why Grunloh's ankle matters so much. The fact that Virginia could sit its starters for the final six minutes is a small gift heading into a Sunday game against a ranked SEC opponent.

For Northeastern, there is real encouragement inside the loss. King and Bond combined for 49 points and looked like a backcourt that can carry the Huskies through a conference race. The rest of the roster, though, scored only 23, and the bench managed just four points. Nineteen turnovers against a top-10 team will get you beaten by 25 every time. Mike Loughnane's five assists and Dorian Grosber's six rebounds were useful, but the Huskies need a third scorer to emerge quickly.

Next Up

Virginia faces No. 12 Arkansas on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. at Capital One Arena in Washington, the first real measuring stick of the Cavaliers' season. Northeastern hosts Harvard on Tuesday night.

Full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab), and the AP game story (opens in a new tab) has more on Virginia's slow start.

Friday was not a masterpiece, and it did not need to be. Virginia spotted a hungry opponent a lead, kept defending, and then buried it under an avalanche of transition buckets and timely 3s. Good teams win their bad starts. Very good teams win them by 25.

Sources: ESPN box score and team stats, Associated Press game story, VirginiaSports.com schedule. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Virginia Athletics (file photo, Nov. 3, 2026).