Virginia

Five Key Takeaways From Virginia’s 80-72 Win Over Maryland

Published

5 months ago

on

December 21, 2025

By

Press Room

Five Key Takeaways From Virginia’s 80-72 Win Over Maryland

Virginia picked up another key win on Saturday evening after a 56 point explosion in the second-half marked by stellar shooting from the perimeter. Virginia pulled away to a double-digit lead and hit its free throws late to put the game away. Let’s take a deeper look at some key takeaways in the victory for the Cavaliers.

1. Virginia shoots the lights out in the second half

After struggling in the first half and only making nine of its 33 field goals, Virginia found its groove in the second half. The Cavaliers went 21-33 and were scorching hot from three-point range. The Hoos went 6-11 from beyond the arc, and their best perimeter shooter Jacari White went 3-3 from the three-point line in the second half. How was Virginia able to find its groove? They were sharing the basketball and continuing to find the open man. Virginia had 13 assists on 21 made field goals. Maryland had no answers for the Virginia offense and struggled to slow them down after an impressive showing in the first half. The Hoos had two players who scored double figures in the second half.

2. Chance Mallory gets it done on defense

The young guard didn’t have a great game shooting the basketball, going just 2-9 from the field, but what makes him special is his ability to affect the game in other ways especially defensively. Mallory was a pest on the defensive side of the ball and came up with five steals in the game, which led the team. He also added a block on Saturday evening. To be a small guard, he guards the perimeter extremely well. In days like Saturday when your offense is not hitting on all cylinders and struggling to score, it is a luxury to have a defense you can lean on to get you going. The Hoos have a perimeter player who can lead the charge and help the offense get back in a rhythm.

3. Dallin Hall Ignites

Hall was a go-to player in the second half of the game for the Cavaliers. He finished with 20 points on 8-8 shooting. In the second half alone, he scored 18 points. Hall scored in multitude of ways by driving to the rim, hitting perimeter shots, catch and shoots, and creating offense for himself. He did a little bit of everything and was the main engine on offense for the Cavaliers, especially when their best players struggled to get it going. That is what makes Virginia so good; they have true depth on their roster, and anybody can get theirs. Tonight happened to be Hall’s night.

4. Virginia defense is a problem

As we mentioned earlier, a main part of the defensive effort was Mallory, but he didn’t do it alone. Virginia continued to apply ball pressure and make it tough for the Terrapins to bring the ball up the floor. That led to 19 turnovers by Maryland on Saturday evening. The Hoos turned those turnovers into 22 points. A stat that further brings home their performance is their 15 steals on the evening. Yes, you read that right: 15 steals. Virginia had three different players with at least three steals on Saturday. Mallory, Hall, and Jacari White. Their first-half defense was exceptionally good as they held Maryland to just five made field goals and 21% from the field. They also only made two threes and forced 10 turnovers. When Virginia is playing at that level defensively, they are tough to beat.

5. Virginia is a scary basketball team

They are ranked No.24 in the country for a reason, but the Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the country, and they continue to prove it each night on the floor. After a long break, the first half was rough for the Hoos, but they hung their hat on their defense, which came through in a major way. Then their offense came alive, and the game wasn’t even close. Virginia has one of the better offenses in the ACC, and they have hit 80+ points in 10 of the 11 games played this season. What makes that stat even better is that the scoring isn’t predicted on their best players like Thijs De Ridder, Johann Grunloh, or Chance Mallory. Anybody can be the leading scorer on any given night. In their win over Maryland Eastern, Sam Lewis was the leading scorer with 15 points. Tonight it was Dallin Hall with 20 points on a perfect 8-8 shooting. When you have the depth, defense, scoring prowess, and unselfishness that Virginia has, it makes the team a tough one to play against and stop. Virginia continues to send warning signs to college basketball about how legit they are. Don’t just look at the 10-1 record, but what they are doing in each game and how they play basketball together. This team is legit.

More Virginia Basketball News:

•How to Watch Virginia Basketball vs Butler: Tipoff Time and TV Channel

•Virginia Men’s Basketball Ascends In Latest KenPom Rankings After Win vs Northwestern

•Will Virginia Land a Spot on the AP Top 25 After Win Over Northwestern?

•Virginia Finishes Strong, Downs Northwestern

•Three Key Takeaways from Virginia’s Tight 83-78 Win Over Northwestern

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Virginia

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

Published

5 hours ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Press Room

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the General Assembly violated the state constitution when it tried to redraw congressional districts, nullifying the results of the April election in which Virginians narrowly approved redistricting.

Electoral maps are usually redrawn once every 10 years, but multiple states began redrawing them early after President Donald Trump urged Republicans to redraw district lines to ensure more favorable results for the party in the November 2026 elections.

This started a nationwide political battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas was the first of several states to redraw districts favoring Republicans, and Virginia Democrats had proposed a constitutional amendment to allow redistricting in order to favor Democrats.

As of May 8, Republicans had initiated redistricting efforts in eight states; Democrats had led redistricting efforts in three states, including Virginia, the Washington Post reported.

In April, Virginia voters supported the redistricting amendment with 51.7% voting for it out of more than 3 million ballots cast. It could have given Democrats up to four extra seats in the U.S. House, according to the Washington Post (subscription required).

But the Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that there were procedural errors in how the Democratic legislature handled the process, nullifying the election results.

The Virginia Constitution says that proposed constitutional amendments must pass in the General Assembly twice before the public can vote on them: once before an election of the House of Delegates, and again after an election. According to the Virginia Supreme Court majority opinion written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, early voting for the general election had already been open for six weeks when the General Assembly cast its first vote on the amendment in October 2025, with more than 1.3 million voters having already cast their ballots.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court majority opinion stated.

The court’s ruling means the state reverts to the old district maps adopted in 2021. Based on those maps, Virginia voters elected six Democrats and five Republicans to the U.S. House.

Following the court’s ruling, some Virginia Democrats who planned to run for the U.S. House told the New York Times that they have to abandon their campaigns, while others, such as Tom Perriello who is running for the 5th District, face much more difficult campaigns.

Virginia Democrats on Friday asked the court to pause the nullification of the referendum results while they prepare their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to VPM.

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