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Virginia wrestling overcomes adversity at the Midlands Championships

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Virginia wrestling overcomes adversity at the Midlands Championships


After a long break for finals, Virginia wrestling closed out 2023 at the Midlands Championships in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Friday and Saturday. The event, which featured wrestlers from over 30 Division I wrestling programs, had a ton of talent in every weight group and was a true test of the Cavaliers’ (3-0, 0-0 ACC) strength. 

This was Virginia’s third appearance in the invitational, which is in its 59th year. With three wrestlers having placed in both of the program’s previous appearances in the Midlands Championships, the bar was set high for the Cavaliers to match their past success. 

Before day one even started, it looked like Virginia wasn’t on track to meet that bar. The Cavaliers saw their hopes of matching their previous totals dwindle as sophomores Griffin Gammell and Kyle Montaperto as well as graduate Education student Krystian Kinsey had to withdraw due to an illness that spread through the team. All three of those wrestlers had winning records on the season, and their illness knocked the Cavaliers out of three weight classes before the first round kicked off. 

A majority of the matches took place on day one of the tournament, as all weight groups wrestled through the quarterfinals. It was the usual suspects for Virginia who were able to succeed. Seventh-ranked 174-lbs wrestler and graduate student Justin McCoy went 4-0 on the day and advanced to the semifinals on day two with ease. McCoy is the only member of the Cavaliers to place in both the 2022 and 2023 Midlands Championships, as the graduate student placed fifth last year.

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20th ranked 133-lbs wrestler and junior Marlon Yarbrough II was also able to make a deep run, making the quarterfinals before falling to Michigan redshirt junior Dylan Ragusin. Yarbrough was given an invitation to the wrestlebacks on day two, however, which kept his tournament run alive. Sophomore Nick Sanko also received an invitation for day two, going 4-0 in the 157-lbs class after suffering an early loss.

Some other notable performances came from juniors Erik Roggie and Ryan Catka. Both wrestlers were able to overcome early losses to make the consolation quarterfinals, ending their tournaments one match away from making day two. Even more impressive was that Roggie was able to defeat the 13th ranked wrestler of the 149-lbs class during his run, which displayed that he is clearly better than his previous 3-4 record would indicate.

Despite these successes, there was a lot of disappointment for Virginia heading out of day one. Three of the Cavaliers’ five ranked wrestlers were not able to make the quarterfinals or had to medically forfeit. In addition, several of the Cavaliers who were invited to day two, such as McCoy and Yarbrough, were battling injuries and not guaranteed to be medically ready to compete in the wrestlebacks and semifinals. 

As day two came along, McCoy and Yarbrough were determined to go out and wrestle through the pain. However, they didn’t see much success. McCoy dropped his semifinal match to 13th ranked wrestler and Harvard senior Philip Conigliaro and then medically forfeited from the fifth-place match. Nonetheless, the graduate student still managed to finish on the 174-lbs podium. 

The story was similar for Yarbrough. Although he won his first match by injury default, Yarbrough was defeated in his second match and medically forfeited the seventh place match, giving him 8th place and a spot on the 133-lbs class podium. Sanko, the Cavaliers’ only healthy wrestler on day two, also lost his opening match of wrestlebacks and therefore failed to place on the 157-lbs class podium. 

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While Virginia did not match its success from previous Midlands Championships, what began as a potential nightmare weekend for the Cavaliers ended with two placements. That’s more of a testament to the team’s depth than it is a sign that they are weaker than in previous years. The illness that spread through the Virginia locker room was incredibly detrimental, but it was the first of many challenges the Cavaliers faced that proved they were a resilient team who can battle through any struggle. 

Still, the injuries of McCoy and Yarbrough will need to be resolved before conference play begins Jan. 26 if Virginia wants any chance to compete in the ACC. 

The Cavaliers return to head-to-head matches Jan. 6 when they compete in Richmond at the Arms Duals. The event will be one of Virginia’s last non-conference showdowns, and they will be competing against George Mason and Gardner Webb. 





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Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways

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Virginia Basketball Holds Off Manhattan 74-65 | Key Takeaways


Virginia (4-2) got back in the win column with a 74-65 victory over Manhattan (3-3) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five quick takeaways from the Cavaliers’ win over the Jaspers.

Virginia was in serious need of a win after suffering those two humbling losses to Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. But a convincing and comfortable victory would have been even better and for a while, it seemed like the Cavaliers were on their way to doing just that. UVA led by as many as 15 points in the first half and opened up a 16-point advantage midway through the second half. But rather than putting the game away, Virginia let Manhattan hang around and the visiting Jaspers were in a situation where they were fouling to stop the clock in the final minutes, narrowing the deficit to as little as six points. A win is a win, but this was far from a confidence-boosting performance.

Virginia went with a new starting lineup on Tuesday night, as Andrew Rohde replaced TJ Power. Rohde has been playing very well recently, particularly with his resurgent outside shot, while Power came into this game shooting 25% from beyond the arc this season.

Power initially responded well to the benching, swishing a corner three shortly after he first entered the game, hitting the deck for a loose ball, and coming up with a steal to stop a Manhattan fastbreak. But he wound up playing only six minutes, fewest among Cavaliers who saw the floor in the game. That does not bode well for the Duke transfer.

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Read Val’s Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.

Rohde, on the other hand, had another solid game and was perhaps the top performer for the Hoos on Tuesday night. Though he missed his only three-pointer, which was a desperation off-balanced heave at the end of the shot clock, Rohde finished with a season-high 14 points, two assists (with one turnover), two rebounds, and four steals. Rohde showed excellent feel for the game, getting exactly where he wanted to go and exhibiting some nice touch on a couple of floaters plus a short jumper off the glass. If Rohde is playing like this and his three-point shot continues to be there, this could be a big season for the former St. Thomas transfer.

The main reason why this game continued to be close deep into the second half is because UVA’s defense frequently broke down and gave up open shots to Manhattan, particularly from the perimeter. The Jaspers shot 11/26 (42.3%) from beyond the arc and and seven different players knocked down a three. A couple of those Manhattan triples were well-contested, but the vast majority of them were wide-open. That’s very concerning and shows that this Virginia defense, with its many new faces, is still very much a work in progress.

Virginia’s offense was pretty well neutralized by Tennessee and St. John’s in The Bahamas. Tuesday night against Manhattan was a small step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

Let’s start with the good. Five different Cavaliers scored in double figures, including a game-high 18 points from Isaac McKneely, who hit three of his four three-point attempts and went 5/6 from the free throw line. We still think McKneely needs to shoot way more, but we’ll leave that alone for now. Dai Dai Ames scored 10 points and dished out five assists, but fouled out of the game. Blake Buchanan made his first four shots and finished with 11 points and five boards. Cofie made five of his seven shots and finished with 10 points and five boards. The best part of the game was that Virginia had 15 assists on 29 made baskets and turned the ball over only eight times, a vast improvement over the team’s turnover issues in The Bahamas.

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Virginia outscored Manhattan 42-22 in the paint. That looks like a good stat, but it’s also an inevitable stat because of UVA’s size advantage over the Jaspers, whose tallest player in the rotation is 6’8″. Still, Manhattan snared 10 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second-chance points. In The Bahamas, UVA was dominated on the glass and was simply outmatched from a physicality and athleticism standpoint. Nothing we saw from the Cavaliers on Tuesday night did anything to alleviate those concerns.

Up next, Virginia remains at home for another (supposed) tune-up game against Holy Cross on Friday at 4pm at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball

UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas

Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John’s 80-55 | Key Takeaways

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Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball

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Virginia vs. Manhattan Live Updates | NCAA Men’s Basketball


Virginia (3-2) is set to host Manhattan (3-2) on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. Follow along with score updates, play-by-play, and live analysis for the game in the thread below. Updates will be posted at each timeout in reverse chronological order with the most recent updates at the top of the article. Refresh the page for updates.

As we await our 7pm tip between Virginia and Manhattan on the ACC Network, read a full preview of the game here: Virginia Basketball vs. Manhattan Game Preview, Score Prediction

Virginia has posted its starting five for tonight’s game:
– Dai Dai Ames
– Isaac McKneely
– Andrew Rohde
– Elijah Saunders
– Blake Buchanan

Notably, TJ Power has been replaced by Andrew Rohde in the starting lineup after starting the first five games of the season. Power is shooting 25% from three (4/16), while Rohde is currently shooting 50% from beyond the arc (7/14).

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  • Virginia and Manhattan will meet on Tuesday night for just the second time ever and first time since March 19th, 1993, when the Cavaliers defeated the Jaspers 78-66 in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
  • UVA is 9-0 against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
  • Virginia’s last game against a MAAC team was back in 2012, when the Cavaliers defeated Fairfield 54-45 at John Paul Jones Arena.
  • UVA is 2-0 at John Paul Jones Arena this season and 3-0 against unranked opponents this season.

Read more Virginia men’s basketball news and content in the links below:

UVA Basketball: Ten Things We Learned About Virginia in The Bahamas

Virginia Basketball Falls to St. John’s 80-55 | Key Takeaways

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Gets Skunked by Tennessee in The Bahamas

Virginia Basketball Falls to Tennessee 64-42 | Key Takeaways



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Suspect steals property from store, assaults employee in Virginia

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Suspect steals property from store, assaults employee in Virginia


A man has been arrested after entering a store in McLean, stealing merchandise and assaulting an employee. 

The suspect has been identified as Calvin Hughes Jr, of Washington D.C.

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Leesburg Pike robbery suspect 

Police responded to the 8300 block of Leesburg Pike in McLean for a commercial robbery on November 21 around 11:00 a.m. According to police, the suspect entered the store, stole merchandise, and assaulted an employee. 

Hughes Jr. was identified and arrested nearby for robbery and is being held without bond. 



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