thijs de ridder walked into his first NCAA Tournament game and left with a lesson in just how fast March can tighten the floor. On Friday (ET), Virginia, a #3 seed, survived a first-round scare and beat #14 seed Wright State 82-73, closing the game on a decisive 15-3 run. The win came after early “first-game tournament jitters” showed up across a Virginia rotation that largely had never been in this moment before.
Virginia steadies late after turnovers and a halftime deficit
Virginia entered the game with a clear concern hovering over it: for seven of the nine rotation players, it was their first NCAA Tournament appearance. That concern proved real on the floor as the game unfolded.
Wright State made Virginia earn it, leading by five at halftime and still up by three with 5: 13 remaining. Virginia ultimately survived and advanced by finishing strong, turning a tense final stretch into a closing statement with a 15-3 run.
Virginia also had to manage mistakes under pressure, finishing with 14 turnovers. Wright State guard TJ Burch helped force the issue defensively, hounding Virginia on the ball and collecting five steals.
Players describe the intensity: “wartime” and adrenaline
Virginia players described a game that felt bigger, sharper, and more exhausting than expected.
Chance Mallory, a freshman, said the adrenaline took a toll early. “When you’re walking out there, your adrenaline’s pumping, so you get tired a lot easier, until you settle down. And I feel like it took us a little bit to settle down, me included, ” Mallory said after finishing with two points and two rebounds in 19 minutes.
Malik Thomas, a senior playing in his first NCAA Tournament game, pointed to the mismatch between pregame expectations and how the game actually hits once it starts. “Honestly, you have these expectations on what the game is going to be, what it’s going to look like, but once you get out there, you have no idea what’s gonna happen, and I think it caught me by surprise little bit, ” Thomas said. He finished with 11 points and three turnovers.
Thomas put the broader reality in blunt terms: “Everything in March is exaggerated times 10. Teams are playing way better. Teams have nothing to lose. This is do-or-die. This is wartime. ”
Sam Lewis, another Virginia player in his first NCAA Tournament game, described the physical edge and emotional volume. “They came out fighting, ” Lewis said. He added: “I’ll just say, that was just so intense, 1, 000 percent, everybody’s going that hard. That’s the difference. ” Lewis finished with 12 points and was assessed a technical foul at the 5: 32 mark after getting fouled by Burch.
Thijs De Ridder on the NCAA Tournament’s scale: “I never saw something like this before”
Virginia’s roster includes two European players, and their perspective put the event’s size in a different frame. One of them, thijs de ridder, the 6’9” Belgian named to the All-ACC first team earlier this month, described being surprised by how big the NCAA Tournament is in the United States.
“I thought it’s gonna be another, like, regular tournament, ” de Ridder said. “I knew it was big, of course, but not that big, even like, the day before, when we walked in for our first practice here, there are fans in the stands, you know, our band was here, like, such organization, everything is so planned, so scheduled, but it’s really cool to see, it was really nice. ”
He also pointed to how deeply the tournament reaches beyond the arena. “You see so many things online. I mean, all the fans are rooting for you, like, everybody made a bracket in America. It’s just the thing that, like, lives here. I mean, I never saw something like this before, ” de Ridder said.
Quick context and what’s next
Virginia, as a #3 seed, carried the expectation of a deeper run, while Wright State, as a #14 seed, entered with the underdog freedom that can make first-round games volatile. Wright State also had limited NCAA Tournament experience on its roster, with 6’5” senior Sam Alamatu the lone player noted as having prior tournament minutes.
Virginia now moves on from a game defined by early nerves, defensive pressure, and a late finishing burst, with players openly acknowledging what it took to settle into the tournament’s intensity. For thijs de ridder and a roster new to this stage, the urgency from here is simple: the next test will arrive with the same amplified stakes, and the margin for another slow start will only get thinner.
