CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – During the week, Virginia basketball coach Ryan Odom said Saturday’s rematch against rival Virginia Tech was going to be a “different game” than the Cavaliers’ triple-overtime loss in Blacksburg three months ago.

He wasn’t kidding.

No. 13 UVA jumped out to a big lead and never trailed, as it wrapped-up the regular season with a 76-72 win, a defeat that likely ended the rival Hokies’ hopes for an NCAA at-large bid.

“These guys started off the game in Blacksburg punking us a little bit,” Malik Thomas said. “The message was to go out there and show whose house it was.”

Thomas and Ugo Onyenso each scored 16 points and Sam Lewis added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Cavaliers, who finished 16-1 at home this season.

Ben Hammond led Tech with 21 points and five assists. But Hammond missed a pair of free throws with 2:09, ending the Hokies’ chances.

UVA went a 15 for 17 at the free throw line.

Early on, Virginia threatened to turn the game into a blowout, opening with a 12-0 run and taking a 16-point lead to the locker room at halftime. 

But the Hokies surged in the second half, knotting things up at 51-51 with 10:56 to play and pointing the contest toward another possible thriller.

Virginia reclaimed the lead, then kept the Hokies at an arm’s length the rest of the way as the teams split the season series for the fifth straight year. 

“You’re not going to win a game in the first five minutes or the first 10 minutes or the first half,” UVA coach Ryan Odom said. “That was the case tonight. … Loved how our guys responded. I think our guys just did a nice job down the stretch of figuring the game out.”

UVA raced out to a 12-0 lead, hitting four of its first five attempts from beyond the 3-point line. 

The Hokies meanwhile hit just two of their first 11 shots and committed a trio of early turnovers. 

Ben Hammond kept Tech in the game with 11 points in the first 15 minutes. 

Tech trailed 29-23 with five left in the half.

But the Cavaliers outscored Tech 12-2 from there and went to the locker room ahead 41-25.

The Hokies committed nine first-half turnovers that led to 12 UVA points. 

Virginia Tech opened the second half on a 17-5 surge, cutting the Cavalier edge to 46-42 with 15:11 to go. It tied the game 51-51 after a pair of free throws by Neo Avdalas with 10:56 left.

UVA responded with an 8-0 run, four points coming from Thomas, to regain control of the game.

Before the game, UVA recognized five seniors ahead of their final home game at UVA. Dallin Hall, Ugo Onyenso, Devin Tillis, Malik Thomas, and Jacari White, all are transfers who joined Ryan Odom for his first season this year at Virginia.