The Virginia men’s basketball team held its annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday evening at John Paul Jones Arena, giving UVA fans their first look at this year’s roster, which features five transfers and two true freshmen, who made their first appearances at JPJ in a Virginia uniform.
If you weren’t able to make it to JPJ on Saturday evening to watch the scrimmage in person, worry not. Virginia Cavaliers On SI has you covered with five minutes of video highlights from the scrimmage. Watch the highlights from the 2024 UVA men’s basketball Blue-White Scrimmage in the video below:
Virginia divided up its roster into two teams and played three periods of 10 minutes each, making some slight variations in the personnel on each team for each of the three periods. We won’t go through and list all of the players who were playing for the Blue and White teams in each period, but we will list the starting fives each team began each period with on the floor:
Period 1
Blue: Taine Murray, Ishan Sharma, Dai Dai Ames, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson
White: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
Period 2
Blue: Christian Bliss, Jalen Warley, Andrew Rohde, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders
White: Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Ishan Sharma, Jacob Cofie, Blake Buchanan
Period 3
Blue: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
White: Christian Bliss, Ishan Sharma, TJ Power, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson
Period 1 ended with the White team defeating the Blue team 15-8. Period 2 was very closely contested with the Blue team prevailing over the White team 13-12. In the final period, the White team defeated the Blue team 16-9.
San Diego State transfer Elijah Saunders led all scorers with 12 points and he opened the scrimmage with a pair of early three-pointers. He also finished a breakaway opportunity with an athletic one-handed flush. Duke transfer TJ Power joined Saunders in double figures with 10 points, also hitting two three-pointers.
True freshman Ishan Sharma finished with nine points in his first appearance at John Paul Jones Arena, while one of the most experienced veterans of the roster, Taine Murray, also had eight points and hit two three-pointers. Isaac McKneely and Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames had seven points apiece.
Before the men’s basketball portion of the Blue-White Scrimmages began, there was a joint three-point shooting contest between the Virginia men’s and women’s basketball teams. Isaac McKneely and Olivia McGhee teamed up to take on Christian Bliss and Kymora Johnson. Bliss knocked down 18/25 threes to give his team an early lead, as Olivia McGhee hit 14/25 on her turn. Kymora Johnson converted 15/25 threes to try to protect her team’s lead, but Isaac McKneely was not to be denied, hitting 22/25 three-point attempts to win the contest. McKneely and McGhee hit 36 threes, while Johnson and Bliss made 33 threes.
Stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more content on the Blue-White Scrimmages, including observations and takeaways from both the UVA men’s and women’s basketball scrimmages.
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