After Virginia basketball lost to Louisville 70-50 on Saturday, interim head coach Ron Sanchez said he had “no update” on redshirt freshman guard Christian Bliss. Sanchez had a different message Monday.
“Right now, [Bliss] has the opportunity to step on the floor and practice,” Sanchez said during the ACC coaches’ Zoom press conference Monday. He’s just not feeling good enough to get on the floor and that’s a player decision.”
When asked if the medical staff had cleared Bliss to play, Sanchez said: “I will have to talk to our trainers about that. I think that right now, we’ve done everything we could. This is more of a player feeling. If he doesn’t feel healthy then he’s not.”
It’s as big a comment that the Cavaliers have had on Bliss in a long time. A three-star recruit from New York, Bliss redshirted last year, a common practice for true freshmen at Virginia. He was seen in a boot a few times during the year, but since he was already redshirted, it didn’t cost him a medical redshirt.
During his press conference after the season opener against Campbell, Sanchez said Bliss was battling a foot injury and would hopefully be back soon. No news followed for a while.
On Dec. 6, Bliss posted “God’s timing is great” and a couple of images of him in a Virginia uniform on social media, seemingly hinting that a return was right around the corner. However, he still hasn’t been seen in uniform for a game and has instead been in street clothes on the bench. The uncertainty finally reached a boiling point, leading to the question after Saturday’s game and during the coach’s weekly press conference.
So, between Sanchez’s comments Monday and with Bliss still not in uniform for games, it seems that he’s choosing not to play. He could be on the court, but he’s made the decision that he’s not going to.
It’s a gut punch to a Virginia basketball program that has already had a couple of gut punches this year, particularly to the guard position. The Cavaliers entered this season with four point guards: Bliss, sophomore guards Elijah Gertrude and Dai Dai Ames and Florida State transfer Jalen Warley.
However, in June it was announced that Gertrude would miss the 2024-25 season due to a knee injury suffered in a scooter accident. Then head coach Tony Bennett suddenly retired less than three weeks before the season, opening up the 30-day transfer portal window for the players. Warley was the only player who entered and has committed to Gonzaga for the 2025-26 season, choosing to redshirt this season. Ames has played well for the Cavs this year, but he’s also missed some time due to an ankle injury.
Plus, four-star point guard recruit and Charlottesville native Chance Mallory, a top 50 player in the 2025 class, had committed to the Cavaliers. But after Bennett retired, Mallory decommitted and reopened his recruitment, although he said he would still consider Virginia.
The Cavaliers could really use Bliss. For the first 14 games of the season. Ames has been the primary ball handler, with senior Taine Murray and juniors Andrew Rohde and Isaac McKneely running the point on occasion. But Murray, Rohde and McKneely aren’t point guards. The Cavs have committed turnovers on over 18% of their possessions — way too high for a team that likes to limit the number of possessions a game — and have struggled at stretches to create open looks and effectively move the ball, so another point guard such as Bliss could’ve been a big help for this team.
Simply put, this update is another rough moment for a program that has had a lot of rough moments over the last few months.
Next up for Virginia (8-6, 1-2 ACC): at California (7-7, 0-3 ACC) – Jan. 7 at 11 p.m. EST
[…] interim head coach Ron Sanchez said Monday that redshirt freshman point guard Christian Bliss had made the decision to not be on the court […]