PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Odom engineered a massive one-year turnaround at Virginia. Seven years removed from the program’s only national title, Odom has his players visualizing their own shining moment.

The third-seeded Cavaliers are on the verge of the Sweet 16 but first must handle Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sixth-seeded Tennessee in a Midwest Region second-round matchup on Sunday.

Virginia (30-5) officially doubled its win total from last season when it pulled out an 82-73 win over Wright State in Friday’s opener. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national final.

Odom — the same coach who pulled off UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 upset of Virginia once upon a time — said afterward that he’d shown his players a montage of their season set to “One Shining Moment,” the tournament’s unofficial theme song.

After being hired from VCU last March, Odom had to assemble a new team quickly and primarily through the transfer portal. He has gotten his players to buy into Virginia’s history and the part they can play in writing a new chapter.

“When he brought us here, he emphasized the importance of what it is we’re actually playing for and not just ourselves, and playing for the university and trying to continue the legacy that was left behind by the players before,” said Virginia senior guard Jacari White, who transferred in from North Dakota State. “And so we honor that and take pride in that, and I feel like that shows in our play.”

Virginia’s 3-point marksman off the bench, White scored a season-high 26 points to propel the Cavaliers past the upset-minded Raiders. The first five of his six 3-pointers either tied the game or put Virginia in front.

“He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it,” Odom said. “You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there.”

Tennessee (23-11) is familiar with countering 3-point specialists after it held Eian Elmer to 0-for-7 shooting and Brant Byers to 1-for-6 in Friday’s 78-56 win over Miami (Ohio). Elmer shot 42.9% from deep for the year and Byers was at 39.2%.

“It’s similar. They put up around 30 threes a game or something like that,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell said of Virginia. “They’re also doing a (good) job attacking it early if they have the open three, so I think kind of just the same thing as we kind of did last game, just being in gaps early and playing out, guarding the 3-point line as best we can, but they’re balanced so just trying to take away as much as we can.”

Gillespie racked up 29 points and nine assists to carry Tennessee on a day where star freshman Nate Ament went scoreless in 18 minutes. Ament has been battling a high ankle sprain, yet had a 27-point showing and a double-double in the final two games of the SEC tournament last week.

“Last night, we could tell he was struggling with it,” coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “That’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. …

“We need Nate. He knows it, but he will give us everything that he can, and that’s really all I can say about it. If it’s up to him, he would play every minute if he could. We’ll see game time.”

Ament averages 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while Gillespie leads Tennessee with 18.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.

Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder tops Virginia at 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

Tage Thompson and Zach Benson each had a goal and an assist for the visiting Buffalo Sabres in a 4-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Carrick and Rasmus Dahlin scored 59 seconds apart midway through the third period, Josh Norris had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves for the Sabres (44-20-6, 94 points), who have won four in a row, seven straight on the road, and 12 of 13 since the Olympic break.

Buffalo has allowed one goal in the past three games.

Artemi Panarin scored and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for the Kings (28-25-16, 72 points), who had earned points in five of the previous six games (3-1-2).

Carrick retrieved the puck along the wall after two Kings players converged on Benson. He carried it above the goal line before lifting a backhand over the right shoulder of Forsberg to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 11:12 of the third period.

The Kings challenged for a missed game stoppage on a high stick by Benson just prior to the goal, but it was determined there was no high sticking and Buffalo went on a power play for delay of game on the failed challenge.

Dahlin was then credited with a power play goal after a rebound went off Kings defenseman Cody Ceci, between Forsberg’s pads and across the goal line to make it 3-1 at 12:11.

Benson scored into an empty net to make it 4-1 with 2:25 left.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead on the first of their three power plays in the game.

Anze Kopitar had the puck in the right face-off circle when he made a backhand pass to Panarin in the left circle and he scored with a one-timer at 10:48 of the first period.

It was the fourth straight game the Kings scored a power-play goal and ended Buffalo’s shutout streak at 174:55.

It was also Panarin’s fifth goal and 14th point in 12 games since he was acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4, although his first game in black and silver did not occur until Feb. 26.

The Sabres tied it 1-1 at 4:05 of the second.

Forsberg made a save on a wrist shot by Peyton Krebs, but the rebound came to Thompson alone in front of the crease. Forsberg lunged at Thompson to try and poke the puck away, but Thompson dragged the puck around Forsberg and slid it into the open net for his team-leading 36th goal of the season.

–Field Level Media

Christian Dvorak scored a power-play goal early in the third period, helping the Philadelphia Flyers extend their season-high road winning streak to seven games with a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Philadelphia’s road winning streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history (1985-86, 2017-18 seasons), one shy of the eight-game run from 1982-83.

Owen Tippett scored in the second period and defenseman Travis Sanheim and Noah Cates each found the empty net 36 seconds apart in the third.

Dan Vladar made 24 saves for the Flyers (34-23-12, 80 points), who completed a sweep of their three-game California road trip and improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games overall. Philadelphia also finished off a season sweep of San Jose after posting a 4-1 home victory on Dec. 9.

Macklin Celebrini notched an assist on defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s power-play goal, boosting the former’s career total to 99. Celebrini (19 years, 281 days) is one assist shy of becoming the second-youngest player in NHL history to reach that milestone behind only Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (19 years, 134 days on Dec. 19, 2006).

Alex Nedeljkovic turned aside 24 shots for the Sharks (32-30-6, 70 points), who have lost four in a row and seven of their last nine (2-5-2).

Philadelphia fourth-liner Garnet Hathaway unloaded on Celebrini, prompting San Jose defenseman Mario Ferraro to come to his teammate’s defense and earn a roughing penalty to boot. The Flyers made the Sharks pay, as Dvorak one-timed Travis Konecny’s cross-slot feed past Nedeljkovic for a 2-1 lead at 1:47 of the third period.

Tippett reeled in a diagonal pass from Trevor Zegras, maneuvered around San Jose defenseman Nick Leddy and wired a shot past Nedeljkovic to open the scoring 2:26 into the second period. The goal was Tippett’s 24th of the season and fifth in his last eight games.

Celebrini worked along the left-wing boards before advancing the puck to William Eklund, who skated in from the left circle. Eklund alertly delivered a centering feed to an unmarked Orlov, who made no mistake from the slot to forge a 1-1 tie with 6:48 remaining in the second period.

–Field Level Media