No. 15 Virginia held off Ohio State 70-66 in the Nashville Hoops Showdown on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The game was nationally televised on Fox, and announcers Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson noted the difference in spending and NIL efforts between the Virginia and Ohio State basketball programs this season.
After Dallin Hall — who played three seasons at BYU before transferring to Virginia ahead of this season — scored a bucket, Johnson and Jackson spoke about how well Virginia rebuilt its roster for year one of the Ryan Odom regime.
“What a job Coach Odom has done with this roster for Virginia,” Johnson said. “When Coach (Tony) Bennett decided to retire, everybody jumped in the portal. And then Coach Odom came in, and he got seven guys quickly. And some European cats as well. And right now, they’re fifteenth-ranked in the country.”
“Seven of their nine rotational players are new,” Jackson said. “And to be able to have this kind of success?”
“But the difference between UVA and Ohio State is that UVA paid for it,” Johnson explained. “Ohio State, they’ve given all the money to Ryan Day.”
Gus Johnson: “The difference between UVA and Ohio State is that UVA paid for it. Ohio State, they’ve given all the money to Ryan Day.”
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) February 14, 2026 at 7:18 PM
“And that’s the challenge you have at a lot of football schools, is the distribution of cash,” Jackson responded. “Now, how many times do you go to the same donors is the question as well, and this is an evolving scenario for all of these schools, especially a school like Ohio State. If you want to compete, you’ve gotta pay nowadays.”
“I’m going to have to call President (Ted) Carter and ask him if he can just show some love in the pocketbooks for the Buckeyes’ basketball team,” Johnson added.
Day, the Ohio State football coach, makes $12.58 million a year, the third-highest annual salary among college football coaches (behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart and LSU’s Lane Kiffin).
While Ohio State has been a powerhouse in college football, the basketball program last made the NCAA Tournament in the 2022-23 season. And it’s even more of a challenge to be among the top teams in the NIL era, especially for programs that aren’t allocating significant resources in that department.
Virginia went 15-17 last season, but finds itself 22-3 and with the program rejuvenated under Odom’s leadership.
The Buckeyes, coached by Jake Diebler, fall to 16-9 with the loss and are currently viewed as a bubble team for the 2026 NCAA Tournament.