Three UVA Alums Playing in Christmas Day Sporting Events

Matt Newton | 12 Hours Ago

Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Three former Virginia athletes will be play in sporting events on Christmas Day 2024. So, while there may be no UVA sporting events to watch during the holiday, you can still watch a few former Wahoos playing in the Christmas Day NFL and NBA games.

There are two former UVA basketball players playing during the NBA's five-game Christmas Day slate.

Sam Hauser and the Boston Celtics will take on the Philadelphia 76ers at 5pm ET on ABC and ESPN. The former Wahoo sharpshooter signed a four-year, $45 million contract extension to remain with the reigning champion Celtics over the summer and is having a decent fourth season in the NBA so far, averaging 8.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, but he is shooting 37.3% from beyond the arc, down from the 42.4% he shot from three-point range last season. There is still plenty of season left for Hauser to get back up above 40% in that category and Boston has confidence he'll get back there.

Hauser transferred to Virginia in 2019 back when players still had to sit out a season after transferring. In one season at UVA in 2020-2021, Hauser started all 25 games and was named an All-ACC First Team selection after leading the conference in three-point percentage (41.7%) and averaging 16.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Hauser went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft but signed a two-way deal with the Celtics, a transaction which has worked out quite well for both parties more than three years later.

In the final NBA game on Christmas, Ryan Dunn and the Phoenix Suns will host the Denver Nuggets at 10:30pm ET on ABC and ESPN. After being named to the ACC All-Defensive Team in his second and final season at Virginia, Dunn declared for the 2024 NBA Draft and was selected with the 28th overall pick in the first round by the Suns, who had acquired the pick in a draft-night trade with the Nuggets.

In preseason play and early in the season, Dunn showed off a remarkable and surprising display of three-point marksmanship, shocking because not having a three-point shot was the biggest weakness in his game coming out of college. Those numbers have tapered off a bit, as Dunn is now shooting 31.0% from beyond the arc for the season on 3.5 attempts per game, but some could argue that even that clip is surpassing expectations for him. Dunn's role has gone through some changes over the first couple of months of the season, but he has been every bit as impactful as the Suns hoped he would be and is having a good rookie season, averaging 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game and contributing significantly on the defensive end, as expected.

Joining the normal slate of five NBA games is a Christmas Day NFL doubleheader on Netflix. First, at 1pm ET, the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the second game, former UVA defensive end Brent Urban and the Baltimore Ravens will battle the Houston Texans in a pivotal AFC matchup with crucial playoff implications at 4:30pm ET on Netflix.

Urban is in his 11th year in the NFL and has spent seven of those years in Baltimore, including each of the last three seasons. For his career, Urban has played in 120 games, including 34 starts, logging 168 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and 16 passes defended. In 11 games so far in 2024, Urban has made 18 tackles, including eight solo stops. Urban was drafted by the Ravens with the 134th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.