CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Over the past 16 seasons, Virginia basketball scored 80 or more points just 49 times, an average of three times a year.
Through the first 10 games of this season, the Cavaliers have gone over 80 in nine of their 10 games.
Yes, Ryan Odom has brought a decidedly new look to UVA in his first season on the sidelines. “When we share the basketball, we’re really good offensively,” said point guard Dallin Hall, a transfer from BYU. “And when we flow, we’re really tough to guard.”
Odom’s stamp on the program is evident. Virginia is playing at a faster tempo, sharing the ball, scoring more and making its defensive mark in a dramatically different fashion, using a fullcourt press. UVA has the deep rotation and floor-spreading shooters on offense that are the trademarks of Odom’s style of play.
“The sky’s the limit for this team, offensively,” center Johann Grunloh said. “We’re still at the beginning, trying to develop simple plays, who we should pass to. But I think we’re getting on the right track. We’re getting there.”
Indeed, No. 24 Virginia (9-1) is averaging 87.1 points per game, while still holding opponents to a respectable 67.5. It’s one of five ACC teams to rank in the top 10 in both scoring and scoring defense so far this season, joined by Duke, Louisville, Miami and Clemson.
The Cavaliers are doing it with a roster that includes 10 new scholarship players, including seven transfers, two international imports and a local product freshman point guard in Chance Mallory, who has been a revelation.
Odom’s emphasis in his transfer portal additions was three-point shooting. His offseason acquisitions included five players who hit better than 35 percent of their three-point shots for their former school last season. Four of them – Sam Lewis (44.4 percent), Jacari White (39.8 percent), Devin Tillis (39.5 percent) and Malik Thomas (39.4 percent) – connected on more than 39 percent.
And that has carried over this season. Through 10 games, the Cavaliers have knocked down 110 shots from beyond the arc, connecting on 40 percent of their attempts – the best mark in the ACC – and averaging 11 makes per game.
As his Maryland Eastern Shore time was preparing to play at UVA on Tuesday night, Hawks coach Cleo Hill Jr. focused on the Cavaliers’ outside shooting ability.
Virginia still knocked down 13 threes, including 11 in the first half. “I don’t think we did a great job early,” Hill said with a laugh. “We wanted to have good pressure on their shooters, good close-outs, but they have size with their shooting. All of them are (6-foot-3) and up.”
Seven Cavaliers hit at least one shot from beyond the arc in the 84-60 win over UMES, and for the season, 10 players have hit at least one.
That includes guards, wings, and frontcourt players. “I think we’re really starting to understand each other and where everybody wants the ball,” White said. “How to get that. It’s really starting to show.”
Lewis and Thomas were the leading scorers last year at Toledo and San Francisco, respectively. White was second at North Dakota State. Grunloh, a German center, and Belgian power forward Thijs DeRidder are both NBA prospects.
Getting a kennel full of alpha dogs to run as a pack has been Odom’s greatest success in Charlottesville, and it all started in the summer when Odom decided not to prejudge the talent he was bringing in. “We wanted to allow them to play free of fear, of failure,” Odom said. “Show us what you can do.”
Unafraid, Odom’s new players showed range and versatility, some at levels they hadn’t previously displayed in their careers.
Odom found a deep and talented collection of outside shooters, players who can put it on the deck and drive to the rim, and players who can score on the low block. Virginia’s two European front court starters – Grunloh and DeRidder – have the size to score inside and the skill and touch to step out and play on the perimeter, stretching opposing defenses.
But what Odom believes really makes the offense click – as he always has throughout stops at UMBC, Utah State and VCU – is ball movement.
“This could be one of the best passing teams that I’ve ever coached,” Odom said.
It’s an identity UVA briefly got away from during its two games at the Greenbrier Classic in November. They averaged just seven assists and 78 points per game in a win over Northwestern and its lone loss, to Butler.
Since then, however, Virginia has been sharing the ball, knocking down shots and scoring at a higher rate than it has in decades.
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Since Tony Bennett took over the program for the 2009-10 season, UVA has only averaged more than 70 points a game twice, putting up 71.0 in 2015-16 and and 71.4 in 2018-19. During his 15 seasons plus one year of Ron Sanchez leading the team, the Cavaliers averaged 65.3 points per game.
It isn’t like Odom is behind the wheel of a racecar, by any stretch. His team ranks No. 223 in the nation in terms of adjusted tempo (possession per 40 minutes) according to KenPom. But at 67.9, these Cavaliers are much faster than other Virginia teams over the past decade-plus. Last year’s squad ranked 361st, fourth slowest in the nation, at 61.3. In Bennett’s final season, 2023-24, UVA was the slowest in all of college basketball at 60.1.
Like Bennett, Odom stresses defense. It’s just a different style.
For the past 16 years, the Cavaliers have relied on the pack line, allowing teams to walk the ball up the floor before encountering a stifling halfcourt UVA defense that clogged the paint and made penetrating to the rim nearly impossible.
Odom’s approach? He uses a fullcourt pressure that isn’t designed to force turnovers or create havoc – though it can – but rather to eat time off the clock as teams must fight to get the ball up the floor before they can settle into their set offense.
And while the offense has come together quickly, the defense is where Odom believes there is still major room for growth.
“Offensively, I think we pass. I think that’s the biggest thing right now and we have multiple options – guys who can shoot, guys who can drive,” Odom said. “I think we’re getting more stingy on defense. I think that’s an area we’re continuing to try to improve each and every practice and game. And the guys understand we have to have both to be successful.”
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