Ryan Odom's debut Monday night leading the Virginia basketball team, with a few exceptions, could not have gone much better. Odom got a balanced offensive performance, a rise in defensive intensity, and his own son scored the final UVA points in a dominant 87-53 win at the John Paul Jones Arena.
There will be plenty to work on for the Wahoos, but getting to 1-0 in comfortable fashion was a good place to start.
"Obviously it was a great victory for our guys," Odom said. "Really proud of the way they responded in the second half. ... I thought the beginning of the second half the starters set the tone, the guys off the bench came in and did a really good job of extending that lead and then we were able to finish it down to the end. Great win overall and good to get off to a good start here."
In terms of offensive balance, Virginia dished out 14 assists with only 6 turnovers and placed five players in double figures. Thijs De Ridder opened with a double-double in his first game, posting 21 points and 10 rebounds. Johann Grünloh added 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Sam Lewis, Jacari White, and Chance Mallory all recorded 11 points and 1 assist. Malik Thomas chipped in 7 points and 2 assists, while Dallin Hall tallied 5 points and 5 assists. Ugonna Onyenso also had 5 points with 5 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
Defensively, UVA had a decent first half by allowing 41.7% shooting (10-24) as Rider scored 32 points. After halftime, though, the Hoos ramped things up in a big way. They allowed just 24.0% shooting (6-25) in the second half and 21 total points. That included a stretch of more than 12 minutes where Rider managed just 3 points.
Then there was the icing on the cake. With the win well in hand, Odom sent in Carter Lang, Desmond Roberts, and Owen Odom to help finish off the game. In the final minute, Lang shuffled a handoff to Owen Odom on the left side not far from where his father stood watching. Odom turned the corner, went down the lane to scoop home a layup, and put an exclamation point on the day. It was a generational moment in Hoo history. Dave Odom served as an assistant coach under Terry Holland, Ryan Odom attended games as a ball boy, and then Owen Odom scored the final points on the day of his father's debut as the program's head coach.
"Really proud," Odom said. "Most importantly, proud that he's here with us and gets to experience UVA, that's a true blessing. Anybody that's attended this great institution understands what that means and Owen's getting that opportunity to earn a degree from here but then also be a part of a Division I basketball team, which is really cool."
Here are more takeaways after the Cavaliers opened the season with a big win at home.
Lineup Testing
As noted in the introduction, Virginia got a balanced offensive effort with seven players chipping in at least 5 points. Odom has said from the moment he was introduced that he planned to use multiple players in the rotation and Monday's game allowed for that. No one played more than 27 minutes (Dallin Hall) and 10 players logged 8+ minutes.
There were several examples of interesting combinations. There was a small ball style lineup that moved Sam Lewis to a forward spot as four guards played around Johann Grünloh. A similar look had Martin Carrere in that forward role too. In the first half, Hall and Chance Mallory played together in a lineup instead of as separate facilitators. In the second half, those two joined up again with Elijah Getrude also on the floor in a smaller, quicker backcourt setup. There were other examples too.
One that didn't get a chance this time around was a bit of a twin towers concept that would have put the 7'0" Grünloh out there with the 7'0" Ugonna Onyenso, but even that concept has gotten a practice look.
"You noticed the lineups," Odom said. "We had to try some new things. One we didn't try was Ugo and Johann together and maybe there will be a time for that at some point. We practiced it a little bit. We wanted to give Sam and Martin some time back there and get Elijah in the game. I thought was good for tonight."
One player that did not see the floor was Devin Tillis, who used crutches around courtside. Odom said Tillis had a knee flare-up after the Villanova exhibition despite not feeling anything specific during the game. He underwent surgery in an effort to make it back this season.
De Ridder Delivers
With 12 new players on the roster, Coach Odom wasn't the only one making his debut in the orange and blue. No one had a better night than Thijs De Ridder.
The Belgian forward led all scorers with 21 points and other than 2 missed free throws, it came efficiently. De Ridder made 10 of 14 shots overall, which included 1 of 2 from 3-point range. He made all 6 2-point attempts in the first half and 9 of 12 2-point attempts overall. The production came in a variety of ways with a spin to a middle hook being a notable go-to option, but drives, offensive rebounds, and a fall-away post jumper were in the mix too. He showed off some really good footwork in the paint throughout.
By the time De Ridder stepped into that triple in the second half, it was clear that he was really in a groove. It showed a big bounce back from the Villanova exhibition too when the 6'9" forward showed some visible frustration when he couldn't get shots to go down (2-6 shooting, 8 points in that one). Odom said while De Ridder has plenty of playing experience from overseas, this type of role where he's a focal point is new.
"I think he's growing into it quite honestly," Odom said. "On his team overseas, he was not the go-to guy so that's new for him. Certainly in this particular game we felt it was important in the first half to establish that and try to get him the ball as much as we could because they were going to be in that zone and we wanted to try to establish him down low. He did a nice job. When they didn't double, scoring, getting fouled, and when they did double getting it out and we got some quality looks from that. I was impressed with his overall game."
De Ridder added 10 rebounds and 2 assists to his stat line as well. And while he had 4 fouls, at least a couple were borderline whistles and perhaps part of the adjustment to NCAA officiating and rules vs. the more rugged Liga ACB in Spain. It also may be worth the tradeoff if he can dial the fouls down just a little because so far he's showing a physical style down low that will pay dividends for the team throughout the season.
"I think overall it was pretty solid. Of course, there were some points I could still work on and it's just the first game," De Ridder said. "Hopefully I can do it every game again and help the team win."
Defense & Turnovers
After the two preseason exhibitions, Odom wanted his team to make strides with its defense and turnovers.
Defensively, there were several weak spots in the game with Villanova at the JPJ. Chief among them was keeping drives out of the lane or at the very least showing more resistance to dribblers trying to touch the paint. That part looked significantly better in the official season opener, though the competition level may have accounted for some of the progress. Still, it was an improvement.
In the second half, UVA turned it up to the best it has looked yet in this early stages of the Odom era. Chance Mallory said the Hoos were able to speed up the dribbler more with pressure in the second half and that helped the defense as a whole. Virginia even got a shot clock violation in the second half that still got a big ovation as has become customary at the JPJ and it nearly forced another later as well.
"I told the guys even at shootaround today was we have to get teams deeper into the clock - trust me, the fans, they will know what to do at the end," Odom said.
As for the turnovers, UVA made major strides in that category. After some careless ones in the Vanderbilt scrimmage, the Hoos returned home and coughed up 18 turnovers against Villanova that led to 18 points. Odom obviously wants to play with more pace, but that's a turnover level that is too high regardless of tempo strategy. Against Rider, the number dropped all the way down to 6 turnovers and 2 of those came in the final 1:13.
The coaching staff showed the players the root cause of turnovers on film and then reinforced habits that can help prevent those in practices.
"We watched film. We saw we didn't play off two [feet], come to stops, and he definitely emphasized that in practice so we just kept repping that," Mallory said. "I feel like we did better with our turnovers. Definitely just a lot going over and over it in practice."
The Exceptions
While the night served as a great debut for Ryan Odom overall, there were a couple of big exceptions. Both have been on the list of concerns throughout the preseason. Odom pointed out with the media that defensive rebounding and playing defense without fouling were two areas that he thought needed to improve prior to playing any exhibition games.
So far, there are still issues in both categories. That was true against Rider even though the Broncs were outmatched across the board.
In the defensive rebounding column, Virginia did pull down 27 boards. Rider grabbed 13 offensive rebounds too, though, and turned that into 9 points. The Hoos' defensive rebounding percentage - a measure of defensive rebounds secured out of the possible total - checked in at 67.5%. That's only a slight uptick from the Nova scrimmage and an area that will need more attention.
UVA also had problems defending without fouling. The Cavaliers finished with 24 personal fouls and yielded 29 free throws as a result. Thijs De Ridder and Chance Mallory were the only two players in any individual jeopardy with 4 fouls each, but the team's total was problematic given that tougher tests will be coming.
Finally, there is one exception that hasn't been a concern and that was the 3-point shooting. Virginia connected on 8 of 30 3-point attempts (26.7%), though most of that damage was done in the first half when the Hoos made 2 of 19 (10.5%). They pushed that number up to 6 of 11 (54.5%) in the second half so it was a momentary concern, but one that allowed the coaching staff to touch base with the team on shot selections. At halftime, the Cavaliers discussed getting shots that were less contested with a little crisper decision-making and ball movement.
"If you settle for those slightly contested shots early, there are other opportunities out there that you're missing," Odom said. "Getting later in offense was going to be important for us. A lot of times those open 3's can turn into 2's and I think we were able to get some of those in the second half, which was really good. Then we had to convince our guys, hey you're fine, we're all good shooters here. Don't hesitate, but let's be mindful of the decisions."
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