Everything From Ryan Odom After 86-73 Win Over Dayton In Charlotte

Virginia advanced to 8-1 on the season, after a big win over the Dayton Flyers. Here is everything head coach Ryan Odom had to say to the media.

Opening Statement:

“Yeah, just uh really pleased to be here in Charlotte on this day and excited for what's to come tonight, you know, for Coach Elliot and the football team. They've worked really hard to put themselves in this position, and obviously, we're all hopeful for a big win tonight. So, we want to wish them luck you know, from the basketball team. We do have to get on a plane and go back as we play on Tuesday. We debated, you know, whether we could stay or not, but felt we had to do the right thing and get back just to get these guys some rest because we've been on the road for a week. But we will be home hopefully if the weather cooperates, and we'll be watching and pulling hard like everybody else. But the fans here tonight, our fans that came to the game were very impactful. Our guys felt it, and we really appreciate all those who made the trip here to Charlotte to see us play and obviously the football team tonight. It matters.

On Dayton….

“Dayton's a really good basketball team. We're very familiar with them and Coach Grant from you know our time at VCU and and he's an amazing coach and just a great representative of our game, and so it's always a pleasure to compete against him and his players and staff. Their pressure obviously is very, very good. They do it to most teams, and they did it to us tonight. We had just enough positive plays on offense and ball movement on offense to be able to withstand, you know, a poor turnover performance um that so far this season we haven't really had. You have to give Dayton a ton of credit, you know, for that. Certainly something that we're going to continue to work on going forward and need to work on. But, uh, proud of the guys, proud of the way that they played. They showed some resiliency. Uh, two-game trip to win at Texas and then come here, play an early game, and play against a really good Dayton team.
We knew it was going to be a challenge, and it certainly played out that way.”

On Jacari White….

“Yeah. I mean, it was just one of those performances where every time he was open and he had it, you could hear the crowd going, "Yes, it wasn't that he hadn't made the shot yet. It was just you knew that he was going to probably knock it in."He's in amazing company right now with Kyle Guy and uh you know it's a pleasure to coach Jacari. You know when he gets in a zone like that, you know as his coach, it's like okay stay out there. How long can I leave him out there before he gets tired?”

On playing today against Dayton and preparing in a short week…

“Yeah. I mean, we knew going into the game, you know, and it's a short prep. You know we're out on the road. We just played Texas in a late game and then played an early game here. We only had one practice to get ready uh for this particular game. Certainly no excuses, but um you know, I thought our guys did a nice job when they beat the pressure of continuing to maintain an advantage and then taking the shots that were there uh you know uh and were good opportunities for us. And certainly Jacari making shots, you know, was a big factor in the game.”

On how big the Chance Mallory rebound was….

“It was huge. Um, and you could see it. He had a position there. I had a pretty good view of it, and he just skyed up and got it. That's what he does, you know. He's a warrior, and he finds a way to impact the game whether he's playing lights out or he's had a subpar game. He finds a way to win, and that's why we're excited that he's on our team.”

On how he would evaluate the defense…

“Yeah, I thought the guys did a nice job when we weren't giving up easy baskets because of our turnovers. you know, your offense really helps your defense. When you play when you play great offense, you can set your defense a little bit better.
And so, I thought in the half-court, our guys did a really nice job. Shy a couple of possessions where we made poor decisions in pick and roll coverages, there at the end where Bennett makes the three. We were supposed to go over. You're not going to stop them, you know, on every single possession, but it's getting better. There's no question.”

On if the game had an NCAA tournament feel to it…

“We talked to the team before the game about it. This is an NCAA-type tournament game. You schedule these games for that reason. Dayton as a team and Coach Grant have done a great job of, you know, getting their program into the NCAA tournament on multiple occasions and winning games. They believe that they're going to win. We talked to our team well before the game about, you know, they play with a chip on their shoulder. They are a high major. They are a high-major program that expects to win, you know, every game. And so for us uh, to play against an opponent like that and have that type of pressure put on us uh, will pay dividends for us in the long run.”

On his team winning in different ways and about the Northwestern game…

“I think it's just the game is the game, right? And you evaluate that particular game afterwards. I don't read too much into because they're different defenses and different styles that are out there. Some styles are designed to take away the three. Some design and get you inside the line. Some are designed to run at you, and Dayton runs at you a lot. They're in a scramble a ton. And so they really challenge your ball handling. When we began to stop and make the right plays on offense, we began to get open shots. Thankfully, we knocked enough down, you know, to have a pretty good cushion there. We're a team that we'll certainly seek the three and the right threes. I think we took the right three tonight. We're going to crash the glass. You know, we're going to get to the offensive rebound or to our areas to try to do our best to come up with some extras. Chance obviously, you know, had a huge one.”

On the message to the team in the second half…

“Take care of the ball. Yeah. I mean, I think it was to take care of the ball. All right. Move it. Trust one another. They're going to be in a scramble and take the shots when they're there. Um defend a little bit better in the pick and roll. I think midway through that first half, we began to get them into some harder twos and the shots, you know, began to not fall, and we didn't let them get all the way to the rim on us, and we didn't foul them. Early in the game, we fouled a little bit too much, and so once that slowed down, and we were able to make them shoot over us, uh, our rebounders did a nice job of coming up with boards. Even at the end of the game, our guys did a nice job of getting stops.

On if the team practices turnovers and taking care of the ball….

“Yeah, I mean, certainly you have to, but we didn't have a ton of practice time leading into this one. We knew we were going to be facing a team that turns the other team over, and we knew it was going to be a challenge. What you do is you meet passes. You know, you're strong with the ball. Uh, you're tough. Uh, you take it when it's there. Uh, you pass it all right when the guy's open. I know it sounds really simple, but if you hold it now, all of a sudden the defense is back, and then their pressure bothers you again. And now you have to do it all over again to try to create that advantage and protect the basketball. And so, you know, we are always working on playing against an advantageous situation where we have a two on one and now we want to make the right basketball play and get it to the guy that's open. It's simple basketball, but sometimes we're really good at it, and sometimes we're not.”

On the opportunities in the last two games….

“Yeah, it's a tremendous opportunity for us, and I think the guys made the most of it. Um, you know, we didn't actually, you know, do much other than, you know, preparation for both games. You know, we flew into a city and went to the hotel, got prep and had a shoot around and didn't have a shoot around. Neither team had a shoot-around today. So, that was obviously unique, and we're going to be in that situation at some point again, I'm sure. I thought our guys handled, you know, that part of it very well. But just time together, just general time together always, you know, strengthens your team, whether it's a meal in the hotel. They went out to eat in Charlotte when we first got here on Thursday, uh, which was a great opportunity for our guys to bond. We had quite a few family members, you know, who came to the game as well. And it's always good to see our parents and friends, you know, come support our players.”

On takeaways from the game….

“Well, we played a different pick-and-roll defense than we typically do against him in the first half. Uh where we step up a little bit, and we play him more like a guard, and they got inside of our defense some against that one in the second half, and that takes away the pop, so he can't get the three. He can really shoot the ball. He can put it down. He's skilled. He's a really good player. If he catches it around the basket with room, uh he's he's chances of scoring are really good. And so we wanted to limit his catches near the rim, take away the three and really do a good job of blocking him out. In the second half, we went back to our normal base pick-and-roll coverage, and that's where we drop off of them a little bit. So you do run the risk of getting some pop threes. I thought our bigs did a nice job of getting back to him, you know, when they needed to.”

On being back at the Spectrum center where he has seen a lot of success…

“It was a little bit weird when we first got off the plane, and I got on the bus, and you know, we had a Virginia sticker on the bus, you know, and we're in Charlotte and all that. So, yeah, there's certainly, you know, something to that as you walk in. But thankfully, we're not in the same locker. We weren't in the same locker room, you know, or else I would have been spooked. That was a special time, you know, for that particular team, and you know, obviously, we know what the end result was in 2019, so we're all pleased with that.”

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