Most Important Quotes From Ryan Odom After Virginia's Big Win Over Arkansas

Cavaliers' coach was impressed with his team's patience, unselfishness and grit

Ryan Odom directs his Virginia Cavaliers during a timeout. | Courtesy Virginia Athletics

Coaches are notorious perfectionists, but Ryan Odom didn't have much to complain about on Sunday.

His ninth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers exploited their advantages in experience and physicality for a convincing 91-72 victory over 12th-ranked Arkansas in the Capital Showcase game at Capital One Arena in Washington.

Virginia (3-0) used an 11-2 spurt to close the first half to take a 46-27 lead at the break and was never threatened in the second half by a young, athletic Razorbacks squad with eight freshmen on its roster.

Here's what Odom had to say after the game:

On Thijs De Ridder's maturity

Star forward Thijs De Ridder picked up two fouls in the game's first two minutes and sat for more than six minutes. Upon his return, he almost immediately sank a 3-pointer, scored on a tip-in and notched a couple of assists.

The ACC preseason player of the year finished with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes of action. What advice did Odom give his star big man?

“Just settle in, settle down," Odom said. "I think that’s why he worked all summer. He worked on his poise, on just slowing his game down a little bit, and I think you saw some of that tonight. 

"A year ago, probably if he was in that situation, it would have been more of a disjointed game for him, and the stats probably would have said the same. I thought he did a nice job. He calmed down, came back in and really just was focused on helping the team win.”

On backup Kalu Anja

When De Ridder went out, Anja came in. The fifth-year senior transfer from Saint Louis, known more for his defense and rebounding, quickly drove to the basket for a three-point play. He also finished with six rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes.

“He was always a great rebounder," said Odom, who coached against Anja while at VCU. "When you were playing against Saint Louis, you had to be sure that you checked him out. He’s a big, physical body. He’s an extremely smart basketball player.

"The thing he’s really tried to work on is his set jump shot. He’s always been a good passer and a good dribbler. When he decides to make his dribbles count like that, and when he goes downhill instead of back and forth, he’s really dangerous.”

On his team's unselfishness

The Cavaliers shot 46 percent from the floor and finished with 18 assists (six from Chance Mallory) on 32 field goals. The Razorbacks have several long, athletic defenders and several shot blockers, so keeping the ball moving was key to getting open shots.

“I thought they shared it really well," Odom said of his players. They took care of the ball really well, for the most part. ... We warned our guys: ‘You’ve got to be careful throwing the ball up the sideline a lot against them, because they’ll run right through it, and it’s a pick six and they’re dunking it the other way.' ”

On making the Razorbacks work on offense

That same Arkansas athleticism showed up in several fast-break dunks, especially in the second half. When they had to work for shots, though, the Razorbacks often struggled because, as coach John Calipari bemoaned, they didn't share the ball as well as Virginia did.

“We really hammered home in film, we’ve got to set our defense," Odom said. "We didn’t do a great job of that in our last game [against Northeastern]. … I think the guys got the message. We weren’t perfect at it, but we did a pretty good job of making them play against a set defense each time.”

On his team's depth

VIrginia's three returning starters (De Ridder, Johann Grunloh and Sam Lewis) and Mallory, last year's sixth man, get most of the attention. But Odom was pleased with Nolan Adekunle (who scored 13 points) and several reserves as well.

“It was Nolan’s best game," Odom said. "Nolan’s very comfortable out there as a fifth starter. He’s versatile. He can play 3, 4 and he can play really big as well, if he needed to. He’s a key piece, Kalu’s a key piece, Elijah [Gertrude], you saw Martin [Carrere] get in there, Really proud of each one of those guys.”

On the team's potential

Calipari made a point of saying the lopsided loss to an NCAA tournament team would pay off later for his young team, which saw a level of play it must reach. Odom said the game was valuable for his squad as well.

“Just like Arkansas has to develop their overall team, so do we," he said. "We’re not a finished product at this point. Shame on us, on either team if we stay where we are right now. We have to continue to get better. Just because we’re experienced, with four guys back, doesn’t mean we’re this well-oiled machine. We’re not. We have to continue to improve if we want to reach our goals.’

On D.C. pigeons

Two pigeons offered some comic relief when they cause a brief delay late in the second half by landing on the playing floor and refusing to leave, despite beeing shooed away by multiple Arkansas players. Eventually, they flew off into the rafters.

Odom said that was a first for him, but he's no stranger to odd delays in Washington. Three years ago, his VCU team was trailing Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Conference final on the same court when celebratory confetti inadvertantly began to fall before the final horn.

"I said, 'Come on, we haven't lost yet,' " Odom said. "D.C. pigeons are tough."