Monday’s season-opening win for first-year Virginia coach Ryan Odom looked very similar to the several VCU games I watched Odom coach last year, all of which were wins for the Rams.
When I mentioned this to Odom after the contest, he quickly disagreed, saying, “Only that we won. We have plenty to clean up.”
That, I agreed with.
I’m guessing Odom is OK with Virginia’s 87-53 win over an overmatched Rider team; it’s the detail he’s referring to when he says “clean up.”
ICYMI
- ‘Hoos 87, Rider 53: Go figure, a UVA Basketball team winning with defense
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos shake off sluggish first half, defeat Rider, 87-52, in opener
To say Virginia struggled from three-point range would be kind, considering the Cavaliers were just 8-of-30 from long range.
And they need a 6-of-11 finish from behind the line to reach that.
At the foul line, Virginia looked more like brickmasons than basketball players, connecting on just 19-of-34 attempts.
But hey, this was the first game of the season.
Let’s pretend those two exhibition games didn’t happen, because wasn’t that the purpose of those games-to get the kinks out?
Monday evening, in front of 12,121 fans in JPJ, sloppiness really didn’t count.
Later, it will.
The full-court press, an Odom signature, still doesn’t feel right, but it was effective, forcing 14 Rider miscues, resulting in 22 UVA points.
Those two exhibition games may have served a purpose.
Unlike the final tune-up against Villanova, where Virginia was a turnover machine, on Monday, UVA protected the basketball, committing just two turnovers before the break.
Against Rider, Virginia did what it was supposed to do: remove any drama early.
The Cavaliers raced out to a 14-4 lead and took a 42-32 lead into the break.
Watching Odom’s team play is deceiving.
Despite playing what looked more like a track meet than basketball, the Cavaliers finished with 62 possessions, right at what Tony Bennett-coached Cavaliers teams averaged.
Virginia’s defense looked familiar
Calling the UVA defense vintage would be a stretch, but calling it solid is not.
The hallmark of Odom’s full-court pressure defense was on full display after the second-half tip.
UVA scored the first 11 points and turned a 10-point lead into a rout.
Virginia limited Rider to just 53 points (21 after the break) on only 32.7 percent shooting from the field and even less behind the arc, at just 25 percent.
The Cavaliers also controlled 27 defensive rebounds, to complement their 22 offensive rebounds.
In baseball, pitching usually starts the season ahead of the hitting.
When the Virginia offense catches up to its defense, then watch out.
The local product is already a fan-favorite
Chance Mallory, the neighborhood product, canned back-to-back three-pointers, which jump-started a 15-0 Virginia blitz.
The latter three drew the loudest ovation of the evening from what had primarily been a subdued crowd.
Standing at 5’9”, Mallory also pulled down offensive rebounds on consecutive times down the floor.
The first was on a missed three-pointer by Jacari White, as Mallory corraled the miss and converted for an easy basket.
On defense, Mallory was relentless, rekindling flashbacks of Kihei Clark.
The Rider players had to look at Mallory as the guy who shows up at pickup games and really plays defense.
Yep, that guy.
Cavaliers battered Rider on the boards
The final stat line for rebounding was 49-32 Virginia.
But what jumped out was the 22 offensive rebounds.
Five of those 22 rebounds were after missed free throws, which gave UVA a 26-9 advantage on second-chance points.
The two international players were window cleaners for the Cavaliers.
Thijs de Ridder, from Belgium, and Johann Grunloh, from Germany, led Virginia in both scoring and rebounding.
De Ridder was good for a double-double on 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Grunloh scored 12 points with seven rebounds.
Let’s get used to reading those two stat lines.
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