UVA Basketball: The defense with this group is starting to feel familiar

Virginia is obviously starting to click on defense, in a way you wouldn’t have expected after watching the ‘Hoos earlier in the season.

I’m thinking back to the four-game stretch starting with Marshall on Nov. 15: Virginia gave up a ghastly 74.5 points per game and 1.064 points per possession in the contests with Marshall, Northwestern, Butler and Queens.

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ICYMI

• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos clamp down on D on Stanford in 70-55 win
• Live Coverage: UVA Basketball hosts Stanford in ACC hoops action

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The D has been getting progressively better since, by and large, with a great leap forward since the return from the Christmas break.

The 95 surrendered in the loss at Virginia Tech on Dec. 31 is deceiving; that one was a triple-OT game, and Tech had 96 offensive possessions.

Through four games of ACC play, including the Tech loss: Virginia is first in the conference in points per possession on defense, per KenPom, at 0.928 PPP.

That’s good Tony Bennett team-like – to wit, the 2018-2019 national champs allowed an ACC-best 0.932 PPP in conference play.

How this Ryan Odom team gets stops is different from how Tony Bennett teams did it, but there are similarities.

Average possession lengthy is one metric.

Bennett’s Pack Line did things like double ballhandlers in pick-and-rolls and double the post to take away those sets as weapons, and lengthen possessions.

Odom’s 24 defense utilizes a full-court man press to slow the ball getting up the court, and switches on screens to take away the value of screening.

Odom’s D is forcing opponents to use up 18.2 seconds per offensive possession this season; Bennett’s title team in 2019 had opponents using 18.8 seconds.

Another similarity: effective field goal percentage.

Bennett’s title team ranked eighth nationally (44.7% EFG); Odom’s team currently ranks fourth (43.3%).

The Bennett title team was better at defensive rebounding (74.6%, vs. Odom’s 70.2%).

That’s the difference between the 2018-2019 team ranking fifth nationally in overall defensive efficiency (0.892 PPP) vs. Odom’s team right now ranking 23rd nationally (0.980).

Here was Odom explaining his team’s growth on the defensive end after Virginia’s 70-55 win over Stanford on Saturday:

“The understanding of how we’re trying to play defense, just the connectivity, I think communication is a big part of it,” Odom said. “The efforts are there. The understanding that, you know, we can get teams deeper into the clock, the press certainly can help with that. And I thought our guys, we got a couple of steals, you know, in the first half, which helped us and got us going a little bit.

“And, you know, I think finishing with a rebound, I mean, that’s, that’s one of the keys, is, like getting the ball, you know, at the end. You can force all the misses you want, but if you can’t rebound the basketball, well, you didn’t play the defense that you set out to play. And I think our guys you know are understanding of the importance of each facet, you know, of a possession.”