BYU closed out the first half on a 12-2 run to go into the halftime break up 11, and maintained a double-digit lead into the final minute to finish off an 80-71 win over VCU in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Denver.
And now the waiting game officially gets under way for UVA Basketball fans, whose program has reportedly targeted the head coach at VCU, Ryan Odom, as the top candidate for its open coaching job.
Odom was asked to address interest for “other jobs” in his postgame presser, and he demurred.
“I’m happy to answer any questions about the game or this team or anything. I’m not going to answer any questions about that. Thank you,” was Odom’s reply.
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Which to me is better than the situation with one of his VCU predecessors, Will Wade, who was fired after a massive scandal at his next job, at LSU, took the job at McNeese State to rehab his reputation, and then confirmed in a pre-NCAA Tournament interview on Tuesday that he had talked to NC State about its job.
News reports on Wednesday have Wade agreeing in principle to take the job at State once his season at McNeese State is done.
Wade would seem to have screwed the transition from one State to the other with his team’s 69-67 upset win over Clemson on Thursday.
“I know everybody else, you know, thinks there’s distractions and stuff. We operate the same way all the time. We haven’t operated any differently,” Wade told reporters when he was asked about the distractions that he had created for his team with the news reports.
But, hey, his team won.
VCU (28-7), the A-10 regular-season and tournament champ, never did gets its footing with BYU (25-9), shooting just 41.3 percent, losing the rebounding battle by nine and giving up 38 paint points to the Cougars.
“Certainly a key time in the game was the last three minutes, 30 seconds, somewhere in there, where I think four minutes is a one-point game, something like that. We had four really bad offensive plays. I think we had three turnovers right in a row. We had a couple of breakdowns on defense. What ended up being a one-possession game turned into 11 points,” Odom said.
“That’s what happens in these games. The runs are so important. You have to minimize the runs. I think they led for eight and change, we led for seven and change in the first half. That certainly ended up being a difference-maker there,” Odom said.
Fifth-year senior Zeb Jackson scored 23 points in his final game in a VCU uniform.
“Each year has been super special. Each year I’ve been surrounded by a group of guys and a group of coaches that have helped me grow in every single way,” said Jackson, who spent his last three years at VCU after transferring in from Michigan.
“I just think this has been like the most fun I’ve had, for sure. This year was definitely extremely special with the group of guys and the coaches that we had. I loved every single moment I spent with them,” Jackson said.
Jack Clark, a sixth-year senior, with stops at La Salle, NC State and Clemson before transferring to VCU last spring, had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
“We just love to go to battle for each other,” Clark said after the game. “We hang out off the court or like we did today, go to battle with each other. Three wins in a row to win the conference championship, it’s amazing. I’m going to cherish these friendships, not only my teammates but the coaches, as well. It’s been a great year, not only for me but my teammates. It’s been a great year.”
Two other fifth-year seniors, Joe Bamisile and Max Shulga, each added 12 points for VCU.
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Chris Graham
