Continuing a trend of narrow wins secured by defensive stands towards the end of the second half, Virginia held the Buckeyes to only two points between the 10 minute mark of the second half and the final 60 seconds, stifling the paint-focused offense late as they built a small lead late in the game.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Coach Ryan Odom said. “Gritty effort overall. To come away this week with two wins on the road is really difficult and I’m proud of the execution down the stretch.”
“So many great plays out there, it’s hard to recount all of them on both sides,” Odom said. “It made for a great college basketball game. It’s one of those that you hate [that] anyone ends up losing.”
“Key to the game for us, certainly, was every time that we missed a shot…our transition defense was not where it needed to be throughout the entire night,” Odom said. “The defensive intensity was not where we needed it to be. The communication was lacking, and a poor defensive performance overall.”
“This is just the next game on our schedule, and there certainly will be a lot of eyes on this one,” Odom said. “This group has been really good at focusing on the task at hand and what’s right in front of them.”
“Every win on the road is like gold,” Odom said. “This particular group understands that. If you want to compete at the highest level of the ACC and compete for a championship, you have to win games on the road. The eventual champion will do that.”
The good news is that Grünloh came to Charlottesville with experience playing against bigger, more experienced frontcourts — now, he is in a role in which he can excel by doing the little, simple things right.
Riding a 70-55 victory over Stanford and a 3-1 ACC record, Virginia saddled up for its first game against a ranked opponent Tuesday night at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Ky.
The fans sure knew what to do in John Paul Jones Arena Saturday afternoon, as the Cavaliers (14-2, 3-1 ACC) forced six shot clock violations from Stanford, holding the visiting Cardinal (13-4, 2-2 ACC) to only six made shots in the second half and winning the game 70-55.
The first conference home game of Coach Ryan Odom’s tenure in Charlottesville ended in a decisive win.
With conference play underway — and the first road test already delivering a reminder of what ACC games can demand — three men’s basketball beat writers look back at their previous predictions, outline what non-conference play confirmed and identify what still has not been answered.
“The open guy is the go-to guy,” Coach Ryan Odom said. "And Sam was ready tonight, his teammates found him and he knocked it down. We have tremendous confidence in Sam and his ability to make shots and make the right play.”
For No. 21 Virginia, conference play started on New Year’s Eve with a game destined to take Coach Ryan Odom and his team out of their comfort zones.
“There are a lot of good records out there right now,” Odom said. “We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us, and the first one’s at Virginia Tech.”
“At the end of the Maryland game we made it clear to our guys that we were not excited about the way that we finished that game,” Odom said. “And tonight certainly we were much better.”
