PHILADELPHIA — First-year Virginia head coach Ryan Odom met with the media Saturday afternoon ahead of the Cavaliers’ matchup against Tennessee in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
Ahead of the matchup, Odom discussed his relationship with Rick Barnes, what stands out about Ja’Kobi Gillespie and much more. Here’s everything Odom said.
More From RTI: Tennessee Basketball NCAA Tournament Preview — A Quick Look At The Virginia Cavaliers
On his interactions with Rick Barnes over the years
“Yeah, they have always been tremendous. Coach Barnes has meant so much to the game of basketball, and he and my father are close and good friends. Our families are close, and it’s just really neat to see the sustained success that he’s had and, he’s done it the right way at every spot. He’s won at every spot.
The cool thing is that it all started for him right there in Hickory, North Carolina at Lenoir-Rhyne. He’s never forgotten about that place. I was fortunate enough to be hired there after his best friend and teammate, John Lance, retired. And I went in there and he was very helpful in that first year. And that was at a time that was really important in my development as a coach. He was always there for me at times when I needed it, and certainly he had his own seasons going, but he was always willing to chat from time to time and followed from afar.
But to have that connection has been really cool, and I know he’s been happy, certainly, for my family as well.'”
On the gap between top teams and lower seeds growing
“It didn’t feel like it the other day. (Laughter) We had the spotlight on us. We had to figure it out.
Yeah, I think this tournament has always been about match-ups. Certainly, you have more kids, more players staying in college longer. Naturally, they’re going to play at the highest level. It just is what it is. You have players that start at the lowest level and move up, and then there’s another group that comes into those levels, and eventually, they’re probably going to move up. That’s just the way it is nowadays.
Coaches at that level, and I have coached at every level, are more understanding of that now. Even at our level, you’re going to lose guys from time to time because it’s so easy for these youngsters to move from school to school. Certainly, doesn’t mean it’s right for these kids.
I think we all know that finding a way to get it done where you’re at and leaving a legacy is important, certainly, it is to me with the people that we bring in. Winning is important.
At the highest level, you’re going to have the best players and the coaches are really good at the highest level, but they’re really good at the lowest level. When I was coaching at Lenoire-Rhyne University, great coaches in that league. One is coaching right at St. Louis right now at — Josh Shertz. I think we’ll know more in the next four or five years where things are at.
Is there going to be a change, drastic change in separation and talent ability? For right now, we have a couple upsets, which I’m sure everybody enjoyed and a couple of near upsets as well, which made things really interesting.”
On the challenges of getting open three-pointers against Tennessee
“Yeah, his teams have always been well-coached on defense. They’re tough. They’re physical. They take on his personality. He’s fiery. They have the size to do it. When you have the size around the rims to protect the twos, but also the athleticism to get out there and contest shots, sometimes you can settle.
We have to make sure we’re not settling for shots that are contested. We have to make sure that we try to find our shots as best we can and feel the game. We won’t know until we get in there, but at this time of year, you’re not drastically changing things. You have to trust that your way is going to be the best way and tweak things within games. We had to do it the other night just to get through it. It is what it is.”
On Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament
“Yeah, I’ll start with Nate because I’ve watch Nate a ton, and it’s so cool to see his development, I remember watching him at AU the first time, and then him going into his scene year year, it was just like, oh my gosh, this guy could be spectacular and is heading to having a spectacular NBA career. I know he’s had some injuries, but what a player he is, what a kid he is, just a really, really good player to have in college, and I know Tennessee and Coach Barnes are excited they have been able to coach him this year.
He’s just a generational talent. He’s 6’10”. He can dribble. He can pass. He can shoot. He can make hard twos. He rebounds. He plays hard. He’s just really good.
You can tell that Coach Barnes really trusts Gillespie. He’s dynamite. Just when you think you have him cornered, he gets around you and finds a way to get to the basket. He banks big shots. He’s really good on defense in terms of stealing the ball. He’s got great hands. He’s a tremendous floor general. He’s been doing it at every spot, Belmont to Maryland to now at Tennessee. He’s just a winner.
So when you’re playing against their team, you have to focus on him, but also they’re just a well-balanced team. They have other guys and physicality up front. They all kind of know their role, and they’re going to play their role, and so we know it’s going to be a stiff challenge.”
On if it’s tough to prepare not knowing how much Nate Ament will do
“We’re going to make sure our guys understand how good he is, and we’ve already done that. He can come in tomorrow or any game and get 25 to 30 points. That’s the the type of talent he is. So you have to pay attention to him, and you have to do your best to stay in front and force him to have hard shots and not allow him to beat you on the glass, and then, ultimately, keep him off the free-throw line. That’s where he can really make life miserable for you. He gets fouled a ton, so we have to make sure we keep him off the line.”
On his message to Jacari White after the Duke game
“I think just because he’s been through so much in his life. You think about the trajectory of his life and how things have gone. He’s always been a fighter. He’s always figured things out. He has supreme confidence in his ability to play. Sometimes as coaches — we have a deep team. I have to make decisions on game day sometimes that are best or what I think is best or who is playing their best in that particular game.
The guys have to be okay with that. That’s part of sacrificing and part of having a winning team. That particular night, could he have played more? Sure, he could have played a little bit more, but we were in a good position and felt like we had a chance to win it with the guys that played the lion’s share of the minutes.
Last night was obvious. He was playing extremely well, so I wanted to keep him out there and keep it going as much as we could.”
On if his team has done any extra-curricular stuff in Philadelphia
“Yeah, we talked about going to do the steps and going to see the Stallone deal over there. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to do that. Game day, we’re not typically doing that. It’s more we’re just we’re locking in at that point. We have these routines, all coaches and players have these — teams have these routines on game day. So that would be foreign to them to deviate from that.
But we certainly appreciate all that Philadelphia has to offer, and it’s been great being here in the city. Philly is a place that loves basketball, and so to be in an arena here amongst people that understand the game and love the game, it’s really cool. We’re staying right over near the Palestra. We have Drexel right there, and Penn right there. We’ll try to go over there to the gym tomorrow and walk through some things to get ready for the game.”
On his close connection to Virginia
“I think the lion’s share of it is influenced by me growing up in Charlottesville with my father and just being part of it. Honestly, I try to do it at every place I’ve coached. I’m a little bit different than most. I’ve coached at quite a few places, and even at Lenoire-Rhyne. Coach Lance has been there for 27 years, Coach Barnes’ teammate and won a ton of games during his tenure there.
I just wanted to make sure that all of our players — you know, Utah State was the same thing. UMBC, a little bit less just because they didn’t have the history as much, but we’ve always tried to do that. Virginia was pretty easy for me because I was involved with it, you know? I didn’t make a basket or call a play or anything like that, but I was around to witness highly successful people interacting with one another on a daily basis, and then witness them go on to do great things after UVA.
I wanted to make sure that all of our guys understand the influence and impact that being part of UVA can have on them long-term. There’s no better place, in my opinion, to play basketball and get a degree and make connections that can help you the rest of your life. We have had some greats come through there.
Coach Bennett and the way that he did it, and Coach Holland certainly, so we all want to — our coaching tough wants to do our best to honor them because we know how hard it is to do these jobs and how hard it is to be a player as well, Especially nowadays.”
On Jacari White have a knack for hitting big shots
“Yeah, I think when he’s open, we want him to shoot it. I think that’s the first thing. He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it. You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there. But to make the big shots, yeah, absolutely. It takes a will and a confidence to take it. Think about the Miami shot he took. A lot of coaches would say, oh my gosh, that’s terrible. Why on Earth is he shooting the ball there? He was in a moment there, and on a heater that’s, like, you have to trust your players.
Our guys have all seen it throughout the year. We lost him for a little bit with the injury and it took some time to get back, but, again, it goes back to he’s been through a lot in his life and he’s willing to fight.”
On stressing taking care of the ball without making players timid
“I think spacing is the first thing. We have to make sure our guys have the proper space to work and get downhill. If you’re driving into crowds all the time, that’s where players who have those types of instincts can really make you way. We’ve got to make sure that our guys have the space to work.
I thought our guys did a nice job in the second half. Even Thijs did a nice job of quick passing it instead of over dribbling. We get in trouble when we over dribble. We want to take it and attack it when we can, but when the ball is constantly down, that’s just not how we play. We have to make sure we’re organized as we come over half court and ready to attack.”
On Sam Lewis’ growth this season
“Yeah, when we first started working with Sam, it was pretty evident, this guy works on his game. He was not a high-volume three-point shooter in Toledo. He shot a lot of twos, but you could see the pull ups and his ability to maneuvered ball and handle the ball, and his ability to, you know, one foot Euro, the balance that he has attacking the rim. We want him to do it more. He’s really good in open court. He’s made some good plays over the year for us without a doubt.”
On his group’s health and depth
“Yeah, we want it to be a factor in every game that we play. Some games it is, and some games it isn’t. I think for us, it’s trying to make sure we stay out of foul trouble. We had Dallin in foul trouble the other day. So we’re having to manage that in the first half so everyone could play their normal minutes. Still played him with the two fouls, but we only had five fouls at that point going into halftime. He had two of them.
But I think it’s an important factor in the game, but ultimately, it’s going to come down to if it’s a tight one, are you getting the stop or are you scoring the bucket when you need it? There’s no time to be tired at this point. I have had many a time and time-outs, where I have told my guys you’re not tired. Even though I’m looking at them and they’re dragging, you’re not tired right now. Look where we are. Look around you.”
On the success of so many coaches from Utah State
“It’s a place that they love their basketball and they love their basketball program, and Utah is a basketball state, and so the kids that grow up in that state want to play at one of those schools. It’s probably BYU first, and then you have Utah and Utah State second there, and they’re just really good players coming up through the ranks there. And then Utah State’s shown an ability to go outside, be it international, be it other guys domestically that want to play in that type of environment. It’s one of the best environments in all of college basketball in terms of their home court. Their students are tremendous.
I would encourage — anybody that loves basketball, I would encourage you to just make a trip out there and experience it for yourself because the fans know exactly — if the game starts at 7:00, you’ll look around and go, man, there’s not many people here right now and it’s 6:55. By 7:00, they know exactly how long it takes from their car, all right? To get to their seat that they’ve sat in for 25 to 30 years, How long it takes to get there, and they’re going to be sitting there waiting at 7:00. The students are there before. They’re waiting in line to get in, much like Cameron Indoor and some of great venues around the country. I think it starts there, but the players and former players and former coaches really care about the program. They want to win.”
On hiring Griff Aldrich on his staff
“Griff and I were college teammates, so we talk every day. We never thought we would have the opportunity to work together again. Griff was in the private sector for a long, long time after we graduated from college. He had a brief stint coaching with our coach, Coach Schafer and then he went into the private sector, raised a family, married his wife, Julie.
He began coaching AU out in the Houston area. At this particular time, I was coaching at Lenoir-Rhyne and I had just taken that job. Griff had never followed our seasons intently over the course of our time, but when I started coaching at Lenoir-Rhyne, he would call me after games. Billy Bales, you need to play him more. That was a great win over Wingate. It’s like, well, Griff, nobody is watching these games. Why are you texting me? What’s up?
I accepted the UMBC job and became a parent. I asked him, what’s up? And he said, well, I think I’m being called to coach again. I said, all right, come on the UMBC. We’ll get your feet wet and see if this is something you want to do and take on. Obviously, you wife have has to be okay with it, and it’s a big leap to do it, but I would love it if you would come join me.
So obviously, that happened, and then he gets the Longwood job and he did such a good job at Longwood. Two NCAA Tournaments, he took over a program similar at UMBC, had very little hope and just rejuvenated and built a program that’s lasting, and the community is really proud of it now, and it’s really cool to see where that’s gone.
Then it became a situation, the Virginia job, I accepted the job here and I needed someone with his experience and I needed a right-hand man at this level to do it. Especially in this climate, his background is really helpful for Virginia as we enter the transfer portal, as we enter contracts and notions around all the different things that we go there. He’s just done a phenomenal job as has our staff. Our staff has been together for a long time. It was pretty seamless adding him back in the fold. He knew all of our folks anyway that worked with us. I’m really proud of the staff that we put together and they’ve just done a phenomenal job all year.”
