By Jerry Ratcliffe

Ryan Odom’s Cavaliers (2-0) will continue their quest to perfect their full-court pressing strategies tonight when Virginia hosts Hampton (1-1) in a 9-p.m. tip (ACC Network) at John Paul Jones Arena.

The press is only part of Odom’s defense, but there’s a method to the madness.

Those who listened to “The Hootie & JJ Show” starring Coach Jeff Jones last week, received an in-depth explanation of Odom’s strategy and goals with the full-court pressure. Readers can check out Jones’ explanation by clicking here.

North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton filled in media after Virginia’s 81-62 victory over his Eagles.

“The thing about [UVA’s] press is not really to turn you over,” Moton said. “Eventually they just wear you down. It’s all part of just wearing you down.”

Moton said basketball players don’t like doing the basic, ordinary thing all the time, and instead of making the simple play, they try something phenomenal.

Case in point: “We had a guy tonight that tried to throw the ball at half court and I asked him, ‘Why did you do that?’” Moton said. “Like, we don’t ever practice that, but I think he just got tired of doing the same thing over and over. So that’s what their press is designed to do and Ryan has done a great job.”

Odom confirmed his strategy.

“Yeah, it’s not to force turnovers,” the UVA coach said. “It’s to pressure and guard their ballhandlers full-court. It’s to take the time, that’s really what we’re trying to do. Occasionally you’ll get some steals just because of it. That’s not to say that we don’t have a press where we trap and do some of those types of things. We have different press when it’s a dead ball, a free throw and things like that, but we really haven’t gotten to that yet. Right now we’re just trying to take as much clock as we can.”

NEW PODCAST ALERT: Dave Odom, former Virginia assistant and former head coach at Wake Forest and South Carolina, will be the special guest on “The Hootie & JJ Show” this Thursday.