By Jerry Ratcliffe

Ryan Odom didn’t complain when the ACC dealt him a schedule with four of Virginia’s first six conference games all on the road, all against opponents expected to be in the league’s upper echelon this season.

Instead, Odom just went out and won: NC State, Louisville, SMU, all Quad-1 wins, not to mention another Quad-1 triumph at nonconference Texas. Winning on the road isn’t easy, but perhaps that’s part of the beauty of the roster Odom & Co. built with older, experienced, mature players.

Most Cavalier fans would likely have been satisfied with a 1-1 split this past week with road games against Louisville, which was previously 9-1 at home, and at SMU, where the Mustangs were unbeaten in 11 games.

Instead, the Wahoos swept those two games and are sitting pretty at 16-2 overall and 5-1 in the ACC, third place behind Duke and Clemson with 6-0 league records. In fact, UVA’s lone blemish was a triple-overtime loss at Virginia Tech, where the Hokies are 11-1.

Saturday’s game was a huge win for Virginia, outlasting SMU 72-68 in a battle that was tightly contested.

Odom knew the true value of the close win in Dallas.

“It’s huge to win on the road,” Odom said. “Every win on the road is like gold.”

He went on to explain that his team understands that if it wants to compete at the top of the ACC, winning on the road is a must. Because of the new schedule, most ACC teams only play each other once, so as Odom said, “you have one shot at the majority of the teams that you’re going to play, whether it’s at home or on the road.”

The Cavaliers don’t play again until next Saturday when they host longtime rival North Carolina, which has lost three of its last four games: road losses at SMU, Stanford and Cal.

In Virginia’s road win Saturday at SMU, the Cavaliers were once again strong in offensive rebounding — which allowed them to score 22 second-chance points — and 3-point shooting, where UVA bombed the nets, making 12 of 31 triples (10 of them in the first half) and six 3’s from Malik Thomas, who finished with a game-high 23 points (he also had 11 rebounds for a double-double).

Another key was UVA’s defensive plan to shut down the Ponies’ most dangerous weapon, guard Boopie Miller, who was averaging more than 20 points a game and who was coming off three consecutive outings where he was the difference: 24 vs. Virginia Tech; 23 vs. Clemson; 27 vs. Carolina. Let him run wild and you’re a goner.

“It all starts with [Boopie],” Odom said. “He’s just a dynamite competitor. Really tough to prepare for. He makes shots outside the lane that are really special because he’s so fast.

“We just encouraged our guys, number one, not to foul him. That’s the key. You have to keep him off the free-throw line. I thought our guys, for the most part, did a solid job of that and getting help to him.”

UVA only fouled Miller five times and he went 4 for 5 at the free-throw line, representing one-third of his point production in the game, a mere dozen points, tying his season low. In 35 minutes, Miller was 4 for 12 from the field and 0 for 3 from the arc.

Virginia has been extremely efficient in limiting big-time scoring threats thus far.

The Cavaliers held Stanford’s Ekuba Okorie, the ACC’s second-leading scorer (21.4), to 14 points, 5 of 20 from the field, 0 of 6 from the arc. Okorie has lit up other ACC squads with 36 vs. UNC, 31 vs. Virginia Tech and 28 vs. Louisville.

Virginia did a number on NC State’s Damion Williams, the ACC preseason player of the year who scored only 7 points, and against the Hokies’ 7-footer Neo Avdalas (5-21, 3-11) for 17 points in three overtimes.

One of Odom’s other concerns was SMU’s physical, 7-2 center Samet Yigitoglu, who was capable of causing a lot of damage in the paint. Last year, when the Mustangs swept Virginia, Yigitoglu was a combined 12 for 14 shooting and played a key role in that sweep.

Not Saturday. Odom had a plan.

“We certainly were worried about the center inside and he got us on a number of occasions, sealing in there, but we were able to force just enough misses to escape,” Odom said.

Yigitoglu was 3 for 11 shooting Saturday and got 4 of his 10 points from the free-throw line.

“Samet has to make those shots,” bemoaned SMU coach Andy Enfield. “He has to take pressure off our guards. He has to take pressure off our team. It’s very demoralizing when you’re 7-foot-2 and you’re missing six-inch shots, one-foot shots and two-foot shots. There’s no excuses. We can’t go through a game where he misses 8 of 11 from two-feet and in.”

Perhaps UVA’s defense had a little to do with that, alternating its own 7-footers, Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Oyenso, who not only block shots, but alter shots with their length, not to mention 6-9 Thijs De Ridder.

For anyone noticing, Virginia already has one more win — 16 — than the Cavaliers had all of last season, and we’re not halfway through the ACC schedule.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• No. 16 Virginia improved to 16-2, 5-1 ACC
• UVA has a five-game win streak
• Virginia is 6-2 on the road and 4-1 in true road contests
• UVA went 12 of 31 from the 3-point line
• UVA has made 11 or more 3-pointers in 10 games
• UVA has shot 30 or more 3-pointers in eight contests
• UVA won the rebound battle 40-32, improving to 14-0 when outrebounding its opponent
• SMU went on a 9-0 run to gain a 52-50 lead at 13:08 of the second half
• UVA led 40-37 at halftime, improving to 16-1 when leading after the first 20 minutes
• UVA’s 7-0 run gave the Hoos their first lead at 27-26
• An 8-0 run gave UVA a 35-28 lead
• UVA went 8 of 17 from 3-point range and out-rebounded SMU 19-15 in the first half
• UVA forced one shot clock violation

Series Notes

• Virginia is 2-2 against SMU in the series that began in 2013
• UVA is 1-2 vs. the Mustangs in ACC play

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Malik Thomas (23), Thijs De Ridder (17), Devin Tillis (11)
• Thomas added a career-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double at UVA (2nd career)
• Thomas netted his fourth 20-point effort (3rd in ACC play)
• Thomas matched his career high (set last game vs. Louisville) with six 3-pointers
• Thomas has reached double figures in 13 games (68 career)
• De Ridder has reached double figures in 14 games
• Tillis has reached double figures in four games (54 career)
• Dallin Hall had a season-high nine assists
• UVA started Thomas, De Ridder, Hall, Johann Grünloh and Sam Lewis for the 17th time

 

Saturday’s ACC Scoreboard

Virginia 72, SMU 68
Virginia Tech 89, Notre Dame 76
Georgia Tech 78, NC State 74
Boston College 81, Syracuse 73 (OT)
Clemson 69, Miami 59
California 84, North Carolina 78
Duke 80, Stanford 50
Wake Forest 69, Florida State 68
Louisville 100, Pitt 57