Three beat writers discuss Virginia’s regular-season and postseason outlook, as the Cavaliers await the selection committee’s decision on Selection Sunday, March 15.
“It was a rough start,” Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “We wanted to set the tone in our gym, but … we were trying to … get out of that hole the whole game.
The gesture highlighted not only Bennett’s profound impact on Virginia, but also the influence he continues to have on Odom, the current team and the roster as they strive to push the program back to where Bennett once had it.
On a raucous floor at the KFC Yum! Center, Virginia executed its most impressive performance of the season to record its most ACC wins in 26 years, knocking off No. 8 Louisville 74-72 after a commanding final period, which ended in a back-and-forth thriller that was not decided until the buzzer sounded.
The Cavaliers remain on the West Coast to take on the Stanford Cardinal (16-10, 5-8 ACC) Sunday in an effort to bounce back from a loss defined by stagnant first-half offense and playing catch-up.
Coming off of a recent stretch of wins in which Virginia seemingly played down to competition against bottom-of-conference opponents, it has been an up-and-down start to conference play, with just as many questions raised as answered.
Every chapter of her journey has added depth to the player Virginia now sees.
“They had a good plan coming in and kept us off balance offensively with the switching of the presses and then the zone a little bit,” Odom said. “I thought they did a nice job overall. And every time we would stretch it a little bit, they were coming right back, and it was a tight game, obviously, and could have gone either direction.”
“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.”
