Odom's Cavaliers Starting to Take Shape

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Atlantic Coast Conference of Ryan Odom’s childhood is long gone.

Back then, ACC men’s basketball teams played home-and-home series every season with each of their counterparts in the league. The conference has expanded multiple times since then and now has 18 members for basketball, and the schedule has changed dramatically too.

The ACC released its schedule for 2025-26 this week—with starting times, broadcast designations and some dates yet to be finalized—and each team will play 18 conference games. Virginia has home-and-home series with only two opponents (Virginia Tech and NC State) and won’t play Clemson during the regular season.

Odom, who’s in his first year as the Cavaliers’ head coach, said the ACC schedule poses challenges for him and his staff, particularly in this era of rampant player movement.

“You’re not playing everybody twice,” Odom said Wednesday during a media availability at John Paul Jones Arena.

After playing Virginia Tech and NC State the first time, the Wahoos will “have a deep knowledge of them and have on-the-court experience against them for that second game,” Odom said. “But all the others, it’s almost as if you’re playing non-conference games, because you play them one time. You get one shot at them regardless of whether it’s on your court or somewhere else. And so the staff really has to be dialed-in, in terms of the preparation and the scouting and how we deliver that to the team to help them get ready to put their best foot forward for that particular game. And so you use the non -conference to help prepare you for what you know is going to be a really tough conference play.”

Virginia’s schedule includes two exhibition games that are open to the public: Oct. 16 against Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., and Oct. 24 against Villanova at JPJ.

“We know we’re gonna be challenged [by the Wildcats] and we hope to challenge them as well,” Odom said. “Same thing with the Vanderbilt game. We are in a new era, and I’m for adding more games, more like the NBA in terms of preseason games to give our guys a chance … A lot of these kids now are a little bit older, and so they’re a little bit more experienced. They’re more ready, and you can advance it a little bit more, and so I would advocate for more games, and I think it’s going to be good for the fans. I’m confident it’ll be well-attended, and it certainly gives us the chance to play different lineups and practice things and do it against really high-quality competition.”

UVA opens the season Nov. 3 against Rider at JPJ.

BEHIND THE SCENES: The first episode of “Proving Grounds: Preseason with Virginia Men’s Basketball,” a four-part documentary on Odom’s program, was released last month. Asked about the project Wednesday, Odom said he believes “it’s huge” and thanked director of athletics Carla Williams and her staff for “allowing us to do this. It’s not really in my nature to go behind the scenes, to be quite frank. But given the way that our climate is now, we are entering a new era, a new situation here for me personally in Virginia and for our program. And I can understand from a fan’s perspective being frustrated with the change. You have players here for one season and then they’re gone, or they transfer, or they’re a grad transfer, whatever it is, and so we have to accelerate the process of connecting our players to our fans in this place.”

Of the players on the UVA roster, only Elijah Gertrude, Carter Lang and Desmond Roberts were in the program last season. His first priority with the newcomers, Odom said, is making sure to “appreciate where they’re at. And I think we’ve pounded that into their heads what a great place Virginia is and how lucky we all are to be here. And with that comes a great deal of responsibility on our parts to do our best for everybody that’s come before us: the former players, former coaches, former administrators, just everybody that has cared, donors that have cared about this program. And Proving Grounds is a way for us to get the personalities out there, to get our fans excited about Devin Tillis, get our guys excited about Elijah Gertrude, get our guys excited about Martin Carrere, and the different people that will make up this year’s Virginia basketball team.

“And not just the players. You’re going to get access to the coaches and the folks that are leading this program and mentoring these young people. From that perspective, I think it’s something that I would encourage all Virginia fans that are out there to watch.”

Episode No. 2 is scheduled to be released Sept. 25.

PLAYING CATCH-UP: The Hoos’ roster includes three Europeans—7-foot Johann Grünloh (Germany), 6-foot-9 Thijs De Ridder (Belgium) and 6-foot-9 Martin Carrere (France)—who weren’t on Grounds when the team started its summer workouts in June.

Of the three, Carrere arrived first, but he had a shoulder injury that he’d suffered while playing for a French national team. Grünloh made it to Charlottesville next “and was able to participate a little bit,” Odom said. “I don’t remember exactly how many practices he was able to participate in, but certainly a good number for him to get out there on the court with the guys and with the coaches and obviously in the weight room with Coach [Mike] Curtis.

“Martin was suffering through the injury and all that, so he really wasn’t himself. And we kind of had to hold him out for most of the summer, and so he wasn’t able to get that many practices in.”

De Ridder didn’t practice with the team until the fall semester started. “And so it’s been really good to have all of them out there so far this fall,” Odom said, “to be able to be out there on the court, just to get comfortable with their teammates and comfortable with the coaches and just the surroundings. And I think they’ve all done really, really well.”

Odom came to UVA from VCU, where Carrere redshirted last season. Grünloh and De Ridder are new to college basketball.

Asked about the progress Grünloh and De Ridder have made, Odom said, “I think first and foremost for Johann, I think he would tell you when he first got here, his physical fitness was being challenged. He wasn’t in the shape that he needed to be in order to perform at his highest level. Well, when he came back in the fall, he’s ready now, and his play is showing it. He’s really taken a massive jump from the summer.”

De Ridder was in “a similar situation in terms of the game shape and all of that,” Odom said. “But his first practice literally was the first practice of the fall. And so he didn’t have the summer to get acclimated with the guys.”

Grünloh can “block shots, he can make 3s, He can put the ball on the deck, he can defend his position,” Odom said. “He’s proven now he can rebound and is tough enough and competitive enough to go after tough balls.”

The 238-pound De Ridder, whose first name is pronounced “Tess,” is “kind of a bully in a lot of ways,” Odom said, smiling. “I love the way that he plays. He plays with passion and emotion. He’s a tough guy, and it’s going to be an interesting transition for him. And we’re pushing him to be more assertive … Not selfish, but he is a good player, and we need him to be that for us.”

HOMEGROWN: UVA has two freshmen on scholarship: guard Chance Mallory and forward Silas Barksdale. The 5-foot-10 Mallory starred at nearby St. Anne’s-Belfield School, and he’s impressed his new coaches.

“Chance is amazing,” Odom said. “I love his game. I love his personality. He’s just fit right in with the guys. He’s a very confident player. If you need him to score, he can get it done. If you need him to facilitate, he can do that. He’s a good defender and physical on defense. It’s amazing how many rebounds he gets. He just chases balls down.

“He’s going to be a really good player and have a great career here at UVA. I’m pretty confident in that. He’s an even better person, so he’s going to be a really good representative of our basketball program and UVA as a whole.”

ASCENDING: As a Toledo freshman in 2023-24, Sam Lewis averaged only 3.6 points per game. He raised his scoring average to 16.2 ppg for the Rockets and made the All-MAC second team last season, however, and Odom expects big things from the 6-foot-7, 210-pound swingman at UVA.

“Sam’s a very good player,” Odom said. “He has physical size for a wing. He has athleticism. He can shoot the ball really well.  He can defend. He’s a smart player. And so I think for us, it was a no -brainer when we began to talk to him about the opportunities here at UVA. And he’s got two years to do it, which we love. We want to find more of those guys that have multiple years that we can recruit that have the talent that he does.

“I think he’s done really well so far. He loves the place and his fit in really well with the team and the community here. And so I’m excited to see kind of how he progresses over the course of the season.”

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