Virginia basketball is having a solid season. Since the loss to North Carolina, Virginia has now won four straight, including a massive comeback over Notre Dame. The latest win was a 72-59 victory over Syracuse, which was tight for most of the game.

After the contest, head coach Ryan Odom made sure to praise his team, according to Jacquie Franciulli of 247Sports.

“I thought Syracuse played a played a good game tonight,” said Odom.  “They had a good plan coming in, kept us off balance offensively, with the switching of the presses and then the zone a little bit. I thought they did a nice job overall. And they were very resilient throughout the night. And every time we would stretch it a little bit, they were coming right back.”

Virginia built a nine-point lead in the first half, but Syracuse came back to make it a one-point game. They had two different spots in the second half with leads of eight or more, but the Orange brought it back to within one possesion.

Article Continues Below

“And it was a tight game,” continued Odom. “Proud of the way our guys finished it down the stretch there of the game. They executed well. We defended well enough and came up with key rebounds in order to finish the game off. But key to the game for us was just the hustle plays… But hard to get to 20. Proud of the guys that they're at 20 wins right now, and a lot of ball to be played going forward and improving that we've got to do.”

Virginia is back to 20 wins for the 13th time in the last 15 seasons. They were just 15-17 under interim coach Ron Sanchez after Tony Bennett retired.

“We just have to keep going. We encourage the guys every game that we go into and we each team that we play as a body of work snd stats that you try to hone in on.. and we just do what we do, and these guys get graded on it. They know and they understand that it can be really impactful for our overall game and offense,” Odom concluded.

Virginia is now 20-3 on the season. They return to the court on Tuesday night on the road against Florida State.