VCU's Odom, Shulga have unfinished business with BYU

DENVER — Four years is an eternity in college basketball, but VCU men's basketball coach Ryan Odom can still remember the last time he played BYU.

The date was Dec. 8, 2021, when Odom was in his first year with Utah State and the Aggies rode the bus to Provo for what turned out to be an 82-71 loss. Justin Bean had 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals to lead Utah State, and Alex Barcello and Te'Jon Lucas combined for 31 points and 10 assists for the Cougars.

All three of those players are playing professionally now. So can the A-10 champion Rams take anything from that game, even with Odom on the bench and led by former Utah State freshman Max Shulga on the court?

Not at all, Odom said, shaking his head in front of a microphone at Ball Arena ahead of the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Except, maybe, for one thing.

"I'm just glad it's not in the Marriott Center. That's an imposing place," Odom said. "I know there will be a ton of Cougar fans here, as well. Not too far of a trip.

"But no, not really anything from that game. Different coaches, different players. (Trevin Knell) was there, (Fousseyni Traore) was there. So they have some guys that were still on the team. But I think we're solely focused on what they've done this season."

The Cougars and Aggies didn't meet in Odom's second season in Logan, right after which he headed back east to VCU — and the former UMBC head coach who became the first to lead a No. 16 seed to an NCAA Tournament win is now reportedly in prime position to be the head coach at Virginia, as well as the player who on his roster who would remember that game.

Max Shulga was an inconsistent freshman — by his coach's own admission — who played four minutes and took one shot in that Marriott Center meeting. The Ukrainian international has since blossomed into the A-10 player of the year in Richmond after averaging a team-high 15.1 points and 4.0 assists per game.

Suffice to say, he's also not counting on a four-year-old game for a scouting report.

"They obviously switched the whole coaching staff from last time I played them, and the team looks very different from the last time I played them, too," Shulga said. "We've just got to treat them like a brand-new team. We know that they shoot a lot of threes, crash (the boards), stuff like that, throw extra passes.

"Yeah, we're just treating them like a brand new team. I don't think there's any similarities from the time when I played them last to this year."

In addition to Barcello and Lucas, BYU's starting five the last time they played Utah State included Seneca Knight, Caleb Lohner and Trevin Knell — a rare holdover in college basketball who committed to legendary BYU coach Dave Rose, played for former coach Mark Pope, and remained with the program when Kevin Young was hired in April.

The Cougars expectations have also changed, being back in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years — but without a win since 2012. And yet, this year's team feels different, Knell said.

"Once our name popped up on March Madness, I was excited. I felt like it was such a different feeling than previous years," he said. "Like I said, I think we're battle tested. I'm super proud of our team, like how the season started to where we are now. I feel like we're one of the hottest teams in the country. We're playing our brand of basketball. We're trusting each other and trusting God and just doing our thing.

"So I think it's super fun to be able to play that way. We're super excited for our matchup against VCU on Thursday."

VCU isn't like the former Odom-coached team that played BYU four years ago.

Like similarly 11th-seeded Duquesne a year ago, the Rams (28-6) rank 31st in the NET and 30th in KenPom with a top-25 defense. VCU's effective field goal defense of .444 leads the country, with the No. 4 2-point field goal defense (.436) and an active group that has forced 15 or more turnovers in 16 games this year.

Now they'll try to play their game at altitude.

"You won't hear me complain at all about where we get sent in the NCAA Tournament or where somebody else gets sent. It is what it is," Odom said. "We're not concerned about it. We played earlier in our season out in Vegas and then went over to New Mexico, so our guys have experienced it already."

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