CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – As the Ryan Odom era got rolling with Virginia stacking 80 and 90-point outings, the first-year Cavaliers coach focused on the other end of the floor.

Odom’s Cavaliers were selflessly sharing the basketball and scoring at every position, but could the defense get to where UVA would need it to be an ACC title contender?

In Virginia’s first 12 matchups with power-conference opponents, it surrendered an average of 74.2 points per game.

Over its last 11? That number has dropped to 66.1.

“It’s grown a lot,” senior guard Dallin Hall said. “We’ve gotten a lot better. Our team defense, I think just our connectedness, everyone’s willingness to play for each other, has led to our defense growing a lot better.”

Going into this week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte, second-seeded Virginia boasts the 16th best defensive efficiency rating in the nation, and the second best in the league, according to the basketball analytics website Kenpom.com.

Opponents shoot 39.7% from the floor against UVA, the second lowest mark in the conference behind regular-season champion Duke. The Cavaliers lead the league in blocking shots, swatting 6.2 per game.

Ugo Onyenso leads the ACC, averaging 2.6 blocks per game. He does that coming off the bench. Virginia’s starting center, Johann Grunloh, ranks third at 2.3.

“We have two huge guys beneath the basket – Ugo and Johann,” Thijs DeRidder said. “If you screw it up once, they’re there to help you. That allows us to close out more, be more aggressive on the ball.”

The Cavaliers opened February holding three straight ACC opponents – Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Florida State – each under 60 points.

“I feel like they’ve learned a ton,” Odom said. “The defensive rebounding has certainly improved. The point of screen defense has gotten a little bit better. … I think our guys have stepped up over the course of the season and have one of the better defenses in our conference.”

The gradual-but-steady improvement is understandable. Odom fashioned a roster of veteran players who needed time to get to know each other and to learn his system – a full-court pressure defense designed to eat clock and frustrate opponents before they even get to settle into their half-court sets.

Both Hall and Chance Mallory proved to be effective on-ball defenders at the point guard spot, and Onyenso and Grunloh – splitting time at center – emerged as two the best shot-blockers in the ACC.

“Knowing each other, knowing our role on defense and offense, this group is so tight at the court but also outside the court,” Thijs DeRidder said. “That helps too to have that connection.”

UVA’s first game in Charlotte will be against either 7-seed North Carolina State or 15-seed Pittsburgh, two teams the Cavaliers’ defense clamped down on during the regular season.

Virginia held the Wolfpack to 61 points both times they played, a pair of wins for Odom’s squad.

It suffocated the Panthers 67-47 in Charlottesville on Feb. 3.