VT-Maryland Recap

Virginia Tech only played six guys on scholarship today and fell to the much deeper Maryland Terrapins 94-71, their third straight loss of more than 20 points.

Thoughts: Maryland played 10 people today, and we played 7, two of which don’t have scholarships. That pretty much describes the past few games. We hardly have any players, and it’s affected how we prepare, scheme, and play games. James Johnson’s goal is to install an extremely aggressive defensive scheme, my guess being something similar to VCU; causing turnovers and leading to transition points. He doesn’t have enough depth to do this, and it’s affected how we compete and prepare for teams.

Erick Green has no supporting cast. He averages 24.6 points per game, but hasn’t had ANY help during our losing streak. Yes, Jarell is putting up double digit numbers, but is 21 points really that helpful when you have to shoot 19 shots to get there? Jarell has lost his shot and while he is helping some, he isn’t good enough to actually be a scoring threat. Robert on the other hand, has been horrible the past six games. His three point shot has disappeared and there’s an explanation for why below. Thankfully, he hasn’t lost his ability to drive, but 2-22 the past six games from deep has not helped anyone.

We got killed in the first half with second chance points, but did a better job in the second. We got out rebounded 41-38; a margin I thought would be much greater.

Point Guards: Erick Green impressed the scouts quite a bit today with his 28 point performance. At times, he looked a bit selfish, and had a few poor shots, but I attribute that to the lack of support from his teammates. He shot well from behind the arc, and was 10-11 from the free throw line.

Marquis Rankin was extremely impressive defensively and stole the ball three times today. He was great at double teaming and managed to always get his hand on the ball. He had the most impressive steal of the season when he dove and caught a ball in transition, then found Erick for a fast break score.

Shooting Guards: Robert Brown failed to get going for now the sixth straight game. He had 11 points on 4-15 shooting including 1-6 from three. He’s still able to drive, but lacked confidence with his shot. I noticed during his follow through, that his shooting hand turns inward, instead of straight, or even out. This causes the ball to come off of the wrong fingers (pinkie and ring), creating a lot of inconsistency. If I were his shooting coach, I would make him practice getting the ball to come off his index and middle fingers, finishing with his fingers spread apart, and the rest will fix itself.

Will Johnston played sparingly and missed the one three he took.

Forwards: Jarell Eddie played terribly today. He had 5 points and only 2 rebounds, something he is normally excellent with. He was 2-12, and 0-6 from deep, his worst outing of the season.

Christian Beyer played 15 minutes in the second half, and managed to put up 6 points and have 7 rebounds in his limited action. I really wish our other post players would learn to box out like Christian.

C.J. Barksdale didn’t play due to his lack of effort in practice and previous games.

Centers: Cadarian Raines responded nicely from the past few games. He out rebounded Alex Len with 13, and was able to shoot well even with the future lottery pick guarding him.

Joey van Zegeren had another excellent game. He had a monstrous put-back dunk, and has improved every game. Remember he’s JUST a redshirt-freshman, and we could see big things out of him before his time in Blacksburg is over.

Stat of the Game: Maryland shot over 50% today, a stat Hokies don’t want to see. We’ve lost three straight games by more than 20, the first time since the 1936-1937 season.

Mike’s Player of the Game: Erick Green. No one else really stepped up today, and 28 points is an impressive number no matter what.

Maryland is a very good team, so the final result wasn’t too big of a surprise. Watch the Hokies try to get their first ACC win against Boston College at home on Wednesday night. The Hokies first few ACC games are some of the easier ones they will have, so it would be nice to get on a win streak.