Mens Basketball: Presbyterian College (4-8) vs Virginia Tech (7-4) 7PM ESPN3

Television/Internet
ESPN3 - Adam Witten & Jeff Kleppin

Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network - Matt Chazanow

The Hokies may be forced to employ a slightly larger lineup than normal in this game. Presbyterian comes in depending on scoring from its forwards, center and wing players to do much of its scoring. They work the ball into the lane to take high percentage shots. Its a surprisingly big roster for such a small school, although some of them are just bodies rather than basketball players, hence their four and eight record so far this year.

Buzz may forgo one of the guards on the floor to test out a Henry/JVZ combination down low (this could also mean Beyer or Pierce) just to offset William Truss(#15), the 6'8" center who comes in averaging 11.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, and 1.8 bpg. Truss is joined by two very active wing players in Jordan Downing(#21) and phenom freshmen DeSean Murray(#3), Downing putting in over 16 ppg and Murray coming in with 13 ppg.

Considering this team is only averaging 60 points per game, if you can shut down two of these three players than Tech should be in for a good night, as these three average over 40 out of the teams 60 points. This is a game where it will be critical for JVZ to stay out of foul trouble. Tech will need his ability to adjust shots against Truss. Henry and Bibbs will likely be called upon to offset Downing and Murray.

If Buzz doesn't choose to go down to three guards than he will likely try to have Tech run these guys out of the gym as Presbyterian prefers a slow methodical game pace and gets into foul trouble early when teams push the pace against them. They also become more turnover prone in these type games turning the ball over 11 or fewer times in their four wins but over 16 times in six of their eight losses. There are no common opponents to compare these teams to each other but Duke beat the Blue Hose 113-44 earlier this year. Presbyterian shoots a respectable 43% from the field, but only 31% from behind the arc.

Expect Bibbs and Smith to have big games offensively as opponents have shot 40% from three point land this season on an average of 22 attempts per game. This says to me that opponents are getting open quite often without much defense behind the arc so expect Tech to hit quite a few treys today.

I could be wrong but I don't expect this game to come down to free throws. Moreover I expect Tech should win this game going away after building a first half double digit lead.

Tech 81 - Presbyterian 63

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5 years, 2 degrees, 33 football games as a student, and 2 Cassell court stormings later, I bleed Maroon and Orange