Mens Basketball: UMD-Eastern Shore (0-0) vs Virginia Tech (0-0) 7PM Game Thread

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Virginia Tech leads the series against UMD-ES 5-0. Last years game: 82-66

Brian has done an excellent job touching on the current Virginia Tech roster and much of what we may see tonight from the Hokies so I will begin with the Shore Hawks and what to expect from them. Eastern Shore may be one of the smallest rosters we see this entire season, with no player above 6'8" expected to see much time on the floor. The Shore Hawks will also be without two of their top three scorers from last season that combined for 27 of their 67 points a game. That said, expect to see a heavy dose of three and four guard sets in this game from the Shore Hawks, as they have three senior guards returning that were top six scorers last season.

Tech should focus defensively on Junior guard Kyree Jones(#45) and senior guard Devon Walker(#11) as they provide much of the offensive punch for this team bringing back about 21 points between them per game.

The other players I would expect to see round out the starting rotation will be senior guard Isaac Smith(#13), junior Forward Iman Johnson(#1), and senior Forward Mike Myers(#24). The first two players off the bench will likely be senior guard Ishaq Pitt(#2) and sophomore Forward Shane Randall(#12). I am not sure where the incoming freshmen will fit in with this team as of yet, but there are five of them to account for so I would expect to see at least one surprise in this group. Possibly Dominique Elliott(#32) at Forward or William Tibbs(#14) at G/F as Elliott brings a college ready body to bang inside and Tibbs is known for his ball handling and ability to create his own shot. Both had extremely successful high school careers.

All that said, the Shore Hawks should have difficulty scoring, especially from outside (last season the team shot 32% from outside the arc). We should have a height advantage at almost every position on the floor and the talent level between these two programs is drastically different. The Hokies won this matchup last season 82-66 and I would expect a similar result in this matchup. The scoring may be lower for both sides with Buzz Williams focus on in your face defense which should limit the looks that Eastern Shore gets at the basket.

I would expect Buzz will mirror the lineup look tonight with three guards and two forwards, with returning players in starting positions and the freshmen being worked in off the bench for the most part this evening. At this point with all the chatter its difficult to determine which of the guards Buzz will run out to start with. Devin seems set at Point Guard but Mueller coming in at Shooting Guard was a surprise I had not anticipated over Smith and Ahmed Hill. This game should be an easier transition for Henry since much of the Eastern Shore roster will still be smaller than him so I would expect Buzz to spend some time finding out what he has in Henry early on. JVZ should be able to have a field day in this game if Buzz decides to focus the offense down low.

Eastern Shore is known for employing a high tempo defense looking to create turnovers to allow for quick transition baskets on the offensive end. Buzz will likely counter this by dominating the paint and taking high percentage shots to slow Eastern Shore into a half court offense.

All in all, I see Tech winning this game 70-51 or something along those lines. Enjoy it as it may be one of the only games that Tech enjoys a double digit lead this season.