BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: Virginia Tech Hokies (12-9, 4-4) at Pittsburgh Panthers (16-4, 5-3) 630 PM ESPNU

Tune into @ESPNU at 6:30 PM to watch the #Hokies take on Pitt#BeatPitt pic.twitter.com/bzjddFW4Wr— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 31, 2016

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#GamedayGuide: #BeatPitt pic.twitter.com/F9U7NrGAAd— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 31, 2016

Hokies fans, Tech is at the center of the teeter totter again. Sitting at 4-4 in ACC play, this game plays a pivotal role in how we move forward from here. Tough that we have to go to Pitt to play this game, where the Panthers are 14-2 so far this season with losses to #21 Purdue and NC State. The good news is that since entering ACC play, the Panthers have seemed to be a different team on the offensive end of the floor. Their scoring is double digits below their season average in six of the eight conference games so far. Usually when a team dips like that its turnovers or foul trouble. In this case it appears that the Pitt big men have gone stone cold from the floor. On the season they shoot around 46% as a group, but in their three losses they combined to shoot about 31% from inside the paint. Keep an eye out you Johnny Hamilton fans, because this kind of stat smacks of him getting some run in this game. It also wont hurt if our guards are aggressive as usual and can get the starting big men in foul trouble early, so the Panthers have to rely on less experienced guys out there to score in the paint.

The Panthers are led in scoring by Junior Forward Michael Young (#2), 6'9, 235 Lbs. who comes in averaging 17.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.9 APG. He usually gets 5 or more points per game from the free throw line, where he shoots 82%, so someone the Hokies should resist giving a lot of And One opportunities if they can. Young is a beast on defense too, allowing less than 100 points per 100 possessions and with the third highest defensive rating on the Panthers roster according to Sports Reference's advanced statistics.

Young is followed in scoring by Junior Forward Jamel Artis (#1), 6'7, 220 Lbs. Artis brings 15.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG to the floor for the Panthers. He and Zach Leday will likely spend a lot of time around each other this evening which could cause some issues since Artis is the Panthers leading three point attempts guy with about four attempts per game. Needing Leday to rotate out to the perimeter on defense could prove troublesome for the Hokies in defending the Lane. Look for Buzz to get creative in how they handle Artis inside and out.

The only other Panther in double digits is Senior Guard James Robinson (#0) 6'3, 200 Lbs. who brings 10 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 5.0 APG as the Panthers primary ball handler. This matchup will likely fall to Robinson or Wilson, depending who is on the floor at the time.

After these three, the biggest shooter to worry about from the Panthers roster has to be Senior Guard Sterling Smith (#15) 6'4, 185 Lbs. Smith is the Panthers three point specialist while averaging only 6.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG. That number is deceiving though as Smith is one of those hit or miss guys. One night he gives you 15, the next he doesn't score. He is currently shooting about 48% from outside so the Hokies can ill afford for him to get started. As we have seen in many games this year, the perimeter guys kill us at critical moments. I would expect to see him matched up against Seth Allen based on his quickness around the perimeter.

Junior Forward Sheldon Jeter, (#21) 6'7, 215 Lbs putting up 7.8 PPG and 5.4 RPG rounds out the primary starters for this team, so as you can see, they arent an especially large team, which has hurt them in the ACC so far.

Tech should matchup pretty well size wise, the question is can our bigs stay out of foul trouble, especially given their size advantage down low. This is the kind of game where you had hoped to see Kerry Blackshear, coming off his 19th Birthday on Thursday, dominate smaller opponents. We can ill afford to have another game from him like we did against Louisville. If Blackshear can manage a double-double, Tech could win this game by double digits. If he is in early foul trouble, we go back to having three scorers on the floor at any one time, which leaves a lot of points on the floor, especially if Allen gets careless again from outside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @kjblack15 pic.twitter.com/dBNGRZTyQu— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 28, 2016

The one piece of this team that drives me crazy is out inability to get Bibbs open looks. Give him one second of open look at he is incredibly deadly, yet we seem to only manage it two to three times a game. Bibbs could arguably be close to a conference leader in scoring if we could manage to get him open half as much as some other teams seem to find their shooters against us.

On defense, expect to see a combination of man-to-man styles from Jamie Dixon's Panthers. If we get the Panthers in foul trouble early he may be forced into some zone defense as this Panthers team just doesn't seem to have the depth of teams in the past. Even in man-to-man, expect to see the Panthers collapse into the lane to try to prevent easy interior buckets. The other aspect to this is the emphasis that Dixon puts on getting rebounds. He wants his players on both end of the floor to be in correct positions to win the rebounding battle. His goal is to be +10 per game.

On offense, we have seen some changes to the style the Panthers run as well. They were more known for being a perimeter passing offense, looking for one open pass to the interior to create. This season we have seen more taking the basketball to the basket by the Panther guards. Part of this is the new rules and part of it is the talent on the floor in his starting guards.

The Hokies need a big game from their big men, they need Allen to be smarter with his possessions, even if that is driving every time he touches the ball. We cant afford another 1-7 night from outside that we only got 1 offensive rebound off the misses. Getting Bibbs going is critical because it will stretch the Panthers defense, which is something they are not equipped to handle very well and could get them in early foul trouble. On defense, we need to have active hands in the lane because Pitt relies on a lot of interior passing this season both inside and out, the Panthers rely on 18.3 APG to get their scoring in so getting our hands on those passes could make the difference in this game.

The last thing we need is someone, be it Leday, Allen or TYRONE, to have the killer's mentality out there. Someone has to step on the Panthers throat and be fulling to put their foot down.

I just have an inkling that Buzz is going to have these guys tired of taking losses and they are going to come out ready from the tip. Tech wins 77-65 going away as Pitts starters watch from the bench, fouled out.