BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: UMES HAWKS (1-12) AT #10 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (10-1) 7PM ACCNE 12/28/2018 GAME INFORMATION

Date/Time: December 28th 1PM
Opponent: University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks
Site: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV: ACC NE Andrew Allegretta & Mack McCarthy
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
Sirius: 134 XM: 194 Internet: 956

Make sure you serenade Coach McNeilly tonight with Happy Birthday if you are at Cassell

Last of the Non-Conference

Buzzketball is home in Cassell against another overmatched opponent and with the challenge of a bleak home atmosphere with the student body on break and an ever constant challenge of bringing in a local crowd you have to wonder why they didn't schedule this on Saturday to give themselves a Womens/Mens Doubleheader to hopefully entice a slightly bigger crowd during the holidays into Cassell to cheer on the Hokies. This is the ninth game between the Hokies and UMES. The Hokies hold an 8-0 edge so far in this series.

The Hawks are coached by Clifford Reed, in his first and probably only season at the helm of UMES. Reed was an assistant at UMES since 2014, when this spring the school decided to not renew the contract of head coach Bobby Collins, and named Reed the interim coach for this entire season. They did him no favors by waiting so long, it gave him little if any time to recruit in a year where he has lost four of his top five scorers from last season. He does however get three veterans back that missed the entire 2017-2018 season with injuries.

Reed is 1-12 at UMES this season, but also spent 10 seasons as the head coach of Bethune Cookman where he was 125-167 as head coach with a surprising run to the NIT in 2011, his final season there. So far this season the Hawks sole win is over Central Pennsylvania College. Their losses are to Georgetown, NC State, Longwood, University of North Texas, Mercer, St Johns, Delaware, ECU, Duquesne, Pitt, Winthrop, and American. Ten of their twelve losses have been by at least ten points with their largest loss by 38 to Mercer. Their average margin of loss is by 19.6 points that includes the score from their sole win.

Defensively, the Hawks at least in a majority of their out of conference games are forced to use zone defense because of the disparity in talent between this team and their opponents. This is a team that plays half the year to make enough money to continue the Athletic Department for its school and then the Conference Schedule to be competitive. They will rotate between a 2-3 and a box and one defensive scheme. They struggle with playing zone and defending the perimeter. That said, opponents thus far have only managed to shoot 36% from outside but that's on 29 attempts per game, meaning even with the low shooting, opponents are still averaging over 10 made threes per contest. UMES is 300th or worse in 9 key defensive statistics this season. One other alarming area for UMES is that opponents are pulling down an offensive rebound on 33% of their own missed shots.

Offensively, UMES under Reed seems to be the kitchen sink philosophy since there does not appear to be much continuity game to game on how they want to approach the offensive end. They seem to look at how they are being defended and throw what they think will work best against it, usually not to a very successful measure. Not to be outperformed by the defense, UMES is 300th or worse in 13 key offensive statistics. So far this season, the Hawks are hitting only 27% from the perimeter, but still attempt over 20 shots per game. Relying heavily on interior scoring to get their baskets seems to also let them down, just not as much as outside. A big part of this I imagine is the rebounding spread. So far the Hawks have been outrebounded by 144 rebounds in thirteen games or about 11 per game.

Hawks Backcourt

Senior Guard Ryan Andino (#1), 6'2, 175 lbs, returns after sitting out all last season with an injury and is averaging 12.1 PPG, 1.6 RPG and dishing out 0.5 APG. He is shooting 33% from the field and 34% outside so far and is making 82% of his free throws. He also averages 1 SPG.

Junior Point Guard Bryan Urrutia, (#13), 6'1, 206 Lbs is averaging 7.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 4.5 APG. He is hitting 46% from the field while hitting 16% of his three pointers. He is also hitting 62% of his free throws.

Montraz Oliver (#10), 6'2, 150 Lbs, Sophomore Guard is averaging 6.1 PPG, 2 RPG, and 1 APG so far. He is shooting 44% inside and 25% outside but is a surprising 90% from the free throw line.

Colen Gaynor (#4), 6'5, 185 Lbs, Sophomore Guard was forced to sit out the first ten games with an eligibility issue that has now been resolved. He is averaging 10 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 1 APG so far in two games back. He is shooting 57% inside and 16% outside but 50% from the free throw line on two attempts.

Dontae Caldwell (#20) 6'5, 195 lbs Junior Guard is another veteran working his way back from injury but is struggling so far in being able to stay on the court. He is putting up 3.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG and a half an assist in about 16 minutes per contest.

Hawks Frontcourt

Junior Forward A.J. Cheeseman (#12), 6'6, 230 lbs, is averaging 12.5 PPG, while also pulling down 3.8 RPG and 1 APG while shooting 43% from inside, 18% from outside and 60% from the line.

Tyler Jones, (#15), 6'7, 200 Lbs Junior Forward is averaging 6.9 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 0.7 APG. He is shooting 44% from the field, 22% from outside and is 67% from the free throw line.

Isaac Taylor (#35) 6'8, 250 Lbs Junior Forward also missed all of last season and the first 11 games this season with injuries. He had 11 points in his first game back but was used sparingly in his second. I would expect he will be on the court against the Hokies as much as possible but how effective he is, is yet to be seen.

What to expect from UMES?

The Hawks have been dealing with injuries, inexperience and foul trouble so their roster is spread thin. They have lost 35 man games to a variety of injuries. They have seven players already averaging more than 2 fouls per contest. As a team, they have been whistled for 228 fouls in 13 games, or 18 per game. Opponents have also attempted 259 free throws so far, or 20 per game.

The Hawks also struggle with turnovers, giving the ball away on average 13.6 times a contest. That said, they force opponents into 13.7 turnovers per contest so the turnovers balance out

The other area the Hawks are having difficulties is shooting the ball. As a team they are shooting 37% from the field (351st in the nation) and only 27% from outside (344th in the nation). That said, they have not fared well against pressure and struggle to create the open shot. As part of this, their opponents have 45 blocks in thirteen games so far. This also leads to a huge disparity in the number of assists simply because opponents are putting the ball in the basket so much more often than the Hawks. Their current assist differential is 213 to 125 on the season.

The Hawks are also dreadful trying to rebound, giving up 33% of opponents missed shots to offensive rebounds, leading to a significant difference in possessions and second chance scoring. They are also outrebounded 4 to 1 when they are on the offensive end. This is more significant than the poor defensive rebounding because of how badly they shoot the ball, leading to more missed shots on their offensive end than the defensive end.

The Hokies

Still no update on Landers Nolley or Chris Clarke being approved to play. Stretches to the 12th Game now. Now that he has missed the Out of Conference play, I would not expect to see him play this season. Clarke getting cleared might make the decision to play to go out with his teammates and be done but that situation is just as unclear as Nolley's.

The biggest factor in this game is focus. If the Hokies can come out and play the way they are capable they should be up by 20 or more points 10 minutes into the contest and be able to work on any aspect of their game that Buzz thinks needs work before ACC play. If they do what has been unfortunately common though, they will play down to their opponents level for significant periods of this game because the crowd is thin and they aren't able to draw energy from the building and do just enough to win the game going away.

Everyone should have a huge game but especially Blackshear and Horne since their only real size is still struggling to regain form since returning from injury, relying on him actually being on the floor. This is an opponent that will struggle all night with size and ability to back down the opponent in the lane.

In Closing

The Hokies have the advantage....period. The Hokies should flirt with 100 points but wont because they will take spurts off that allow the Hawks some semblance of hanging around.

Tech wins 86-48 in a game they easily should double up their opponent's score. This game should be over early but far too often this season we have seen the Hokies put out either a lack of effort, a lack of concentration or a more disturbing combination of the two. A team this talented should not need Buzz to scream at them at halftime to finally get into rhythm but its what it seems to take.

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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I found TKP after two rails from TOTS then walking back to my apartment and re-watching the 2012 Sugar Bowl. I woke up the next day with this username.

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I found TKP after two rails from TOTS then walking back to my apartment and re-watching the 2012 Sugar Bowl. I woke up the next day with this username.

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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I seldom speak to loluva grads, but when I do, I tell them I want large fries.

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I seldom speak to loluva grads, but when I do, I tell them I want large fries.

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Directions from Blacksburg to whoville, go north till you smell it then go east until you step in it

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I seldom speak to loluva grads, but when I do, I tell them I want large fries.

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This is my school
This is home

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This is my school
This is home

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I just sit on my couch and b*tch. - HokieChemE2016

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I just sit on my couch and b*tch. - HokieChemE2016