Virginia Tech Basketball Hangs On, Beats Liberty 73-63

Throughout the first half it looked like Buzz Williams and company took a page out of the football team's book. They cobbled together a relatively shaky performance, yet still came away with a 73-63 win over the Liberty Flames for their second win of the season.

Joey van Zegeren had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Devin Wilson totaled 13 points and nine assists and Adam Smith chipped in with 13 points of his own. Tech needed every single ounce of performance from its three veterans, as this one was too close for comfort throughout the majority of the game.

As most of the game stories will tell you, Buzz coached against long-time friend and mentor Dale Layer. Layer gave Williams a job at Colorado State in 2000, and years later Williams returned the favor and brought his former head coach in as an assistant at Marquette. The familiarity brought a visible twinge to Buzz's expressions post-game.

"It was the most uncomfortable game that I have ever coached in," said Williams. "And, being very frank with you, I would say that is part of the reason why we weren't very good in the first half."

Despite the rocky start, Tech finished strong and there were definitely things to take away from game two.

Malik Mueller is a baller. I know I touched on this after the first game, but it's the first observation I make every single game. If you're a basketball nerd like I am, you can go back and watch every single Tech possession and do watch him do something different. He's just one of those guys that always seems to have the ball gravitate towards him in one way or another. I'd love to track the number of touches that he got while on the floor against Liberty, because I'd wager that his percentage would be higher than anyone else on the team (even Wilson).

That's why I will always consider Mueller a point guard first. Sure, against the Flames Jalen Hudson dribbled the ball up the floor when Wilson was out, but the offense flowed through The Umlaut. It doesn't always show up in the assist column, but it doesn't have to. He just always moves the ball where it's supposed to go, and takes the shots that he's supposed to take. It's only two games in, but I'll admit it right now: Mueller is to me what Wyatt Teller is to French, a nerd's ideal player of his favorite sport.

That being said, this team doesn't always play like my ideal basketball team. The rebounding is a huge concern. Tech will always be undersized, which is something that they'll have to deal with all season, but when van Zegeren is out things get incredibly rough. Satchel Pierce didn't have a good game on either end and often played behind the play, something that Buzz talked about on Tech Talk Live Monday night. The guys playing "power forward" (Bibbs and Hill) combined for four rebounds, and at times didn't fully box out their man.

On the boards front, one thing that will be interesting to watch develop over the year is Shane Henry's playing time. Henry was the lone scholarship player to not take off his warm ups on Wednesday night. It's understandable offensively, because playing Henry and a center together completely eliminates the spacing that playing small can give you, but you can't convince me that he wouldn't have had a positive impact on the glass. Buzz implied that it was a one-game thing, but it will at least be something to watch.

The moral of Buzzketball game two is easy. This team is young, and they will look it all season. At times, they play absurdly intense defense where all five players don't give an inch. At others, a they cheat passing lanes and have to scramble to find the open opponent. At times they run an offense as smooth as silk, the ball never stops and it leads to open shots. At others someone makes the wrong cut, the ball handler (whoever it is) gets crowded and they turn it over.

Youthful mistakes were bountiful against Liberty, yet it's that same youth that broke open the game with two fast break dunks in the second half. They young guys played well together, and showed a ton of promise with a few beautiful defensive possessions.

Later in his press conference, Buzz acknowledged that his team has played well in spurts, and that at times you can see the five freshmen playing well together, or the five returning players playing well together. He knows, however, that the team still needs to come together.

"Maybe on Saturday, our team can play really good [as a whole]," Williams half-joked. "Because it's not like we have a lot of different choices, so we don't have a margin. We don't have a margin."

Wednesday's performance showed that the team might not have much of a margin, but when the thing's firing it can definitely look good.