HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: #16 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (13-4, 7-3) VS MIAMI (7-10, 3-9) 12PM RSN

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: #16 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (13-4, 7-3) VS MIAMI (7-10, 3-9) 12PM RSN

Miami (Fla.) awaits 👊#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 5, 2021

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Feb 6th 2021 12 PM
Opponent: Miami
Site: Watsco Center
RSN (click here for more info), with Evan Lepler (play-by-play) and Brian Oliver (analyst)
Virginia Tech Sports Network. Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst)

U Aren't Bak....
The Hokies are coming off their poorest defensive effort of the season against Pitt and now get a second helping of the Miami Hurricanes. The Hokies are 18-24 against Miami going into their 43rd meeting. Miami leads the home series 12-5. The Hokies come into this matchup 13-4.

The Hurricanes are coming off a 77-75 win over Duke and are rumored to be getting a key piece back against the Hokies. Against Duke, Forward Elijah Olaniyi scored 21 points, Anthony Walker and Isaiah Wong added 16 points apiece. "Hurricanes could have won the ACC regular season title this season if they had no injuries," CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein tweeted after their win over Duke.

Coach giving himself the L

The Hurricanes are coached by Jim Larranaga, who is in his tenth season as head coach at Miami. Larranaga is 197-123 overall guiding the Hurricanes. Prior to Miami, Larranaga had a 14-year run at George Mason where he took the Patriots to the Final Four in 2006. He has led the 'Canes to four NCAA Tournament appearances and an ACC title in 2013.

Coach Larranaga's Hurricanes are 7-10 with wins over NC State, Louisville, Duke, North Florida, Stetson, Purdue and Jacksonville. Their ten losses are against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Clemson, UNC, Boston College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Florida State, Wake Forest and Florida Gulf Coast.

Defensively, Coach Larranaga primarily employs man-to-man, with the scramble 3-2 zone as a secondary defense. A combination of the two is a series of zones that he calls the Camouflage, which is used strategically as a surprise defense that forces the offense to react to the defense. Once the opponent gets used to a man-to-man and the scramble, the Camouflage defense puts them on their heels immediately. The Camouflage is used most in a full court setting. Each pass, trap, deflection and player responsibility is analyzed.

When they play man-to-man defense, the focus is retaining inside position to facilitate defensive rebounding and limiting second chance opportunities. The ability to box out was also a huge component of Pitt's game plan against the Hokies. Limiting the Hokies second chances will be a huge focus for the Hurricanes.

Offensively, Coach Larranaga typically has his teams playing a form of Zone offense with a specific focus on the use of ball screens to give shooters separation. He emphasizes ball movement, man movement, screening, dribble penetration, and offensive rebounding.

Based on the defensive setting of their opponent, Miami uses three variations of the zone offenses. These are:
Slice & Dice Zone Offense – Use versus a 2-3, 3-2 or 1-2-2 zone. This offense uses four players on the perimeter and one post to force the defense to move, communicate and change their match ups.
Crack & Carve Zone Offense – Use versus a 2-3, 3-2 or 1-2-2 zone. This power game offense utilizes two post players inside and allows them to carve out space, set screens and create good shots for themselves and the perimeter players.
Seek & Find Zone Offense – Use versus a 1-3-1 defense. This offense uses a 4-Out formation and diagonal passing, down screens, back screens and penetration to break down the zone and create open shots. After the game against Pitt expect this to be a common approach against the Hokies for any team with solid perimeter shooters.

Last time out, the Hokies beat Miami 80-78, barely escaping by hitting just enough free throws in the final minute to escape with the win after blowing a 17 point lead. Aluma had 26 points, Mutts 15, Radford 13, and Cone 12. Miami was led by Wong and Cross who each had 16 points. The Hokies missed four free throws and turned the ball over twice in the last minute and Miami missed a potential game winner with five seconds left. After the game, Coach Larranaga "All in all, if you get kind of an open 3-point shot at the top of the key to win on the road against a Top 25 team, pretty much you'd take that."

******Updated******
There are three huge and two smaller differences coming into this match-up, three out of five of which work against the Hokies. Radford is gone for this game and its rumored Chris Lykes, Miami's second leading scorer before being injured is likely to return against the Hokies. That is a 28.5-point swing in Miami's favor. Obviously, every game is different and Lykes playing and Radford not, are covered by someone else minutes wise but the point is that the next man up or down means more talent for Miami and less so for the Hokies. "After two months of not playing and having maybe two practices under his belt, I have no idea what to expect," Larranaga said Friday. "And neither does he." Larranaga also said "Lykes will not start, but he will play as much as he can."

Another key piece Miami did not have in the first game was Kameron McGusty, who sat out with a hamstring injury but has now returned and is scoring 11.6 points per game.

The first positive for the Hokies is that Freshman Guard Earl Timberlake has been ruled out for the game. He was averaging 9.6 points and 5 rebounds per game.

The second more important factor is Jim Larranaga parted ways with Matt Cross this week. Cross hit four threes against the Hokies and put up 16 points in the last meeting. It will be interesting to see where he ends up. Huge talent but apparently not a good fit for Larranaga.

Hurricanes Backcourt

Isaiah Wong
#2, SO, G, 6-3, 180 lbs
Piscataway, NJ - Monsignor Bonner (PA) #76 (2019)
17.3 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Shoots 45% from the floor, 32% from the perimeter and 77% from the line

Kameron McGusty
#23, SR, G, 6-5, 190 lbs
Katy, TX - Seven Lakes High School #38 (2016)
11.6 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 2.1 Ast
Shoots 45% from the floor, 42% from the perimeter and 84% from the line

Harlond Beverly
#5, SO, G, 6-5, 185 lbs
Detroit, MI - Montverde Academy #56 (2019)
7.2 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 3.4 Ast
Shoots 34% from the floor, 16% from the perimeter and 42% from the line. The Hokies want Beverly with the ball, especially late in the shot clock. Beverly and Bede are like clones. Good distributors, zero shooting ability, but superior defense.

Potentially returning

Chris Lykes
#0, SR, G, 5-7, 160 lbs
Mitchellville, MD - Gonzaga College High School #65 (2017)
15.5 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 5.5 Ast
Shoots 36% from the floor, 45% from the perimeter and 91% from the line. If Lykes plays it is critical to run him off the perimeter. He shoots better from the perimeter than inside by a significant margin.

Hurricanes Frontcourt

Anthony Walker
#1, SO, F, 6-9, 210 lbs
Baltimore, MD - Brewster Academy
8.4 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Shoots 46% from the floor, 19% from the perimeter and 65% from the line. The Hokies should treat Walker outside like Pitt treated Bede. Let him shoot and disrupt the interior.

CAPTION THIS
Elijah Olaniyi
#4, SR, F, 6-5, 205 lbs
Newark, NJ - East Side High School
10.4 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Shoots 45% from the floor, 24% from the perimeter and 72% from the line. Became a starter after being granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA after transferring from Stony Brook last season. He is dealing with a shoulder injury though, has missed two games in the last month and sat out practice this week as a precaution.

Nysier Brooks
#3, SR, C, 7-0, 240 lbs
Philadelphia, PA - Life Center Academy
6.2 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast, 0.9 BLK
Shoots 51% from the floor, does not shoot from the perimeter and 57% from the line. Brooks is in primarily for his defensive presence in the lane.

What to expect from Miami?

The Hurricanes commit the third fewest fouls in the ACC at 13.1 per game. The last game against the Hokies they committed 19 personal fouls, although six of those were in the final two minutes of play.

As a team the Hurricanes are shooting 31% from the perimeter on 19.1 attempts per game in ACC play. Lykes and McGusty are their consistent perimeter shooters. Depending on how much he plays Lykes is the big challenge.

With the return of Lykes, Miami's five starters all average 8.6 ppg or higher. Wong leads the way at 17.3 points per game. Nine players are getting 10 or more minutes a contest so a fairly balanced workload.

Miami has been consistently out-rebounded in ACC play, mainly due to their size. Outside of Walker and Brooks their lineup are all 6'7 or smaller. They are however well balanced in this category, as all nine players average at least three rebounds. They are led by Brooks and Wong, who both average better than 5 rebounds per game. Brooks and Walker both average almost one block per contest, with the team better than four per game.

Expect Walker and Brooks to try to limit what impact Aluma has. "This guy is for real," Larranaga said. "As far as I can evaluate, of all the players we've seen around the league and competed against, he's having the best season. He impacts the game at both ends of the court. He can score his brains out. He can hit threes, drive, post up. He makes free throws. He can defend, block shots, rebounds. He's a really complete player, an NBA guy, and I'm so impressed with his improvement." That is high praise coming from Larranaga who doesn't throw around compliments

Beverly and Lykes are the primary distributors, averaging more than 3 assists per game each. Opponents still have a slight rebounding edge over the Hurricanes

The Hokies

The Hokies need to focus on getting Aluma or Mutts the ball down low. The Hurricanes smaller lineup has made it very difficult for them to protect inside. Last time out these two combined for 41 of the Hokies 77 points. The misleading part here is that the Hokies were actually outscored 38-32 in the lane.

Coach Young will need his guys to keep Miami honest by hitting their open shots on the perimeter. The Hokies were nine for twenty-three from outside, led by Justyn Mutts going three of five in the last meeting. Hopefully Cone and Cattoor can do better this game then their combined three of nine.

Tech needs to protect the basketball, especially Mutts and Aluma who each are averaging more than 2.8 turnovers per game. Miami forces opponents into 12.8 turnovers per game in ACC play and convert 13 points per game in transition. In addition they must force Miami into mistakes. Hurricanes held a 19-10 point edge off turnovers in the last game, including five points in the final minute of the game.

The Hokies must slow down Wong, much like Johnson from Pitt, he has the dual ability to shoot from the perimeter but is more likely to beat defenders off the dribble to the basket. Last time out he made several acrobatic baskets.

Aluma and Mutts must be able to position themselves inside to get offensive rebounds. The Hokies failed to create additional opportunities against Pittsburgh, but last time against the Hurricanes created 11 second chance points. Miami opponents right now average 9.9 offensive rebounds per game on thirty-two missed shot attempts.

YOU HAVE TO HIT YOUR FREE THROWS. Miami opponents so far only make 8.9 free throws per game. The Hokies were 13 of 21 from the line last game against Miami.

Bench scoring was a major advantage for the Hurricanes in the previous game. The Hokies cannot afford the large number of empty possessions when substitutions are on the floor. Last game was 25-15 in favor of the Hurricanes.

Highlight of the Clemson Game

Two great toughness/hustle plays with the Mutts block after not getting the tie up followed by Cattoor saving it (and Mutts winning the battle to get that ball) #Hokies— The Tech Lunch Pail (@TechLunchPailD) February 4, 2021

Cattoor got UP for that block!— Todd A. (@todd_allen) January 17, 2021

Not much, maybe the Cattoor block. Aluma continued to deliver.

In Closing

The Hokies must avoid going under screens and must force Miami inside the perimeter. The Hurricanes managed 10 three-pointers in the last game. Early in the last contest, this was a big factor in how the Hokies got out to a 17-point lead. They limited Miami to two of nine shooting from outside. In the second half the Hurricanes shot eight of sixteen. To really highlight the difference, the Hurricanes only hit two more overall baskets in the second half than they did in the first. A big part of this is closing out on Matt Cross outside.

The Hokies must find a way to balance out the rebounds as Beverly and Brooks helped the Hurricanes dominate the boards and the paint last time out. Hokies need 30 points between second chance and turnovers.

There will be at least four Hokies in double figures. Aluma continues his trend of improved play. Cone finds his rhythm, Mutts gets it done inside, and Bede actually scores. Cattoor is called on to play 30 minutes, giving the Hokies a dozen. Game turns on how Alleyne performs.

Hokies storm in and quell the Hurricanes. Hokies come in angry after their Pittsburgh performance. Hokies win 71-65.

Three Popcorns: We saw the best and worst of the Hokies last time they played. They got out to a 17 point lead with 16 minutes to play and needed a missed basket at the end to win. Hoies have also struggled more on the road.

Confidence Factor: