HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: WILLIAM & MARY (1-1) VS VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (2-0) 6PM RSN
IT'S GOING TO BE A SPECIAL DAY IN CASSELL ON SUNDAY. COME BE A PART OF IT 🏆🤩🎟️: HTTPS://T.CO/MMAXPTJ1G7 PIC.TWITTER.COM/AUCHDEMXOS— VIRGINIA TECH MEN'S BASKETBALL (@HOKIESMBB) NOVEMBER 12, 2022
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Nov 13th 2022 600 PM
Cassell Coliseum (Blacksburg, Va.)
vs. William & Mary
Series: VT leads 76-41
Game Notes: Virginia Tech (PDF)
TV Broadcast
RSN (Affiliates)
Play-by-Play: Tom Werme
Analyst: Brian Oliver
Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop
TV: ESPN Plus
Online streaming:
fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
Current Spread: Hokies -26.5
Over/Under: 110 ...seems pretty low
Banner Night....
The Hokies will hang the ACC Championship banner before this game. The Hokies are 76-41 against William & Mary going into their first meeting in 17 years. The Hokies won the previous meeting with William & Mary, 74-64 in Blacksburg on in 2005. The Hokies didn't play their all that well but still managed to beat Lehigh 78-52. The Hokies struggled on perimeter shooting so were forced to rely on interior scoring.
The Tribe are coached by Dane Fischer, who began his college coaching career at Williams College as an assistant coach in 2003. William & Mary is his only college head coaching job. He took over the William & Mary position in 2019 and has a 34-49 overall record guiding the Tribe. He was the CAA Coach of the Year in 2020. Last season the Tribe were 5-27.
The Tribe are 1-1 to start the season after an opening loss to Navy and a win over Mid-Atlantic Christian 116-40. The Tribe had five players in double figures in the last game, mostly off the bench. It appears Coach Fischer took the opportunity against a light opponent to rest most of his starters and determine what he had deeper on the bench.
The Tribe come into this season with five new Freshman and two grad transfers. Two of the freshmen appear to factor into the Tribe's strategy this season. Forward Jack Karasinski and Guard Chase Lowe. Grad Transfer Anders Nelson seems to be first Guard off the bench. Senior Guard Miguel Ayesa is the primary playmaker working an inside out game with Forward Noah Collier. The duo combine for 25 points per game.
Other returning players that will impact this game outside Ayesa and Collier are Forward Ben Wight and Guards Jake Milkereit and Gabe Dorsey.
Defensively, they play an attacking man-to-man defensive style. Coach Reed drills into his players the situational approach of how to attack an offense especially focused on the perimeter. The secondary focus in this style is to prevent dribble penetration to the lane. The Hokies will need to rely on clean passing into the interior to dominate this game.
Offensively, Coach Reed uses the Spread Ball Screen Offense he picked up under Dave Paulsen. This offense requires stout mobile bigs to allow for pick and roll opportunities and guard separation for dribble penetration. This team is very capable of creating scoring chances, either by shot or by foul. They are averaging 20 free throw attempts per game. They have a significant total rebounding margin but that was heavily skewed by the second game where they finished with a +48 margin. The Hokies have to respect the perimeter though as William & Mary is currently shooting 47% from outside.
The Tribe Backcourt
Miguel Ayesa (#15, SR, G, 6-5, 201lbs) 13.0 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Jake Milkereit (#1, JR, G, 6-5, 200lbs) 21.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Gabe Dorsey (#21, SO, G, 6-6, 215lbs) 8.5 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Anders Nelson (#0, SR, G, 6-0, 175lbs) 5.5 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 5.0 Ast
Tyler Rice (#12, SO, G, 6-1, 178lbs) 5.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 5.0 Ast
Chase Lowe (#2, FR, G, 6-5, 201lbs) 5.0 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 2.0 Ast
The Tribe Frontcourt
Noah Collier (#5, JR, F, 6-8, 210lbs) 12.5 Pts, 10.0 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Jack Karasinski (#11, FR, F, 6-7, 206lbs) 10.0 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Ben Wight (#35, JR, F, 6-9, 205lbs) 10.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.5 Ast
What to expect from William & Mary?
As a team the Tribe are a capable perimeter shooting team, hitting 47% on 22 of 47 shooting. This number is a bit skewed as they shot 28% against Navy and 62% against Mid Atlantic Christian. Defensively against the perimeter, Navy shot 10 of 21, relying more on interior scoring. MACU shot 2 of 18. Navy's success from outside could be exposed more by the Hokies.
William & Mary roster is more on the small size. They tend to run a three guard two big rotation on the floor and utilize almost all man to man. The Hokies should have opportunities to expose the size differential, especially in the interior. The Tribe bigs struggled against Navy with fouls which could change the game significantly.
William & Mary will look to create offense on forcing the Hokies into defensive switches that are unfavorable matchups either in size or speed. Navy struggled to keep the Tribe from getting into the lane on the drive, allowing either easy layups or soft passes to bigs for easy baskets.
The Hokies
The Hokies should be able to score outside against William & Mary by using down low screens to get a guard space on the perimeter. Mutts return showed that Basile floating to the perimeter may not be the norm but hopefully they find some middle ground as his perimeter shooting puts defenses in an awkward situation leaving space underneath to operate.
The Hokies should expect a big game from Kidd in this one. The ability to have him open down low should be there as they stretch the Tribe to the perimeter defensively.
The guard rotation remains the same with Pedulla and Cattoor starting. Maddox is fluctuating starter depending on the lineup. MJ Collins will get the majority of remaining Guard minutes while Rodney Rice remains out with an ankle injury.
This game should allow Cattoor and others to get back on track from outside. The last game was kind of ugly from the perimeter, shooting 28% on 5-18 shooting. Fortunately they didn't need it but that wont always be the case once ACC play starts.
The Hokies face arguably their best opponent so far in this one but they still should be able to separate themselves by halftime. If I was looking for more from any one area it would be to see better tandem defense from Basile and Mutts down low. Otherwise it may become they sub for one another while Kidd and Camden rotate the other big spot with Poteat as the floating sub for all. Basile has been a bit of a liability defensively so far.
Highlight of the Lehigh game
Bigs that don't hesitate to Dunk
Went to the closet and grabbed another dub pic.twitter.com/Zp1xcLXQja— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) November 12, 2022
In Closing
The Hokies work the screen game to get open looks on the perimeter. Cattoor gets his groove back and scores 20+.
The Hokies will create at least ten second chance opportunities which will add 12 to 14 points to the final score. At the line, they will get 16-18 attempts, adding 13-14 points. These 25-28 extra points will be the difference in this contest.
I again only expect four Hokies in double figures. Cattoor, Mutts, Pedulla and Kidd. Basile depending on his role in this game could be a fifth. The rest of the roster may struggle against this man to man defense so bench will likely only account for 20 points.
Hokies celebrate the banner hanging early and celebrate W #3 late. 93-61 win.
Comments
I'll be there 😎
Me too. Looking to see the banner go up.
LET'S GO
HOKIES!
Damn, are those our alternate jerseys? Pretty fresh.
And we're going to look fly as hell:
Even better than expected.
These are sooooooo much better than out other giant VT logo jerseys. Can we make these the primary? Then give us the same pattern but with a white jersey and maroon lettering/numbers
This is what the standards should look like. Not the alternates!
is the audio screwed up for anyone else on watchESPN
Everywhere. Even all the streams.
Is it just me or is the audio totally screwed up.
Edit: drinking already, this sound is hitting me harder than the beers are.
Typical ACCN. Missed the start due to commercial and no sound. I can hear the crowd but not the announcers.
2/2 on 3-ptrs and their bigs have a combined 3 fouls in the first 90 seconds
CMY in the electric blue!
Good work ACCN/RSN. We know you guys are trying your hardest.
When you get two of your opponents starters 2 fouls each in first 4 minutes...trending up.
So I don't really like the cursive Hokies font on a jersey, but I'll be damned if I don't love this combo tonight.
"Gym rat"
Seems like Basille had some trouble rebounding the ball defensively. Kidd is doing a much better job rebounding.
If Kidd can bring a lot of productive minutes during ACC play IMO that's a huuuuge unexpected bonus
That's tough letter of the law application to Flagrant One on Basile. Wasn't even aware the guy was there.
Game is blacked out in Raleigh.. RSN sucks. But looks like there isn't much drama?
Same. Not only blacked out in Raleigh but "isn't available in my area" on my Sling app that I pay for. I had to get on my PC, load Sling in a browser, and set my VPN location to Kazakhstan in order to stream this.
Found a link for stream on YouTube, works pretty well. Search William and Mary vs Virginia Tech
Basile just seems to lack awareness on defensive end. Tough having him off the floor but much better defensively with him on bench.
They are a little slow on the switch back on the picks. Leaving the big man unguarded.
Great work Rob, hoops has become even more important these last few months and my guess is that many of us "need" this right now. Your insights and info enrich the Hokie Hoops fandom experience. Thanks!!
I don't think I've seen a Virginia Tech basketball team with this combination of talent and depth. A whole lot of potential here if the team can stay locked in and focused.
Not just depth, but depth at every position. I cannot remember ever having this many bigs that can actually contribute on at least one end.
Such a boring first half for 57 points and 11 3-pointers.
Pedulla Oblongata is a real heady player. I'll bet he's a coaches son, 1st one in, last to leave the gym. Sneaky good player.
He's developing into one ornery gator
Always good when you predict Cattoor goes for 20+ and he nets 17 in first half.
what was Basille trying to do there? instead of giving help he just got in the way
Cassell showing its age tonight. Must need a new roof cause it is absolutely raining 3s tonight
It's just so nice seeing VT have an offense.
#FalsestartU has left the building
Bball taking the 3:10 to boomgoes the dynamite town.
Film room going to be kind of ugly when Coach Young starts talking about how they played second half defense like the football team tonight.
I might have to go watch the TV coverage of the game if I can find. At the game, Anders was killing us. Basile needs to sharpen up his defense and ball handling.
I am not sure why Mutts only attempted 2 shots, but it looked like he was still happy playing assist monster and rebounder.
Mutts was consistently double teamed down low which in a man to man defense left a Hokie wide open and Mutts usually found the right guy.
Basile defense has been pretty bad so if that continues he likely becomes more of a role player in ACC play unfortunately. Just seems to lose his guy on screens and is slow to recover. Led to at least 4 wide open looks last night.
Win was nice but I imagine film room was a defensive blood bath today.