North Carolina comes into today's game on a ten game winning streak, which has fueled their run back into NCAA position. Early in the season this team couldn't seem to beat anyone that wasn't ranked, losing to the likes of Belmont, Wake Forest and Miami. They are averaging 77 points a game thus far and may have the perfect offensive players to combat James Johnson's 2-3 Zone defense.
Marcus Paige, Leslie McDonald and J.P. Tokoto are all capable of driving the basketball into the lane to create shots or create openings for James McAdoo and Brice Johnson under the basket. Of the five starters, only Tokoto isn't averaging in double figures this season, and he comes in with a measly 9.8 PPG, so they are a very well balanced team when it comes to scoring. They do seem to have a weakness in that most of their losses have come on the road, so that could work in the Hokies favor.
The critical aspect of this game will be how the Hokies block out McAdoo and Johnson. If North Carolina gets more than ten second chance points it will likely be too much for Tech to overcome. I expect JJ to keep this game as slow as possible to limit the number of possessions as he has done the last five games. He will try to force the outside shot, which isn't a bad plan as the Tar Heels are only shooting 35% from behind the arc. I am concerned that with their ability to drive the basketball, Tech could be in foul trouble early and often for hand checks on Paige and McDonald as they attempt to break the zone.
Unfortunately, I do not anticipate Tech having enough to get it done today. I think we will see a score of something like 65-56 as a final score. I hope I am wrong and that the Hokies upset the apple cart. If that's to happen, they will have to get big contributions from JVZ, Wood, and Thompson as the UNC big men have a tendency of getting into foul trouble themselves. Both of them come in averaging almost three fouls per game, so a big push with the inside guys early could change the entire landscape of this basketball game.
Go Hokies, get the upset!!
Television:
http://www.theacc.com/#!/news-detail/ACC-Network-for-ACCMBB-North-Caroli...
Comments
Curtain call for JJ?
No, JJ I think will be back another season with the recent competitive streak. It hasn't shown in the win column, but defensively we have played the last five games pretty soundly. See my other post:
http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2014/february/26/mens-bball-slight-pos...
for more of the details. Basically, we have held the last five teams on average almost 10 points below their season averages thus far and several of them were at or near their worst performance of the season. Now we just have to find a way to do that and score on the other end regularly.
11-11 all tied up. Playing tough and crashing the boards on both ends. So far so good.
Johnston!
Cassell appears to be rockin as well. If you get the chance find Will Johnston three as the shot clock expired
16-12 Hokies!
Been impressed with our ability to adjust UNC shots down low. Cant remember the last time I saw UNC miss from inside five feet so often
Softball beat UNC today and women's basketball beat them last week. Come on men top off the clean sweep!
Edit: Actually we lost the first softball game against them but are winning the second 1-0 right now.
Marcus Paige is so good. Like a left handed Erick Green.
Oh my Tokoto. Just nasty.
Welp sloppy mistakes four possessions in a row
I have no idea how we are in this game right now but I will certainly take it!
Tired of us getting out of our slow pace when we get second chance possessions. Unless its a put back layup, kick it out to Wilson to run the clock again. At least three times this half we have quickly thrown back up an ugly shot instead of finding a good one
Played so well for 17 minutes or so and then went to sleep and let them double their point total in the last few minutes
Been looking for that kind of drive from Eddie all year
Not sure what a charge is if that wasn't one.
Absolutely pathetic offensive foul call. He was moving!
Worst part was that one ref called it a block the other a charge and they didnt even go to the monitor to review it
That was some S on that call. Eddie should have had the three point play there
Dude seeing JJ get that into it makes me pull for him. Gotta love crowd chanting bs and him throwing his hands up for more. Cassel is rocking.
Agreed! Loving the atmosphere!
McAdoo should have gotten the technical right there.JVZ should never make a pass from top of the key. It never goes well.
And now UNC is up 9. That call was total a momentum shifter. Complete BS. JJ is showing fire though, gotta love that.
Hokies are going to have to hit some perimeter shots to get back into this one.
The ref called a great game up until the last 7 minutes the crowd is furious right now those calls were horrendous during that stretch
Mcadoo should have just gotten another foul. Instead they get a second chance bucket
Free throws continue to haunt us
60-56 Final. Tough loss but competitive.
UNC is overrated.
I don't like UNC at all and while they have lost to some crappy teams, they have also beaten some of the best in the nation. Thought the Hokies played really hard today. There were definitely times i thought UNC would run away with it.
And in general I don't like saying a team is overrated, because it kind of takes away from the effort our guys put on the court today.
I think by overrated I mean they don't look a national title contender like some think. Great effort by our boys today however. UNC is still a top 25 team and they took it right to them and fought to the very end.
Thanks for the clarification. I agree that they dont look like a contender or at least in that game they didnt. Duke/UNC game was a different story.
Tech held UNC 17 points below its season average today, and their second lowest output of the year behind a 57-45 loss to then #1 Syracuse. The defense in the 2-3 Zone is really effective as the guys have really improved on their help defense and knowing how to transition. UNC still got 11 offensive rebounds, leading to eight points, so this is still a concern for this team. The bigger problem was the turnovers leading directly to points in this game. Tech had 12 turnovers that led directly to 12 points for the Tar Heels. Turnovers and second chance gave UNC a third of their points, which is at least the third time in the last six games that this has happened. I know I write about this every game but unfortunately its like a record player, playing over and over again no matter the opponent.
James McAdoo was a killer in the second half, scoring 12 of his 15 points on the day. Too many times, UNC was able to find him in the soft middle of the zone and gave him a chance to create.
For the Hokies, Devin Wilson and Jarell Eddie led the way today. Eddie had 18 points and 7 rebounds on the day. Wilson chipped in 15 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists. Will Johnston hit an acrobatic three in the first half as the shot clock expired while he was trapped in the corner that was probably the highlight of the day for Tech.
In the game, we shot a surprising 81% from the free throw line, although three of the misses were the front end of one and ones. The boys went 17-21 though and had UNC players in foul trouble.
Both teams shot a dreadful 29% from behind the arc, especially damaging for the Hokies who put up 24 attempts. UNC did manage to break the 40% mark from the floor, fueled by their late stream of shots inside eight feet that fell. Tech has held the last seven opponents at 42% or less from the field.
Overall it was a great effort from the Hokies, it was good to see JJ fired up from a few really terrible calls that went against the Hokies and the boys can hold their heads high following the loss.
Tech next faces Maryland at the Comcast Center at 8 pm on Tuesday, March 4th on ESPN3. Maryland is currently 15-13 overall and 7-8 in the ACC and fighting for a chance at a spot in the NIT at this point. They play Clemson tomorrow at 1pm on ESPN3. The result of that game and their game against us could ensure Maryland a losing record in conference before they move on to the BIG10. Would be really satisfying to help make that happen.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there has been a little bit of a renewed sense of life into the bball team. Think it's a combination of a new AD; the fans being able to get more into our games because we are playing competitively; and the players playing like James Johnson's job is on the line. Anyway, I like it. Oh and if there are any current students on here, would you tell the guys making the *#!@%+* paper airplanes to stop. Drives me insane.
yeah paper airplanes hurt even more at basketball games....getting a technical against us would've hurt really bad. that being said what with all the negative talk surrounding the program this season I was thoroughly impressed by the teams effort and play. it was a gritty blue collar performance and they really did look like they gave it their all I was proud of how the team played today despite the final score.
The future looks bright
GO HOKIES!
You know what really sucks...when was the last time the hoos men's lost? Is there ANYBODY that can whoop their ass?
uva having an historic season and winning the conference while we suffer through an historically bad season where we've won one game in 2014. . .
but hey! the last few have been close!
I mean there's gotta be somebody in div 1 that can ruin their fucking season. Seriously. The fans are getting to be absolute doucheturds.
getting to be?
Yah know what I mean.
Just remember, our basketball team is having a terrible season, and still won more conference games than LOLUVAs football team.
Now that I think about it, has every single major sport team from the ACC won more conference games than LOLUVAs football team?
ha! that makes me feel a little bit better, gonna have to break that out on a hoo.
And apparently there must be a closet wahoo troll on here that didn't agree with me.
Does the listed attendance of 6500 (in the Yahoo article) have any influence on JJ's status? 2/3rds full for a Top 20 opponent on a Saturday? Or is that just an attendance figure of paid seats, and not counting student tickets?
Will it play a part? Sure. Whit will definitely take into account a pretty full house for a game. I don't know how they counted attendance as part of the article but Hokiesports.com is also tracking 6546 as the attendance so I have to think that includes the students attending. Regardless, I think the change in their ability to remain competitive in games over the last seven games has probably secured JJ another year on the bench much more than any attendance number.