HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Boise State (2-1) vs Virginia Tech (3-1) 8PM ESPNU

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Boise State (2-1) vs Virginia Tech (3-1) 8PM ESPNU

Florida flicks 📸🌴#StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/wIDcmDQtsk— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 23, 2023

Boise State (2-1)
vs. Virginia Tech (3-1)
November 23, 2023
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Orlando, FL
8 p.m. ET
ESPNU
Virginia Tech Sports Network

ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Doug Sherman
Analyst: King McClure

Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop

Current Spread: Hokies -2.5
Over/Under: -142.5

Cattoor goes home to break a record....
The Hokies are in Orlando for the ESPN Events Invitational starting with Boise State and then either VCU or Iowa State depending on results. The other bracket sees Penn State against Texas A&M and Florida Atlantic going up against Butler. The Hokies will get a third game from one of these teams depending on results. The Hokies face the Broncos after a 98-76 win over Wofford. They face the Boise State Broncos squad that comes in 2-1 after a 24-10 season last year and a second-place finish in the Mountain West. This will be the first meeting between the Hokies and Boise State.

The Broncos are coached by Leon Rice, who is in his thirteenth season at Boise State. The Broncos are 268-155 under Rice. This is his second head coaching job with assistant stops at Oregon, Northern Colorado, Yakima Valley and Gonzaga. He was head coach at Yakima Valley for the 1998 season. Boise has been to the postseason in all twelve prior seasons with four NCAA appearances, nine NIT and three CBI. The Broncos opened their season with wins over DIII Vanguard and San Francisco while losing 85-68 to Clemson on Sunday.

The big changes in the roster are the loss of starting PG Marcus Shaver, Naje Smith, Lukas Milner and seldom used Burke Smith. They added freshmen Andrew Meadow and Chris Lockett. They also got commitments from transfers Roddie Anderson, O'mar Stanley and Cam Martin, a grad transfer from Kansas. The five newcomers see Stanley off the bench and Martin in the starting five with Anderson starting but not contributing much. Stanley and Martin are combining for 22pts, 13 reb, and 4.7 ast. This represents about a third of the Broncos scoring.

The Broncos have six players averaging more than 20 mpg and nine average more than 10 mpg. Boise State seems to balance the players on the floor to maintain productivity by spacing their skilled players' time. The starting five are Agbo, Degenhart, Anderson, Martin and Max Rice. Degenhart missed the initial game due to a facial injury and Anderson doesn't really bring much. The bench contributors of note are Stanley and Keene. They have five players averaging 9.7 ppg or higher.

Defensively, Boise State play a high pressure man-to-man. Traps on inbounds or as the ball handler crosses mid-court are common. They force about 13 turnovers per game and are rebounding to a twenty-two rebound advantage over three games. All of the rebound advantage came against Vanguard so difficult to tell if it's a strength. Clemson heavily outrebounded the Broncos so I suspect it's a minor strength but only to a point. In both wins, they held opponents under 25% from outside and under 44% overall. In the loss to Clemson, the Tigers shot better than 50% from inside and out.

Offensively, the Broncos use a motion focused offense to create back screens, ball screens, movement around the perimeter and ball reversal actions designed to find a defender out of position. Most lineups on the floor the Broncos use a 3 guard 2 big set. They are pretty poor from the perimeter averaging 22.4 perimeter shots per game and are shooting 24% from outside. They focus on creating space to penetrate to the rim. Shooting 52% inside, most of their baskets come by way of layups/dunks. They are only getting 12 ppg from their bench.

Broncos Backcourt
Chibuzo Agbo
11 SR G 6-7 215
17.3 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 0.3 Ast

Max Rice
12 SR G 6-5 194
9.7 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 0.3 Ast

RJ Keene
5 SO G 6-6 202
5.7 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 1.0 Ast

Roddie Anderson
0 SO G 6-2 190
2.7 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 2.3 Ast

Andrew Meadow
13 FR F 6-7 218
2.7 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast

Jace Whiting
15 SO G 6-2 185
2.7 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.7 Ast

Broncos Frontcourt
O'mar Stanley
1 JR F 6-8 240
12.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast

Cam Martin
31 SR F 6-9 230
10.0 Pts, 8.0 Reb, 3.7 Ast

Tyson Degenhart
2 JR F 6-7 232
12.0 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.5 Ast

What to expect from Boise States?
The Broncos rely heavily on the bigs to score but also to facilitate much of their offense. The three bigs are averaging 34 ppg, 16.5 rpg, and 5.2 apg. The ability of Martin to find Agbo on cuts to the basket has been a major component of their game.

Agbo is the Broncos leading scorer so not sure who the Hokies try to counter against him. Cattoor has been banged up and they cant afford for Pedulla to get in foul trouble so there is a good chance Collins and Nickel split this duty.

Boise State is average at the free throw line, shooting 69% from the stripe so far. They are getting to the line 25.7 times per game though. They do not foul often, opponents only average 12.3 attempts per game. The Clemson game was a 22-16 advantage in attempts in their favor. This is mainly due to the heavy number of shot attempts they take inside. Kidd and Poteat will need to be careful.

The Broncos excel in ball movement and player movement. They will make it extremely hard on the Hokies man to man defense by running multiple screens both on and off ball.

The Hokies
The Hokies won the game by getting to the line and big games from Kidd and Pedulla. They shot 22-26 from the line. They likely wont be able to count on that big disparity in this game.

Lynn Kidd put up another 20 point night. He also dished out three assists which was an unexpected contribution. His consistency has been crucial for the Hokies.

Long and Beran put up 9 points in 42 minutes. Really not seeing the value of continuing to have them on the floor this much if this is as little as we will see. Collins as well, who contributed 6 points in 26 minutes. Tyler

Nickel was a big contributor against Wofford and may yet break into the starting five if this continues.

Hunter Cattoor had 17 points while hitting four three pointers. This means he needs three more threes in Orlando to break the all-time Hokies record. Pretty fitting that he would do it in his hometown.

Put in the work 😤Results will follow 📈🫡 @lynnkidd20 #StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/5lDN5HJgLI— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 22, 2023

In Closing
The Hokies have a really tough slate this weekend and this game is no exception. The Hokies struggled against South Carolina outside of the confines of Cassell. This will be only the second time the Hokies aren't on their home court. They can ill afford a bad shooting night.

The Hokies need to at least break even on the boards to win this game, especially limiting second chance opportunities with how well Boise scores inside. I am wary on the prospects for this team if rebounding doesn't improve. It just doesn't seem like its important to the coaching staff which is unfortunate.

It was announced that the Hokies will appear in the Fort Myers Tip-Off next Thanksgiving. The Hokies will square off against Michigan, South Carolina and Xavier in the Beach Division. No news yet who will comprise the Palms Division.

Returning to Florida next Thanksgiving 😎🌴🔗» https://t.co/tUrPsDH1tb pic.twitter.com/1D9j7IALMV— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 20, 2023