HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Virginia Tech (16-13) at Louisville (8-21) 7PM ESPNU
Road finale in the Derby City 🏇🆚 Louisville🕖 7PM📺 ESPNU#StoneByStone x #Hokies pic.twitter.com/cQzfDaxQ6H— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 5, 2024
Virginia Tech (16-13)
at Louisville (8-21)
March 5th, 2024
KFC Yum Center
7 p.m. ET
ESPNU
Virginia Tech Sports Network
ESPNU
Play-by-Play: Mike Monaco
Analyst: Randolph Childress
Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop
Injuries:
Louisville
Dennis Evans (Center) Shoulder - 1/3/24 Out Evans is idle due to a shoulder ailment, and it is unknown when he will return.
Hercy Miller (Guard) Hip - 2/5/24 Out Miller will sit out the remainder of the season after undergoing a procedure to repair a hip injury.
JJ Traynor (Forward) Shoulder - 1/6/24 Out Traynor is shut down with a shoulder injury, and he will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season.
Virginia Tech
Mekhi Long (Forward) Knee - 2/10/24 Out Long will miss an extended length of time due to a knee injury.
Current Spread: Hokies -7.5
Over/Under: -152.5
Road Game....
The Hokies play their final ACC Road Game at Louisville and the road schedule cannot end soon enough. The Hokies look to sweep the season set from the Cards after winning back in December 75-68 led by Collins 20 points off the bench. This will be the 48th meeting between the Hokies and Louisville. The Hokies are 11-36 but come in winners of three in a row after last years win at Louisville 71-54, the Hokies first win there since 1990.
Locked in for tonight 🔒 pic.twitter.com/eVxGBkzObC— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 5, 2024
The Cardinals are coached by Kenny Payne, who is in his second season at Louisville. The Cardinals are 12-49 under Payne. They have doubled their season win total for last year. Louisville is his first head coaching job with assistant stops at Oregon, Kentucky and the New York Knicks. The Cardinals opened their season with a win over UMBC, then a loss to Chattanooga. They are however 7-8 at home this season so something to watch. Its been a brutal 3-15 ACC season so far for the Cardinals.
Louisville signed the #6 recruiting class last season but lost the most impactful player, Trentyn Flowers, who opted to go pro in Australia. The remaining class led by center Dennis Evans added five new faces to the program. The Cardinals also added three transfers as Payne continued to overhaul the program. Amongst the newcomers, Skyy Clark from Illinois has had the most immediate impact but is joined by Tre White from USC in the starting five. Evans has started five of seven games but has had very little impact averaging about 9 mpg and less than two points per contest.
The Cardinals have six players averaging more than 20 mpg but only six average at least 10 mpg. Louisville does not appear to have any injuries coming into this game. The starting five are Clark, White, Michael James, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Evans as the fifth starter. Payne relies heavily on his starting five, who account for 72% of the teams minutes.
Louisville under Payne runs a variation of the Havoc defense, so expect to see a variety of press and trap situations from a man-to-man defensive base. Louisville so far this season though seems slow on getting in front of opposing teams, with opponents taking advantage of the Cardinals in the paint, shooting over 50%.
Defensively they do contest the perimeter fairly after a few lapses in their first couple games. Since the third game, they have held opponents under 30% in all five contests and under 18% in three games.
Offensively, the Cardinals play a positionless motion basketball and Payne specifically said he does not want opponents to be able to predict what they will see which requires him to trust his players to make adjustments as needed with little input from the coaches. The starting guard duo drive the offense combining for over 30 points and ten rebounds. The team averages about 20 perimeter shots per game with four shooters shooting 30% or better but as a team they are averaging 28%.
They reach the free throw line at an incredible rate in home games with four ACC games over 30 attempts, topped by an insane 45 attempts in their win over FSU. 36 of their 101 points in that game came at the line. ACC Opponents are getting to the line over 20 times though so that negates a possible huge advantage. All six main contributors average over 2 fouls per contest.
Cardinals Backcourt
Michael James
0 SO G 6-6 195
13.0 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Tre White
22 SO G 6-7 210
13.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Skyy Clark
55 SO G 6-3 200
13.0 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Ty-Laur Johnson
4 FR G 6-0 160
8.7 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 3.9 Ast
Curtis Williams
1 FR G 6-5 205
5.5 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Cardinals Frontcourt
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield
5 JR F 6-10 235
12.5 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Kaleb Glenn
10 FR F 6-6 205
3.8 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.2 Ast
What to expect from Louisville?
The biggest difference for the Cardinals since the last game is that its no longer Clark first, second and third. They have a very balanced scoring effort and dealt with losing double-digit scorer JJ Traynor. Three players now average 13ppg in Clark, White and James with Huntley-Hatfield close behind at 12.5ppg.
Louisville just seems a step slow in their defense which leaves slashing off ball players open consistently under the basket. The ACC has shot 40% from three against Louisville so a major weakness to exploit. The conference also shot 48.4% overall so the Hokies should be able to get Kidd and Poteat involved underneath.
Rebounding is not a significant plus or minus. White and Huntley-Hatfield are the most consistent rebounders.
Expect to see a four-guard set for the majority of the contest. As stated earlier, starters average 72% of all minutes so foul trouble could have a significant impact on the Cardinals game plan.
The Hokies
The Hokies have to find a way to win on the road. Coming into this game 1-9 on the road. Last time it took a big game from Collins to win this game. The Cardinals had five guys in double-digits but Collins and Kidd combined for 39 points. If the Hokies can get balanced scoring they can run away with it.
The Hokies overcame scorching hot shooting by Wake in the last game to pull out a win. The Hokies limited turnovers which will also be key to beating the Cards.
MJ Collins at point against Louisville seems like a no brainer the way the last couple weeks played out especially if it gets Cattoor open looks from outside.
Another elite performance by Agent 0️⃣ 🫡 pic.twitter.com/IJm4TMZyFR— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 3, 2024
Cattoor was the only other Hokie to finish in double digits against Louisville so feeding him on the perimeter against a team that allows 40% shooting is an easy button. Getting Nickel going as well would go a long way to a win.
In Closing
The Hokies face a press defense which does not help the Hokies. Fortunately this will be the weakest version of the press they will go up against. Can the Hokies protect the ball and work it inside to open players underneath?
Can the Hokies get Kidd isolation opportunities to exploit Louisville weak paint defense. Most ACC teams dominated the Cardinals in paint scoring.
LK could not be stopped against the Deacs 🔥🔥🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/pLNuo3ZQJK— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 4, 2024
Hokies should have the edge in this contest and fans have to hope carry the momentum of coming back to beat Wake into this game focused on building an early lead and are able to force Louisville into risking open looks to pressure the ball.
Comments
Let's go.
HOKIES!
Now Pedulla down on baseline. Having flashbacks even though it didn't last long
looks like he fell and hit his head on a camera.
Yeah he looks fine just having Kitley playbacks
Good start. Up by 9 at the first TV timeout. Zero turnovers so far,
Let's keep this pace.
Pretty close +15 under 8
Good to see Young get a bucket
Johnson just took 4 steps for that and 1 chance. Should have been on the floor foul.
That was a really dumb foul by Kidd
And got another off ball one there. Ugh
I didn't see Cattoor move there but if he did it was from contact
Wow Pedulla got Clark to three fouls. Nice to get him off the floor
Reporting live from the Yum! Center, there's about 12 kids in the student section
Spring break or because they are that bad?
Why not both?
Ugh that's really bad for Louisville losing him. No other real bigs for them.
Damn and then he fell again in the tunnel.
One of the stranger things I've ever seen for sure
Where was the foul on Beran when they threw the ball into the crowd there?
Wow double down....44-22
Whew 44-22! Just don't fall asleep and go ice cold like Wake did against us
Bump 😠
That behind the back to Beran for the three was nastyyyyyyyyyyy!
My wife takes the kids and
The announcer said it was a blood bath. I won't be satisfied until it's a 22 point lead with 22 seconds to go! I still remember the old Metro days!!!
Y'know, I have a lot of fond, and otherwise, memories of the old Metro days. Some really fun games, Cassell full and rocking for the big games, some great players...and better officiating although we gave them constant shit from the rafters then, too.
Me too-
From that trip to Memphis- hanging out in the basement bar at the Rendezvous BBQ restaurant(cause naturally we had no reservations) singing Hokie fight songs, teaching them to others there, singing THEIR fight songs, VT lost in the first round afternoon game; but we watched all the other games rooting for anyone BUT Memphis State(or anyone THEY wanted to win)...(because they were so rude to the Southern Miss fans- yelling Hattiesburg's a slum(to which we replied look where this arena-Mid-South Coliseum- is); we were a small cluster of orange in the lower corner- even got the Florida State cheerleaders to come over to our corner and cheered with us while FSU was playing their game. Great experience!
I was in the rafters at that Southern Miss game in Cassell. It was an amazing game.
Same. We were exhausted afterwards. I can't imagine how Bimbo, Wally and the crew must have felt. Better because of the W of course.
Ah, Wally-ball. Never met a shot he didn't like.
Yep, I was there. That Memphis State game you referenced was an amazing experience. They had just been ranked #1 in the country that morning, as I recall, and when the game was over, nobody left. We stood and cheered and cheered until the team came back on the court for a curtain call a good while later. And that Southern Miss game was incredible. I think Bimbo scored 50, and at the time, it was one of the highest scoring games in college basketball history, also, if I'm recalling correctly. It's been a while.
I think about those days when I hear folks talking like VT was never a basketball school. Maybe not, but for a while, it was pretty much fun with some pretty darned good basketball to boot.
Yes- well technically they were #2 but #1 Duke/UND-(can't remember which it was ) had just lost to UVA the night before so they were "de facto" #1 if not "de jure". Led to my favorite Richmond Times-Dispatch headline-
"Welcome to Virginia- check your undefeated records at the border"!
And in the Southern Miss game, Bimbo ended up with 51 after 36 in regulation. (Wally had 39 and was voted player of the game cause they didn't know it was going to OT); Bimbo scored 15 in OT including many critical FT.
Also a few students I saw ripped out their seats as souvenirs!
Side note- knew Bimbo cause my roommate played on same intramural softball team (along with Bobby Beecher also)-watched Bimbo playing quarters at a party for shots of MD 20-20!
As a kid we'd always climb to the corners with our popcorn, even if there were plenty of seats open elsewhere.
Was at the Dec 5th 1990 game vs Alabama, who was ranked 21 at the time. Won by a point. IIRC, Ibraheem Oladotun had a dunk all by himself.
My dorm mates and i had great seats. We were so close to the floor. We were on TV for the local news when they spanned to the crowd cheering.
We stormed the court and ran down the tunnel from the court with the players. I gave Oladotun a high five and then we were figured out and told to get out of there by the Cassell staff.
EDIT: I had to look up the 1990 roster to recent one of their bigs, Marcus Webb (6'9" 255 lbs). We taunted that dude so much he told us to Phuck Off. When he did that, we went nuts.
That was my era at VT as well. We used to sit front row of the men's games in cassell- we got tickets from the commandant of cadets. It was awesome- Bimbo, Herbster, etc on those teams
Herbster.
I remember Herbster. Also Roy Brow..6 ft 11 , 195 pounds! I remember one of his only dunks on an end to end play.
Roy was definitely offensively challenged, but the man could block shots. Lots of shots.
Herbster is a 100% great dude. just a great guy. He used to hang out with some cadets I knew. Good dude. Those teams weren't good and would have gotten murdered in the ACC, but they were fun to watch and cheer for. I remember going to my first game in the front row and could not believe how big the guys were and how fast the game went compared to high school. I was a student manager for the HS boys team so I saw every game and practice. I could not believe how fast the game was when trying to follow it. Great memories
The Louisville guy pointing the wrong way on that out of bounds was great
I saw that too....LOL
When Wessler is in the game then somebody is feeling confident!
👍 this just in.....Louisville really sucks if we are beating them this bad....
the bad part is, they look like we have on occasion this year.
Touche.gif
Actually they have kept most of their losses close but they allow teams to hit threes and we are hitting. Eight so far.
Sad last two minutes of the half, I wanted 50!
That they have extended to ten
Here comes the meltdown...
No lead is safe with our team this year.
Thought 80 would be a gimme but they are making it hard
13 3's ties a season high, with plenty of time for a few more
I dont like how we lost focus and got sloppy with the lead
whoah what is up with the guys eye behind mike young? Is he on our staff?
That's Mike Burnop, one of our radio announcers. I noticed that too, but I don't know what's up.
Mike Burnop is such a die-hard Hokie that he doesn't get pink eye...he gets Maroon eye!
Probably got hit in the eye by a golf ball. Doesn't look like he misses many days on the links. Great guy, great Hokie, love to hear him on the radio.
Happy to beat a team we should beat, handily, on the road. Fam!
I don't care how bad they are or how bad we are.
Beating them in Louisville pleases me in a way that cannot be expressed in words.
/\ This. Well said.