Hokies have a scrimmage today against Duquesne so anyone in town, you can actually get in to Cassell to watch. Tickets are available on HokieSports.com
Duquesne is predicted to finish middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10 this season.
Don't see a broadcast option but does look like HokieSports.com does plan to have Live Stats.
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Bedford, Lawal, Avdalas, Johnson, and Hansberry starting
Only surprise is Pasha not in.
Let's (kinda) Go!!
.... umm, its a scrimmage...
Hokies!
3 total technical fouls in 4 minutes
What is going on?!
2 on each team now
Hard to follow on by keeping up with stats, but Iziah Pasha only has 3 minutes and Hammond doesn't have that much more. Soooooo who is running the point?
Avdalas. Young in an interview this week said he has 3 PGs and had Avdalas as one.
This sounds like Young is playing his bench more this scrimmage. Seems a good plan.
Wow. Avdalas is 6'9" (according to hokiesports). It's not often your PG is bigger than your C but here we are!
He is 6'9. As big as our forwards but slightly smaller than Dorn (7') and Gurdak(6'11). Lawal is also 6'9. Hsnsberry is 6'8 but has a big body.
Hey Magic Johnson is/was 6'-9". Makes it easy to see everything when passing. Or so I've been told.
Halftime
Lawal leads with 12, followed by Hammond's 11
Johnson leads with 3 assists
Avdalas leads with 5 rebounds
55.6% shooting. 40% from range.
Don't look at FT or ATO
Welp HokieSports shows an 83-81 loss in scrimmage. Not good if Duquesne really is a 9/10 team in the A-10
Key statistics and players for Virginia Tech
Turnovers: The Hokies committed 19 total turnovers, with 13 coming in the first half.
Free Throws: Virginia Tech made just 55.2% of its free throws, with the team outside of Ben Hammond and Jaden Schutt shooting 40% from the line.
Standout performance: Sophomore guard Ben Hammond had a strong game with 22 points and three assists.
Other notable players: Tobi Lawal added 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting and led the team with eight rebounds.
They need to practice those free throws.
That's gonna drive my wife insane this year.
There is nothing in the world of college athletics that is as consistent, regardless of venue, as a free throw.
It's inside, from the same distance, to the same height, at the same sized target.
It's all just muscle memory.
There's no reason for any single player to be under 75%
This could be the title of the history of Virginia Tech Men's basketball
Yep giving up free points and giving other teams the comfort to foul in close games as an advantage. No excuse to be this bad at basic basketball.
You make 70% and u win that game. The math is simple.
Welp you can broadcast an exhibition ...if you are the SEC
Duke at Tennessee on tonight
Cameron Boozer for Duke is LEGIT.
Has 24 points, 22 rebounds and zero turnovers against the #18 team.
Arena is full to the brim for this one too. Announcer said they have 22,000 in attendance.
Welp I jinxed him. Turned it over in final minute as soon as I typed it.
Finished with 24 points. 23 rebounds, 6 assists 2 steals and 1 turnover.
Duke hit EVERY free throw in second half to win 83-76.
Making free throws. What a novel idea.
I have zero faith in Mike Young to effectively use talent. People forget because of last year's anomaly but he wasted a couple of good teams in 22-23 and 23-24 that should've made the tournament and definitely had the pieces
23-24 can agree but not 22-23. That season got derailed by Rice and Maddox and by the end of the season the rest were worn out. Too many minutes with the limited bench on that team. Three starters averaged 33+ minutes per game. Lost six of their last eleven games and most of those losses happened in the final four minutes of play.
So having slept on it, how much is "we need work" and how much was "it was an exhibition"?
I wasnt there in person but there definitely was some of the latter. My understanding is Young took out Hammonds and a starter for the final minute to simulate crunch time without your best on the floor.
That said, turnovers and free throws like that are going to lose you 7 out of 10 games most likely. They left THIRTEEN freebies on the floor going 16 for 29. Nineteen turnovers
They were up 10 eight minutes in but in Mike Young fashion they went scoreless for the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first half to allow an 8-0 Duquesne run.
They were outscored 15-6 on fast break which is concerning more that they generated so few points there with a much faster lineup this year.
Concern from a production standpoint is that Hansberry only put up four points...Gurdak off the bench managed six. Surprise from a usage standpoint was that Pasha seemed an afterthought. Hammond got a hot hand but neither he or Pasha started. Its surprising considering how well he did last year at Delaware.