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John Fanta, PxP
Tim Welsh, Analyst
RADIO | VT Sports Network
Zach Mackey, PxP
Mike Burnop, Analyst
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Apple TV or Peacock
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stats.hokiesports.com
Hokies are playing Providence in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off at Mohegan Sun Casino at 4pm showing on Peacock. Even though the Hokies are listed as the home team it is likely to be a very pro-Providence crowd considering the short trip from Rhode Island to Connecticut. We will get a chance to see how the Hokies deal with a road environment.
Providence started their season with an 89-79 win over Holy Cross (341 Pomeroy Ranking). They are coached by Kim English who is 34-34 in his third seasons with the Friars. He coached two seasons at George Mason before coming to Providence. Last season was an ugly 12-20 mark for the Friars.
They have back about 36% of scoring from last season. The Friars start four Seniors and a Sophomore. Point guard, Senior Corey Floyd is the calming force for the Friars and will start but the Friars rotate heavily at guard. He put up a dozen points in game one. Jaylin Sellers will be the starting Shooting Guard and also had a dozen points. Jason Edwards put up 11 points between the 2/3 spots. The two starting forwards are Duncan Powell and Oswin Erhunmwunse. They combined for 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Similar to the Hokies the Friars brought in an Uber talented Freshman from Europe. Stefan Vaaks at PG that led them in scoring in the first game with 19 points off the bench. Jamier Jones was the 38th ranked player in the Class of 2025 as a Wing and put up 16 points in game one as well off the bench.
Cole Hargrove is in the forward rotation and had 6 rebounds. Rounding out the bench is a big body Wing Ryan Mela who plays more a forward role when Providence goes with a smaller lineup. Daquan Davis is kind of an afterthought as the tenth man that played in game one but had very little impact.
The Friars on offense start with three guards and two forwards but their roster forces them into a smaller lineup for at least a couple stretches in game one. As a team they shot 50% from the floor but only 27% from the perimeter. The big stat that jumps out early is the 11 steals that led to 15 transition points. Also the hidden bench scoring, 44 of the teams 89 points.
Sellers and Erhunmwunse had foul trouble that limited their time on the floor. Erhunmwunse got several in the paint grabbing an arm after poor positioning to defend the lane.
The player rotation is unusual. Floyd played the most of any player at 26 minutes. Eight players played 20 or more minutes. Only Hargrove and Davis played fewer than 20 minutes.
On defense expect to see the Friars in an aggressive man-to-man defense that frequently extends 3/4 court. They employ traps in the corner frequently as well.
Friars Lineup
Corey Floyd
#14 SR G 6-4 210
12.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Jaylin Sellers
2 SR G 6-4 180
12.0 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jason Edwards
#1 SR G 6-1 170
11.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Duncan Powell
#31 SR F 6-8 225
6.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Oswin Erhunmwunse
#55 SO F 6-10 220
4.0 Pts, 8.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Off the Bench
Stefan Vaaks
#7 FR G 6-7 206
19.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jamier Jones
#5 FR F 6-6 218
16.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Ryan Mela
#11 SO F 6-6 200
9.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Hokies Lineup
Toibu Lawal
#1 SR F 6-8 200
20.0 Pts, 12.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Amani Hansberry
#13 JR F 6-8 240
19.0 Pts, 13.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Jailen Bedford
#0 SR G 6-4 181
13.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Tyler Johnson
#10 SO G 6-5 215
9.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 5.0 Ast
Neoklis Avdalas
#17 FR G 6-9 215
8.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 9.0 Ast
Off the Bench
Ben Hammond
#3 SO G 5-11 170
9.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Christian Gurdak
#32 FR C 6-10 260
8.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Izaiah Pasha
#4 SO G 6-4 190
6.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Jaden Schutt
#2 JR G 6-5 185
6.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Antonio Dorn
77 FR C 7-0
The Hokies are coming off a 98-67 win over Charleston Southern (329 Pomeroy Ranking). Funny stat, 98 points was only good for 55th in basketball after game one. It was a bit of an ugly first half but they quickly separated in the second half with a 27-4 scoring run. The game was on cruise control at that point. Hansberry went from pressing in the first half to finding his stride in the second. He and Lawal teamed up with the Double Double-Double with a combined 39 points and 25 rebounds.
Those two will play a major role against Providence in that the Friars struggled inside to defend against a much smaller Holy Cross lineup. Get them started early and disrupt the Friars player rotation with early foul trouble.
Neo did not disappoint in his debut at Point Forward. 8 points and 9 assists is a wake up call to the ACC.
Seven players scored at least 8 points ad five players had 5 or more rebounds in a very balanced effort. 46% from the floor, 32% from 3 and a respectable 70% from the line.
The good news is Providence isn't much of a perimeter shooting team and the Hokies will give them trouble inside with a significant height advantage, especially now that Dorn is available to play. Gurdak played a great first half and was the star of the show at that point but Young played him sparingly in the second half.
It will be interesting to see how the Hokies do in the turnover department. They only turned it over seven times in game one but Providence is much more active and tougher defensively than Charleston Southern.
ESPN matchup analysis heavily favors Providence but the betting line still has the Hokies as slight favorites. Providence is currently 64th in Pomeroy Ranking and Hokies are 70th.
Until they show me otherwise, I think the Hokies are the more athletic team with better speed and scorers than the Friars.
Hokies win 82-71.
Will be tuned in from my phone on a camping trip.
Comments
Let's Go!
HOKIES!!!
Got to admit, this roster is probably the most well balanced and depth based roster we've ever had. Having a Magic Johnson sized guard and having 3 bigs is most exciting for me.
These guys, win or lose, should be interesting and enjoyable to watch, especially compared to last season's team. I'm happy for Lawal having a much improved team to play around his acrobatic abilities.
We saw it a bit in the first game but the Neo to Tobi lob is going to be fun to watch. Should be good for 1.39 highlight dunks per game
Now if it was only one a real channel. This will hurt our TV numbers again.
Enjoy camping and the great outdoors! I'll be stuck at a fall wedding! Ugg!
20 minutes to tipoff
I had to sign up for peacock tv for this. Go Hokies!
By tipoff the spread moved to Providence by 2.5
Anyone else getting a coverage to begin shortly message?
Coverage just started. Tip off in 15 minutes
Neo gets things started
4 minutes in.
Neo has 7
"Hit that from Greece" as Avdalas hits his 5th shot in less than 7 minutes. Has personally tied Providence with 12 points, so far.
I'm starting to think this kid is pretty good
Lawal with a monster block.
Dorn is enormous.
Neo Coast to coast!
Bad run there
We've been a bit sloppy, but my goodness did the Prov player blatantly double dribble on his break away
Anyone else think most of the screens from Providence on that pick & roll are moving screens?
Dude sold it too!
Our mistakes and their change to full court press took out lead away and now it's back and forth. Reduce mistakes and we take lead and keep it that way.
If not for Neo this would be pretty ugly. Did not expect Lawal and Hasberry to have a combined 3 points so close to halftime.
Horseshit call.
Some sus foul calls against us this half
Every bit of it
Our 10 to their 5. Yeah. I saw three no touch fouls.
Some fouls that don't seem great, but the bigger question is the horrible defense. Need to make some adjustments in the second half and slow the game down.
I felt the starting 5 started off great on both sides. Then it just stopped. I think our lead was by 8 and then disappeared.
And the 5 on the court for the last 2 mins....not good on either side
Stated when they switched in dorn, he was responsible for about a 4 point swing then we lost momentum with Schutt wasting three possessions back to back
It's going to take a minute for this team to gel. It's the CMY way. His teams, when the roster has to be re-worked, never play well for long stretches of the season. Who knows when that will take place this year (maybe now?).
But we have some great pieces and some depth. If they can gel at some point VT will be a dangerous team.
Still looks way more athletic and more skilled than last years roster by a full 180*
22 for Neo
Struggling to understand how we are being outrebounded by this team.
Can we play defense for a few possessions? Would tip the game.
Also curious how a team that had 19 team fouls in a blowout win in game one suddenly only has 10 so far against us
Well it was their home court.
Yeah but their first game was actually on their home court.
Letting them shoot 42% from three isn't helping
Hansberry and Lawal combined 1 for 12 from the floor. No bueno.
Granted Hansberry can't get a foul called against provs big man despite him hacking him every time
I don't even see a foul there, let alone a flagrant
how the fuck is that a flagrant???????
Awesome to see flopping has made its way from the NBA to NCAA... there was minimal contact there and the guy outweighs him by 40+ pounds.
apparently touching a shoulder you can act like you were clotheslined and they'll give it to you
Yeah, I particularly love the commentators talking about a "hook and hold"
When there was neither on 6 replays
Big bucket by Bedford!
Insane call. Any basketball aficionados tell me why that's flagrant 1 for touching his shoulder on the rebound ?
It was a flop.
But we've now decided we want college basketball to become unwatchable just like the NBA.
With flopping everywhere, shooters jumping into Defenders to try to get "landing zone" fouls, and replays constantly breaking up the game.
Maybe we can throw in some betting scandals to make it extra fun.
HUGE SHOT BY NEO
how does the ball handler get called for a moving screen???
Must be the same refs that calls roughing the passer when the QB still had the ball.
Peacock stream is shite. Audio is 2-3 seconds behind the video.
Allowing two offensive rebounds on back to back Providence possessions under 2 minutes. No bueno. Four point swing
they need to add reviews for embellishment. defender puts his hands on his midsection, guy throws his head back and gets a foul call
No stupid mistakes on final three seconds
How can you call a timeout when a player is dribbling full speed with their head down??
First to 100 wins
traveled on that inbound play
Is Dorn 8 feet tall?? Jesus
This feels like a sweet 16 game. Goddamn
big run to start OT
BOOOM
Where tf was the foul there?
bro didn't get touched and the called a foul. holy shit
💯 💥
HAMMER TIME
Baller!!!
31 points by Neo before his first FTA
Neo gets hit in the face on a rebound, no call, shrugs it off and leads to the slam
Why isn't that end of the game jersey pull a flagrant foul?? It was far worse than the one called on us near the end of regulation.
Let's fucking goooo bois
Ugh missing gimmees in OT
That Hokie fan dancing and drinking behind the bench is enjoying her time in Rhode Island.
(They're in Connecticut but I'll allow it)
already drinking
just because i'm a stickler, they are in connecticut
Same state honestly.
(A friendly) HELL NO.
Connecticut is where rich new yorkers live outside the city. It is not interesting.
Rhode Island, the Ocean State, is a hidden gem with incredibly more history and personality than the commonwealth known solely for bad drivers
Lmao, well played
As I grew up there, vastly different states. Rhode Island was home to the northern Mob and Connecticut is broke as a state.
Casino Drinking can lead to bad things
Not that I would know or anything
Her decision to not wear a bra I'm guessing was from earlier casino drinking.
Too bad we don't have Giftory for Bball wins.
Who says we don't?
https://youtu.be/JC_mNhH1f04?si=6KDGxWVllILN-U7x
I can vouch for that
2-0
huge early season win
Didn't catch any of the game until OT, but if they they were hammering our rebounders arms like they did in OT with no calls then I know why they were outrebounding us.
I love how we seem to have a team that can outplay bad calls that go against rhem!