Hokie Hoops Central: Boston College (10-19) at Virginia Tech (18-11) 9pm ESPNU

Hokie Hoops Central:
Boston College (10-19)
at
Virginia Tech (18-11)
9pm
ESPNU

Hokies -11.5
O/U: 142.5
ESPN Analytics: Hokies 87.6%

Network TV vs Attendance. Will be interesting to see how full Cassell is tonight. 9pm mid week game against a dreadful opponent. Opportunity though to make a statement to a national audience if you blow BC out.

BC is a BAD team. 10 - 19 and 3-13 in ACC play. A win, especially by 10+ points keep the slim NCAAT hopes alive. A loss ends any speculation. BC has ACC wins over Wake Forest, Syracuse and Pitt or the 13th - 15th ACC teams. Their average scoring margin in ACC play is -9.5. Surprisingly, they only have 7 double digit losses though. They either keep it close or really get blown out.

They tend to use mainly a 7 man rotation getting 20+ mpg with Steger, Asemota and Radunovic as the DEEP bench called on in foul trouble situations.

Boston College defends primarily in a compact man-to-man, with heavy gap help. Grant expects them to keep the ball out of the middle, limit rim attempts and force contested jump shots. Perimeter defenders will sit in driving lanes rather than extending to shooters. The priority is stopping downhill attacks.

BC typically avoids overly aggressive hedging schemes. They count their
Bigs to sit at or below the level of the screen. Guards are expected to fight over the top. Grant wants to limit lobs, layups and foul trouble.

BC forwards will play behind in the post, use few automatic double teams and look to adjust shots with strong verticality at the rim. The Eagles want post scorers to score over length rather than give up open kick-out threes. That said, ACC opponents are scoring on 53% of shots inside and only hitting 34% from outside. Opponents though take the 4th fewest 3 attempts in the ACC because its been so easy to score inside.

Boston College offense can be summed up like this: Molasses turning to amber. Paint dries faster than a BC offensive possession. The Hokies must find a way to speed them up or turn them over.

Opponents outrebound, outshoot and out- just about everything BC does but pace hides alot of those flaws. BC is the worst free throw shooting team in the ACC at 61.4%. They are 15th or worse in the ACC in 11 of the 21 stat lines Sports reference tracks.

Eagles Starters
Fred Payne
#5 JR G 6-2 180
15.5 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 2.7 Ast

Donald Hand
#13 JR G 6-5 195
13.0 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 1.3 Ast

Boden Kapke
#33 JR C 6-11 255
10.1 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast

Jayden Hastings
#22 SO F 6-9 225
6.5 Pts, 5.7 Reb, 0.8 Ast

Luka Toews
#10 SO G 6-1 190
6.5 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 2.4 Ast

Eagles Bench
Chase Forte
#9 SR G 6-3 190
5.8 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 2.8 Ast

Aidan Shaw
#23 SR F 6-8 195
4.4 Pts, 6.2 Reb, 0.7 Ast

Caleb Steger
#30 FR G 6-5 180
3.5 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.2 Ast

Jason Asemota
#55 SO F 6-9 200
3.1 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 0.1 Ast

Marko Radunovic
#88 FR F 6-6 205
2.2 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.2 Ast

Speed up the game. Sustain a 15 point run to separate and play from the advantage. Be aggressive defensively early on to create additional opportunities and avoid getting bogged down.

Find Schutt ready to shoot. He will likely be open so use him early. Neo and Hammond should have opportunities as well.

Attack inside with both bigs simultaneously. BC does well at preventing a single big but when faced with dual bigs on opposite side of post they struggle.

For the love of all that's Hokies, Hansberry and Lawal need to avoid dumb fouls early so they are on the floor to separate the score early.