Virginia Tech only played six guys on scholarship today and fell to the much deeper Maryland Terrapins 94-71, their third straight loss of more than 20 points.
Thoughts: Maryland played 10 people today, and we played 7, two of which don’t have scholarships. That pretty much describes the past few games. We hardly have any players, and it’s affected how we prepare, scheme, and play games. James Johnson’s goal is to install an extremely aggressive defensive scheme, my guess being something similar to VCU; causing turnovers and leading to transition points. He doesn’t have enough depth to do this, and it’s affected how we compete and prepare for teams.
Erick Green has no supporting cast. He averages 24.6 points per game, but hasn’t had ANY help during our losing streak. Yes, Jarell is putting up double digit numbers, but is 21 points really that helpful when you have to shoot 19 shots to get there? Jarell has lost his shot and while he is helping some, he isn’t good enough to actually be a scoring threat. Robert on the other hand, has been horrible the past six games. His three point shot has disappeared and there’s an explanation for why below. Thankfully, he hasn’t lost his ability to drive, but 2-22 the past six games from deep has not helped anyone.
We got killed in the first half with second chance points, but did a better job in the second. We got out rebounded 41-38; a margin I thought would be much greater.
Point Guards: Erick Green impressed the scouts quite a bit today with his 28 point performance. At times, he looked a bit selfish, and had a few poor shots, but I attribute that to the lack of support from his teammates. He shot well from behind the arc, and was 10-11 from the free throw line.
Marquis Rankin was extremely impressive defensively and stole the ball three times today. He was great at double teaming and managed to always get his hand on the ball. He had the most impressive steal of the season when he dove and caught a ball in transition, then found Erick for a fast break score.
Shooting Guards: Robert Brown failed to get going for now the sixth straight game. He had 11 points on 4-15 shooting including 1-6 from three. He’s still able to drive, but lacked confidence with his shot. I noticed during his follow through, that his shooting hand turns inward, instead of straight, or even out. This causes the ball to come off of the wrong fingers (pinkie and ring), creating a lot of inconsistency. If I were his shooting coach, I would make him practice getting the ball to come off his index and middle fingers, finishing with his fingers spread apart, and the rest will fix itself.
Will Johnston played sparingly and missed the one three he took.
Forwards: Jarell Eddie played terribly today. He had 5 points and only 2 rebounds, something he is normally excellent with. He was 2-12, and 0-6 from deep, his worst outing of the season.
Christian Beyer played 15 minutes in the second half, and managed to put up 6 points and have 7 rebounds in his limited action. I really wish our other post players would learn to box out like Christian.
C.J. Barksdale didn’t play due to his lack of effort in practice and previous games.
Centers: Cadarian Raines responded nicely from the past few games. He out rebounded Alex Len with 13, and was able to shoot well even with the future lottery pick guarding him.
Joey van Zegeren had another excellent game. He had a monstrous put-back dunk, and has improved every game. Remember he’s JUST a redshirt-freshman, and we could see big things out of him before his time in Blacksburg is over.
Stat of the Game: Maryland shot over 50% today, a stat Hokies don’t want to see. We’ve lost three straight games by more than 20, the first time since the 1936-1937 season.
Mike’s Player of the Game: Erick Green. No one else really stepped up today, and 28 points is an impressive number no matter what.
Maryland is a very good team, so the final result wasn’t too big of a surprise. Watch the Hokies try to get their first ACC win against Boston College at home on Wednesday night. The Hokies first few ACC games are some of the easier ones they will have, so it would be nice to get on a win streak.
Comments
We're going to have to shoot much better and play much better defense in the Final Four.
"We’ve lost three straight games by more than 20, the first time since the 1936-1937 season."
damn
thank god we at least have green
We actually did have some bright spots. But if Brown and Eddie keep going with this slump then the season's over. I don't know why either of them are so cold right now, it's very frustrating to watch. I feel bad for Erick, he's an unbelievable player and isn't getting the national credit he deserves.
Christian Beyer should start next game, he gives 100% effort on every single play. I say we start giving him more minutes because he plays so hard no matter what the score is, I love seeing players like that. He isn't supremely talented, but he does all the little things.
Brown's Slump
To be honest I'm not sure that this is a "slump" for Brown. For the majority of last year his jump shot was below average and he was consistently wild on offense while also being a defensive liability. For the first few weeks of the season he did play well and certainly more under control, but I think Robert is actually more the player that we're seeing now than what we saw at the beginning of the season. I just don't think Brown will ever be anything more than an average ACC player.
Eddie does seem to be in a slump, though, and I do think he's talented enough of a player to turn things around. He's the kind of guy that makes a three and suddenly he's got 9 points in 2 minutes.
JVZ has got to be the most improved player in the program right now, and he really battled inside today and wasn't overmatched by the more seasoned Len.
As for Beyer, he does play harder than Raines but he is just too undersized and unathletic to be playing significant minutes in the ACC. I love the kid and he's doing the best he can (he definitely does help on the glass), but I think the fact that he's playing a decent amount really shows how much of a pure talent problem this team has.
Simply put, we're not talented enough to win more than 5 or 6 games in the ACC right now. Put that together with way too many defensive breakdowns and poor rotations and you get three 20+ points losses in a row to teams that will probably be squarely on the bubble come March (maybe with the exception of UMD).