POSTING THIS EARLY SO STUDENTS KNOW TO GO GET A FREE CASSELL GUARD T-SHIRT
THIS GAME IS WEDNESDAY 11/19/2014 at 7PM
Television/Internet
ESPN3
Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Bill Roth & Mike Burnop
Also available on Digital:
Hokies Xtra & TuneIn
(free on downloaded apps)
This game is the first game of the Cancun Challenge, followed by additional games in Cancun over the Thanksgiving Break
The first 1000 students attending the game will get a free Cassell Guard T-shirt,
Against Liberty:
Games: 16
Overall Record: 13-3 (81.2%)
Home: 8-3 (72.7%) Away: 5-0 (100%)
Last Played: 58-46 Win
The Hokies come into this game after defeating UMD-ES to open the season 71-46. The Hokies jumped out early and never looked back, led in scoring by Justin Bibbs and Malik Mueller with fifteen points a piece. The scoring was fairly even across the team except for the big men, who were in foul trouble early and often.
The Flames also come in on a winning note, having defeated Randolph College 69-45 in their first game of the season as well as Delaware 61-55 on Monday night. The Flames are led by senior Forward Tomasz Gielo(#12) and junior Guard Joe Retic (#23). Gielo scored 14 points 9 rebounds in the first game, also going eight for ten from the free throw line and 23 points, 10 rebounds, going seven for eight from the free throw line in the second game. Joe Retic is averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 assists per game so far while running the point for 30+ minutes per game.
The other members of the Flames to keep an eye on are junior Forward David Andoh(#0) and senior Forward James Johnson (#13). These two gentlemen are averaging 18 points per game and 12 rebounds collectively. The three forwards are 6'9, 6'10, and 6'7 so Tech will need to be better prepared to handle big men down low than they were in the UMD-ES game. Liberty isnt going to simply let Tech run them out of the gym and if Van Zegeren and Pierce are unable to avoid the cheap fouls this game, Liberty would have a decisive advantage down low. That said, Mike Myers(UMD-ES) is still a better post player than any of the three Forwards from Liberty so there will be a decline in singular talent but an increase in total down low competitiveness.
Last member of the Flames to watch will be freshmen Guard A.C. Reid(#2). He is averaging 7.5 points and 1.5 assists per game playing the shooting guard role primarily but taking over the point guard position when Retic is out of the game.
Tech will need to aim to do exactly like they did in the UMD-ES game, which was to limit turnovers and create turnovers and transition them to points. It will be critical that Tech gets out to an early lead so that Liberty is not able to set the pace of play. The Hokies need the Flames to be constantly trying to catch up to expose their lack of true ball handlers and difficulty creating shots outside the paint against a much more intense Tech defense. The biggest concern will be the Tech big men being able to stay out of foul trouble as without them, the size differential between these teams is significant. They must especially try to prevent sending Gielo to the free throw line, considering he is fifteen for eighteen from the charity stripe on the year and this is a game that could swing significantly if Liberty gets a large number of points from the free throw line.
Tech should penetrate to the basket when using a four guard lineup to try to create foul issues for the Liberty big men which could limit the Flames ability to dominate in the paint. Being able to control the tempo of this game will be crucial for the Hokies. The Hokies will need this game to go fast with transition tempo creating open shots for Mueller and Bibbs before Liberty can set its half court defense. Due to the size differential, expect Tech to need a high percentage of mid to long range jumpers to fall to be able to open the floor for penetration in the paint.
Slow and methodical favors the Flames, fast and open favors the Hokies. I expect the Hokies to be able to keep this game fast and open. I anticipate that Tech will win this game going away with a score of 67-49.
Comments
Just to clarify ltrepeter2000's preview, the game is tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Though I'm sure the Women's basketball team would appreciate people showing up tonight at 7pm to watch them take on Norfolk State. As far as I am aware, there are no free t-shirts at the women's game, so don't say I didn't warn you.
No t-shirts for the women's game but they would definitely love the support tonight and next Tuesday against ODU. For both games the promo is buy one ticket and get one free (Two for one Tuesday).
Topless Tuesday?
Sweet!
Well Done Sir!
I guess that's one way to get fans in the seats..
Free t-shirt? Takes me back to the days of the credit card tents on campus.
So i'm not the only idiot that fell for that when I was a student? Free work out t-shirt...where do I sign???
Freshman year signed something for a free BlowPop...worth it.
As a Lynchburg-based Hokie, I would love for the game to be at Liberty but alas, it is not to be. It would never be likely for us to travel to a smaller school anyway. I just hope the Cassell is rockin' tomorrow night! I plan on tuning in to ESPN3 to catch the next installment of #Buzzketball.
A couple of Buzz's goals for games this year are - 80 possessions, and 20-25% of points coming from FTs. Folks that care need to file those reminders away for future reference. Add those two reminders to the key of paint touches being 40+ per game.
Hard to get 40+ paint touches when your big men foul out in a combined 34 minutes
#InventTheFuture
A PG driving into the lane is a paint touch. Buzz's big men have never been the focus of his offenses. We had over 40 paint touches in the first game.
It is good to know though, since it gives me a few more areas to key on in evaluating the team game to game.
Game One:
Free Throws Percentage of Scoring: 23.9% (17 of 71)
Possessions: 59 Total Possessions
Paint Touches: TBD
Chris Coleman from TSL believes Northern Iowa will be a loss. I don't believe that but they might be our 1st real test.
The Northern Iowa game will be much like the Liberty game in that Northern Iowa has experienced big men. If our bigs get into foul trouble, the Panthers are fully capable of running us out of the gym by pounding us in the paint. They are led by Senior Forward Seth Tuttle, who is 6'8 and 240 lbs. Very much the same body size as Mike Myers for UMES but a much better controlled post player. They also have Senior Forward Nate Buss, 6'9, 215 lbs and Junior Guard Wes Washpun. The trio averaged 33.6 ppg last season and so far in their first two games this season scored 79 of their teams 143 points so far, so about 50% of their scoring on the season runs through those three players. They have started the season 2-0 with a win over North Dakota and an overtime win over Stephen F Austin. Neither win jumps out as that impressive, especially needing overtime to finish off SFA.
We should get a much better idea of how this team is going to play against improved competition with their next game against Xavier.
In the waaaay too early to matter Sagarin rankings, VT is 140 and Northern Iowa is 55 .. and Xavier is 31. So we should get an idea of where we are right now as a team
Hard to encourage any student to go out and watch either basketball team when you have to park a mile away from the stadium in this weather. Brrrr
Got 2 hot dogs after the last game: most delicious hand warmers ever.
The lot outside Cassell is not very big and most people park in the public lot at Lane or with a Hokie Club parking pass at Litton Reaves.
Quit giving lame excuses to not attend a Hokie basketball game. If you don't enjoy supporting the team, just own that.
Aw man I thought this game was on right now. Got all excited and now I have to wait.
Hey, you deserve an upvote for that. :-)
Somewhat OT--I was looking online for the shootaround shirt the team is wearing and I couldn't find it for us although about 30 other schools were being sold. Also I searched "virginia tech" on nike.com and got "NO MATCHES FOUND PLEASE TRY ANOTHER SEARCH". Who do I yell at?
Phil Knight, 1 Bigass Nike House Dr., Eugene, OR
Get your seat planned for 7PM. Should be an entertaining game and hopefully another Hokies win.
Red Hook in the fridge and laptop connected to TV ready to stream the best ESPN3 has to offer.
I missed the first game so I am excited to see how the team looks tonight.
Go Hokies!
Kind of a slow start. Liberty getting to the bucket easy on most of their points.
Hey ESPN 3 guy, pull that microphone away from your face.
and they've misspelled Mueller's name on the graphic two games in a row.
They called Joey (JVZ) Johan also.
They made reference though that he wanted to be called that which is why they were doing it. Not sure where they got that information though.
Yep that's the first time I have ever heard of that.
I know Dave Jackson has called him that since he has been on campus and a lot of the other guys do too. Not sure why it took this long for it to be a thing.
That's his actual name. Joey is the closest "American" equivalent and I guess what he went by when he came to the US.
Check his personal info
Turnovers and missed free throws killing us in this game. Tech should have a double digit lead right now but sloppy play has us in a dog fight. Tech is 5-11 at the line with three misses on the front end of 1 and 1's along with 11 turnovers. I know Liberty has turned the ball over just as much but that's the big difference between this game and the last. We had UMES in double digit turnovers last game while we had none.
I am impressed that we have limited Gielo to just outside shots so far, hopefully that continues and we put this game away in the second half.
Mueller definitely needs to stick to shooting corner threes rather than driving the ball. Every time he drove was either a turnover or offensive foul.
We also need to play defense all the way to the end of the shot clock. Five of Liberty's baskets came in the last five seconds of the shot clock, four of those on way too open looks.
My God. Those missed free throws and empty possessions are a killer. It's going to be really hard for us to compete against quality ACC teams if we don't take what's given to us.
Danny Coale is that you? Are you still wide open?
At the beginning of the second half they need to focus on driving the ball right at Joe Retic, the point guard. It made a huge difference with him off the court and he already has three fouls.
JVZ needs to stop dribbling in traffic. Or altogether.
These refs really have a hard on for calling offensive fouls. Never seen so many called in a game.
I really like how our D is hustling around, but at this point you'd like this team start to pull away. I have a bad feeling about this game if VT is only up by 10 or less with 4 minutes left. You can't let them hang around....
Leg for the awesome username.
They should have a Buzz cam streaming on Hokiesports during games. I would watch the hell out of that.
What attendance or has it been announced?
Those kids on their cell phones during break better be surfing tkp!
Always am.
Jesus. Johnston's hair gets weirder every time I see him.
Perhaps he should get a BUZZcut
Thank you. Thank you
Come on guys. Don't give them any hope.
Don't understand Liberty's play here at the end. Playing O like they have the lead.
they were calmly draining clock there.
lolwut
Yeah pretty ridiculous stat lines for this game. I was pleased to see that someone finally got on Devin about using one form on shooting free throws. It made a huge difference down the stretch in this game. 9 out of 10 from the line. It was the mirror image of last game. This time Devin hit almost all and everyone else choked at the line.
It was nice to see JVZ come alive in the second half to really dominate the paint, leading all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Nice double double. Devin came up one assist short on the double double, putting in 13 and 9 assists. Adam Smith wanted to make sure that no one forgot about him so tonight he also quietly dropped in 13 points as well.
It was nice to see Buzz in the post game questions being so focused on the turnovers. 19 for the game kept Liberty in this thing to the very end. If we could have limited those we really run away with this game but its going to give Buzz something to take to practice after a good win to drive the freshmen to be better. Six players had more than one turnover.
Any word on why Henry didn't play at all? This seemed a really critical game to see what defensive help he can offer in the paint with a larger squad against us.
Bibbs again in double figures was the only freshmen to break that mark tonight.
Last thing I will note is that its becoming more apparent that Jalen Hudson is definitely the #2 PG. Mueller just doesn't seem to have the lane presence or ball control to handle the top of the keys in the two games so far. He does however have a deadly spot up jumper, bringing nine points to the table.
Was wondering this as well. We needed size in this game and I thought this would be a big game for him. He was dressed to play, but didn't.
Agree on Mueller. He looks like a very good SG with above average ball handling.
It was nice seeing Jalen Hudson be a bit more involved in the offense. I thought he seemed more under control last night. I also wondered about Shane Henry. If anything, I thought he and Pierce should see more minutes just to evaluate them and get some experience. I know Joey played well, but I wanted to see more Pierce.
Bibbs is a scorer. I also liked how Adam Smith looked last night. 5 guys (I think) in double figures and one assist for Devin away from two players with double doubles. Aside from the turnovers and FTs for people not named Devin Wilson, our offense was very good last night.
Interesting tidbit: Shane Henry didn't check in the game, after a decent opener against UMES. In the doghouse, possibly?
Another interesting tidbit: Did you know that Devin Wilson and Malik Mueller are actually Joey van Zegeren's sons?
After watching this game. This team doesn't have the big men to compete in the ACC. Plain and simple.
I like that it seems that a lot of our guys can make their own shots.
What do you define as "compete in the ACC"? Clearly we aren't going to be competing for an ACC title or a top seed in the tournament. I don't think it's a stretch for us to be more competitive in individual games and improve the win total from last season though.
Meaning I don't think many of our ACC games will be competitive. Seriously we only have two big men, neither of which are very intimidating physically. Players like Jahlil Okafor will have their way all night. I went to every game last year and after watching them tonight they definitely move the ball better but a lot of the same problems exist.
Last year we almost beat UVA at home, our team this year is better than last year. Nobody expects us to be competing for the title, just to beat more teams than just miami twice.
It helps to have realistic expectations. Nobody anywhere thinks that we'll even compete for the top half of the ACC. At least no one that observes the game on a regular basis. What is already obvious is that we will be much more competitive in our games by an exponential margin than we were the past two seasons. That in itself is a huge move forward for the program. We will win more than two ACC games. We will beat someone else besides Miami. We will not have to stall on offense to keep the game within a 20-point loss. We will actually be active on offense and on defense the entire game. We will compete in every game. We won't win every game, but we will compete, even if we lose handily. Those are steps forward. Expectations need to be realistic.
We will be more competitive I'm ACC games than in the past few years simply because we have a much better coach. Not saying we will light the world on fire but I think we win a game or two against some of the better teams in the conference.
We may not be competitive with the top half of conference this season, but considering most seasons past in the ACC, six conference wins is good enough to find yourself in the 10-12 range in conference, I do believe we could see this team reach at least that mark. I also think that Buzz, with his ability to game plan, will lead them to at least a first round win in the ACC tournament.
There are some early season indications that several ACC teams are down this year. Florida State lost to Northeastern on Tuesday night, and the score really wasn't an indication of how badly they lost. Clemson lost to Winthrop on Monday by three as well but that game was at least back and forth most of the game. Boston College lost to UMass by nine and it should have been twenty the way they played. Wake Forest, with new coach Danny Manning, lost by 30 to Arkansas last night, and while Arkansas is expected to be a top half of the SEC team, the SEC in general is not that strong outside of Kentucky. The other losses are much worse but it just gives you an idea that there might be a few teams we can compete with in the ACC once we get to that part of the schedule.
I agree with that assessment. While the ACC is very formidable at the top, there is certainly room to move up in the bottom half of the conference. And people need to remember that is still a good season.
While on paper, we are undersized, extremely young, and have no history of success for the players on the team - you can see the indicators that Buzz is building a very solid program. And people need to remember that is a positive result from this season.
The problem is that too many people equate a successful season with being top tier ACC and NCAA bids, then equate anything less as unsuccessful. For this team, at this time, those parameters just don't apply. We've got to appreciate the journey. As badly as this team cratered the past two seasons, Buzz has a lot of work ahead of him. If/when we lose to Duke or UofL or UNC or Syracuse by 30+ points, that is when people need to remember.
I'm just trying to calm expectations because Buzz Williams is in town. People might be getting ahead of themselves. When Rece Davis came to town a few weeks ago for the Thursday night game he spoke to the Sports Business Club and when someone asked him about Buzz Williams his response was "Show me a coach that knows all the X's and O's but doesn't have a talented team. And I'll show you a coach getting his ass kicked"
I think the phrasing was the issue. Being 'competitive' can be translated different ways. Our losses last srason? Very few were competitive in that we actually had a chance to win. On the other hand, playing hard and making the other team work their butts off to escape Cassell with a victory? That's competitive.
Right now, playing competitive ball means making the other team develop respect for you and not dismiss you as an easy win. Creating a reputation that you come to work every game, all game long. Yes, the W-L record may not reflect that, but we will be competitive. The problem is that too many people pay just enough attention to look at the W-L record and then label the program. That is the attitude that needs to be shunned. It seems most of us have the right mindset for now. We'll see how many retain that as the season progresses.
and there are three of said coaches in the ACC this year alone, plus complete roster resets at several other members of the conference.
The bottom half of the conference will be some order of:
New coaches:
Boston College
Wake Forest
Talent Reset:
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
Clemson
Notre Dame
Of this group, the only one that appears to be playing extremely well is Miami.
If we stayed out of the bottom quarter, the season would be a big surprise to nearly everyone. Like I discovered the very first season we joined the ACC - every single freaking game is a challenge. There are no easy teams, somehow. It's going to be a fun season!
It is a small thing I know, it is Muller not Mueller. We should all take the time to learn all the players names.
Back of his jersey says "Mueller." And if you want to be specific it's Müller
Ok,I didn't know how to do dots. :-) I also didn't know his jersey said Mueller. As Gilda Radner said, nevermind.