Throughout the first half it looked like Buzz Williams and company took a page out of the football team's book. They cobbled together a relatively shaky performance, yet still came away with a 73-63 win over the Liberty Flames for their second win of the season.
Joey van Zegeren had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Devin Wilson totaled 13 points and nine assists and Adam Smith chipped in with 13 points of his own. Tech needed every single ounce of performance from its three veterans, as this one was too close for comfort throughout the majority of the game.
As most of the game stories will tell you, Buzz coached against long-time friend and mentor Dale Layer. Layer gave Williams a job at Colorado State in 2000, and years later Williams returned the favor and brought his former head coach in as an assistant at Marquette. The familiarity brought a visible twinge to Buzz's expressions post-game.
"It was the most uncomfortable game that I have ever coached in," said Williams. "And, being very frank with you, I would say that is part of the reason why we weren't very good in the first half."
Despite the rocky start, Tech finished strong and there were definitely things to take away from game two.
Malik Mueller is a baller. I know I touched on this after the first game, but it's the first observation I make every single game. If you're a basketball nerd like I am, you can go back and watch every single Tech possession and do watch him do something different. He's just one of those guys that always seems to have the ball gravitate towards him in one way or another. I'd love to track the number of touches that he got while on the floor against Liberty, because I'd wager that his percentage would be higher than anyone else on the team (even Wilson).
That's why I will always consider Mueller a point guard first. Sure, against the Flames Jalen Hudson dribbled the ball up the floor when Wilson was out, but the offense flowed through The Umlaut. It doesn't always show up in the assist column, but it doesn't have to. He just always moves the ball where it's supposed to go, and takes the shots that he's supposed to take. It's only two games in, but I'll admit it right now: Mueller is to me what Wyatt Teller is to French, a nerd's ideal player of his favorite sport.
That being said, this team doesn't always play like my ideal basketball team. The rebounding is a huge concern. Tech will always be undersized, which is something that they'll have to deal with all season, but when van Zegeren is out things get incredibly rough. Satchel Pierce didn't have a good game on either end and often played behind the play, something that Buzz talked about on Tech Talk Live Monday night. The guys playing "power forward" (Bibbs and Hill) combined for four rebounds, and at times didn't fully box out their man.
On the boards front, one thing that will be interesting to watch develop over the year is Shane Henry's playing time. Henry was the lone scholarship player to not take off his warm ups on Wednesday night. It's understandable offensively, because playing Henry and a center together completely eliminates the spacing that playing small can give you, but you can't convince me that he wouldn't have had a positive impact on the glass. Buzz implied that it was a one-game thing, but it will at least be something to watch.
The moral of Buzzketball game two is easy. This team is young, and they will look it all season. At times, they play absurdly intense defense where all five players don't give an inch. At others, a they cheat passing lanes and have to scramble to find the open opponent. At times they run an offense as smooth as silk, the ball never stops and it leads to open shots. At others someone makes the wrong cut, the ball handler (whoever it is) gets crowded and they turn it over.
Youthful mistakes were bountiful against Liberty, yet it's that same youth that broke open the game with two fast break dunks in the second half. They young guys played well together, and showed a ton of promise with a few beautiful defensive possessions.
Later in his press conference, Buzz acknowledged that his team has played well in spurts, and that at times you can see the five freshmen playing well together, or the five returning players playing well together. He knows, however, that the team still needs to come together.
"Maybe on Saturday, our team can play really good [as a whole]," Williams half-joked. "Because it's not like we have a lot of different choices, so we don't have a margin. We don't have a margin."
Wednesday's performance showed that the team might not have much of a margin, but when the thing's firing it can definitely look good.
Comments
Here are my quick initial thoughts on the game. I jotted down some quick notes as I watched. I didnt see the first game so i cannot comment on if we improved on anything
Defense:
1. All in all we played fair in M2M (Man to Man). Liberty by no means was a world beater; however, for the second game of the season we were running through the proper motions and kept our breakdowns to a minimum. At this point in the season I am more worried about our defensive rebounding for that will keep teams we should beat into the game. We have alot of new players that will take time getting used to each other and reading each other on when to help, when to switch on screens or when to just show out on screens, etc, etc. We did have some bad stretches and some breakdowns but reps and more reps are needed for this team.
2. We seem to have some trouble fighting thru off the ball screens. Alot due to our size.
3. I like our transition game and expect it to be a strength. Expect a lot of rebound-kick and gun.
4. We seem to be out in the passing lanes better and generating turnovers because of it. I like it. But it can bite us if we arent careful
5. Will Johnson got taken out 2 plays after entering because he did not call out that crushing screen by Liberty at mid court in the first half and didn't pick up help responsibility at the defensive end before it. I dont expect him to play alot, but that wasnt a good 1 minute of playing time. Maybe it was the hair do?
6. We didnt foul alot. Which was great, however, Liberty really wasnt aggressive on offense
Offense
1. In the first half, Liberty played 95% or so 2-3 zone and a couple series mixed in of a match up zone and in the second half mostly 2-3 untill the 6 min mark when they played M2M to try and generate more TOs, then went back to zone for almost the rest of the game. Historically we have been bad vs zones, but i think we look better vs it then ive seen in resent years.
2. We had too many turnovers for my liking vs a non trapping zone, especially in the second half. Second half turnovers coupled with Liberty getting too many second chances is what kept Liberty in the game. This in turn limited our possessions and attempts on offense. We actually were shooting great in the second half (i think they said around 70%?). More possessions would have broken the game out, in my opinion.
3. Because Liberty was in zone mostly I didn't get to see Buzz's pure 4 out/1 high low motion offense v M2M which i was excited to finally see. Instead it was the "zone version" a Zone 4 out 1 in or ("41 Zone") with some sets looking like pass-cut-fill, some looking more of a simple "corners" 41 (which was where our penetrate and kick shined with alot of made 3s from it). All in all i thought we did better then Fair on offense (especially with our historical road bumps vs 2-3 zones) Its the second came of the season and like on defense we need reps after reps with our new players.
4. I was happy with JVZ's play verse the zone. He seems to have improved from what ive seen. He needs to continue to get better and better and stay out of trouble.
5. I like the potential with Bibbs in our 4 out /1 high
6. Need to make more FTs especially with our limited possesions.
Thats all i got for now
I've been at both games, and in both of them Buzz has pulled Johnston off the court and spent a fairly significant chunk of time coaching him. Will isn't that great of a player, but it's nice to see Buzz giving him an opportunity to learn, even if he won't be on the team beyond this season.
I am so pumped to have Buzz Williams on the sideline. What a difference it makes to have some confidence in this team, youth and inexperience aside, its fun.
Gobble Gobble
I'm not much of a basketball expert but I can say with a large amount of confidence that we are better than last season.
#analysis
Played well, very active hands which was good to see. I loved seeing one guy break everytime we got a long rebound or a turnover, it doesn't work every time but when you catch their guys flat footed it's an easy fast break layup. JVZ had a decent game, the numbers looked good but he had a lot of turnovers and wasn't strong enough with the ball inside. That's been his problem for most of his time at Tech. Loved seeing Devin hit his free throws! Unlike last year we have 6 guys who get the ball and their first thought is to attack the basket instead of just 1, that's so great to see.
I thought JVZ looked and played like best big man on the floor last night. The guy shouldn't be doing much dribbling, but he was a force around the rim on either end of the court last night.
Satchel Pierce needs to learn quick to give us another option outside JVZ in the 4 guard set. He didn't move well without the ball and looked eager to get rid of it each time he touched it.
Disappointing to see S. Henry not play, he was really effective in just 13 mins of game one. Especially when the Hill/Bibbs struggled to rebound from the 4ish. I wonder if we should expect this kind of role from Henry when the two bigs are not in foul trouble?
Pierce's biggest hurdle is his lack of confidence right now. He will develop, but it will take time. I remember how many people thought JVZ was a bust his frshman season. They wrote him off saying he was a waste of a scholarship. They did this despite Greenberg and recruiting analysts saying that it would take time - as in years - for JVZ to grow into his potential.
The exact same thing is true of Pierce. It will take time for him, but by his upper class years, he will be a very solid player and a strong defensive presence for us. That doesn't help us right now, but give him time, and he will show signs of growth throughout this season.
Polished 18 year old big men are hard to come by. If he has some considerable growth this year, next season should be a fun ride.
JVZ should have one hell of a resume, Henry, Blackshear and Leday should give us some dynamic options at the 4. Im excited to see what Clarke will do from the 3/4. The guard rotation should speak for itself.
Its going to be fun watching year 1. But everybody who has been watching this rebranding of VT basketball over the last 8 months has to be salivating at the thought of year 2.
Win/loss aside, I've never been more excited to watch development on a game to game basis with these kids. Even seeing Seth Allen jumping right in the celebration mix after a big three has me excited.
I will have to disagree in what I see in Mueller, especially after watching him last night. Mueller undoubtedly has a killer jump shot, especially when receiving a kick out pass that allows him to assert his full body into the shot. His ball handling on the other hand leaves something to be desired. He makes crisp passes from the perimeter but when trying to drive the ball, he appears to have difficulty in finding exit passes or a clean look at the basket. Making crisp passes is something I would expect of any guard but the ability to distribute in traffic is the key attribute I expect of a point guard. Its still a limited sample size of two games so maybe what we see will change as we progress through the season. In the meanwhile, Mueller needs to keep on killing it from outside the arc.
As far as the game went, WAY, WAY too many turnovers with 19 on the game. Tech should have won this game by at least twenty if it wasn't for sloppy play, especially in the first half. We kept Liberty hanging around for way too long and if we play like that in the ACC slate, we would likely find ourselves down by ten. Its a young team and they are still learning each others tendencies so hopefully we will improve on this as we go along.
I was impressed with our defensive effort in the paint. We kept their primary scorer shooting primarily outside jumpers rather than banging down low for easy baskets. He still managed 13 points but that's about 5 points lower than his average. The other two forwards combined for 14 points which is well short of what they have been averaging so far. JVZ did a good job altering shots or forcing people to awkward shooting locations. Bibbs/Mueller were critical in guarding Gielo, especially as he switched from in the lane to outside the Arc. The other large positive was that we severely limited Joe Retic' time on the court by getting him in early foul trouble. This game might have gone a much different route if Retic had a chance to influence more of the gameplay.
Liberty Game
Points in the Paint: 36
This is a combination of JVZ turning in a great game along with our guards consistently driving the ball to the basketball to the hoop, either taking a shot or creating one for someone else.
Points off the Bench: 11
This number is a quite a bit lower than the previous game, as only Hill and Hudson scored off the bench last night.
Free Throw Percentage of Points: 21.9% (16 of 73)
Free Throw Percentage: 57.1% (16/28)
While the point total here meets Buzz' goal of 20-25% of points scored at the free throw line, the shooting percentage was again dreadful. Devin surprisingly had nothing to do with this percentage being so low as he went 9 for 10 from the line last night. That was probably the biggest positive that I took from this game. You could tell someone finally got it in his head to use the same form every time and it was effective. This gives me greater confidence in being able to close games that come down to free throws later in the season. Next person they need to work with JVZ,
Possessions: 68
This was an increase of nine possessions over the UMES game. Its creeping closer to Buzz goal of 80
Points off Turnovers: 27 points vs 20 points
This one shows that for the second straight game we created more points off turnovers than our opponents.
Mueller has a better command of the floor than anyone else out there. It's obvious when you're sitting 10 feet away. The little things, the way he finds space, the way he makes little basketball plays. He's not the fastest, so he's DEFINITELY not beating anyone off the dribble without a screen, and that also gets him into trouble in traffic/in the lane at times.
There's something to be said about a collegiate player playing in control. Knowing who he is and doing everything that he can do at his absolute best. That's not always the case with Mueller, but it is more often than not. He also does so many little things, like a very subtle no-look in transition on a 3-on-1, leading to a dunk, or a baby scoop with his off hand running in the lane. I love watching him play basketball.
Mueller will be a steadying influence on the team this season. As you mentioned, he does a lot of things that don't show up in the box score under his name. It's a pleasure watching him play, as you mentioned. Fortunately, the same can now be said of a handful of our guys. We've got some potential on this team...
Totally. This is the year that they just figure things out, drop games they're not supposed to (but also probably beat someone they're not supposed to), but the players will mature. Guys will eventually figure out not to take a mid-range jumper if all they're good at is cutting to the hoop. Most of the things that are ugly right now will sort out in time.
I will keep disagreeing with you on this - what we are seeing now is NOT ugly basketball. We just watched two seasons of ugly basketball. Now we see players staying active on defense all game, active on offense all game, actual thought put into the offensive plays, hustle by the whole team, and a joy among the players and coaching staff.
That is a beautiful thing. We are finally seeing basketball the way it should be played. That is the mantra, not ugly basketball.
You misunderstand me. I'm not talking about gritty, grindy basketball that's "ugly" to some fans. I'm just talking about jumpers that hit nothing but backboard. Picking up your dribble on a fast break. Young guy stuff that's ugly and is ultimately correctable.
No, I understood that. But already, the amount of youthful errors that are made are minimal compared to the amount of savvy plays made by the same youth - like Mueller. So we've got beautiful far outweighing 'ugly' on the court.
We've got young guys that have bought in on Buzz's philosophy. We haven't had young or seasoned guys buying in on our coaching philosophy in a LONG time. We've got guys who show a lot of potential, even if as role players for the future. Nearly all of our errors are errors of enthusiasm. All of those things are beautiful to finally see.
I think there is a middle ground here. There are certainly stretches of beautiful basketball, especially compared to the last couple of seasons. See Second Half first eight minutes, building lead to double digits and playing defense completely through the shot clock. Pretty amazing basketball to watch.
Then see the twelve through sixteen minute mark in the second half, where we allowed Liberty to close the lead to as few as six. There were quite a few offensive possessions where our young team seemed to mentally check out, made sloppy passes, committed four turnovers, and then on the defensive end sent Liberty to the foul line six times after largely keeping them off the line most of the rest of the game.
Fortunately Devin helped close the game at the line and we came out with a win. Its going to be a blend of the beautiful and the ugly through out this season but either way its much better than anything we saw last year. Hell even the timeouts are more professional than anything we saw last season. I am impressed with how organized they are and that Buzz forces the entire bench to get up and move around to mentally get them focused.
I agree. Last year was ugly. This year is beautiful compared to that. Last year's team would have lost to that Liberty team.
Is "The Umlaut" just a TKP name for Mueller, or just yours specifically? Either way, we need to make that A Thing across the VT fanbase, because I {heart} that nickname so much.
Anyway, I listened to the last couple minutes of the game - I forgot that I could use HokiesXtra (to be fair, that app didn't work so hot when I lived overseas) - and I looked at the stats. The turnovers are bad enough, but are we ALWAYS going to be that bad shooting free throws? That's another reason, in my mind, why we didn't win by more than 10, since we couldn't expand the lead when they were fouling.
I'd rather have a high shooting percentage than our old "live by the charity stripe, die by the charity stripe" motto though.
Fair enough. I haven't followed the program closely in probably 10-15 years. Some of the time, just no way to, and also haven't cared like I do about the football team.
But even with 60-61% FG shooting, we didn't really pull comfortably away. Making more FTs, especially the front half of 1-and-1s, goes a long way to helping that.
One mention of something that Buzz does regularly with many of the players, and I've never seen another coach do in quite the same manner. He takes time during the game to instruct a player one on one in something that needs to be corrected.
The difference in Buzz & everyone else is that he totally ignores the game while doing so, leaving guidance to one of his assistants. He takes the player down to the corner of the court and stands there, 100% focused on that guy, making sure that guy knows Buzz is focused on only him, only helping him. Nobody else goes to that extent to drive home the message to his players that he is focused on their development. It's a beautiful thing.
Henry was under the weather from what I heard.
JVZ had a heck of a game but needs to be more aware of collapsing pressure. Liberty collapsed in zone and man and Joey put the ball on the floor and turned it over instead of hitting the open guy or making a quick deliberate move (without a comfort dribble). He needs to get better with his awareness.
It's great to see these kids playing hard. It's fun to learn how each player plays and what they bring to the table.
Yep, like watching a child develop their personality as they grow. These young men are developing their games before our eyes, and under the expert guidance of Buzz.
What's also great to see is their character off the court develop. When you hear guys buy in like Devin Wilson did, and in his post-game interview mention 'Paint Touches' about three times, you know Buzz has an impact.
Paint touches is one of Buzz's highest priorities in offensive philosophy. Paint touches - the times the ball enters the paint, no matter the player, no matter the resulting action. A pass to a big man in the paint, a drive by a guard who then kicks the ball out for an open 3pter, or merely a layup. All are paint touches. All create pressure on the defense to collapse and leave a properly spaced offense with opportunities. Buzz is huge on 'paint touches', and Devin Wilson is evidently buying in wholeheartedly.
I still have had no luck finding a website that tracks paint touches. I do agree that its a critical function of opening up the offense. The announcers threw out the interesting stat that Buzz gave them, after a paint touch, shooting percentage on the possession goes up by 27%.
I think Paint Touches could be a Buzz stat. Or else it is a sabremetric, since Buzz is deep into that. I don't know of an effective way to track that, excepting re-watching the whole game on film and noting each one. That's certainly above my pay grade, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone else to do so on here either.
I did take note the first game, and the first 3-4 trips down the court, we had six paint touches already. So the guys are buying the concept, even if it is an obscure stat. That's mainly what I use it for - a reference point. Taking notice during a game if we are getting the ball inside the paint, seeing that ball movement is good as a result.
I would bet the ultimate challenge on paint touches this season will be against Syracuse.
agreed. these kids seem to be soaking in everything they can. that's the way it should be. coaching isn't getting yelled at and having it go through your mind space and out the ear but actually understanding the criticism and wanting to get better for your teammates, yourself, and for your coach.
i love the paint touch emphasis. it's a shame the kids already in the program probably had no clue how that correlates to increased offensive efficiency.
Undefeated!!
The other thing I haven't seen mentioned which is an obvious improvement over the last few years is the physical and mental toughness the team displays. They absorbed and met every counterpunch Liberty threw back at them last night, holding their lead and not allowing themselves to be overtaken. I really liked the timeout Buzz called when Liberty cut the lead to 6 and then they came back out and locked down the win. At an early stage they are already showing a mentality of knowing how to win close games - a major problem in past years with this program.