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The Hokies will face Northern Iowa in their second game of the Cancun Challenge this evening. This is the first time Tech will have ever faced this opponent. This opponent will provide us insight into how much of the remainder of this season may go. This is the first team we will face that has at least some ACC caliber talent, especially at the Power Forward position. Northern Iowa is also not relying on freshmen at many key positions like our previous opponents were. Seth Tuttle(#10), Senior Power Forward for the Panthers, comes in averaging 17 ppg and 7.3 rpg. He is the best big man we will have faced so far this season. JVZ and Pierce will have their hands full and I am hoping we see Buzz insert Bibbs or Henry as a complement down low to at least assist the bigs so that they dont spend the majority of the game on the bench in foul trouble.
Northern Iowa comes in having defeated four relatively overmatched programs so they have not faced a team that while young has nearly the talent that Tech presents. Tech will need to look to push the pace of this game, create turnovers and turn those into points. This may be a challenge to maintain the energy required considering this will be the first time Tech plays outside the confines of Cassell and there is no guarantee of much of a crowd at this tournament. I can recall games from this tournament from years past where there appeared to be less than 1000 people in attendance. Its hard for a young team to maintain a focused fast pace game with little to no crowd support.
Northern Iowa, after Tuttle, relies primarily on a trio of guards. Wes Washpun(#11) brings 12 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 3 apg from the point guard position. Paul Jesperson(#4) puts up 8.3 ppg along with 3.8 rpg. Last or the trio is Deon Mitchell (#1), who averages 8.3 ppg along with 2.8 rpg. Forward Marvin Singleton(#12) rounds out their starting five with 6.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Northern Iowa so far has 7 players scoring at least 4.8 ppg so they spread the ball well. This will really give us an idea of where we stand defensively as a team. Jesperson will likely play more of a hybrid 2/3 position with his height and size, 6'6 and 210 lbs so having three players out there to defend will be key to our success against this squad.
One area of concern will be our defense outside the arc. Northern Iowa is currently shooting about 40%, hitting almost 8 threes per game.
After the App State game, I am not sure what to expect from Buzz in terms of lineups. He seemed intent on playing everyone and in doing so didnt allow any one person to really get locked in. Hopefully in this game he gives the starters a lot more leeway to establish themselves.
I unfortunately dont think that Tech will be able to stay with this team after the App State game and expect a Hokies loss, 70-62 as Northern Iowa closes the game by making free throws down the stretch as they currently are shooting 73% as a team. Hopefully these Hokies prove me wrong and can maintain a fast paced game leading to many transition baskets and forcing their opponent to conform to them rather than playing a slow paced game that favors the Panthers.
Comments
DVR set.
For those still in Blacksburg, the Women's Basketball team takes on Old Dominion at 7pm. They are coming off a road win over Providence and stand at 4-1. The team is currently being led in scoring by freshmen Regan Magarity and Rachel Camp.
I think that Jesperson is a former wahoo, if I'm not mistaken.
Yes he is.
So my game watch list includes:
1. Improved rebounding, more Def than off.
2. Giddy up and down the floor. Art of war: If you are small and they are big, then they are slow and you are fast. RUN the floor.
3. Big men foul trouble. Gotta come out of the 1st half with no more than 2 fouls each, JVZ, and Satchel.
4. Buzz favorite paint touch. Looking to see how many possessions they actually do it.
5. Best combinations of PG -> SF. Who plays better with whom?
I left off improved FT shooting because that will not improve quickly.
Everyone enjoy the game.
Good game to see if they can bounce back, obviously a superior team but we can beat them with a great effort.
I hope to see the same open looks we had last game, but converting more of them. Also rebounding, of course, but we know that will be a struggle all year.
Anyone know where to watch this game online? My parents don't get CBS Sports at home...
I found this but have no idea if it's real life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d77LWDmhNvo
I wish. All I can find are crappy flash streams.
Beats what I've got going. Link?
http://www.wiz1.net/channel33
Might want to make sure you have ad block plus installed in your browser.
Nice.
I love how the graphic has "NO IOWA" as the team name on the score bar. NO, IOWA, NO!
Buzz is fired up and rightfully so! Good grief refs!
We should probably close out on all these three's they are taking...
No perimeter defense allowing UNI to hit six three's. Same problem as the App State game. Guard drives and kicks out to open shooter because we have no second big man to defend the lane. I am really not sure how it could hurt to get Henry involved in this game to allow the three remaining guards to better position themselves on the outside shooters.
We are still not positioning ourselves down low to rebound on either end which is killing us since our shooters are off so far tonight.
We need to run more plays exactly like that last possession. Fast and crisp and drive into the lane. Very few paint touches this half for the Hokies. None of the guards get down low when JVZ or Pierce attempt a shot either which has to change.
Getting uglier. Bibbs having a tough evening so far. We are approaching shot selection and movement of the basketball better in this half but not getting the results. Was excited for a moment when I saw JVZ and Henry on the court together until I saw that Buzz has Henry playing like a guard on the perimeter. Really want to see how well we can defend the lane with both a big and Henry down low.
A lot of bad stuff in that game, but settling for jumpers stood out to me.
UNI showed much better defensive intensity.
Well I didn't see us losing by 19. This is two games in a row that our inability to defend the paint has killed us. The big difference in stats in this game was the free throw line. We went 3-8 for the night and they went 18-20. All the other stats are for the most part equal. There is just no answer either when the big comes to the top of the key and the guard drives in or the big gets backed down by the more experienced big men.
Until Buzz comes up with a way to rotate the defenders to be able to protect the lane and the outside shot Tech is not going to have much success going forward this season. Good game from JVZ in both scoring and on defense for the most part. JVZ was the only Hokie in double figures with 15 points. Not sure where we go from here. I have to hope that Buzz really looks at playing Henry and even Beyers more to get more size on the court even if it limits some of our offensive capabilities.
For a team of guards, they really couldnt get to the basket. Draw fouls.
This was definitely true. Not one guard was successful driving into the paint. Part of it was the 2-3 zone scheme that UNI ran but if you are going to be successful in college basketball you have to be able to adjust and break the zone. The surprising thing to me was that Adam Smith seemed the most eager to drive the ball out of all the guards. Usually he is the one that seems to be allergic to anything inside the arc on the offensive end.
One other thing that irritated me to no end was our shooters not following their shots. On at least eight missed shots last night, the ball hit the front of the rim and came directly back at the shooters shot path, which if they had followed their shots, they are in perfect location to grab the rebound and put a second easy shot back in. This is on top of taking shots without anyone else to rebound, as that problem persisted last night again. I would estimate close to 14 missed shots there was not one Hokie within legitimate rebounding position. It may not seem like a big deal but it severely limits our second chance points.
It is a big deal. Not even setting yourself up for the possibility of an offensive rebound when you have no BIGs depth. They shot a lot of fadeaways as well. Adam Smith seems up for the game, as did JVZ and I think the start gave Hill the boost in confidence he needed.
I was really impressed by his game overall. I believe he and Bibbs have the greatest upside even though Bibbs played his worst game as a Hokie. Mueller and Devin were way to quiet. Especially Mueller. He of all the guards has the size to get in the paint and hit actually makes FTs.
Sorry, forgot to type that in *sarcastica. This team cant afford any of the mistakes I have discussed and expect to win is how it appears. I consider following your shot a basic basketball fundamental that they teach you in PeeWee's so it drives me a bit crazy to see how many of our guards dont do it.
It is not cool. It is cool to take a long jumper and then run back down the court because you KNOW it's going in.
This is only going to get worse before it gets better. Gotta get players into the system. We're all going to have to be patient with the round ballers. The silver lining with the football Hokies is that the basketball team is a much more complicated rebuild project.
These guys are young. Their fundamentals didn't look good to me. For instance on man, they play the guy as if they want to stop his forward motion. Thats great if you are physically dominant. Most mere mortals shade a guy. Giving him room for a jump shot in order to not get driven on the way you would if you overplay or straight play him.
I saw tons of immaturity out there last night. Like these guys hadn't actually watched that much basketball.
This team will get better, but then plateau as these "low hanging fruit" issues get picked. Then it becomes the more difficult part of development, where hard work and culture become the most important items.
The ACC will be rough... so I agree there will be some worse before better with the program. I think they will play more fundamentally sound basketball and that will help. Help us not get roughed up in the ACC? Dunno about that... want to be hopefully but we'll have to cross fingers root for them.
Sounds like the game was as ugly as the score. I had dinner plans and from the sound of it, this was not a bad game to miss.
i have faith they'll keep battling. it's early in the season and we only need 4 more W's to get bowl eligibility.
Am I alone in thinking JVZ looked incredibly soft yesterday? It seemed like he spent most of his time rotating away from the basket, trying fade away hooks and lower percentage shots rather than going at the basket.
He physically could not back down Tuttle, who guarded him most of the game. Tuttle not only outweighs JVZ but is also a second/third string All-American candidate this season at Power Forward. JVZ took what was available to him, shot 70% from the field and had 6 of the teams 24 rebounds. He took the shots he is comfortable with, and he is especially good at hitting the hook shot, now if only he could hit free throws, where he was a miserable 1-5. JVZ doesnt have the physical strength to back down many people so positioning and creating opportunities are critical for him.
The other thing to remember is that JVZ held Tuttle to his lowest output of the year so far in both points and rebounds so thats got to count for something.
That definitely counts for something. That's not a bad showing on defense, considering what you laid out above. Thanks for giving me an answer!