Things didn't look good for most of the Virginia Tech men's basketball team's second half against Pittsburgh. As the last few minutes ticked away, Buzz Williams' bunch was gassed, struggled to score and looked destined to blow their second conference game in three days.
But then, pint sized scoring guard Adam Smith hit a three that seemingly came from the steps of TOTS to force overtime. The incendiary junior had a hand in all eight of Tech's points in the extra period, which catapulted his squad to a 70-67 victory.
This is a nice little moment for the program. In case you're new to the sport or were too depressed to count, this was Buzzketball's first win in exactly a month. And, speaking of streaks that made you sad, this was also Tech's first January win in over two years.
As a fanbase (and I'm sure as a team) this game had a feeling of "getting off the schnide". Just days after collapsing against Virginia, the Hokies grinded its way through one of those mid-week ACC games that makes the league so tough. It's awesome to see these guys finally get the results that they've been working towards for weeks.
Though it sounds like one of those cliches that coaches spew during post game press conferences, there really isn't ever a single moment to dwell on a game. Think about it: Tech just came off a run in which they played three games in six days, all of which touched on just about every emotion imaginable.
A 25-point blowout loss on Thursday, followed by a heartbreaking near-upset over their rival on Sunday and then this marathon of a game. Buzz and his island of misfit players have really seen it all in just under a week, and if they had gotten caught up in either of the first two, this result was not going to come.
It shows preparation, good coaching and the general ability to think you can win any game in which you step on the floor. While that last part may sound easy, the list of detriments to this roster would discourage a lesser group as they faced opponent after opponent of more talented players than them. They were able to move on, and in doing so picked up their ever elusive first conference win.
"I think everybody thinks there is some sort of magic pill or some sort of trick [to win in the ACC]," Williams said. "And maybe there is and I'm too immature to find out. But I believe in what we do, I believe in how we do it, and most importantly I believe in why we do it."
That being said, I know what some people are going to say. Beating Pittsburgh isn't one of those seminal moments that many fans dreamed of the moment Buzz walked on stage at that pep rally. There were dreams of beating powerhouses like Duke, Carolina and, well, Virginia. This, however, means something.
Yes, Pitt is mediocrely boring, often looking like the manifestation of Panthers football on a basketball court, but they're still solid. Though it's not as sexy of a win as beating the No. 2 team in the country, it's still something that can be looked at as a jumping off point.
A short bench, dearth of big men and an overall reliance on inexperienced players have capped what Buzz's first squad in Blacksburg will be able to do. The team next season will indeed be more talented and much better constructed than the one that we're watching right now, but that's not what I care about.
Sure, you can ask the question that if Buzz can will a team as undermanned and as mismatch-prone as this one, what will he do with a full roster of scholarship players? But isn't a better question what will he do over the next month and a half?
The bench is short and the team will have their gas tank running on fumes until early March. But still, this is drastically different basketball than what we as fans have been subjected to over the past three years.
There are no more lazy screens, missed rotations or failures to box out. Guys are cutting hard to the rim, and running out on shooters as fast as possible. As corny as it sounds, there's simply more passion for the game of basketball than there was before. That may stem from the coach, but definitely burns in every single player as well.
If this win was a view of what's to come over the next few seasons, I'll be excited about it. But I'm just anxious to watch this specific group play again, to see if there's more to come this season.
The future of Hokie hoops is bright, but a win like this could mean that the future of this season doesn't look quite as bad either.
Comments
This team has a hundred different reasons they could have packed it up and phoned in the rest of the season and waited for next year, but they've only fought harder. Now our upcoming schedule is looking more winnable with our increasingly "veteran" team:
@ Wake
@ 'Cuse
vs FSU
vs GT
@ Klempson
EDIT: Also, loved those jerseys. Clean grey, subtle orange highlights, "HOKIES" instead of names.
Agree to your point about winning more ACC games. Agree to disagree about the uni's. That grey makes me feel sad.
EDIT: I think the pink shoes are Mueller's good luck charm. He has balled out in those things.
I like the gray half Corp/half Hokie Stone jerseys. I don't like the HOKIES on the back, just have their names. My ideal jersey rotation
Away: Maroon jerseys and Orange jerseys, both have Virginia Tech on the front, the Virginia is white the Tech is the opposite color of the jersey
Home: The gray jerseys with Virginia in maroon and Hokies in Orange. And White jerseys with throwback cursive Hokies on the front and Fighting Gobblers on the shorts
There they go! Smith is legend!
Adam nailed 3 threes from the same spot that he missed the last shot against UVA. Those shots were all money. Mueller (sp) was having a career game, but you could see he was out of gas down the last couple of minutes. In steps Smith. So much grit in this game. They would not be denied. Great win! When I was coming home to watch this game after the game vs UVA I just had this feeling that VT would win.
Wilson was very
I'm proud of the team for coming out and get the job done in OT despite the heartbreaker on Sunday afternoon. As said, the upcoming schedule has the potential for some great games that'll hopefully go our way for some more momentum.
I also enjoyed these unique grey uniforms - I thought they went well with the 'Blackout', which was executed nicely I thought for a non-UVA/Duke/UNC conference weeknight game. Cassell's atmosphere is showing great potential.
Great effort shown by the team tonight. It was reflective of this season. After watching Buzz's postgame interview against UVa, he made it very clear that moral victories are not his goal. His players responded tonight, and responded well.
I am very enthused by the way this team has progressed. I expect them to win more games this season, but I also understand that this one win doesn't automatically mean the fan base should ignore our shortcomings & start expecting us to finish out .500 or something.
Nothing has really changed since September - this season is about building the foundation of a successful long term program. There will be more losses - some ugly - along the way but there will also be wins. Layered over the top of that is that Buzz is constructing a successful program, and doing it in a manner that every Hokie fan 'should' (emphasis) appreciate.
Again, a HUGE congrats to the team & Buzz!
That tying shot was basically the same shot that we attemted at the end of the UVA game. same shot, different result though!
There is no better feeling than knowing we aren't the easy game on the schedule anymore and that every team in the ACC is going to have to bring their A game to beat us. This team is scrappy and full of fight. I haven't enjoyed watching VT Basketball this much since Deron Washington was teabagging Greg Paulus.
Leg up for any Deron reference, and if it were possible double for teabag Paulus reference!
still waiting for someone to make this shirt...
Now where is that smugass Pitt beat writer that said this would be an easy victory for the Panthers? Things are looking up in roundball, love what Buzz is doing. Keep up the hard work boys and the victories will keep coming!
Adam Smith and Malik Mueller deserve plenty of credit for their performances, but to me the linchpin of this win was Beyer. He stepped up and manned the post for what seemed like the entire second half. He was able to pull down rebounds, something this team has not done well, and forced Pitts frontcourt to catch the ball on the edges of the paint. Beyer's rebound made Smith's shot possible. At 6'7" he scrapped in the paint and gave Tech a presence that has lacked since JVZ was suspended. He certainly earned his brand new scholarship.
Truly a team effort. Smith was clutch, obviously, and Muller had an amazing game and kept us in it so that Smith could do his thing. But you make a great point about Beyer. He made some fantastic plays. Obviously the offensive board, he was able to find Smith before the buzzer to send it to overtime. He is a heady player for sure. And he got his own rebound, put it up, and made the FT for the old fashioned three-point play. But Hill made some clutch plays too. I think we were down 7 with a couple minutes I think, he made both FT's. Without those no way we make it to overtime. Then his 3-pointer in OT, allowed us to play with a small lead and really gave us confidence.
Also, I felt like Smith was fouled on several of his made 3-pointers last night.
I think Beyer's three point play was awesome. In the moment the first shot came off the rim, you could see fury in his eyes. He wasn't going to be denied points at the rim again. He fought for the rebound, scored and was fouled. This was earning a victory, not just deserving one.
Don't deny his pussy field goals??!?!!!?
I'm proud of the fight and willpower in this team. Happy to finally watch a win! Hopefully there are a few more left this year
Just when you are about ready to write Mueller off, he goes and does this. He's one of our best defenders and takes care of the ball. If he be a legitimate scoring option, we need him on the court. He's went about 15 games being pretty ineffective.
We need Bibbs back. There were way too many Wilson-Beyer plays last night. If you get any points out of those two on a pick/roll, you are doing well. Hudson and Hill have shown flashes and significant inconsistency. Bibbs brings it all together.
Yeah, Buzz mentioned that they have him at the 4, because of his body and ability to bang and defend opponents 4.
He's always had the ability to score around the basket with those somewhat goofy moves, and has the textbook release and rotation on the deep balls... I think now the game is slowing down for him and he's developing confidence.
For me its Ahmed Hill... it would be a compliment to say he was out of control against ND... it was just not good at all. Turnovers, not making the extra pass, or any pass at all really.
Then the kid comes back vs. UVA and Pitt and looks like a totally different player. Shares the ball, good decisions on his drives, hitting some shots, shooting FT's.
Buzz said after the game that he was proud of him responding 'after all they had been through in their relationship" (????) and that he just wants to please Buzz. I'm guessing he was shown his mistakes in ND game and then for him to turn around his overall game that quick, it is amazing.
I'm a huge fan of Ahmed but he had some pretty bad turnovers in the UVA game.
Hill looks like he's gonna be a great player at some point. Right now though, he's still kinda flailing around a little bit. At some point, his brain and his talent will click and he'll start lighting stuff up. Right now though, he gets into situations and rushes himself and tries to do too much and... throws the ball to the other team. Or off his foot. Or at the cheerleaders.
He'll get there, but much like the rest of the team, we're gonna see some growing pains until he does.
I really like those uniforms with the orange shoes. I wish teams could coordinate shoes. Don't know why that bothers me but I seem to also notice it.
Smith went balls deep and then some. Amazing effort.
Balls deep always gets a leg.
Every other team wears the same color shoes, it drives me bonkers that we don't...
Great win. The team and Cassell felt confident down the stretch, even down 6 with 2 minutes left and even after a should-have-been-demoralizing baseline drive and dunk for the Panthers. Though the timeouts after seemingly every bucket in the last minutes certainly became frustrating, it's reassuring to know that Buzz is going to do everything in his power to get the victory.
That said, I am concerned about the starting lineups from the past two games. Aside from Wilson and Hill, only 23 total minutes, and 0 points, from the other 3 guys (Hudson, Henry, and Johnston) last night. A similar story against Virginia; those three played only 9, 6, and 14 minutes and scored 3, 0, and 0 points, respectively, after starting the game.
I don't claim to know more about basketball than Buzz (or have knowledge anywhere near his, for that matter) but it seems that maybe if the bench guys who are getting starters minutes were in the starting lineup and were given occasional rest throughout, these games might be more in-hand and less grind-it-out.
The results are there though. Well.. at least from last night. Either Buzz knows exactly what he's doing (probably) and this will keep up and I'll look dumb, or he'll make adjustments to get those 20+ minute guys up over that box score divider and hopefully get positive results.
Buzz has mentioned several times his reasoning for several players that play key roles not starting is that they have found those players benefit from sitting on the bench in the beginning to find tendencies in the defense and other aspects of the flow of the game before entering to take advantage of those tendencies. This is very much the case with Smith and was for JVZ, and I believe Buzz may also be utilizing what many would consider a quasi-hockey strategy. Several of those players you mentioned getting few minutes early on are arguably our better defenders, and in hockey you tend to see when one teams best offense are on the ice, the other teams best defensive line is on the ice against them.
So in this case Henry, Hudson and maybe Johnston are out there to prevent the game from jumping out to a blowout by playing tough defense, and at the moment the other coach starts subbing to get some of his starters a rest, Buzz starts sending in some of his best offensive players, hopefully allowing the team to form a small run, getting out to a bit of a lead, so that he can then strategize how best to handle the remaining portion of whichever half we are in.
Another area that this helps is spreading out the fouls and keeping our offensive producers from getting into foul trouble. The fouls go on those guys that are playing fewer minutes but are forcing the opponents to earn their points at the line rather than give up easy buckets.
BRILLIANT!
There are no more lazy screens, missed rotations or failures to box out. Guys are cutting hard to the rim, and running out on shooters as fast as possible.
This. 100 times, this.
Great write-up overall!
The only thing I'd like to see more is guys getting the ball down to Beyer in the post off of those pick n rolls. It seemed like that was open a few times the past couple games, but the guys at the top of the key just didn't pull the trigger. Hope we'll see that fixed after a little film review and practice time.
Agreed, and the better he gets at finishing around the rim, the more his teammates will look to him in those situations
Agree, Beyer seems to have good hands. I'm referring to the bullet pass from Hill at the top of the key to Beyer in the post against UVA. I can't believe it wasn't deflected by one of the 3 defenders it had to get through. I couldn't believe Beyer caught that, and got it up and in so quickly. That was an awesome play!
Beyer's hands are why he'll stay on the floor. Henry is not as physical but the number one option should be Pierce who has a lot of trouble holding onto the ball. Not sure why he has bricks right now but it creates a lot of turnovers and makes Beyer the only real offensive threat inside .
Actually Satchels TO's per min played are just about on par (1.2 per game with avg. minutes per game of 14) with everyone else, except for Adam Smith who just does not turn it over. I think he's a pretty skilled guy for a 7-0, 250 freshman.
You cant turn the ball over when you shoot almost every time you catch the ball thus why Smith is so low.
Satchels turnovers are more glaring than most others because they happen when the camera is zoomed in, typically right near the basket. He is third worst on the team in regards to Turnovers/Minutes Played behind Hudson and Bibbs.
Hudson = 10.1% TO/MP (31 Turnovers/ 306 Minutes Played)
Bibbs = 8.2% TO/MP (42 Turnovers/ 507 Minutes Played)
Pierce = 8.1% TO/MP (22 Turnovers/ 271 Minutes Played)
Most of the rest of the team sit in the 5% to 6% range in terms of turnovers per minute played.
Will Johnston is actually the best in terms of turnovers, but doesnt log nearly the opportunities. I wish there was a way to track Turnovers compared to Touches. I think that would be a much more meaningful statistic because it would really show you who is turning the ball over the most. I imagine it is something that Buzz tracks but its not a data point published anywhere.
That's funny but insightful about Smith. What's the saying - 'It's funny because you know it is true'.
What could be the case with Johnston is that because he is down the list in open shot priority, he might hold the ball a little longer, and make safer passes without the risk of some of the quick passing done by the other guys. Just a guess on that one...
I think Satch is getting more comfortable being an ACC player, and his play reflects that compared to the beginning of the season. He's a work in progress that we will all love during his junior & senior seasons.
I think Wills low turnover rate is a product of where his touches occur and what he does with the ball in his hands. I would venture to guess that almost every time he has received the ball has been along the perimeter. From there, he either shoots the ball or passes it. He rarely-if-ever dribbles the ball, and usually only does so laterally to move into a stronger position to pass the ball. All of these passes are along the perimeter and typically aren't entry passes, so they are extremely high percentage.
If you look at guys like Bibbs and Hudson, they (along with Ahmed Hill) are the teams strongest slashers. When youre cutting through a defense from 20-feet away, your chances of throwing an errant pass or dribbling the ball off your foot under duress increase exponentially. So with regard to Rob's breakdown above, I can't say I'm particularly surprised by those numbers...
This is more what I was getting at, they're "glaring". When he is passed the ball in the low post he has trouble catching it and trouble getting the ball to the basket. He tries to go up strong and it gets stripped. Turnovers from ballhandlers who run the offense are usual, though high for us, but a back to the basket guy shouldn't be turning it over at the rate that he does, especially since half the time it seems he's not even able to make a play because he's already lost control of the ball.
Also, I think my roommate said it best, when he said of Mueller in the first half, "That's a guy that's tired of losing." The whole team played ferociously and with great confidence.
Haha, good find!
OK Malik, make this infectious with your teammates. Go get some more!
Let's Go, Hokies!
I like how Smith is a "scoring guard" not a "shooting guard"
the "and-1" he got in the 2nd half was his best play of the day. Very strong to the basket. We missed a lot of shots by just not being strong enough.
great win for a hungry team. we needed this. now build on it. Buzz's energy is refreshing normally a VT team would dwell on sundays loss and come out flat and get blown out but not this guys team. love it
For anyone interested, the elevator screen play Buzz called on the Adam Smith game-winner in OT was identical to a play the Warriors run for Klay Thomspon and Steph Curry. Go to the 3:39 mark to see the play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxjsz92v53M#t=232
How amazing is it to see a play called and executed like that, and in such a critical moment. For years, it has been get the ball to our best player, Delaney, Green, etc., and count on their individual talent to get a shot off.
Very happy for all of these young men and our coaches. All of the hard work has finally paid off in what I hope was the first of many ACC wins.
Mission accomplished everybody!
sorry, couldn't resist
Anyone know the deal with Bibbs' injury? Last I heard he had a concussion but I thought I heard something about another injury suffered in practice? We could sure use his help down the stretch to compliment the couple players who have really stepped up in the last few games.
Still just the concussion as far as I know. Just going through proper protocol. Buzz said as of the Notre Dame game last week he got dizzy while riding the bike. He has improved since then but still couldn't even be in the arena Tuesday night, as to avoid the lights and noise. Would not expect him Saturday at Wake, either. Definitely would provide a boost to a team playing fairly well over their last two. Looking forward to him being back out there, just not sure when.
So I was in town for work the night of this game and didn't get finished in time to go to Cassell. Instead, we went to Poor Billy's and had dinner to watch the game--I HAD TO ASK THE WAITERS 3 TIMES TO PUT THE DAMN GAME ON TV!!! Every tv in the joint had the Michigan game on at 7:15 when I walked in. NEVER ever will go back. That's unforgivable at Virginia Tech IMHO.