Television
ESPNU - Mark Brown & Tim Welsh
Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network - Bill Roth & Mike Burnop
Also available on:
Satellite: Sirius: 84 XM: 84
Digital: Hokies Xtra & TuneIn
Conflicting reports have this on ESPNU and/or WatchESPN. It may depend on where you are location wise as to which is the truth, just be prepared to search for the game. Another late game, with tipoff at 9 pm, but at least this time its a home game. Now onto the game.
What to expect? Battle of the Basement? Not exactly, only because Boston College is also at 1-9 in conference right now. Tech could climb as high as 13th in conference though with a win tonight.
Georgia Tech looked good early on even with three transfers starting for them this season. They opened with a win over Georgia to start their season and it looked like their team full of transfers would really work well together going 9-3 in their OOC slate. Then the ACC slate started and it all fell apart. Seven straight losses to start conference play, then a shocking 70-50 upset of Miami, followed by two more duds before they beat Wake Forest in their last game.
So who makes the Jackets Buzz? Only one player is scoring in double figures so far this season, but GT gets at least 3.9 ppg from nine guys on the rosterof which eight play about 20 mpg. It seems to rotate who will be the man of the night most games for the Jackets, much like the Hokies. Height is the dilemma for the Jackets this season, so much so that Tech will be the "tall team" tonight. The Jackets do have depth though at about the 6'7-6'8 range, unlike the Hokies. Expect to see 6'8, 276 lb senior Demarco Cox (#4) holding down the center spot for Georgia Tech tonight. He brings 8.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 1.1 bpg to the lane. (Transferred from Ole Miss)
He is joined down low by 6'5, 214 lbs junior forward Marcus Georges-Hunt (#3), who is averaging 13.9 ppg and 5.7 rpg.
Also in the lane will be 6'8, 269 lbs junior forward Charles Mitchell (#0), scoring 9.9 ppg along with 7 rebounds. (Transfer from Maryland) Both Mitchell and Cox come into this game shooting better than 50% down low.
As for outside, our concern should be focused on 6'3, 233 lbs guard Chris Bolden (#2) and 6'9, 187 lbs forward Quinton Stephens (#12). Both of these gentlemen shoot better than 35% from beyond the arc and contribute about 6 points and 2 rebounds a piece.
Bolden
Stephens
The point guard duties appear to be shared by 6'2, 172 sophomore guard Josh Heath (#11) (Transfer from USF) and 6, 177 lbs freshmen Travis Jorgenson. They contribute little in the way of scoring at about 4 points a piece, but do combine for about six assists per game.
Heath
Jorgenson
On paper this team sounds like the perfect matchup for the way Buzz likes to play, a team without a ton of height that expects to score down low with their "big men" that dont really have any great outside shooters. Its almost the recipe for the perfect opponent for the Hokies this season. Another team that shoots 28% from outside, only about 40% from the field and doesnt reach 70% from the line. Its like check, check, check. Unfortunately this game isnt on paper. Georgia Tech may not have height but they do have size other than their point guards.
The one player that I think will likely be the X factor for the Yellow Jackets is Chris Bolden. He has been scoring more in the last few games, and has seemed to find his touch from outside. Ideally I would like to see a combination of Mueller and Hudson covering Bolden, but I expect Buzz will use Mueller down low again.
This game shouldnt be a blowout but unless the Hokies can find their defensive effort again their is no telling what might happen. These two teams appear to be on slightly different trajectories, with the Jackets figuring a few things out while the Hokies seem a bit run down.
This quote from Buzz seems to hit at the truth unfortunately, "Honestly, I think they're cooked, they're fried, so we may just show up when you guys show up, so I'll think about it," in what could be a very troubling evening coming two nights after these were his thoughts.
Tech tonight will need everyone to show up offensively, no 0-6, not even an 0-3. We cant allow double digit points off turnovers as well as off offensive rebounds like the 24 total points we gave to FSU in the last game. We cant have nine missed layups. We cant especially allow our opponents to shoot better than 50% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc. Those kind of numbers are crippling to any team. They must do better tonight.
I think tonight that Bibbs bounces back, Henry plays a big role on both ends, and that Hudson will use his speed to get to the rim often. Buzz wont let a repeat of Saturday happen defensively. The Hokies come out a bit pissed off to start this game and win by double figures. Didnt see that one coming, huh? The only wild factor left in this one is the refs and their whistles. If they let them play, it goes as called, if they muck it up with a ton of calls, all bets are off as the Hokies may not survive the sluggishness of it.
Georgia Tech 56 - Virginia Tech 70
Comments
According to Mark Berman, the announcers for this game will be broadcasting from ESPN studios in Bristol, CT and not actually at the game.
This is kind of insulting but I have a feeling it will happen a lot more in the future. Cutting costs is paramount and reducing travel budgets may just be the next step for networks.
"Sorry folks, our stream is just as bad as yours. When we figure out what happened on that last play, we'll let you know."
This was almost verbatim to what ran through my head after reading that. Unfortunately not surprising from ESPN. They likely didnt even want to put us on tv but were contractually obligated to.
I just listen to Bill and Mike on HokiesXtra anyway. Doesn't matter if the timing is off.
About that
ESPN has started doing this recently.
Only fair since no fans were there either!
Bazinga!
There was actually a decent crowd there, especially for a Monday night.
Does anyone know what the attendance numbers actually were last night or have been this season? I think a breakdown would be interesting.
http://www.hokiesports.com/mbasketball/stats/2014/?season
A link to the stats for which you seem to be looking. It seems 5346 was the attendance last night.
Right around 5000 seems about right. It definitely got fairly loud towards the end.
There is no way there were 5000 people last night. Can't sugarcoat it, the attendance was pretty terrible.
wow, that's pretty bad
There might have been 5,000 tickets sold/claimed, but I doubt there were even half that in there.
If they are counting the student section lottery tickets in that count then the number is way off. I didn't win the lottery for this game, so I assume that means they "sold out" the student section.
For those unfamiliar, the basketball lottery in the past involved entering for a few games at a time during certain periods and picking up physical tickets from the ticket office (this allowed unclaimed lottery tickets to become available again). This year they switched to entering individual games, and allowing you to enter for every single game at any time and printing your ticket from home. It seems like a lot of students entered for every game and aren't actually using the tickets.
Pardon my language, but last night just affirms that the student lottery is a fucking joke and the entire system needs to be scrapped and rethought.
Absolutely no excuse to why there are people getting locked out of getting student tickets when maybe 150 students show up. That is embarrassing. I know students can go and sit in any unclaimed donor seat after the first timeout and all, but there is no excuse to why the student section isn't at least 50% full for every game if the demand is there.
they should go back to camping for tickets. it's simple marketing. create a higher demand by instilling a sense of urgency and consumer competition. those on here that used to camp know how valuable those tickets were.
Yep.... My freshman and sophomore years we still had camping, and I went to every basketball game I could attend. Then, they instituted the lottery for my junior year, and, no lie, I only got chosen to go to 3 games that season while watching half-filled student crowds nightly.
You won't find many people who disagree. I loved the new system at first (it's super convenient), but it definitely did not work out.
Speaking as a current student, I won but couldn't make it to the game last night. I was working until 8 and then had to go do work due the next day.
I agree that it's terrible students that want to go can't, but the only reason so few people show up is that we aren't winning that many games.
Let's be real, no one wants to watch a team that has only won 2 conference games. I think demand for game tickets will go up quite a bit in the coming years, but basketball has been pretty bad in my years as a student. My freshman year was the first year with JJ. After we beat oklahoma state people went crazy for tickets. After the season got underway though... students stopped showing up.
The student section wasn't even filling up when we were winning games. Seeing poor student turnout to games is absolutely nothing new to this program, and is only further hindered by the lottery. Hell, even in the year that we went to the NCAA Tourney in 2006-2007, the student section rarely got above 50%-75% full, despite there being overwhelming demand to attend. The lottery is a joke, and rewards those who want nothing more to do with the program than to press a button and hope to sell a ticket.
Still more fans than UVA's Spring Game.
The student section was pretty bad (although I was a bit late showing up, and it definitely looked a bit better than that by the time I got there), but the sides were much fuller than I expected them to be.
Looks like God is looking out for those people in the top middle
That's the pep band. Probably lit up for television broadcasting purposes.
They wouldn't have to spotlight there if they'd just move the band down next to the floor like every other big time program seems to do.
THIS!!!
That light is blinding. Every time I looked up when the game had a stoppage I immediately regretted doing so.
An artist's depiction of what this game is anticipated to look like:
Link to the game: http://www.oleoletv.ws/watch/live/streaming/online/free/tv-vivo/21/4773_...
I like that we came out aggressive. We're contesting every shot they're taking.
This is a hot mess. Turnovers galore. Double dribbles, carries, goal tends, bus stops... you name it.
Very disappointed in the crowd tonight. Also, disappointing to see the same damn mistakes game after game. Hard to watch if you're a fan of either team so far. Very frustrating.
Henry was doing so well offensively but bad fouls once again crippling his court time.
Also kills me that we have already blown a 12 point lead
Such a shame that we do not have the same fire against unranked teams as ranked. Football seemed to be the same way throughout the whole season.
We gave up 18 points off turnovers and offensive rebounds in the first half. Can't win that way.
The phantom announcers nailed it. As soon as GT settled into their offense, we were pretty much helpless.
First 5 minutes: Awesome, we scored 14 points, we might put up huge numbers and win tonight!
After the 5 minute mark: damn...
Like Buzz's sweater ! Rest of game same story so far , turnovers, rebounding , lack of size, stupid fouls, uggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhnnnn
Someone should do a comparison of Mueller's stats pre-pink shoes and post-pink shoes.
Nice to see us finish well on drives in the lane.
Feet glued to the floor trying to rebound makes it easy for their bigs to go right over us. Henry comes in for less than 30 seconds picks up fourth bad foul. Bibbs is not right should probably sit the rest of the game. Sloppy shots killing us.
Bibbs goes up with one hand and gets blocked easily. Has to have the second hand up to force the foul
Bibbs has been taking all sorts of weird leaning shots at close and mid range since he's come back from the concussion. They only really dropped for him against Syracuse.
I want to see where Hill's feet were on that blocking foul. Pretty sure he was outside the arc. Ref gave them a three point play if that was the case. Too big an impact with these whistles
Pierce playing zero role. Basically just gave the game away in three straight sloppy possessions.
FEAR THE UMLAUT
Got to give them credit
Clawed back in
Holy shit we won.
FINALLY , Ahmen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
It wasn't pretty, but they never quit.
Go Hokies.
Game ball to Mueller. Takes three charges and leads the team in scoring. Big man in small body.
That last 4 minutes is why Buzz is a heckuva coach and this team never gives up no matter what.
Gutsy win tonight, boys
All 400 people in attendance get to go home happy
good win, but damn did I get tired of all the backhanded compliments from the announcers.
So buzz is gonna rock that shirt/sweater more often now right?! WHAT A GAME!!! 10 wins!!!!! Also we're no longer in sole possession of last place!!!!
I need to know where he got it so I can get one myself
I'm on the lookout as well please post if/when you find it
GAP had some sweaters with Orange and Maroon rugby stripes a little while ago, maybe try there
Found this little gem. You'd be the most envied person in Blacksburg next christmas
I see your ugly Christmas sweater ad and raise you my Christmas card from last year.
Buzz talked about the tailor he got his sweater from in the post game interview.
we actually have zero possession of last place seeing as BC only has one win
This team just never quits. It isn't always (ever?) pretty, but they play for 40 minutes.
Muller is getting better and better each game.
Mueller with the money shot! That was one we should have won. Now let's knock Duke on their ass!
After we knock Clemson on their ass first this Saturday. :)
I definitely prefer this compared to when Smith has to shoot a last second 3 to win/force OT. They could have been quit when the GT lead got to 10 but the real Tech fought back to win.
I just got back from the game. First 6 min awesome. Next 30 WTF am I watching. Last 4 gutsy. Oh and I hate these refs (same crew from the WF game)
Just got back from the game. Choices:
1) Start homework that I put off until after game
2) Call the GF who has been texting me all night
3) order pizza
4) take shower to get this funk off
5) post to TKP
Horse playing saxophone says: #5 is the correct answer!
...why has hunterhokie's girlfriend been texting you all night?
because he choose #5 instead of #2 obviously. She's a tad needy but fair.
Well that was exciting. Also, the ACC definitely fired the wrong ref... I will declare the season a success if we never have to see this crew calling every bit of contact a foul ever again.
Also, Dr. Sands wins.
Damn, I really love Dr Sands. What a great hire.
Who's gonna be the first to give Buzz's sweater the, ah, Tressel treatment?
(Picture pretty safe for work, but is part of a butt)
Here's A Lady With A Jim Tressel Sweater Vest Tattoo On Her Butt
Somewhere there is a hot chick with a tattoo of the lunch pail on her ass. I guarantee it.
She must really want that lunch pail D...
Woo Hoo!
Great win Hokies.
Baby steps.....
One of Bill Murray's most underrated films. Leg.
Wow, I thought the game was Tuesday and did not watch. You guys are welcome. :-)
I missed it too. I'm sick as a dog right now and was in bed at about 730. Was pleasantly surprised to found out we won.
I think everyone who watched it was pleasantly surprised we won as well.