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This game is on Saturday, 2/28/2015. Dont want people confused.
Here we are, game 2 against our hated rivals. Coming off a tough loss to the #4 team in the country. Having to go on the road to face the #2 team in the country. Road losing streak at 18 games. UVA missing their previous top scorer in Justin Anderson. Fun recipe for a Saturday afternoon of basketball in the ACC.
We all know how the last one went down. Giving up the 10 point lead over the last eight minutes. Allowing UVA to escape with the win 50-47. We need to hope that we can replicate the effort and better the final results. Wake Forest had UVA escape 61-60 in their first meeting, missing a chance at scoring as the clock expired. In their second contest this week, UVA more than doubled up Wake, 70-34. This we cannot afford to let happen.
Since Justin Anderson went down, the Wahoos have played a much smoother team oriented offensive game which has led to three straight double digit wins. I dont want to say addition by subtraction with Anderson, because UVA will need his big body down the road in the tournament, but with their less challenging opponents lately, having a more open offense without much slip in defense has worked for the Cavaliers.
So who are they led by now? Malcolm Brogdon (#15), 6'5, 215 lbs junior guard has stepped up and now leads the Cavs with 13.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 2.7 apg.
Joining Brogdon in stepping up has been Anthony Gill(#13) 6'8, 230 lbs junior forward, averaging 11.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg and shooting 57% from the field. Over the last three games these two have accounted for 30 of 61, 23 of 51, and 20 of 70 points for the Cavs. The last game was in hand early so the Wahoos were able to play their bench in significant minutes.
Surprisingly absent since Anderson went out is London Perrantes, (#23) 6'2, 183 lbs sophomore guard, who was instrumental in their comeback against us and has played the role of second half spark plug almost all season for the Cavs. The last three games he has a total of 13 points, 9 assists. He has been averaging 5.9 ppg and 4.4 apg over the season.
In his wake has been another forward playing a larger role for this team in Darion Atkins, 6'8, 234 lbs senior, who had been averaging 6 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 1.1 bpg, but in the last three contests has put up 9 and 6 with 4 blocks, 11 and 2 with 1 block, 10 and 2 with 2 blocks.
Beyond these three players, it has been a combination of the rest of the roster to fill holes as needed. If there was one to keep an eye on Saturday, its Marial Shayok, (#4) 6'6, 200 lbs guard who was a former commit to Buzz at Marquette. Shayok has had several good games off the bench, putting up 20 points in the last three games, when he was previously averaging 3.5 ppg.
If we can hit our shots like we did against Duke, than we could win this game by double digits. If we slip back towards our average, than this game comes down to the wire. If we let the Wahoos get in our head early, than this game could look like the second Wake game. I expect to see somewhere near our average. These guys are coming off a tough loss, they wont have the Cassell crowd to feed off of and its a quick turnaround. I am afraid that come the second half, our guys are going to have nothing left in the tank and things could get ugly in that case. Hopefully they find a second wind, and have that outside touch.
Tech 57 - UVA 56
Comments
Picking the upset, Rob? I wish I was as confident, but UVA has been killing it lately and we can't expect to shoot as well as we did against Dook, nor do I see us being able to get to the basket as easily. If we can make about 7 or 8 threes, especially early, and we can get to the rim like we did Wednesday then maybe we do have a shot.
Ready for some delicious Wahoo tears!
Perrantes got hurt two games ago against FSU when his face collided with Brogdon's. He was down for a good while and there was a lot of blood. You never want to see anybody get injured but I couldn't help thinking of Rocky IV..."If he dies, he dies"
The reason I know this is because my wife is a UVA grad and watches every basketball game, and thus that means I watch most games as well.
That being said I'm pretty damn sick of watching them win all the time ( I got her tickets to the Duke game and it was pretty nice watching them blow a lead and lose at their own place) I would love for the Hokies to take the momentum from the Duke game into the JPJ and get a win. However unlikely that maybe...
I have to ask, were you the one seen wearing a Tech sweatshirt during college game day? :)
Nope wasn't me. We didn't go to game day.
Perrantes it turns out actually broke his nose on that play. He may be a game time decision against us.
Okafor was game time decision the other night too, wasn't he? Knowing our luck, Perrantes plays and has like 10348303893 assists out of nowhere
And here I thought Anderson being out would help out the cause. If we can't hit our threes we're sunk.
I'll be in attendance regardless. Almost had floor seats but a friend had appendicitis so he got dibs. Hope like hell to pull it off, but I have a hockey game afterwards so if not I'll take it out on other people who just happen to live in cville.
Vegas has the BooHoos favored by 19.5. I sure hope we keep it a lot closer than that.
It's 11am and UVA still sucks
Also at 12: 02 !
And it shall ever be thus.
Anybody else going to the game?
I'll be there.
Looks like I will finally be caught in the ESPN3 blackout. Being in Western PA, Tech is not normally blacked out; but today, I get Kentucky on TV and a blackout because it is a CBS game. I guess I will follow the game on TKP and internet scoreboard.
It's on the ACCNetwork online!
Found it. Thanks
Great defense in the first 5 minutes. This team never seems to play scared.
This is the latest into the game I've seen Buzz wearing a blazer.
Beyer playing his butt off.
He probably doesn't want to go winless against UVA. I hope he doesn't foul out of this one.
Were his fouls legit or are the zebras against us? Ive only got it on espn.com
Why is that guy sitting courtside (nearside-left) wearing a visor inside? He's probably the proud owner of multiple pairs of croakies. #peoplewatching
UVA gets every call.
We've gotten a few calls our way too. The refs are being consistently bad.
Every time they show the crowd I see at least one kid in a pink button down 3 sizes too big tucked into his khakis. Poor guy just wants to fit in. This is why I hate UVA culture. Just be yourself little man. #peoplewatching
Dude, you could probably read your Tinder profile better if you took off the ski goggles. #peoplewatching
Just a shame this team lacks talent. UVA is good but not a great team. With a little more talent the Hokies are taking some of these games this year. Sadly this one is about to become a blowout.
These guys don't quit. Back to within four.
11 now. Just don't have the horses. It's ok, I feel like the athletic department let both our teams get mediocre there a few years ago.
They're not quite dead.
The guy in a Charlotte uni and the flat brim cap turned backwards who looked disappointed. #peoplewatching
The experience this team is gaining now is going to pay dividends down the line.
Bibbs 0-9 from the field and 2 missed free throws and he stayed in the game. Why was he still on the court? It's ok to have a bad game every once in a while.
Cause who else would we play? Donlon? Even on a bad day, Bibbs is too valuable on our current team to keep off the court, especially when Hill has 4 fouls early in the second half
Hudson wasn't in for much of the last several minutes. Clearly keep hill and Hudson in until hill fouls out. It's not like hill is someone we absolutely need to preserve for the end of the game.
Can someone explain to me why it is not a foul for the offensive player to lower his shoulder and knock the defender away to get room to take a shot. Okafor did it all night and UVA used that move several times.
Seconded. Some of the Okafor hits were brutal to watch up close.
The guys played their hearts out, but just did not have it today. Justin Bibbs probably (and nexplicably) had his worst game of the year. Meanwhile the hoo's couldn't miss a free throw. A year to forget.
Welp. Guess this goes with the learning experience.
Buzz said it during the postgame and I have to agree: we played two no. 1 seeds back to back and more than held our own against both of them. We haven't gotten national exposure and deservedly so, but if Buzz can get the talent we have coming in next year to work as hard as the team on the floor has this year, I feel good moving forward. I'm extremely sick of the moral victories, but like Alum07 said, the experience this team is getting will pay off in the future. I just hope these guys can find a way to win one more this season because they truly do play their tails off every night.
The team has played really hard the last 2 games and hopefully has some confidence heading into the home stretch. I know that we obviously aren't going to win the tournament but the next 3 games are very winnable. It would be nice way to wrap up a tough season for the players if they can pick up a couple W's here at the end.
I am still not convinced UVA is #2 worthy, even top 10... They play a team with a solid front court early in the tournament and I think they are doneski.
This is a pretty bad year for college basketball in my opinion. The fact that Northern Iowa was a top 10 team coming into today says something about that. With the talent on UVA's team and how they've played this year, it seems like it's just a matter of process of elimination that they're the no. 2 team in the nation. They're not as good as their record and I still don't see anyone stopping UK any time soon, especially not UVA. UK would beat them by double digits.
Maybe its a bad year for some of the blue bloods but dont knock Northern Iowa. They are under-ranked if anything. They have a legitimate All American at power forward and at least three others that could play for any team not named Kentucky. The coach did an excellent job of bringing together transfers and home grown talent to be a powerhouse this season. Just because they played on that awful holiday tournament with us only shows their prior scheduling didnt warrant much better.