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All right Hokie fans, hopefully this game will give us something to cheer about as we clear the football game from our recent memory. The Hokies managed to close out Jacksonville State in their last game to even their record at 1-1. The Keydets come in having lost to Penn State and and a win over Tusculum. Neither of these games gives us much in the way of who the Keydets are this season. In years past, VMI has been a purely run and gun team, throwing up a barrage of threes and hoping to outscore their opponents by games end. They bring in a new coach this season from Navy that seems to have some of the same mindset, since his team has attempted 45 threes in two games. This will be the 133rd time Tech has played VMI in basketball since the 1908 season. Tech holds a nearly two to one advantage in those games.
This team is led by QJ Peterson, (#22) a 6'0, 190 lbs Junior guard who is putting up 16 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2 APG while shooting 75% from the line and 33% from behind the arc. He seems to be their primary shooter from behind the arc, having attempted 18 of the teams 45 threes. Having a hand in his face when he had the ball will be critical in determining the outcome of this game.
The Keydets have two other double digit scorers in Julian Eleby, (#35) 6'3, 190 Lbs Junior guard. He seems to be the most capable scorer, shooting 63% from the field, 80% from the line and 71% from behind the arc. He is putting up 14.5 PPG, 3 RPG, and 2.5 APG.
The last double digit scorer is Philip Anglade, (#32) 6'5, 210 lbs Senior forward. He is averaging 10 PPG and 5 RPG while shooting 71% from the field. These two guys obviously take high percentage shots so guarding these guys closely will be important.
The rest of their primary rotation of players are Trey Chapman (#15) 6'6, 205 Junior forward, Adrian Rich (#3) 6'2, 170 lbs Freshmen guard, and Tim Marshall (#23), 6'3, 195 Lbs Senior guard. All three are playing just over 20 minutes per game. Chapman and Rich seem to be in for scoring, while Marshall offers a defensive side not seen from most players on this team.
Its hard to say which VMI team we are going to see considering their loss brought them 50 points and their win saw them score 88. I would expect the team we see largely depends on how the Hokies play defense tonight. Cover their shooters, guard the perimeter, and make them try to beat you inside seems to be the recipe for success against the Keydets. Buzz has to make sure his team is focused on keeping this game slow and methodical. Much like our last two games, if we give this team the ability to run, then we could be looking at the wrong end of this game. If we slow them down, much like we did in the second half of the last game, things should start to go our way.
We are starting to see the emergence of a preferred group on the court in Clarke, Leday, Bibbs, Blackshear and a rotation of Allen and Robinson at the point. Eight Hokies are still playing more than 10 MPG, but if we don't see more production from Hudson and Henry, their time could start to drop off. Tonight should be focused on scoring in the paint, and moving the ball around to get quality open shots. If Allen continues to struggle, I would hope Buzz continues to see what Robinson can do.
Free throws. Enough said. If not above 70% as a team, then we are leaving the door open for opponents to finish us off late in games.
Cutting down on transition turnovers. Two games in and we have 28 turnovers as a team, 14 of them from transition passing or mishandling. This number needs to come down to the 8-9 total per game and 1-2 from transition passing.
I anticipate that Buzz will have these guys moving in the right direction and these young Hokies will establish a double digit lead late in the first half and will build on that lead throughout the second half. This isn't the game to let them get close late. Final score Hokies 77 - Keydets 62.
Comments
As we get ready to kick this off, hopefully many of you are there in person. The ACC took another blow today as UNC lost to Northern Iowa, who is no doormat, as we saw last year, but still shouldn't have pulled this upset today. Pretty poor showing all around considering UNC, Duke and UVA all have losses already
Red five, standing by. I'm still drunk/hungover/exhausted from the football game but I'm watching and hoping for some fundamentally sound hoops and better D tonight.
Wow. Seth Allen is still a turnover machine. Only been in for a couple of minutes and someone picked his pocket and then he ran over that dude for the charge.
Yeah and piss poor perimeter defense allowing VMI to get a ton of threes.
We allowed them to go 7-18 from behind arc. 21 of 29 points. Ridiculous. We are lucky to be tied.
Our bad on-ball defense is leading to drive and kickouts for wide open 3s. That's too easy. We have got to figure out how to rotate properly on the defensive end or this is going to be a long long season.
We however have improved our FT so far. Only thing keeping us in the game.
Thank God for that. I can't recall seeing a team struggle so mightily from the line. It's a detriment to this team and I'm glad they managed to get it together in the first half.
I like the FT improvement. You get the feeling this team did a million free throws the past few days. Kinda disappointed in Big Satch. He came in late in the half and lost the handle on a ball and then let someone whiff by him to the rim. I was really hoping he would have developed a big time mean streak this season.
Not just someone, a 6 foot guard who he let get an initial shot and then allowed the same guard to get an offensive rebound and easy put back
VMI took 35 shots in the half, we took 17. Just inexcusable even with how often we got to the line.
Outside of Clarke, our O hasn't looked to great either. Zack needs to see some more touches.
21 points off 3s for VMI. 0 for VT. That's a big differential to overcome. That's part of why we can't put teams away. Puts pressure on us to make a lot of 2 pointers or FTs.
Nice shirt, Buzz.
Very nice! Can't upload photo, but found a link. Very classy move by Buzz!
Frank Shirt
Anyone else slightly concerned that we're getting out muscled under the rim? Not on boards per se, but just moving bodies around. Hamilton seems to be the only one holding his ground well.
For the most part its been Leday not being able to get up quality shots down there. VMI is playing a couple of guys that are equivalent in size to Leday. I thought we would see more from Hamilton and Blackshear tonight with the size advantage.
Thankfully, Hamilton's and Blackshear's names are starting to show up on the stat sheet here at the end. Nice to see us opening up and maintaining a double digit lead. #22 has cooled off a little bit from deep which is helping us.
Not sure what is going on with the broadcast scoreboard but its 50-38 right now.
Yeah. That's happened several times. I've taken to listening to the radio broadcast to keep up.
I like how this broadcast is produced on about 25 dollars and a pack of Marlboro Reds. The game clock and shot clock keeps going in and out, and the scoring update is about 2 minutes late.
The surprise to me has been that the announcers are probably the most knowledgeable of local hoops that I have heard in some time. Knowing high school coaches and styles and other stuff that most announcers couldn't be bothered with.
Did we get some punches thrown??
I think Greg Donlon just got ejected?
yep. Left the bench. Very silly.
I think he just wanted to get on the court.....for once.
Looked like 14, for us, went to locker room. Guessing he left the bench?
EDIT: Left bench during the fracas?
Allen is still way too out of control. One on four doesn't usually end in your favor. Pull the ball out and milk this clock for the W.
Yes Greg Donlon gets his first stat of the year getting the boot
Awesome second half.
Keeping the 39-1 dream alive
Took longer to take control than I thought it would but this game went pretty well. Welcome to the Hokies Johnny Hamilton, your five minutes dominating both lanes tonight in the middle of the second half made all the difference putting this game away.
5 players in double digits scoring, 2 double digit rebounders, 73% free throws, 0 doubts we have a great coach.
Good adjustments at halftime. They moved the ball a lot better and seemed to rotate better on D. It was also good to see Hamilton beast out.
I think Buzz is starting to figure out rotations. Loved the lineup of Robinson, Allen, Clarke, Leday, Hamilton. He went with that group for awhile. Hamilton was a beast in the paint today.
The second half tonight was the first time this season I've had fun watching a VT basketball game. Guys flying around, being tough and scrappy inside, hitting a few from long range, and playing some smothering defense. I'll take that all day long. Definitely something positive to build on going forward.
Hasn't been mentioned yet, but I think Henry played much better tonight. The first 2-3 minutes of the game he was all over the court. That being said, I give it 2-4 more games until Johnny Hamilton is starting for us. The kid can ball.