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Welcome back Hokie fans, as we get set to participate in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against Northwestern. This should be the best quasi equal test on our OOC schedule this season. The Wildcats have lost to North Carolina and they have one other win against a Power Five Conference opponent in Missouri. Their other four games are against filler teams.
Tech will need their big men to be ready in this game as we go up against our first true Division 1 BIG man, in Alex Olah, (#22), 7'0, 270 Lbs. Senior Center. Olah is averaging 10.3 PPG, 7 RPG, and 1.8 BPG while shooting 56% from the field. He also shoots a respectable 76% from the line so we don't have a Hack-a-Shaq option here.
Bryant McIntosh, (#30) 6'3, 177 lbs Sophomore Guard leads the Wildcats in scoring, putting in 17.3 PPG while still managing to dish out 6.2 APG. He is the engine that makes this offense go. He is deadly from just about anywhere, currently shooting 50% from the field, 52% from behind the arc and 89% from the line. Tech cannot afford for this guy to be open from outside or we could be in for a long night ala Iowa State. He is attempting 4.5 threes per game right now which isn't too threatening but leave him open and that number could skyrocket.
The only other Wildcat in double digits so far this season is Senior Guard Tre Demps, (#14) 6'3, 198 lbs who is managing 16 PPG and 3.2 APG but with not so deadly a shooting touch as his partner. He comes in shooting 42% from the field, 34% from behind the arc and only 70% from the line.
Both of these guards are known for their defensive knack, causing 7 turnovers a game and grabbing 6 rebounds defensively. They play predominantly a shifting zone, providing help side defense and looking to force bad shots rather than allow penetration to the lane.
Supporting this trio of players to fill out the floor are Scottie Lindsey (#20) 6'5, 175 lbs Sophomore Guard, Sanjay Lumpkin (#34) 6'6, 220 lbs Junior Guard and backing up the big man is Aaron Falzon, 6'8 205 lbs Freshmen Forward.
There is one more player that Hokies fans will recognize. For the second game in a row, Tech faces a former Hokie in Joey Van Zegeren, who is managing 3.8 PPG and 3.7 RPG as a backup to Olah. Hopefully the Hokies can force Olah into foul trouble early and can get JVZ and the freshmen into the game. Totally different quality of play if that happens tonight.
On Offense Northwestern employs a constantly moving screen game, which has gotten them in some foul trouble with the new emphasis on the shifting screen this season. That said, this team has enough shooters to beat Tech if we fail to play perimeter defense as we seem to have a serious problem so far this season. As a team they are shooting 40% from behind the arc, so that could be a consistent problem all night for Tech if they don't get out and defend.
The Wildcats are averaging under 20 free throw attempts per game which is a positive in Techs favor as it indicates they are not often creating foul opportunities in the lane which should allow Tech to expand out its defensive front.
On Defense, the Wildcats tend to employ a 1-2-2 zone or utilize man to man depending on what the situation and tempo calls for. The Wildcats are coached by a Coach K disciple in Chris Collins so expect to see pressure defense early in each half as Northwestern tries to create distance between itself and Tech on the scoreboard early.
The keys to this game in my opinion is how do Tech's big men, especially Blackshear, match up against Olah. If they limit his touches and force him away from the basket than things should go well. If however, they get in early foul trouble and are not able to keep him from the rim than this game could be over early.
Obviously the other key is preventing perimeter scoring as Northwestern attempts 23 shots from outside the arc on average so far. Tech cannot afford to allow the Wildcats to hit 8-10 threes and hope to win.
Tech poses a significant problem for the Wildcats in how it drives to the basket. The ability to draw fouls could create favorable matchups later in the game if Tech controls the basketball on offense and takes good shots. That said, they will also need to stay strong shooting free throws to stay in the game.
Tech 76 – Northwestern 72. This was a tough call but I think the athleticism on our roster can overcome the experience of Northwestern. I unfortunately wouldn't be shocked if it went entirely the other way though if the Wildcats are hitting threes.
Comments
Much like the UAB game, this is a huge game for the Hokies. These are the teams we need to be beating consistently for program building purposes.
I heard Fuente is going to be there. Am I the only one hoping the camera cuts to him while one of his daughters is really upset; balling her eyes out. But coach completely ignores her. Just stares off into space while getting after a milkshake.
Game Time....Hopefully the Hokies help the ACC with winning the challenge. Wake Forest got a win last night but Clemson couldn't get it done. Leday SHOULD NOT be guarding Olaf.
One day when you get some time can you explain our offense to me. I have watched every game this season and it seems like our offense is just focused on driving into the paint and chucking up bad shots in the middle of 3+ defenders. I'm no coach but if you just pack the paint on D what can we do?
Unfortunately you fairly summed up our offense at this point. I could try to throw some better basketball terms at it so it sounds like some form of real offense but it would be primarily gibberish. Until we have better developed talent, this is mostly what we will see. Part of it though is that Buzz is trying to take advantage of the new rules on contact since our biggest skill set available right now is ball handling between Allen, Robinson, Wilson, Hudson, Clarke and Bibbs. They all have the ability to take the ball to the rim and potentially get fouled or score.
our offense is just focused on driving into the paint and chucking up bad shots
Beats the alternative of chucking up 3s from no man's land. I like the aggressive approach. It's not very pretty right now, but again I'd take it any day over settling for long 3s.
A little off topic, but it makes me so sad to see Cassell (specifically the student section) this empty for a Big 10 matchup. :/
Exactly. Where are the students?
I'm at work. Watching on my laptop though. Can't speak for the rest of us though. It shouldn't be that way. We are putting a competitive team on the court this year.
If I had to guess, the fact that theres a week left in the semester probably has something to do with it. Professors love to pile shit on around this time
Can confirm, shit is piled.
Nice instant offense by Allen! (defense still sucks)
The team needs to close out quicker in the outside. At least theres the glimpse of a Hudson sighting.
Another game, another exhibition in how not to play perimeter defense
Allen is a lazy defender, rebounder, and passer. But what a shot!
We're still very much in this game.
Wow...
When he hit that 3:
Always nice to see at the end of a half.
Have to credit Allen with his best all around half so far this year. 15 points on perfect 3-3 from outside and 4-4 from the line. He has cut down on his bad shots in the lane by passing out to open teammates. On defense, he forced two turnovers by knocking the ball off the ballhandlers. He even took a charge and it should have been two but the ref went with a poor blocking foul call. That said, Leday was nonexistent as was our perimeter defense. Worst case scenario coming true, Wildcats shooting 57% from 3. Just ridiculous
Great summary of the first half, our defense needs to tighten up big time or we have to hope they get in foul trouble, I don't think we will win a track meet.
We cant seem to put back to back good trips up and down ever. So frustrating
Score update?
50 - 48.
Tech at the line
72-66 NW with 3:24 to go
NU 73-71
Tie game :38 left
I kind of expected JVZ to come out and play with some vengeance making some big plays off the bench.
Glad to see that's not the case.
Too many shots with no one underneath to rebound.
Hanging in there!
Chris Clarke is going to be something else for sure. 110% every play and plays smart too.
Announcers said Buzz calls him an OKG.
Our Kinda Guy
Fuck Northwestern and their smiles.
Chris Clarke just notched another double double!
We keep playing like this and continuing to improve we are going to surprise some people in ACC.
Need to build off momentum. Every time we get back in this thing, we seem to give up easy baskets and comm turnovers.
We should be driving right at Van Zegeren right now. Get him off the court. Allowing him to hang around and do damage with four fouls is inexcuseable.
Allen did go at him on that last possession but I couldn't agree more with you.
Our defensive rotation is absolutely god awful at times. Two wide open dunks for JVZ should never happen.
Every time we do something right we do something wrong. So frustrating.
That's typically what you get with a team this young.
This is exciting
Is Hamilton hurt? Just curious having Pierce out there and no Hamilton
Better matchup against Joey vanZ? Familiarity?
aww man
so close!
applies to that last second shot and the game in general...
OVERTIME!!!!
Seth Allen is reminding me a lot of Malcolm Delaney
Be careful, you could get murderized in text for saying this....even if it is true.
So as someone who doesn't follow VT basketball that much and never has I have a question about attendance. With Blacksburg being a smaller metro area and many alumni of VT living several hours away will VT ever see good sized crowds on a regular basis? I know for some big matchups large crowds invade Cassell but I can't see them having long streaks of capacity or near capacity crowds. What is the solution for a school like Tech when there are just so many basketball games in a year and so much of the fan base so far away?
When Greenberg had it going, the place was packed every night.
edit: well not every night, but the crowds were good
^^^This:
Just win, baby.
The solution is downsizing. Suites are already in the works and there is talk of finally taking out the wooden seats and installing newer cushioned seats which would take up more room and decrease capacity. Don't know when or if that will happen, but it should because really we could get away with only have 8500-9000.
Also, is it just me or does Corey Alexander do like every single one of our games? Like no matter what channel the game is on, Corey Alexander is on the mic.
Seth Allen needs to understand when to slow down.
easy layups are the story of the game for Northwestern.
Don't forget the wide open three's...
Shucks.
that was ridiculous
Not sure why Devin was on the floor on the last possession. I would have had Robinson. They were able to basically double team Allen because Devin isn't an offensive threat at all.
edit. Not a fan of Seth Allen 1v1 all the time either but given the night he was having I can understand that.
This Hokie team has a lot of athletes and skill players. But the lack of a big man to clean things up in the paint on defense really hurt them tonight.
Perimeter defense was terrible allowing too many easy drives and open threes.
Something to learn from! On to the next. At least it's a fun team to watch this year, you never know who's going to put it together that night.
That's a frustrating loss. Northwestern tried gifting us the bonus with 14!!!! minutes left and we STILL couldn't put them away.
Alabama State has only won 1 other game besides us and is trailing Evansville 65-22. Buzz needs more time but ain't happening this year....
This team has improved quite a bit since that loss. Still a lot of work to be done but this team can compete with some pretty good basketball teams.
That last play was forced through Allen even though NW was basically double teaming him. Allen needs to know when to facilitate and not try to play iso.
I feel like Allen has only had a handful of assists all season long. He really doesn't like to spread the ball around.
There were several of his drives into three paint defenders that had shooters open with decent passing lanes
Also several times where he would drive and Clarke was crashing hard to the rim wide open along the baseline but I don't think he ever fed him the ball.
That's been the case with this team all season. I understand they're trying to exploit the new rule changes, but I feel like no one even looks for the open kick-out when they drive in.
When he figures that out he's going to be a great player. Or if he figures it out. But I can understand Buzz wanting to go through Allen on that last possession. He was having one heck of a night. However, with Devin on the court they were able to double him without having to worry about Devin asserting himself.
Not the best play IMO drawn up for that last possession but e got a decent shot actually to send it to 2OT. Overall, I'm happy with Allen's improvement in this game. The biggest thing about tonight though for me was that we showed we could play and compete even when LeDay was practically invisible.
Clarke had a good look. But we may have had a better opportunity if Allen hadn't tried to force and nearly turned the ball over. But I agree with you. This team has showed over the past two games that we can compete with good teams and even beat good teams.
I think that is the most frustrating part, the team played well enough to win but were undone by turnovers and mistakes again, even shot well from the FT line tonight.
That is one way to look at it. The fact that Leday disappeared though in this game is worrisome. They had bigger players but not really skilled big men. Its only going to get tougher for Leday.
The last play frustrates me because they didn't move the ball around so it allowed pressure on Allen. Even if it was going to go back to Allen, it should have rotated around the perimeter like we did the rest of the game and work it until Allen got a cleaner look. Another tough one possession loss.
We did better at guarding the perimeter in the second half which got us back in the game but any time you give up TEN threes you are likely going to lose. Don't feel terrible though, Miami has already allowed Nebraska to hit five threes in less than 10 minutes. We shot 41% from outside and 78% from the line so definitely a step in the right direction.
Not a very good possession after that last TO, but still better than the Delaney dribble at the half-court line and throw up a 30 footer courtesy of Greenberg's ingenuity...
That Clemson game though (1st half).
3 years ago this would have been a loss by 20+ points. To go to OT with a 6-1 Big 10 team and a chance to win; I call that major progress and our future is very bright. They are getting better every game and it's all about how finish in B-Ball.
Allen is an incredibly selfish player, IMHO.. he negates any positive plays with ill advised attempts, etc. The only thing I can figure is Buzz thinks he is still the best option.. I dont get it... do not get how they allow it He looks like he is having fun, messing w teammates.. (we were at Emerald Coast Classic) but he has to be an irritating teammate to play with.
The last possession was gosh awful but clearly the ball was intended to be in his hands... agree, not sure why Robinson was not out there. He is incredibly quick. I like Wilson but he is so far behind Robinson yet this was our starting PG as a frosh. Thanks JJ and Weaver.
I would agree with you that until tonight Allen was all the things you indicated but tonight that was not the case. He still had a couple of bad drives but his only turnover off a drive came as he was trying to kick the ball out to Bibbs in the corner. Other than that, tonight Allen shot 15% higher than his season average of 33% from the field, for the second game in a row, he went 7-8 from the line, he went 4-8 from beyond the arc and one of his misses was a 75 foot attempt at the end of regulation that hit the side of the rim. He may have only been credited with two assists but I counted at least six occasions where he drove into the lane and kicked the ball out to an open teammate. He still overplays on defense but was able to correct and affect his opponent on at least three occasions and created two turnovers out of bounds in the first half knocking the ball off the ball handler out of bounds and had two steals beside that. He even chipped in four rebounds. This was probably his most well rounded game as a Hokie so far. Hopefully he continues to improve on defense and keeps playing how he did tonight on offense.
As for Robinson versus Wilson at the end, Robinson is 2-10 so far this season from outside. The play was designed for Allen, so the only place Buzz would have planned for Robinson would have been a desperate attempt at a kick out. I am more upset that Buzz even involved Wilson on the final play. It should have been Bibbs and Allen rotating back and forth until one felt they had the attempt at a shot that they wanted. They were by far the top two shooters on the evening.
After the game Buzz was asked about the emotions of playing against JVZ and Buzz said there weren't any. This didn't sit well with some on Twitter. I didn't think it was a terribly big deal, and I don't understand how there really could be any emotion after spending little time together.
Thoughts?
Savage.
There may not have been much emotion for Buzz last night but you could tell there definitely was the other way as when the final buzzer sounded the entire Northwestern team is surrounding JVZ pounding on him as if he was the big motivation for them to win. The camera caught it as they were closing up the broadcast.
That seems odd to me. What reason would they have to rally around JVZ? He was suspended for an incident in practice last year and that led to him leaving the team. Seems like he thinks Buzz did him wrong or something even though it was entirely his fault.
The Northwestern players were the ones jumping on JVZ after the game, not Tech.
Yeah I understand that. I'm saying I don't understand why it should be some sort of retribution for JVZ. Everything that happened last year was his fault.
I am sure that he has a different side to the story. Unless we were there, we don't know all the wrinkles. I would imagine he told his new teammates a totally different version of how things went down here to get them fired up.
That's a fair way to look at it. If that's what they needed to win last night then it definitely worked. I wish we had managed to pull that one out. Still excited looking forward though.
Oh, you know there was some vindication for JVZ last night, as he clearly wanted it badly.
I wanted just as badly to see VT win it, but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes.
He wanted it for sure. But his stat line wasn't impressive at all. I wish him the best, though.