Facing a nine-point deficit at the break, the Hokies clawed back valiantly against Northwestern and forced overtime at Cassell Coliseum in the 2015 edition of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
But after swapping leads early in the extra period, Northwestern's Bryant McIntosh finessed the game-winning layup around the outstretched arms of Satchel Pierce with just 27 seconds left on the clock to lift the Wildcats to an 81-79 victory.
Northwestern, who entered the night averaging just 68 points per game against Power 5 opponents, put up 45 in the first half alone, leaving the Hokies wondering "What could have been?"
"It was all defense," said Seth Allen. "They shot 57% in the first half. It's like nobody's guarding them. We gotta do a better job of playing all 40 minutes."
Allen led all scorers with 25 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. After a lackluster start to his career in maroon and orange, Allen is beginning to look like his old Maryland-self. Allen's shot selection could still improve, but while several Hokies are dangerous in one aspect of the game, Allen combines a penchant to get to the rim with unlimited range from the perimeter.
"I'm definitely getting more comfortable," said Allen, surely a frightening prospect for teams throughout the ACC.
Chris Clarke notched his second-consecutive double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, but the supremely athletic freshman threw up contested shot after contested shot in the lane.
"I would say we want all those guys to be a little more efficient," said Buzz Williams. "Not to be Herm Edwards, but the goal is to win. We need to become much more efficient at what we're doing defensively and offensively."
Along with Allen, Devin Wilson ate up most of the minutes at the point guard position, leaving Justin Robinson just 8 minutes of run. Wilson took full advantage of his 31 minutes as he quietly turned in a 5 assist night while providing the Hokies with some much-needed defense.
"I think he's one of the best defensive rotation guards in the country," said Williams. "I think he's one of the better throw it ahead in transition guards. We got too many guys that the ball sticks in their hands. It doesn't stick in his hand. And he overcompensates for a lot of the deficiencies that we have on the weakside defensively."
Pierce, mostly non-existent through six games, matched up with Northwestern center Alex Olah throughout the night and held his own. Pierce could stand to be more active defensively, especially as a shot blocking presence in the interior, but Williams remained pleased with the sophomore's performance.
"I thought the matchup was good," said Williams when asked what led to Pierce's increased minutes. "I thought Satch played great...I think it says a lot about his character to sit over there and not play for three games and then come in and be as productive as he was."
Former Hokie Joey van Zegeren made his return to Blacksburg this evening, and, in a shocking turn of events, nearly fouled out early in the second half. The Dutch native did turn around his homecoming late in the second half with two rim-rattling dunks, but van Zegeren has seen limited playing time — just above 13 minutes per game — thus far in his new home.
The Hokies' defensive woes plagued them once again in the first half as poor rotations and hesitant closeouts let the Wildcats repeatedly beat them from deep.
Perhaps no player better highlighted the Hokies' deficiencies than Northwestern's Nathan Taphorn, who entered the evening with 8 field goals on the year, 7 of them of the three point variety. Despite that anomaly undoubtedly being highlighted on the scouting report, Taphorn knocked in a trio of threes and finished the night with 11 points.
On the back of Taphorn — along with standout guards Tre Demps and Bryant McIntosh — the Wildcats went into the break with a 45-36 lead.
But after a halftime talk from Williams, the Hokies' defense drastically improved as they began to defend Northwestern's bevy of sharpshooters with a greater sense of urgency.
"Just getting dialed into our scouting report," said Clarke of the improved second half defense. "We knew they had a lot of shooters. We were going under screens a lot in the first half. That's basically what we keyed on."
The Hokies inched back into the game midway through the half and managed to tie the game at 58 with 8:45 to play. But on the very next possession, Taphorn got away from the Hokies' defense once again and drilled a backbreaking three.
It seemed as if the experienced Wildcats would pull away at the under four media timeout, but Allen scored 5 points in a two minute span to even the game up at 73 with under a minute remaining. Neither team could muster up a game-winning bucket at the end of regulation, so the Cassell crowd of nearly 5,000 was treated to five minutes of free basketball.
The Hokies jumped on the Wildcats early in overtime, but two Northwestern three pointers erased Tech's short-lived four-point lead. Justin Bibbs tied the game back up at 79 with a short floater, and after each team traded empty possessions, McIntosh found the ball in his hands with the shot clock dwindling away. McIntosh, as he did throughout the night, made something out of nothing and tossed in a layup with 27 seconds left on the clock to put the Wildcats up by two.
Williams quickly called a timeout and drew up a final play, but Allen lost control of the ball at the top of the key and a mad scramble ensued. Somehow, Clarke ended up with a decent look in the short corner, but his shot bounced off the rim and the Wildcats escaped with the victory.
"It was some of the stuff we ran last year in that type of situation," said Williams of the game's final play. "We didn't execute it. Demps did a great job of bottling Seth up. You have to be able to go somewhere on the bounce in that play, otherwise it doesn't work. So it stalled out pretty quick and we probably dribbled 11 times and then threw up a prayer."
With three non-conference games remaining before getting a week off for final exams, the Hokies will need to recover quickly from a disheartening overtime loss. But Allen, a redshirt junior who has been through the rigors of an ACC schedule, thinks the Hokies can overcome this setback.
"This is a learning experience. We can't go anywhere but up from here," said Allen. "Northwestern was a tougher team tonight. We gotta just keep on moving on. We played hard. We played with all we got. But it takes more."
Comments
Man, that stinks.
That sure was close, mostly because Allen had a monster game.
I does give hope, but VT needs to win these close games.
EDIT: But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the improvement I've noticed over several games. This team is getting better.
We out-rebounded them and we outshot them at the foul line. Just a 10% better effort on defense & we prob would have won. Indeed, they had the scouting report, they knew they were going to throw up the threes....in the first half, defend a few of those and it might have been different. Play some D & quit all that contested stuff at the rim....Allen was a sapling under all those redwoods.
Towards the end of the game, NW's shooting went pretty cold. It's a shame we couldn't capitalize. Props to Allen for a monster game.
So many reasons to be pleased, even with the loss. This team is growing, game by game. Difference between 1st game and last night is immense.
My takeaways were:
1) What happened to LeDay? When he was in the game he was forcing it big time. I think he ends up more of a 8p-5r guy if he can stay in the rotation.
2) That's the Seth Allen we have been waiting for. He demands the ball a lot, but he can really create.
3) The freshmen: Clarke is a freak and super high-energy but out of control at times; Blackshear has a very polished game and needs more post touches; J-Rob moves the ball well in the half court set but needs to hit some shots to make defenses respect him.
4) Too many defensive lapses in the first half and down the stretch. This team has the ability to play good defense, but you have to want to play defense.
5) We saw a much more "veteran" rotation for most of the game, including Jalen Hudson playing some good minutes. A sign of things to come?
All I am looking for is continued improvement throughout the season. We will surprise a few teams and win some big games.
Spot on analysis.
Good thoughts. I agree on LeDay, not sure what we get out of him. Chris Coleman at TSL compared him to JT Thompson, which is probably pretty accurate. He's a gamer with a little outside game but probably needs be inside. He will have matchups where he is quite effective....and nights like this. But he's got heart and grit, which this team needs as much of as possible.
This is exactly the Allen we were expecting, good and bad. He's going to be a heart attack all year. The odd feeling I had is that Allen takes the Alpha-Male shots that Green and Delaney took for us...but it doesn't seem like Allen has earned our trust yet to take those shots. Maybe its because he didn't start here and that will wear off.
Spot on for the freshmen. Clarke is super impressive and can probably shoot better than he has shown (he rarely takes a jumper). Looks good at the FT line, so I think he's got or will have a good stroke from the outside. Blackshear is really exciting, seems to be learning his bigger body yet. Next year, he's a monster. Love Robinson, and you're right, when he knocks down some of those jumpers, you won't be able to get him off the floor.
Surprised Buzz highlighted Wilson's defense, but that must be why he's playing. He had a brutal defensive miscue late on an inbounds play where he totally lost McIntosh for a 3 at the top of the key. It was a laughably bad defensive play, Wilson had no idea where his man was.
Hudson looked better, Pierce was resurrected from the dead, Bibbs looked solid. I really like this team, just gotta learn how to win.
The only thing I learned from that game is that when you're down late in the game and need to shoot the ball outside of the paint, DO NOT have Devin Wilson on the floor. NW all but left him wide open on that final possession and he still didn't even attempt to do anything when the ball was thrown his way. Credit NW scouting report knowing the kid has zero shooting abilities.
Wilson is at 75% from the FT line and made some key ones in the 2nd half against UAB, which implies he has some decent shooting form but doesn't explain why he's so reluctant to pull the trigger when open.
It might not be the most popular strategy, but once we got the 4 pt lead in OT I'd have been tempted to hack their big guy. He bricked a FT terribly earlier in the game, and NW was still in the 1 and 1. I'd have preferred that to the open corner 3 they got and buried.
It's not like he has no shooting abilities, he just never shoots
Lots of good analysis, lot of good comments. To me, I see VT, I see basketball players, but I don't get a feeling that I'm watching a "team" yet. I'm sure that Buzz will eventually sort out what he needs to do with these guys to build that cohesiveness, and I realize that the youth of the team is part of that puzzle, but for now, I'm hoping to see more unselfish play and a better flow, for lack of a better word, on offense and a consistent emphasis on defense as we move into conference play. We have some talent, maybe a lot of talent out there, but it's still a bit loose.
I would liked to have seen Hudson in at the end instead of Wilson, good ballhandler who also can drive.
Northwestern's guards were very good. We got torched by them. Worries me heading into ACC play, especially when we go cold. Luckily, Bibbs and Allen can go toe for toe with any guards in the ACC scoring wise, but can they get stops on the other end. That's the key going forward.
Speaking of going head to head with guys, I would like to see Bibbs be a little more aggressive than he his. I realize that Seth can get where he wants on the floor usually but I like Bibbs in one on one match-ups a little more. I don't have that fear that he will turn it over when the ball is in his hands and down the stretch that is huge as evidenced by last nights botched final possession.
Agreed, but I don't think he is that player, nor wants to be that player. We've already got Clarke and Allen who have no issues going full blast to the hoop. We don't need a third like that playing crunch time minutes. But it is a bit frustration that he doesn't assert himself more on the game. He's so nonchalant of the floor, but thankfully, is what this team needs. A calming presence.
In the last five games, he's only shot 7 free throws, which is a problem. However, we're getting to the line as a team, which offsets this a bit.
You're right. I think it's clear he doesn't want to be that guy. Just wishful thinking on my part. I really feel like he could take over a game if he were as aggressive as Allen is. I also can't wait for Clarke to really get his feet under him. When he figures it all out and learns how to effectively finish at the rim it's going to be fun to watch.
My feeling is that he was kinda forced to be that guy and take over games last year and be aggressive. That's why we're all expecting that from him but in reality he is much more comfortable being more of a pure shooter from the wings and corners. Which I'm fine with, especially how well we've been getting to the line as a team and how well Bibbs has been stroking it from three.
I am glad that Allen had 25 points, but he only had 2 assists while committing 3 turnovers (nearly a 4th on the last play in OT). These numbers are not PG numbers. Robinson needs to play the point and Allen SG. Allen doesn't have much court vision except for the rim as evidenced by his multiple drives into a very crowded lane followed by prayers rather than finding the open shooter or slasher. I am glad the kid showed some scoring prowess and big shot ability, but his mistakes and defense is costly and I think his gun-slinging approach needs to be tempered until he plays with more control. Funnel the offense through Robinson or Wilson until then.
In this game the box score lies to you. Allen probably had his most well rounded game as a Hokie so far. He created at least two or three other turnovers that arent steals because he made the opponent knock the ball out of bounds. He also drastically cut down on bad shots after driving into the lane. He passed out to open teammates on at least six occasions. Those teammates only turned two of them into assists. He also was the most effective offensively he has been all year. He shot 48% from the field, compared to his 33% average coming in. He went 7-8 from the line for a second straight game. He shot 50% from outside at 4-8, one of his misses being the 75 footer that rimmed out at the end of regulation. I for one was shocked at the transformation even from the UAB game. I have been as critical as anyone of Allen prior to last nights game but he doesnt deserve much criticism for that game. Hopefully he continues to play like he did last night. You also have to realize that Wilson played most of the minutes at the point last night as well so Allen was playing mostly the shooting guard role.
I would like to see our offense diversify. By that I mean some of the younger players expanding the ways in which they can score. For Blackshear: get open and take the jumper or making more baseline drives he's so good at. For Chris Clarke: pick smart times when to drive with reckless abandon (obviously) and maybe use his drives to dish. For Bibbs: attack the basket in addition to shooting outside, his floater game is not bad at all. For Robinson: work on midrange jumpers. Any other ideas?
OT: does anyone know if/where I can buy those grey shorts? I've looked and can't find anything close.
37-3 is still possible!