BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: #4 UVA Wahoos (12-1) at Virginia Tech Hokies (9-5) 9PM ESPN2

IT'S GAMEDAY, #HokieNation!! Tip off against the Hoos at 9 PM in Cassell

#BeatUVA pic.twitter.com/0lNk10KOFx— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 4, 2016

Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
Also available on:
Satellite: Sirius: 81 XM: 81
Digital: Hokies Xtra & TuneIn

Television/Internet
ESPN2
Mike Couzens & Cory Alexander
Also available on ESPN3 and the ESPN app

For those of you that were with us til the super sweet end, welcome to another day with a winning record in the ACC!! The Hokies come in off a gritty, come from behind win over the NC State Wolfpack in Overtime. Tech trailed by as many as 16 points late in the first half before a Hokies run brought the game a bit closer. The defense and scoring of TYRONE Hudson and Seth Allen, yes that Seth Allen, were the critical turning points in this win. Both Zach Leday and Kerry Blackshear came close to adding double doubles as well.

GAMEDAY! @VT_MBBall hosts UVA tonight at 9 pm in Cassell! Can't wait! https://t.co/HVRE8KSEEN pic.twitter.com/xwM2otDvml— VT Promotions (@VTPromos) January 4, 2016

All of those niceties aside, things don't slow down for the Hokies, as they get the top ranked team in the conference and in state rival tonight. UVA comes to Blacksburg ranked #4 in the country. They have top wins over #12 Villanova, #14 WVU, Notre Dame and Ohio State. They come in on an 11 game winning streak with their only loss this season an early let down against George Washington. This is a team that plays defense first second and third and this season seems to have found an offense to match. Tony Bennett and his pack line defense always keep teams low scoring (8th Nationally in Avg Points Against) but usually the team has holes on the offensive end. Not so this season as the Cavaliers come in averaging a respectable 75.7 PPG which is slightly less than the 77.4 PPG being put in by the Hokies. The Cavaliers come in having won seven straight and five straight at Cassell against the Hokies. A nice summary of how those games have fared can be found here.

The Senior class is critical for this Wahoo's team, starting with Malcolm Brogdon, (#15), 6'5, 217 Lbs Guard, who is averaging 16.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 3 APG from the shooting guard role. Brogdon shoots better than 40% from outside and also better than 80% from the line. Brogdon is their do everything guy defensively as well, constantly using his big body to make it difficult for opposing guards to get into a rhythm.

Shots from the foul line come at a premium though for UVA, averaging just over 18 attempts per game, so barring a significant change, this shouldn't hurt us dramatically. Part of this is their high offensive efficiency but also the fact that they only pull in 10 offensive rebounds per game on average this season so not a lot of second chance points for the Cavaliers. One thing to keep in mind is that UVA's top six scorers this season all shoot better than 75% from the free throw line so in close games there really will not be a good person to foul.

The flip side of this coin though is that the Cavaliers rarely foul their opponents, who average less than 17 attempts. Considering the Hokies are still averaging almost 30 attempts per game, it will be something to watch for as this game gets going. Whichever of these teams keeps it closer to their average would have a big advantage in what should be a low scoring affair.

The next Senior to keep an eye on will be Anthony Gill, (#13) 6'8, 230 Lbs Forward, who is averaging 15.2 PPG and 6.3 RPG while shooting almost 60% from the floor, all inside, and 77% from the line as well. Gill and Brogdon run quite a few pick and rolls so expect to see them isolate to one side quite often in this game. Gill comes in averaging almost 19 PPG over the last six contests so expect him to be the hot hand that needs focus down low.

The only other Wahoo in double figures this season is London Perrantes, (#32) 6'2, 189 Lbs, Junior Guard, who is effectively their point guard, handling the ball at the top most often. He comes in averaging 10.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 4.6 APG. Perrantes is like Bibbs, deadly from outside, currently shooting 55% from behind the arc, so we can ill afford to let him get in a groove outside.

The Senior theme continues with Mike Tobey, (#10), 6'11, 253 Lbs Center who is averaging 7.8 PPG and 4.2 RPG also shooting almost 60% from the floor and a measly 75% from the line. The combination of Tobey and Gill will be a true test for our combination of big men. The last few games these two have been monsters, prior to that Tobey disappeared for much of their OOC slate. If their strong play inside continues we could be in for a long afternoon in the paint. If Tobey disappears than the task of defending Gill alone becomes much easier.

Darius Thompson (#51) 6'4, is the third starting guard for Tony Bennett, as a Sophomore, the youngest of the top five for UVA. He is averaging 8.1 PPG, 2.2 RPG and 1.9 APG as the rotational guard, used primarily to create space for Perrantes and Brogdon near the top of the key. He also shoots better than 40% from outside so not someone you can just slouch off of or he will knock down a big one.

If any of the guards get into early foul trouble, expect to see a combination of two Sophomores, Marial Shayok (#4) 6'6, 200 Lbs and Devon Hall (#0), 6'5, 210 Lbs. They combine for about 30 minutes per game, giving the Cavaliers 8.6 PPG, 4 RPG, and 4 APG. The forwards are backed up by Isaiah Wilkins (#21) 6'8, 205 Lbs Step Son of Dominique "The Human Highlight Film" Wilkins. Isaiah gives the Cavaliers 4.5 PPG and 4 RPG in about 21 minutes per game.

You guys have heard the term "Pack Line Defense" thrown about regarding UVA on several occasions. So what does it mean? It is a high pressure, man to man defense that sags to the middle of the court. It is designed to prevent penetration by driving the basketball. The "pack line" is an imaginary line two feet inside the three point line that all defenders not guarding the current ball handler are never supposed to be outside of. The defender that is on the ball handler is expected to be up close, hand in face to create turnovers on the outside.

One other critical aspect of this defense that is different than most is that it's designed to deny the baseline. Defenders are taught to position themselves to not allow any baseline penetration, relying on help defense to close down an adjusted drive to the center of the lane. At the top of the post, expect to see defenders attempt to position themselves somewhat in front of the opposing offensive player to prevent the easy pass to the top of the lane. The key weakness of this defense is if a team gets a large lead on you, than they are free to pass the ball around the perimeter to run clock. Unfortunately with the skill of the players that UVA has recruited, that doesn't happen very often. Tony Bennett draws this defense from his father, Dick Bennett, who is considered the developer of this style of defense while he coached at Washington State University.

Bennett has his team running what is called a Blocker Mover Offense on the other end of the court. This is a variation of the Motion Offense, allowing the primary ball handler at the top of the key to attempt to use a screen provided by one of two lane personnel near the top of the key. At the point of the screen, the ball handler decides either to drive the lane, kick out to an open shooter or attempt a down low pass to their second lane player, who usually moves across the basket down at the baseline block to create space for the driving guard. The defensive rotation is what drives the guard's decision making process as he assesses what is in front of him. The guard essentially has three options coming off the pick or can spin back out to reset for another play. The key for the Hokies will be to limit the times where we allow dribble penetration by Perrantes or Brogdon or allow a clean pass into the lower lane player for an easy layup.

This game is going to come down to three things, dribble penetration for both teams, execution at the free throw line, and offensive rebounding by the Hokies. If the Hokies are the better team at these three areas, than they could put this losing streak to the Cavaliers behind them. Get the better of the Wahoos in two out of three areas and give yourself a chance. Let UVA win these areas and its another long night in Cassell for us fans. The Hokies will definitely need to win the offensive rebounding battle to get more shots and second chance points against the Wahoos to keep us in this game. Whichever team gets to the rim more consistently with the ball will do one of two things, run up the score on baskets or ramp up the free throw attempts, which could go a long way in deciding this contest. One last thing that will be critical for the Hokies is that Justin Bibbs needs to find his shot from outside to keep the Wahoos honest in guarding him outside. This could be a key factor in allowing Allen, Hudson and Leday the needed space to drive into the lane against the Cavaliers.

It's a home game, they delivered in a tough situation on Saturday, its against a rival and a top 5 team at that. All the recipe for these guys being amped up, now Buzz just needs to keep them focused. I believe we have the talent, size and speed required to break this defense tonight. It obviously would be better with Clarke or Ahmed Hill but going with what we have should cause the Cavaliers fits. Allen needs to repeat his defensive performance against Brogdon and our bigs need to be smart with their fouls. Leday and Allen at the free throw line late in this one again are the difference. Tech wins 65-63, hanging on against a late charge from UVA.

Lady Hokies came up a few votes short this week, sitting at #27 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Still a big step forward for the Ladies as they moved to 13-1, 1-0 on the year with their win against Boston College. The Ladies next take the court at Louisville (10-5, 2-0) at 7PM on Thursday. Game will be available on ESPN3/WatchESPN App.