Tune into @ESPNU at 6:30 PM to watch the #Hokies take on Pitt#BeatPitt pic.twitter.com/bzjddFW4Wr— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 31, 2016
Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
Also available on:
Satellite: Sirius: 108 XM: 194
Digital: Hokies Xtra & TuneIn
Television/Internet
ESPNU
No indication to the Analysts
#GamedayGuide: #BeatPitt pic.twitter.com/F9U7NrGAAd— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 31, 2016
Hokies fans, Tech is at the center of the teeter totter again. Sitting at 4-4 in ACC play, this game plays a pivotal role in how we move forward from here. Tough that we have to go to Pitt to play this game, where the Panthers are 14-2 so far this season with losses to #21 Purdue and NC State. The good news is that since entering ACC play, the Panthers have seemed to be a different team on the offensive end of the floor. Their scoring is double digits below their season average in six of the eight conference games so far. Usually when a team dips like that its turnovers or foul trouble. In this case it appears that the Pitt big men have gone stone cold from the floor. On the season they shoot around 46% as a group, but in their three losses they combined to shoot about 31% from inside the paint. Keep an eye out you Johnny Hamilton fans, because this kind of stat smacks of him getting some run in this game. It also wont hurt if our guards are aggressive as usual and can get the starting big men in foul trouble early, so the Panthers have to rely on less experienced guys out there to score in the paint.
The Panthers are led in scoring by Junior Forward Michael Young (#2), 6'9, 235 Lbs. who comes in averaging 17.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.9 APG. He usually gets 5 or more points per game from the free throw line, where he shoots 82%, so someone the Hokies should resist giving a lot of And One opportunities if they can. Young is a beast on defense too, allowing less than 100 points per 100 possessions and with the third highest defensive rating on the Panthers roster according to Sports Reference's advanced statistics.
Young is followed in scoring by Junior Forward Jamel Artis (#1), 6'7, 220 Lbs. Artis brings 15.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG to the floor for the Panthers. He and Zach Leday will likely spend a lot of time around each other this evening which could cause some issues since Artis is the Panthers leading three point attempts guy with about four attempts per game. Needing Leday to rotate out to the perimeter on defense could prove troublesome for the Hokies in defending the Lane. Look for Buzz to get creative in how they handle Artis inside and out.
The only other Panther in double digits is Senior Guard James Robinson (#0) 6'3, 200 Lbs. who brings 10 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 5.0 APG as the Panthers primary ball handler. This matchup will likely fall to Robinson or Wilson, depending who is on the floor at the time.
After these three, the biggest shooter to worry about from the Panthers roster has to be Senior Guard Sterling Smith (#15) 6'4, 185 Lbs. Smith is the Panthers three point specialist while averaging only 6.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG. That number is deceiving though as Smith is one of those hit or miss guys. One night he gives you 15, the next he doesn't score. He is currently shooting about 48% from outside so the Hokies can ill afford for him to get started. As we have seen in many games this year, the perimeter guys kill us at critical moments. I would expect to see him matched up against Seth Allen based on his quickness around the perimeter.
Junior Forward Sheldon Jeter, (#21) 6'7, 215 Lbs putting up 7.8 PPG and 5.4 RPG rounds out the primary starters for this team, so as you can see, they arent an especially large team, which has hurt them in the ACC so far.
Tech should matchup pretty well size wise, the question is can our bigs stay out of foul trouble, especially given their size advantage down low. This is the kind of game where you had hoped to see Kerry Blackshear, coming off his 19th Birthday on Thursday, dominate smaller opponents. We can ill afford to have another game from him like we did against Louisville. If Blackshear can manage a double-double, Tech could win this game by double digits. If he is in early foul trouble, we go back to having three scorers on the floor at any one time, which leaves a lot of points on the floor, especially if Allen gets careless again from outside.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @kjblack15 pic.twitter.com/dBNGRZTyQu— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 28, 2016
The one piece of this team that drives me crazy is out inability to get Bibbs open looks. Give him one second of open look at he is incredibly deadly, yet we seem to only manage it two to three times a game. Bibbs could arguably be close to a conference leader in scoring if we could manage to get him open half as much as some other teams seem to find their shooters against us.
On defense, expect to see a combination of man-to-man styles from Jamie Dixon's Panthers. If we get the Panthers in foul trouble early he may be forced into some zone defense as this Panthers team just doesn't seem to have the depth of teams in the past. Even in man-to-man, expect to see the Panthers collapse into the lane to try to prevent easy interior buckets. The other aspect to this is the emphasis that Dixon puts on getting rebounds. He wants his players on both end of the floor to be in correct positions to win the rebounding battle. His goal is to be +10 per game.
On offense, we have seen some changes to the style the Panthers run as well. They were more known for being a perimeter passing offense, looking for one open pass to the interior to create. This season we have seen more taking the basketball to the basket by the Panther guards. Part of this is the new rules and part of it is the talent on the floor in his starting guards.
The Hokies need a big game from their big men, they need Allen to be smarter with his possessions, even if that is driving every time he touches the ball. We cant afford another 1-7 night from outside that we only got 1 offensive rebound off the misses. Getting Bibbs going is critical because it will stretch the Panthers defense, which is something they are not equipped to handle very well and could get them in early foul trouble. On defense, we need to have active hands in the lane because Pitt relies on a lot of interior passing this season both inside and out, the Panthers rely on 18.3 APG to get their scoring in so getting our hands on those passes could make the difference in this game.
The last thing we need is someone, be it Leday, Allen or TYRONE, to have the killer's mentality out there. Someone has to step on the Panthers throat and be fulling to put their foot down.
I just have an inkling that Buzz is going to have these guys tired of taking losses and they are going to come out ready from the tip. Tech wins 77-65 going away as Pitts starters watch from the bench, fouled out.
Comments
Rob, I love the prediction!
You know it's a charge when you knock the defender plumb out of their shoes.
Pitt is starting to cool down from the field. Bound to happen when you start off shooting a clip of 90%. Looking to be another close one for the good guys so far.
Pitt's fans counting down the wrong time is getting on my nerves! Ugh!
Unfortunately, VT students do the same thing. And even worse, count down the clock when we have the ball, letting the defense know when we have to shoot.
Allen with the 25 footer, nice.
Well earned 5-0 run there for VT. Just gotta keep getting rebounds. They'll cool off.
Back to this teams problem which is guarding the 3 point line.
Well, at least Allen has found the stroke.
That could have gone much better. We looked sloppy.
Terrible team half. Turnovers, lack of perimeter defense, lack of domination inside, just angry watching this slop.
We are playing really bad on the defensive side of the ball. Gotta be able to contest shots better. Get their FG % back to a reasonable figure and we have a chance if we can keep ourselves from handing them the ball on offense.
Thats what happens when you allow double digit assists in the first half. They are shooting so well because they are getting wide open looks. Sad part is that their perimeter shooting being piss poor is what kept the game this close....even though we let them hit five threes that was on fifteen attempts. Most other ACC teams would have hit at least two more of those and then you are talking a fifteen point deficit.
Not a great game today
This is awful. Hope Tyrod plays well tonight at least.
Sh:t.
We are lucky we arent down 25 at this point. Buzz definitely didn't get to them today. So many guys out of position and trying to do too much.
Pitt booing that offensive foul, get over it. We've had 4 or 5 charges called on us already.
Everything about this game is baffling. Players are flat on both ends. Allen is the only reason things are still within an arms reach.
Terrible group on floor right now. Wilson. Robinson Hamilton all cant score. Blackshear should not be allowed to screen anymore. Costs us three offensive possessions a game
about 2 minutes from turning this off my tv. Poor effort tonight.
Not sure why these guys even got on the bus for this one. Just poor all around. Cant rebound balls right to us, cant play defense, cant shoot....waste of Tech money today
True. At this point, just praying we make it look competitive. Gonna be hard considering we have one person putting the ball in the basket and zero effort on the defensive side of the ball.
Cory Alexander is the worst
He always calls our games and always is extremely biased.
Yeah and I get it to a certain extent. I'm sure my hate for UVA would show if I was in his position. But at least be a little professional and unbiased...
Yeah. I can't really blame the guy for it I guess. I would certainly be biased against LOLuva. So IMO it's ESPNs fault.
You guys do realize that this team is still not very good yet? Nothing to be disappointed about, but this has turned into a whupping
I'd say losing by 21 with 9 minutes to go is something to be disappointed about. Team didn't show up. That disappoints me.
I try to stay on the sunny side, but this has been the hardest game to watch since WVU.
I'm sure we'll bounce back and pick up a couple more ACC W's.
This team has shown glimpses of being a good team. The problem is that it's completely effort based at this point. The fact that we are seeing very little defense being played, which is essentially all effort, is disappointing.
Time for Donlon and Galloway to play the rest of the way.
Tired of these no calls on our offensive end. Fouls are there and have to go one way or another. Cost us at least six free throw attempts imo. Not that it really mattered by how unprepared this entire team has been except for Allen.
Agreed. The strategy of making contact at the rim and getting to the line doesn't work if the refs just don't call fouls
Long season for a young team. Knew there would be a game or two like this. Hope Buzz can get them refocused for the next one. Season is not over. The game is. We did not show well, and at SU will not be easy. Hopefully look better than tonight.
Sad part is our Ladies squad lost by even more than the men. Bad all around day for Tech basketball losing by a combined 47 points today.
Not a good weekend for the school as a whole. Outside of wrestling, a weekend I'd rather just not happened
I had to turn off the game, I was screaming at the TV and frightening the dogs. The officiating was horrible.
Again, same 4 guys score all (but 6) points for the Hokies tonight...
Some of you basketball gurus can help me out with a couple of things.
1) Our offensive strategy against Louisville, especially as it was executed in the first 10 minutes of that game, was on point. The team seemed very comfortable operating like that. Why not just adopt that as our identity? Be aggressive driving into the lane and make the shot, get fouled or kick out for an open 3 point attempt.
2) Defensively... Isn't rotating a basic basketball skill? Our defensive rotation weather in man or in zone seems fundamentally flawed. I don't think I ever watch another team give up as many open looks as this team does (and has for the past few years). Is this a product of youth or something entirely different?
1) The problem with that offensive strategy came to the forefront tonight, when the officials simply werent blowing their whistles on the same contact that has gotten the Hokies to the line all season, so then we were left with either bad shots after contact or turnovers because they were already past the point of passing out to an open teammate. The officials were consistent tonight with that and on both ends for the most part. One of the reasons you didnt really see me lamenting the officiating. Typically so far in ACC play we have reached the free throw line 30 times or more, tonight we only got to the line for 20 attempts hitting 14. So thats about 7 points we normally count on being there that werent. The Louisville game also saw us shoot 87% from the line on 33-38 shooting. Thats 19 more than we put through tonight, Oh we lost by 19?
Another area that consistently kills us is bench contribution. As was brought up by others we saw 65 of our 71 points scored by four players. The Panthers got 29 points from their bench compared to our 4. Any time we are forced to substitute, we are adding to the offensive liability that is our bench on the floor. At one point tonight, Buzz had Justin Robinson, Devin Wilson and Johnny Hamilton all on the floor together. That left Bibbs and Allen to try to score with three non factors. Every minute that our team has a group like out there is the potential for the other team to go on a six to ten point run. Even Blackshear has dropped off in the last few games
2) Defensive rotation is a basic basketball skill and yes we have been terrible at it all year, especially against a teams second or third perimeter shooters. I dont know if its that our wing players arent agressive enough trying to get through screens down low or some other aspect of how Buzz wants the lane protected that is the root cause but consider this in ACC play.
Pitt - 8-25
Louisville - 12-18
UNC - 3-23
ND - 5-17
GT- 4-15
Wake - 13-24
Duke - 9-24
UVA - 9-20
NC State 5-23
Total - 68/189 = 36%
Four Bad Games (Louisville, Wake, Duke and UVA) - 43/86 50%
Other Five Games - 25/103 - Essentially 25%
Its not perfect defense but half the games have been bad, while the other half are about what you want as a head coach in that they are under 30%. Our bigger problem as evidenced tonight has been just the open shot or open man in general. A large part of that I contribute to the lack of experience/lack of continuity of our "big men" on the floor. They fail to close out cleanly in transitions on high screens which leads to defensive drag on the rest of the positions on the floor. Only takes about a half second release to get a shooter open in the corner. Its definitely happening in every game and I am not sure Buzz is going to have an answer for it this season.
Just as an example. Opponent has ball at top of the key against Seth Allen, their big man screens Allen up top, Blackshear comes to top, but opponents big is already two steps back into the lane, so Leday steps up to cut off pass into lane turning into easy dunk, while man Leday was guarding completes screen of Bibbs, and Blackshear isnt back yet to rotate for Bibbs so Bibbs man goes to the corner and is wide open for pass from big man on Leday to take the clean shot. Just one type of play I have seen us have problems with consistently.