GAMEDAY INFO: #BeatWakeLJVM Coliseum 6:30 PM @ESPNU https://t.co/1vIJeaIlf5 pic.twitter.com/txooQPxZPe— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) February 28, 2016
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Anish Shroff & Cory Alexander
IT'S GAMEDAY!#BeatWake pic.twitter.com/DcVVFISCja— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) February 28, 2016
Hokies fans, this will be our second time facing the Demon Deacons. When last we met, Tech sent Wake home with an 81-80 loss. Coming into that game, both these teams were at about the same spot in terms of overall record and conference play. It could be said that this game sent both teams in opposite directions. Tech has gone on to win four m ore conference games and still has a chance at a winning record in the ACC this year. Wake has gone on to lose eleven of their next twelve, with only a win over lowly Boston College mixed in. Wake comes in looking to play spoiler for everyone left on their schedule though so Tech cant afford to take this game lightly.
Another reason for concern is that Wake gets back arguably their best player in Devin Thomas (#2), 6'9, 255 Lbs, Senior Forward, who is averaging 15.8 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 2.3 APG. Thomas was serving a two game suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
The biggest concern for the Hokies in this game will be the size/skill combination that Wake's big men possess.
The second big man for Wake Forest is Konstantinos Mitoglou (#44), 6'10, 225 Lbs Sophomore Forward, who is averaging 9.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and an assist per game. Thomas shoots a scary 54% from the field, and is still shooting a measly 60% from the charity stripe so quite the candidate for hack a Shaq late in a game. Mitoglou shoots only 44% from the field but is shooting 77.5% from the line.
These two are backed up by John Collins (#20), 6'10, 218 Lbs Freshmen Forward, averaging 7.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG. Collins is also close to 60% from the field and better than 71% from the line. There are times that Wake Forest runs all three of these players on the floor together. He has had his minutes scaled back during conference play, probably to prevent hitting the freshmen wall so expect to see heavy doses of the other two unless they get in foul trouble.
In terms of guards and wingers, Wake Forest relies on Bryant Crawford (#13), 6'3, 190 Lbs Freshman Guard from Gonzaga. He is having an amazing freshmen year, scoring even higher in ACC play than he did in OOC, putting up 13.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 4.3 APG. His ability to find open teammates, especially creating dunk opportunities for the big men makes him a difficult matchup even though we have seen a drop off to 36% from outside the arc. He draws defenders out to him and finds teammates in open space. He is also the most likely to drive to the hoop from the top of the key, having drawn the second most fouls of any Demon Deacons player. He does seem to have the achilles heel of turning the ball over too often, right now at 3.4 turnovers per game.
After Crawford, Codi Miller-McIntyre, (#0), 6'3, 205 Lbs, Senior Guard has never seemed to regain his form of where he was last season after suffering an injury. So far this year he is putting up 8.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 4.2 APG. Many expected Miller-McIntyre to get back to where he was by the time the team hit the ACC schedule since he led the Demon Deacons in scoring and assists while being second in rebounding last year but that never occurred, really reducing the difficulty in beating this Wake Forest team.
Cornelius Hudson (#25) 6'6, 180 Lbs Sophomore Forward is contributing 7.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 1.4 APG. Hudson plays the primary slasher/winger type role to keep defenses honest. He is constantly on the move in the half-court offense working to create mismatches or open space against opponents.
Mitchell Wilbekin, (#10), 6'2, 165 Lbs, Sophomore Guard provides the Deacons 7 PPG, 2 RPG, and 1.4 APG. He started the season in more of a starting role with Miller-McIntyre out of the lineup. He provides high quality bench minutes for the guards as needed at this point, still getting on the floor over 20 minutes per game.
Tech is going to have their hands full. This is an extremely difficult roster for Buzz to try to match up against. If he goes with a big man team out there, he sacrifices quite a bit of offense and there is no guarantee that our big men can stay out of foul trouble in those circumstances. If he goes with a smaller lineup, with the return of Miller-McIntyre, Wake has all the necessary pieces to stay with Tech that way as well. Buzz will need to make sure that he has this team ready to go from the tip to avoid a quick let down like we saw in the Duke game.
Tech wins this one by doing what they do best in getting to the line and creating foul trouble for their opponents. 75-68, having to make a couple of critical free throws over the last two minutes to salt this one away.
Comments
So, with a win, we clinch a first round bye...
This program has come a long way in one year.
Well we can't guard the paint, but we are on FIRE from behind the arc
I can't believe Seth Allen just made that 3 point shot. (8:48 left in the 1st half)
That was a thing of beauty!
Reporting in! There's been a bit of slop so far, but there's also been some damn good ball movement early. Keep up the pressure, team.
I like it like Zack!
Wake doing their best to prevent Tech from getting to the line and the Hokies are countering by splashing them from deep early.
I love that JRob brings the mid-range jumper to our arsenal. I forgot how much I missed that being a thing that most teams do well until the past two weeks.
Tyrone!
Man, this has got to be the best we've shot from 3 in a while.
The analysis is correct regarding our being able to win if we get to the line... The problem is nothing is being called on our end, even with a ton of contact. Oh well, so goes ACC officiating. You never know what you are going to get from night to night.
Allen has been met with hard contact at the highest point on two shot attempts. He got the first one to go but missed the second. I don't know how they could've been any more blatant though.
I think there is a LOT of contact near the rim when we are on offense.
Here's an idea for rules committee block charge calls should alternate like the possession arrow that will help me DEAL!
Did the announcers just talk about a replay with Leday draining a three when it was clear Seth Allen made the jumper?
Don't fall in love with the three. Work it inside, make Thomas defend.
be physical with Wilbiken.
So got home at about 5 min remaining and will lose TV ground to the Oscars at 8. From what I have seen offense looks a little sloppy and defense is playing well as a team but not challenging shots well enough.
Make the argument that the awards ceremony doesn't start until 8:30, everything before then is just the red carpet stuff.
I already got the argument that the red carpet is better than the awards at the beginning
Wife checked the guide at commercial, doesn't start until 8:30. Hooray!
People still watch the Oscars?
We need to get those rebounds.
Switching on those screens is killing us, need to get back to prevent that pass to the block.
All those jumpers. VT is great when they're driving, being aggressive, and going to the FT line. It'd be nice to do more of that.
The worst part about us not getting any foul calls on the offensive end is the fact that it seems like every time Wake attempts a shot in the paint, we get called for a foul no matter what. Gotta call it both ways
Seems like Wake's ball movement is a lot better than ours
Great job capitalizing on those turnovers. Have to make them pay.
Hey, guys, we are ahead!
Ok time to pull away.
Great vision by Clarke recognizing the double team and dropping it off to LeDay
That was nice
Lots of pretty going on the last three minutes. Fantastic effort all around.
Clarke I Love You Man! Nice pass to Leday!
These officials...
Consistently Inconsistent.
College basketball refs are consistently terrible but for some reason I let it surprise and disappoint me over and over
We have got to keep them off the blocks. Every time they catch it down there they either get two points or two shots.
Go get'em Buzz!
Over and back my white, hairy ass. That was not possession!
Are we playing in Cameron Indoor tonight?
We just need to keep playing well enough to keep the refs from deciding who should win.
Thankfully, Wake sucks worse than the refs who just missed Wake in the lane for 5+ seconds.
Buzz starting to grow a little hair to pull out? Who was the last MBB coach for the Hokies to have hair?
Oh my word, Robinson
That was a sweet move down the lane!
We have come so close to pulling away. We just gotta keep the pressure up and take the easy buckets
Hey announcers. It's a 5 point game with 3 minutes to go. Let's talk about that. kthxbye
Not really doing a great job slamming the door closed on a Wake comeback. Need to run a little clock and score.
Huge 3 and great drive to draw the foul!
Bench with double 3 eyes!
These refs are horrible. They keep shoving us and then calling us for a foul.
Seth it's a love hate thing.
Robinson has ice water in his veins. Get the feeling he's gonna make some big shots in bigger games in the future
Robinson man....he's clutch.
Somebody send Corey Alexander a Buzzketball shirt!
Corey don't TKP
The announcer just tried to claim he made up "Buzzketball." Yah right.
No, he didn't
Fair enough. On the first listen through it sounded like it. Listening again, you can barely hear him say "they are calling it" after he clearly says "Buzzketball."
For reference: 1:18 left in the 2nd half (1:53:10-1:53:24 of the ESPN3 replay).
My bad.
Think Blue Collar was trying to say that you are right, the announcer didn't make up Buzzketball.
Stupid fifth foul for Allen.
DUMB, DUMB. DUMB foul by Allen. Now he sits.
That was so NOT blocking. Wilson was waiting for him. for ever.
Of course that was a block! BS!
That was a charge not a blocking foul.
That was the worst dive ever.
ACC refs called that a trip but Grayson Allen's not?
Holy hell .500 in the ACC
What a great second season for Buzz
Wife comes in at end and questions how that was a foul. Wake player fell all by himself. Then states I could ref better than these guys. I got nothing! But good guys Win!
Could we potentially get an NIT bid this year?
We are now guaranteed to finish the season at .500 or better (including the ACC tourney) I think one more win secures the bid.
We have two regular season games left, we could still finish below .500. But yeah I agree with you, one more win should seal it.
I think he was referring to regular season win %, not ACC %
Ah, my B
Yeah, NIT requires a .500 or better overall record. A middle of the pack ACC team at .500+ overall and close to that in league play should make it in based off of previous years.
I think NIT is a lock, think bigger.
NIT is far from a lock. If we win 2 more games, I think it would be a high probability.
Nice win. .500 in ACC baby!!!
I'm super glad we closed out by making the free throws we needed. Good game all around. Holy hell, what a year this has been.
First round bye in the ACC Tourney. In year 2 of Buzzketball. Let that sink in for a moment.
It's gonna be March, and we don't have a losing ACC record.
Joe you got a buzzketball shout out on ESPN!!
pics or it didnt happen!
I heard the buzzketball shout out, that was cool. I have watched or listened to every game this year, and it has been a lot of fun being a part of it. Wish I could have made a game in person, but it has been a great ride so far. Too bad the Pitt game is relegated to the damn internet.
Great win, team it's far beyond where most fans expected it.
Didnt expect it to take that many free throws at the end but glad it came out about what I figured. I hate fouls when the clock isnt running. I think those should be automatic technicals, not based on whether they are making a basketball play or not determining it. If its before the whistle, it shouldnt be happening.
Based on the way they explained it on TV it seems like it's a massively subjective call the way it is currently articulated.
Clinched a winning regular season. Clinched an ACC tournament bye. Wow. Absolutely exceeded my expectations this year. Bravo, Buzz.
This season has been so fun
I'm starting to like this Buzz guy.
We've won our last 3 games by a combined 32 points. Our previous 4 ACC wins were by 13 points combined, and although we were playing much tougher competition, its pretty amazing we've played so well on the road the past few weeks.
Somebody tell Bitter that Buzzketball arrived early!
Well done.
3-6 on the road in ACC play, need to flip that next year. Need to finish games like SU and ND when we have the chance. We were very close to a 5-4 ACC road record.
Great W tonight. Even better that they get to watch the first round on TV. I noticed, and the commentators noted, that Buzz seems to be growing the locks out. Is this Buzz's version of a "playoff beard"?