Buzzketball Central: VMI Keydets (1-1) at Virginia Tech Hokies (2-0) 7pm Nov 19 ACC Network Extra

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: November 19, 2016 / 7 p.m.
Opponent: VMI
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Cassell Coliseum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Kevin Fitzgerald
TV/Internet: ACC Network EXTRA
Talent: Danny Nokes & Mack McCarthy
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech

Hokies and Keydets meet in Cassell Coliseum: Tech and VMI renew rivalry on Saturday night at 7 p.m. https://t.co/GQ1Z10pGsO— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) November 18, 2016

Keydet, Cadet: An Old School Rivalry

Buzzketball has VMI coming in to Cassell on Saturday night. While it's been many years since these two schools took very different trajectories in the overall makeup of their student bodies, this remains one of our longest tenured rivalries in all of Hokies sports. This will be the 134th meeting of the two programs going back as far as February of 1909, when Tech suffered a 15-9 loss to the Keydets.

The Hokies have dominated the more recent version of this rivalry though, winning 20 of 21 games played at Cassell and 41 of the last 44 matchups. The last loss to VMI came in 2004 at Lexington. In recent years this has been a high scoring affair so expect a high paced, high scoring evening on Saturday night.

The Keydets come in 1-1, with a win over Southern Virginia College and a loss to Richmond. They return their two top scorers from last season but graduated a couple key role players. One thing for sure is that Buzz needs to have his guys ready to play perimeter defense as VMI continues its trend of shooting from outside that is a trademark of Coach Dan Earl's offensive strategy. So far through two games VMI has attempted 61 three pointers.

Defensively, Coach Earl has a very similar style to Buzz, in that he expects his team to limit transition baskets and play a very heavy man to man pressure defense to create turnovers.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

The Hokies start this season with a third game against an opponent that they cannot afford a loss to if they hope to receive a bid to the Dance. Tech will need its "bigs" to dominate the paint, drawing the much smaller Keydets lineup inside which will open things up for Tech shooters.

Buzz should have essentially the same game plan as the last two matchups so expect to see Khadim Sy early, followed by Leday getting into the mix against the first round of subs for VMI. It will be interesting to see if Coach Earl counters this move with some of his size. This might be playing into the Hokies hands though as the majority of the size on the VMI rosters are freshmen and we have seen how Leday takes advantage of inexperienced post players time and again.

On defense, as long as the Hokies defend the three with tenacity, this game could get out of reach early very similar to the High Point game. If they don't though, this game could linger throughout.

Our 'Belt Winner' is awarded @ our 'Early Bird' session that begins the week. It is won based on the previous week of work: @REALSETHALLEN pic.twitter.com/F3k2uD5pzv— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) November 17, 2016

Keydets Backcourt

At Point Guard, Tech will see a familiar opponent in QJ Peterson, #22, 6'0, 185 lbs senior who comes in averaging 17.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 3 APG, and 1.5 SPG. So far this season though he has had a tough go of it shooting wise so getting his points have used up quite a few Keydets possessions. Historically, this is Peterson's fourth game against the Hokies, where he has previously put up 26, 14, and 22 points in the last three contests. He reminds me strongly of Seth Allen, since he has both the ability to drive the ball but also shoot from outside with that distinct chance of being cold at either in any given game.

In terms of Shooting guard, the Keydets are led by Julian Eleby, #35, 6'3, 190 lbs senior who comes in averaging 23.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2 SPG. He is deadly from the outside in, shooting above 45% from the field and 47% from behind the arc so not someone the Hokies can afford to let get going. So far he has attempted more than 10 three's in each game.

After Peterson and Eleby though, production drops off a cliff for this team. So far it's been freshmen Keith Smith, #1, 6'0, 170 lbs and

sophomore Adrian Rich, #3, 6'2, 170 Lbs. providing minor respites' for the two seniors, combined contributing 10 PPG, 2 RPG, 5.5 APG and 1.5 SPG. These two seem to be more focused on finding teammates to shoot rather than taking shots when they get on the floor.

Panthers Frontcourt

Senior Forward Trey Chapman, #15, 6'6, 205 lbs. will lead the way underneath the basket for the Panthers. Chapman so far this year has put up 7.5 PPG, 6 RPG, while shooting 46% from the field. Chapman likely will be coming more from a wing position in terms of spacing on the floor rather than directly underneath the basket.

Armani Branch, #21, 6'6, 205 lbs. junior is the next best contributor down low for VMI but I am not sure of his status for this game. I can't find any reference to an injury or a suspension but he did not play in their loss against Richmond. I do have to give him credit for his twitter handle, @oftenslepton which made me chuckle. In the game against Southern Virginia, he put up 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and a block, hitting all the shots he took in just eight minutes of play.

Another name to wait for the announcers to butcher will be forward Fred Iruafemi, #5, 6'6, 205 lbs, who has put up 4.5 PPG, 8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1 SPG, and 2.5 BPG. This is their high energy defender that creates a lot of opportunities for his teammates. He leads VMI with eight offensive rebounds. I would expect that he and Zach Leday will be banging around against each other in this matchup.

Hopeful Freshmen Matchup

The Hokies Khadim Sy vs VMI's Tyler Creammer. Both 6'10 and 240 or so lbs. Both freshmen seeing an increasing role with their teams and very similar in terms of defensive ability. Sy offensively has contributed more than Creammer at this point but it would be good to see how Sy manages with a similar sized opponent considering the rosters of our two previous opponents.

10 ppg5 rpg4 blocks@khadimsy1 isn't going to stay under the radar long https://t.co/8DWiEIfOUZ pic.twitter.com/0OFy7Vaf9f— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) November 18, 2016

What to expect from VMI?

VMI plays predominantly man to man focused on preventing open looks from the floor. They had 10 steals in their first game against Everett so something to be aware of as the Hokies bring the ball up the court. It's an aggressive man to man after retreating to prevent transition baskets so they do create quite a few turnovers. Very much like the other two opponents we have had they utilize steals to fuel a quick response offense that looks to push the pace and find the open man on the perimeter.

In a half court set, don't be surprised to see constant passing around the perimeter to find the open shot as the Keydets rely on their shooting ability to equalize what they cannot make up in size down low(Sound familiar). Fortunately for Tech, they are only shooting about 30% so far from the perimeter so the Hokies have to hope this continues.

As was pointed out above, they have only two really reliable scorers so far. If this continues than it plays right into Tech's hands as the two won't be able to generate enough to keep VMI in this game.

The Hokies

Year 3 from Buzz and Company has shown us one thing so far, expect balanced scoring throughout the roster with a handful of scorers reaching double figures each night. Through two games, there are five Hokies averaging in double figures (Hill 17, LeDay 16, Allen 12.5, Clarke 10.5, and Sy 10) along with Robinson averaging 9 per game so far.

FOUR #Hokies in double-digits vs High Point@REALSETHALLEN - 17@MED_XIII - 20@ZachLeDay32 - 12@khadimsy1 - 14#getB3TTER pic.twitter.com/K9F1uRahot— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) November 16, 2016

The other aspect that is good early on is the spread of the time on the floor. Only Hill is averaging over 30 minutes so far with the rest of the primary rotation down near 25 minutes. Hopefully Tech is able to continue this during OOC play so the team remains fresh as it reaches ACC play.

This game the Hokies need to close out on the perimeter, create turnovers and get the ball into the lane to cause VMI early foul trouble. Continuing to move the ball on offense for the open look will also be critical.

Tech needs to be aware of who the opponents are on the court so they can exploit the numerous matchup issues the Hokies pose for the Keydets. There are going to essentially be two or three matchup challenges for VMI with whatever five Hokies are on the court, the Hokies just need to capitalize on them.

Highlight of the High Point Game

Highlight of the game for me had to be Sy taking his man baseline for the dunk although Hill's shooting touch was definitely a photo finish second place. Both looked silky smooth executing out there for the Hokies.

In Closing

VMI is the third smaller lineup in a row coming into Cassell. Continue to take advantage of the mismatches and Tech comes out of this fine. Fail to and get haunted all season.

I have to think that Buzz is intent on redshirting Tyrie Jackson if he doesn't play by the end of this game. Passing on too many opportunities to get him some learning experience if that wasn't the case.

I don't expect this to be the early route that High Point turned into but I do expect the Hokies will likely have a double digit first half lead that is maintained throughout the second half in this one.

This game should be closer than the other two games ended up being but I do expect the Hokies to keep at least a double digit lead. I expect this to be an extremely high scoring affair so something along the lines of 96 to 84 considering the Hokies have scored 87 or more points in four of the last five meetings.

#WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/P7AX4Cn1Ni— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) November 16, 2016