Things were going very well for the Virginia Tech men's basketball team. Until they weren't.
Early on in their second round showing of the Wooden Classic in California, the Hokies took Texas A&M to the woodshed. They moved the ball effortlessly, kept the Aggies chasing on both ends of the court, and drained threes to pad their lead.
The Tech advantage grew to 17 a few minutes into the second half. Soon after, things came crashing down.
The triples that fell so easily for Tech earlier were suddenly nowhere to be found. The massive A&M size advantage eventually took its toll on the guard heavy Hokies, accumulating in seven second half offensive rebounds and a ton of easy inside buckets.
The lead slowly melted away, as A&M bigs Tyler Davis, DJ Hogg, and Robert Williams took control. By the under four timeout, things were tied at 63, and Tech's dominance became a distant memory.
With 30 seconds left, Hogg drained a triple which ended up being the deciding score. Seth Allen bricked a double clutch jumper with a few ticks remaining on the clock, and the Hokies (who led for the game's first 38 minutes) fell solemnly 65-68.
Buzz's bunch is now relegated to the third place game of the tournament on Sunday at 4 EST.
A few quick thoughts
Many Hokie fans were quick to self-destruct after watching their team blow such a giant lead. Though it was far from ideal, it's irrational to overreact.
This is the life of small ball. The Hokies often play with Zach LeDay as the lone big man on the floor with four guards. They can swing the ball around rapidly, sprint up and down the court, and drain open jumpers.
They can also hit a crippling shooting slump, get muscled close to the hoops, and blow a lead as quickly as they gain one. LeDay and freshman Khadim Sy are the Hokies' only capable bodies who can defend the rim, and if an opponent has more than a pair of capable big men (which most do), they can slowly wear down the two Tech forwards.
This isn't an overarching declaration of Buzzketball's deficiencies. It's a lesson to learn for a group who isn't particularly used to bouncing out to such leads. Will the coaching staff use this as a way to emphasize the fact that they can never take their foot off the gas? Yes. Will they also use it as a teaching moment to tell their guys not to settle for jump shots anymore? Without a doubt.
But, like nearly every single loss in November, it's not something to panic about. Particularly because this is a wildly talented team.
Buzz has four different players who can break a defense down off the dribble (Allen, Justin Robinson, Chris Clarke, and Ahmed Hill). He has six guys who can drain an open jumper (Allen, Robinson, Hill, Justin Bibbs, LeDay and Ty Outlaw), and an entire roster willing to run and play feisty defense.
They need to clean up a ton before ACC play hits. But the Hokies have also improved a few important aspects of their play from last season.
The most prominent is the way they push tempo after an opposing possession (whether it ends in a made or missed basket.) One of the most vital ways for small sides to succeed is to run whenever they get the ball. Though it seems obvious to do after gathering a defensive rebound (which is something this year's Golden State Warriors have done to perfection), the Hokies also do a great job running after giving up a basket.
The next time you watch Tech, try to keep your eye on Robinson as he gathers an inbounds pass off his own baseline. His head is immediately up and looking for anyone he can quickly toss it to in transition. Though it sometimes ends in disastrous turnovers, it also leads to easy buckets for guys like Clarke and Hill, who get a full head of steam before the defense can get set.
Also, Robinson is the most important player on the team. Yes, his scoring totals have been impressive (22 vs UNM, 14 vs TAMU), but his impact goes far beyond the box score. The sophomore point guard is in complete control on both ends of the floor. Buzz has described Robinson as having "little man syndrome," and it shows in the way he moves. Against the Aggies he altered multiple shots inside defensively, and kept the ball rotating on offense.
He has a fantastic knack for not just throwing crisp passes, but getting them to the right person. For every assist he picks up, he could have two "hockey assists" (a pass to the player who finds the eventual scorer.)
And for anyone who missed round one, here's a very quick overview:
Hokies Scorch Lobos 92-72
A single second half possession of the Virginia Tech's 92-72 win over New Mexico would be the entire definition of the game.
Robinson collected a rebound near the Lobo free throw line. In the amount of time it takes to drink a swig of bourbon, he fired a bullet to Hill, who laid in the ball at the other end.
Buzz's squad took to the first round of the Wooden Legacy with pace, intensity, and great shooting. Early on, Tech's three pointer couldn't fall. Yet they continued to attack off the dribble, thrashing UNM inside.
As the game wore on, the Lobos struggled to keep up. Running out to an eight point halftime lead, Robinson and company kept pushing the ball, and the bevy of wide open three pointers started to fall. The lead quickly swelled to 15, and the team never looked back.
This game was the best case scenario for this Hokies squad. Their athleticism trumped anything New Mexico threw their way, and Tech outran any size advantage the Lobos had. Clarke and Hill smoked anyone else down the court, and the squad's floor spacing in the halfcourt kept any extra attention off of LeDay (who finished with 16).
It won't be the recipe for success every time out, but it's pretty incredible to see this kind of improvement. Just two years ago, Williams and company lost by 20 to Northern Iowa in a similar November tournament. And now, they completely classed an opponent off the court.
Even if the A&M loss was hard to swallow, the overall direction of Buzzketball is still fascinating to watch.
Comments
First time watching us this season. Liked what I saw, though its going to be big to get Blackshear back. In the meantime, I'd like to see us go even faster than we are right now. Really press our quickness and speed advantage. We're 123 in tempo so we could definitely go maybe a tad bit more without getting out of control.
This. Thank you for saying what I was trying so hard to get across in the game thread.
I think self destruct is pretty over the top for the criticism of one loss. I didn't see anyone say that the season was over or that this loss was the end of the world. This was a loss that shouldn't have happened, so criticism of losing a 17 point lead is fair. If this had been a football thread than you would have seen nuclear meltdown occurring all over the place even if we had been playing Alabama. We lost this game because we failed to adjust in the second half, not even really the entire second half, more like the last ten minutes.
You should read twitter after a loss. Like you, I saw it momentum swing coming from a mile away around the 13-15 minute mark. took hold around 10 minutes. The bigger team won, not the more talented team. Most Hokies just see a 17 point comeback, on TV no less.
this loss didn't hit me as bad as i thought it would; i saw the future of VT hoops and liked it. sure, it would have been great to have gotten the "W" but i think Coach Buzz is on the right track by getting his kind of guys for the team. not sweating it at all. you learn from the experience and correct against it in the future...
This.....when is the last time a Hokie basketball team played this dominant throughout a good portion of the game and had a 17 point lead? Sy is a pleasant surprise. He has firmly established a foundation (and getting valuable playing time = learning) that is quite encouraging. Love watching Med drain the 3's. Love the fact that LeDay and Allen come off the bench = we have depth. In all my years watching Hokie hoops, we have never had "this problem". They are fun to watch. I could go on about each individual player.....This coach and team are going up. The only negative in my eyes is not having Blackshear on the court.
Is Blackshear scheduled to return later this season?
Buzz left this open last time he discussed it but the closer we get to the midway point of the season the less likely we are to see KJ.
I saw multiple fans complain that this loss would keep Tech out of the tournament. In late November, I think it's the definition of self-destruction.
And I think that comes from a lack of exposure to meaningful college basketball for many of them. Frankly, it's been so long since Tech was in the tournament that most Hokie fans likely don't understand the selection process or know very little about our opponents in terms of basketball relevance. This is where education of the fan base comes in to play, which several people did an excellent job of in terms of laying out the evaluation factors the committee will likely look at a loss to Texas A&M with in terms of strengths as an opponent. I still think that most of our fans look at these games through football eyes, so to them a 17 point lead blown would be a huge negative in football terms for an evaluation committee. Learning point for me in terms of my pregame write ups I guess will be to include a better explanation of where our opponents stand in terms of Strength of Schedule and how they stack up against their own conference. Guess I can start that with our upcoming game against Nebraska tomorrow.
After watching us blow the lead as a result of TA&M's bigs taking control, why didn't we counter by getting our lineup bigger, going with two forwards, having either Sy or Hamilton with LeDay in the lineup. It would have slowed our offense a little, but that wasn't the problem as much as our inability to contain their bigs.
Having Blackshear last night would have been a big plus. Still a pretty promising performance, but the lesson here is that we might have to alter things a little against bigger lineups.
We built that lead by being a matchup problem for aTm. I know we lost and it's easy to second guess, but we need to be who we are. Should aTm have countered by taking out their bigs?
We are going to see this a lot this year, big teams are going to give us trouble and it will be obvious why. But we have to remember the opposing coaching staff is trying to scheme against us getting up and down the court, shooting 3s and slashing to the basket drawing fouls.
You don't have to be big to be a tough matchup. Villanova proved that last March.
I agree with you, but I'm just thinking from an adjustment standpoint, and reacting to the momentum swing. I guess Buzz was just hoping we'd get the mo back with our guard play, and perhaps TA&M would cool off, but it didn't happen. It's a shame, cause I think with Blackshear in the mix, we win that game last night.
I brought up this same lineup change on the game thread. Really would have liked Sy to have been back in about the ten minute mark to slow their freshman forward Williams. He was able to manhandle Clarke in the last ten minutes, making a huge dent in the deficit. Simply having the bigger body of Sy out there would have changed quite a few of Williams approaches to the basket. Even with the three fouls I think Sy likely could have kept the game in our favor. Done is done but I hope in the future Buzz gives Sy more leash in the those situations. He has to learn how to handle those chances to be ready for ACC play
One thing that is overlooked a bit in this one is the foul trouble we got into in the first half. The way the game was being officiated dictated a lot in the paint as well. Note that I am NOT saying officiating cost us a 17-point blown lead - this one's squarely on VT. But I think this game clearly illustrates "how" a game is officiated can impact player performance. In basketball (more than football) the way fouls are being called (or not, in this case) can really impact a. team like VT.
Our guard play is predicated on quick, drive-to-the-hoop and attempt/get fouled or kick out. The block/charge call towards the end of the 1st half is a great example (blocking against Allen / charge against Clarke). There were an equal number of fouls called (13 per team) but VT only got 13 attempts from the charity stripe. By comparison, in the UNM game the Lobos were hit for 22 fouls, VT for 21. In the UNM game we shot 20 Free Throws.
In 2015-2016, VT was #4 overall in FTAs in all of Division I, making 672 of 964 attempts. That's 27.5 FTA per game, and 69.7% from the line. And as a longtime Hokie Hoops guy - that's perhaps one of the most telling and positive signs of Buzz's culture change.
One of the challenges with hoops is that teams get familiar with the way our ACC crews (love 'em or hate 'em) call a game. Then when those teams get into a situation where the game is called differently, it's tough to adapt. In the first half when we were draining everything, that stat line was moot.
This team is going to live by the three and die by the three this year. When we get hot from outside, we will beat anybody. If we cool off, we are vulnerable.
I know - Captain Obvious.