Buzzketball Central: UMBC Retrievers (9-3) at Virginia Tech Hokies (10-1) 7PM DEC 28 ACC Network Extra

IT'S GAMEDAY! #BeatUMBC Cassell 7 PM ACC Network Extra pic.twitter.com/kFTZvWnS0U— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) December 28, 2016

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: December 28, 2016 / 7 p.m.
Opponent: UMBC
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Cassell Coliseum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV/Internet: ACC Network EXTRA
Talent: Andrew Allegretta & Mack McCarthy
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech

XM RADIO: XM Internet 965

5 THINGS | #BeatUMBC EDITION Faculty/Staff enter FREE! @CocaCola Family 4 Packs 7 PM tip pic.twitter.com/vemzkdAsJo— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) December 27, 2016

Closing out the OOC Schedule

Buzzketball has reached the end of their out of conference schedule. The Hokies have done just about all they could to this point. One last opponent to put away before conference play and then it will be time for #5 Duke. A sneaky good opponent, a game that might be taken for granted, discontinuity of work with the holidays, a top five opponent on the horizon and this game could be ripe for an upset. The Hokies finally came out steady against Charleston Southern, finishing the half with a twelve point lead. Hopefully Buzz gets these guys to continue that approach into this game against UMBC. This is not your run of the mill opponent though. While Tech should beat this team, the Retrievers didn't get to 9-3 on the season by lying down.

This is a seven o' clock game on a Tuesday when the school has sold off the student section to fill it up so hopefully with the holidays, most ticket holders will be in attendance and the stands will be full to cheer on these Hokies. That's going to be critical to buoy this team after being gone for the holidays. UMBC comes in with a surprising 9-3 record. That said, the level of opponents on their schedule is not very high. They are coming in off a 62-61 win over James Madison which is probably their highest quality win so far this season. They have the likes of Hood College, Messiah College, Kennesaw State, UMES and Delaware State on their schedule so far. Other wins include Mount St Marys, the Citadel, and Duquesne. Their losses are to Navy, Richmond and Towson.

This should be a high to medium paced game as the Retrievers are a top 30 offense, averaging 83.7 PPG while allowing 74.1 PPG. This is another team though that their point totals are heavily skewed by 90+ performances against opponents Hood, Messiah and Kennesaw State, while also putting up 120 against The Citadel. Defensively their lowest total allowed was 59 to Messiah. To show you that they can remain competitive though, they lost to Richmond 78-75.

This will be only the second meeting between the Hokies and Buccaneers. Tech leads the all-time series 1-0, with the only win coming in 2009, 71-34.

The Retrievers are coached by former Virginia Tech assistant Ryan Odom who is in his first season at the helm. Odom was the head coach of Lenoir Rhyne last season after finishing 2015 as the interim head coach of Charlotte. Prior to Charlotte, Odom was at Tech from 2003-2010 as an assistant under Greenberg. The sad reality of our basketball program back then was that Odom left Tech to get a raise at Charlotte. Odom has been fairly successful in his short time as a head coach. Last year he led Lenoir-Rhyne to a 21-10 record and a trip to the D II Quarterfinals and has UMBC at 9-3 going into conference play, so solidly in position to see some form of post season play.

To tell you how much of a change this is for this UMBC program, prior to this season, the Retrievers won nine games in a season only once since 2009, with four seasons of five wins or less.

Defensively, the Retrievers employ a high pressure perimeter defense to try to prevent interior penetration and passing due to having a size disadvantage against most opponents. They will however match up to Tech's undersized lineup almost evenly to a man, except when Sy is in the game.

Offensively, Odom has the Retrievers taking advantage of their excellent shooting ability, utilizing a four out, one in offense very similar to the Hokies. UMBC averages over 26 attempts from three and is hitting on 42% on the year from outside. The scarier part is that this team actually shoots 49% from the floor so far this season so Tech can ill afford to leave open shooters.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

The Hokies need to come out realizing they are not on the floor with a pushover. This team is going to play from whistle to whistle so the Hokies have to be ready for it. Tech with its talent level still should win this game by double digits but UMBC's largest loss so far this season was only by 12 to Navy, beyond that it was by three to Richmond and one to Towson. This is not a team that is going to quit and they have the shooters from outside to quickly make up any deficit if the Hokies let up.

The Hokies especially need to be focused on the defensive end, because UMBC bombs from outside. They make 11 three pointers per game. They put in 15 per game from the line. Protecting the perimeter is obviously the Hokies number one priority in this game.

The Retrievers have eight players that are shooting better than 33% from outside. Closing out on perimeter shooters will be critical in being successful in this game for the Hokies. Force the game inside, where Tech can use Sy and Leday to alter shots and clean up on the boards.

UMBC does have some size on its bench but its rarely been employed. Just something to keep in mind if you see some bigger bodies start to make it to the floor that they do have three players 6'9 or taller available that account for about 30 minutes a game so far this season.

The Retrievers heavily rely on their starting five, four of whom play thirty or more minutes per contest, all of whom are top scorers. If Tech can find a way to get these opponents into foul trouble early, you could be looking at an entirely different opponent for a good portion of the game.

Retrievers Backcourt

Seven guards get to see at least 15 minutes or more of floor time which is surprising with how much this team relies on its starters. Lots of substitutions to try to wear down opponents so that they are a step slow to cover the open perimeter shot.

UMBC shoots as well as any opponent Tech has faced this season, shooting 52% inside the arc, and 42% outside. Tech needs to have hands up and stay with their assigned man or we could be in for a long frustrating night.

Junior Jairus Lyles, #10, 6'2, 175 lbs leads all Retrievers in scoring. He is in his second year in the program after transferring from VCU. He is ranked 12th in the nation in scoring, averaging 22.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.7 APG, while shooting 33% from outside. He attempts almost 4 three pointers per game. He has a balanced ability to shoot from outside or work the ball in where he shoots 48% from inside the arc. Lyles plays about 35 minutes per game.

Sophomore Joe Sherburne, #13, 6'6, 215 lbs is second on the team in scoring, putting up 15.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.8 APG. Sherburne is named appropriately for an outside shooter, where he sure burns some nets, hitting 56% from both inside and out. He averages six attempts per game from outside. He is UMBC's version of Ahmed Hill. Expect to see him use his big body to get to the basket quite a few times in this game as well. Oh and fouling him doesn't help much as he shoots 82% from the line. Sherburne is playing about 32 minutes per game so far.

Senior Will Darley, #12, 6'8, 210 lbs comes in averaging 13 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.7 APG. Listed as a guard, he predominantly plays in either the four or five spot on the floor due to his size. Expect him and Leday to battle quite a bit in this game. He is playing a 30 minutes per game so far. Darley can do damage from outside though, currently shooting 49% on five attempts per game so the Hokies can ill afford to let him get warmed up. Darley also shoots 83% from the line.

JUCO Transfer Junior K. J. Maura, #11, 5'8, 140 lbs is everywhere on the court for this Retrievers team. He comes in averaging 8.8 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 3.8 APG in almost 33 minutes per game. Maura shoots 47% from outside on three attempts per game. Maura will also be the primary ball handler in this contest for UMBC.
Junior Jourdan Grant, #5, 6'2, 190 lbs, is putting up 6.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG and 1.8 APG in about 20 minutes on the floor. Grant is the first substitution that usually hits the floor for this team.

Retrievers Frontcourt

Sophomore Forward Nolan Gerrity,#35, 6'10, 235 lbs is the primary "big" for the Retrievers. Gerrity is putting up 6.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 1.2 BPG while shooting 61% from the field in about 19 minutes of play per game. Leday and Sy will have their hands full down low.

Freshman Max Curran, #23, 6'9, 190 lbs comes in playing around 10 minutes per contest, averaging 3.6 PPG, and 2.7 RPG while shooting 48% from the field, and 88% from the line.

Names the Announcers will Butcher

Joel Wincowski and Ishmael Jabbie seem to be the only tongue twisters for me so far.

What to expect from UMBC?

The Retrievers play predominantly a half court high pressure man to man geared towards preventing interior penetration. They try to force opponents to take poor perimeter shots towards the end of the shot clock.
The big thing tonight is that this team can shoot so not giving them the easy looks will be critical to success.

Anytime you face an opponent that has managed to shoot 49% over 12 games, it's a trend and not something that just happens occasionally. The Hokies need to be ready with hands up at the perimeter the entire game.

The breakdown on their average scoring is 33 points outside, 39 points inside, and 15 points at the line. Fairly well balanced so the Hokies must defend the entire half court, especially cant afford to let their opponent find space inside as this offense thrives on that type of spacing even with as well as they shoot the perimeter shot.

Rebounding wise, the Bulldogs are quite below average with 37 rebounds per night, which puts them about 182nd in the nation in terms of rebounds. They lack the size to really challenge for boards as a team, but with their couple bigs, surprisingly, they do manage to pull down 10 offensive rebounds a game.

One thing that the Retrievers seem to not do is foul opponents very often. So far this season, they are averaging less than 16 personal fouls per game as a team. They also only give up about 15 free throw attempts per game. No one player is averaging more than 2.4 fouls per game.

The Hokies

Tech needs to come out ready for a dog fight, ready to put these Retrievers to heel. This game will likely be decided on who does better on perimeter shooting. A key piece of that though will be that Tech needs to establish itself dominantly in the lane on both ends. Draw the UMBC defenders in so that Tech perimeter shooters are open.

In the rebounding game, the Retrievers work for offensive rebounds so the Hokies need to be ready to score transition baskets. This is another game where if we are executing the way we should, several Hokies should be able to get easy buckets as they break to the basket ahead of the Retrievers.

14.6 ppg 45.6% 3FGM on the season Three-straight 20+ point gamesHave a DAY, @MED_XIII! #getB3TTER pic.twitter.com/mt6uzcjETT— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) December 21, 2016

Pound the Paint, both Leday and Sy need to have double digit scoring in this game. Allen should actually be able to reach the rim with his dribble drive to open up outside shots. Beyond this, Bibbs and Hill need to have the game of the year so far.

Highlight of the Charleston Southern Game
Chris Clarke steal and dunk hands down.

Wing Chris Clarke followed up on the first ever triple-double by a Hokie with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Charleston Southern. #Hokies A video posted by The Key Play (@thekeyplay) on Dec 21, 2016 at 9:22am PST

In Closing

Very similar rosters, although the Hokies have better overall talent, Sound Familiar? This is another game where Tech should be able to manage a double digit lead by around the ten minute remaining mark and carry on from there. No taking possessions off in this game, no thinking these opponents are below you.

Between these two teams I expect to see at least 50 attempts from outside. The key for the Hokies will be to make sure that they are the ones getting the bigger share of made shots. Winning the perimeter should ensure winning the game because I don't see any of their "Bigs" being able to take the lane away from Leday.

Hokies win by the skin of their teeth. I almost think this one is going to take a late game comeback to win. I expect to see a Hokies surge somewhere after the 12 minute officials timeout in the second half to try to put this game away. Buzz will use that timeout to put them in gear if they haven't found it already. Final score 88-79.

"They are wise enough to know that all of us have to be good in order for us to have a chance."@TeamCoachBuzz#getB3TTER pic.twitter.com/zoUDAJQzDW— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) December 22, 2016