Buzzketball Central: Boston College Eagles (9-12, 2-6) at Virginia Tech Hokies (15-5, 4-4) 630PM ESPNU

IT'S GAMEDAY! #BeatBC Cassell 6:30 PM ESPNU pic.twitter.com/Na6CHct2lP— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 29, 2017

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: January 29, 2017 / 6:30 p.m.
Opponent: Boston College
Site: Blacksburg, Virginia (Cassell Coliseum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV/Internet: ESPNU
Talent: Anish Shroff & Cory Alexander
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
XM Radio: XM 193 (Internet 955)

A Brief Respite at Home, a Must Win

Buzzketball comes home after a thrashing at the hands of the Tar Heels. Don't look now but it's the Boston College Eagles coming into Cassell. The Hokies must be ready to fight to win this game. Boston College has been very up and down in its ACC schedule so far so you are not sure what team to expect. They lost by one to Miami and only by eight to #9 UNC. One thing though, they have yet to win on the road in conference play this season. Still, they beat Syracuse by 15 and lost to them by 23, they bear NC State by 8 and lost to UVA by 17. The Hokies absolutely have to win this game to keep itself in the tournament picture. These home games are critically important to being able to go dancing later in the season.

At home, hopefully to a sellout crowd at Cassell, the Hokies need to be ready. The Hokies will be in their Black and Pink uniforms honoring CoachesvsCancer. Boston College will aim to hit them hard early and survive from there. This is a team much like Clemson, where they heavily rely on one person to get things done offensively. Expect to hear the name Jerome Robinson said early and often by the ESPN broadcasters.

The entire @VT_MBBall ensemble for our @CoachesvsCancer game tomorrow to honor those who have/are fighting(Courtesy of our model:@Dev_11VT) pic.twitter.com/vnXZuasphA— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 28, 2017

This will be the Twenty Eighth meeting between the Hokies and Eagles. Boston College leads the all-time series 18-9. The Hokies won last year's matchup 71-56. The Hokies are a much more respectable 6-7 at home against Boston College all time.

The Eagles are coached by Jim Christian, who has been at Boston College since 2014. His first season the Eagles were a dreadful 13 -19 while his second year was even worse at 7-25. This season the Eagles have already surpassed the win total for last season and have a few surprising wins on their resume. Part of that is that coming into that second season he was faced with eight open scholarships and a chance to totally remake the Eagles roster. Coming into this season also presented his young team a chance to grow considering they still had five of their more tenured players transfer out leaving behind mostly Sophomore and Freshmen on the roster. Rather than cram all eight scholarships into one season, he spread them out, so with this season you are finally seeing some of the changes he made come to bear. His six top scorers are all players he brought in either from high school or transfers.

One somewhat unusual thing to expect from this team is how much you will hear them talking on the court. Coach Christian is adamant that his guys be able to communicate effectively even in the loudest venues you can find in the ACC. They practice it, and coach preaches it and its become a way for the players to know they are where they are supposed to be on both ends of the court. This is a quote directly from the coach, "If you cannot talk and play, you will never play,"

Defensively, the Eagles rely on pressure to limit opponents, mostly in a man to man approach. He is big on help defense, especially in crashing the lane. Coach Christian relies on assertive defense with hands up in the passing lanes looking to disrupt opponent's game plan. His teams are usually top 50 in defensive efficiency. Boston College is currently holding opponents to 31% shooting from behind the arc but struggles more inside where opponents are hitting almost 50% of their shots. They do rebound fairly well which limits second chance opportunities. One major problem is how often they foul while opponents are shooting. Boston College opponents are 71st in shooting the most free throws, at almost 22 free throws per game.

Offensively, Boston College has made significant strides since last season, when they had the least efficient offense in the ACC that averaged only 61.2 PPG. This season they have increased the pace and have improved by almost 12 points per contest at 73 points per game. One Achilles heel still remains and that is turnovers, where they are averaging over 15 per contest. Coach Christian favors more traditional looking motion offense, utilizing multiple bigs more than a four guard set on the outside. If Tech goes to a zone, expect to see Connor Tava at the top of the key controlling the attack against the zone. They don't exactly have a strong perimeter game shooting 36% but how often have we said that and watched teams have banner days this season.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

The Hokies are going to be challenged by Boston College's height but no more so than against other ACC teams and arguably less talented. Leday and Sy likely will be a big key to the Hokies scoring today. Also expect to see Allen and Robinson at the line on multiple occasions.

The Hokies get a small respite from an arduous road trip and they need to take advantage of this opportunity to put away another ACC win. They will need to be careful in selecting three point shots as Boston College closes out the perimeter amongst the best in the nation.

Offensively Boston College has made some big improvements but those go away when they are pressured significantly. This is not a team that deals with pressure very well so I would hope that Buzz has his guys turn the pressure all the way up, especially early on in each half. Create some turnovers, get some transition baskets, and force the Eagles to have to play from behind.

This is another game where the Hokies need to run, run, run, to keep the Eagles off balance. The Eagles have a tendency to make more mistakes as the tempo increases. Pushing the pace, getting the ball in the hands of the shooters in the fast break before Boston College can close in with their stifling perimeter defense.

Eagles Backcourt

Jerome Robinson (#1) 6'5, 190 Lbs Sophomore Guard is averaging 20 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.7 SPG. He is shooting 37% from behind the arc and 45% overall. He makes about 3.7 threes per game. His efficiency hasn't really changed offensively but his usage has. Robinson does have a tendency to get in foul trouble, averaging over 3 per game so far, so something for the Hokies to keep in mind as they press forward.

Ky Bowman, (#0) 6'1, 182 Lbs Freshman Guard comes in averaging 12.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.2 SPG. He is shooting 42% from outside. He also struggles at the free throw line, shooting 69%. He is better known for his quick first step and ability to drive inside. So far on the season he is shooting better than 50% inside the arc. Another thing on Bowman, he is the kind of offensive player that has those disappear games but then has a TYRONE kind of night. Most recently he put up 33 againt the Tar Heels but had a more normal performance of 10 the next game against the Hurricanes. He managed 7 against UVA and 3 against Syracuse in the two games prior to UNC.

Jordan Chatman, (#25) 6'5, 198 lbs Sophomore Guard is averaging 7 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and .9 APG. He is almost strictly an outside shooter for the Eagles. His shot outside the arc is going in at about 40% while inside the arc it drops to 38%. He is a terrific free throw shooter as well, hitting from the line at an 88% clip. Chatman is on the floor so much though for his defensive abilities. His long arms and aggressive play make him an ideal player to guard athletic wings. Expect to see him match up with Clarke and or Hill quite often.

EDIT#*#: Has left the program rather than be stuck behind Ky Bowman as the point guard.
Ty Graves, (#3) 6', 165 Lbs Freshman Guard is averaging 4.8 PPG and 1.6 APG in a backup role. So far this season he is shooting 38% from the field, 36% from behind the arc and 60% from the line. He still is managing 18 MPG due to his defensive tenacity.

Eagles Frontcourt

A J Turner, (#11), 6'7, 188 Lbs Sophomore Forward is averaging 9.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.5 APG. Turner's interior scoring is at 46% and perimeter scoring is at 42%. Just to round things out, he shoots just under 80% from the free throw line as well.

Connor Tava, (#2) 6'6, 250 Lbs Senior Forward, transferred to Boston College for his final season from Western Michigan. He is averaging over 27 MPG and comes in putting up 6.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG. He is shooting 50% from the field, and hardly is seen shooting from the perimeter. He struggles somewhat from the line at 69%. Tava has had some foul trouble, averaging 2.7 per contest so far. He doesn't have the height that many of the ACC bigs do but he does have some bulk to throw around down low. The Hokies will likely struggle to keep him off the boards.

Nik Popovic, (#21) 6'11, 243 Lbs Freshman Forward from Bosnia. He is averaging 6.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG. He comes in shooting 52% from the field but a lowly 53% from the free throw line. He also experiences foul trouble at almost 2.3 per game, limiting him to about 15 minutes per game. If he can stay out of foul trouble, expect the Eagles to utilize his size quite often against the Hokies.

Mo Jeffers, (#15), 6'9, 240 Lbs, Senior Center is a graduate transfer from Delaware this season for the Eagles. He is averaging 5.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG across 20 MPG playing time. He shoots about 45% from the floor and only 58% at the free throw line. He is another Eagles big that struggles with fouls, averaging 2.7 per contest.

Garland Owens, (#5), 6'5, 222 Lbs, Senior Forward has been relegated from a starters role last season to filling in when needed this season. He is averaging 1.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1 APG in about 10 minutes per game. His shooting percentages all around are not good and probably play a major factor in the change in his role from season to season.

Names the Announcers will Butcher

Several candidates this time. Aser Ghebremichael is the winner but honorable mentions go to Ervins Meznieks and Gordon Gehan.

What to expect from Boston College?

The Eagles rely mainly on their big men producing. They also at times will have as many as three players on the floor 6'8 or taller. That's not good news for the Hokies, who have struggled against size at every turn. They will be looking to get the ball in the paint on almost every possession tonight unless like everyone else Tech plays, they find their magic stroke from outside.

Rebounding is not something that the Eagles necessarily do well but unfortunately they will do it better than Tech because of their focus on it from the coach. The rebounding battle could be a crucial component to this matchup and which direction it goes. The Hokies need to limit the second chance opportunities that the Eagles get by working for defensive rebounds at a minimum.

The two main guys that the Hokies need to focus on defensively in this contest are A J Turner underneath and Ky Bowman from the outside in. These two are the variables that change games between wins and losses for the Eagles. Robinson is going to likely get his normal output but if the Hokies keep his supporting cast from producing than they are in a good position to win this game.

The Hokies

Tech needs to go fast in this game. They also need everyone moving on offense. No more just sitting around the perimeter, get guys going across the blocks and across the lane to create space for the ball to get to the interior either by drive or pass. This will get the Eagles bigs legs tired and reaching rather than being in place to defend.

Even with as good as Boston College is on defending the perimeter Ahmed Hill and Justin Bibbs need to be able to step into a few crucial three pointers to keep this defense spread out. If they are unable to do so it allows the Eagles to pack the lane and makes scoring extremely difficult for Robinson and Allen primarily.

The Hokies must be able to cause turnovers and increase their possession total compared to the Eagles. Looking around the ACC, possessions vs shots attempted seems to be a key factor in most conference games this year. The team that creates a positive difference in shots attempted are winning about 85% of the games in conference so far. A few outliers happen, many of those games seem to be Pitt related, who were shooting 50% from the field before conference play and in conference have only managed 39% shooting.

Right now, through eight games each, Boston College has about 16 more attempts overall than the Hokies. The more telling numbers are that the Hokies have allowed 501 shots compared to taking 451 while the Eagles have allowed 463 shots while taking 467. The Eagles are in a plus in this category while the Hokies are a negative 6.25 shots per game average. This obviously isn't hard math or you would expect Boston College to have a better conference record. The Hokies have three really bad games in this category (NC State -6, Clemson -11, and UNC -22) while the Eagles are more steady across the board.

Highlight of the UNC Game

Tough to draw a highlight from a game that saw the Hokies down big from virtually the beginning of the game. I think we give a nod to Ty Outlaw, who finally seemed in sync with the game even with such terrible results as a whole. Outlaw led the team in rebounding, but also managed an assist and a steal along with a three pointer to start the game. Its been tough going for him this season but hopefully the UNC game was a turning point in terms of overall contribution.

In Closing

Boston College will likely try to take advantage of its size by working the ball inside. That shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as the Hokies don't let Boston College also become a savant shooting three point team like they seem to do with all their other opponents.

The offense has to be operating at a fluid clip. The Hokies should have some mismatches in terms of speed versus size on the offensive end, especially in terms of talent so using that to their advantage and getting the Boston College bigs in foul trouble could play a key role in a Hokies win. Three of their four bigs average more than 2 fouls per contest so it should be a good night to either score down low or get to the free throw line. Hopefully it wont be a #goacc night from the officials.

This is an absolute must win even this early in the conference schedule. Every home game is crucial towards reaching that .500 ACC record by the end of the season. Tech does not want to have to rely on a couple of ACC Tournament games to get them dancing, the only way to make that happen is to defend the home court.

Hokies win 83-68 as they get Boston College out of their comfort zone defensively and cause havoc against an opponent for the first time since the Duke game.

Do the hard things...Because that is where the growth happens — Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 27, 2017