Hokies travel to Ole MissTech, Rebels meet in Oxford on Saturday afternoonhttps://t.co/DpO1IRYpP6 pic.twitter.com/zJUixCFg8D— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 1, 2017
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Dec. 2, 2017 / 2 p.m. Eastern Time
Opponent: Ole Miss
Site: Oxford, Mississippi (Pavilion at Ole Miss)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
Internet: SEC Network +
Talent: Seth Austin & Marc Dukes
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
Sirius/XM Radio: SIRI 119 (Internet 963)
GAME WILL BE ON WATCHESPN APP
still celebrating last night's win like... pic.twitter.com/Hx7ZhCXrpk— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 29, 2017
Road Challenge
Buzzketball is now 6-1 on the season, with its sixth blowout win behind them. The Hokies have won by at least 24 points in all six victories thus far. They now get their third Power 5 opponent on the season in the Ole Miss Rebels but the first in a true road game.
The Hokies head to the Pavillion to face an Ole Miss squad with a 4-2 record, having suffered losses to Utah and South Dakota State. Their victories so far are over University of Louisiana Lafayette, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia State, and Rice. The Rebels are giving up an average of 77.8 points per game so far. The Hokies had their fewest points in a win at 79 but are the second highest scoring team in basketball at 98.7 PPG. I expect to see another game where the Hokies blister the net mainly because both teams like to get out and run. These two teams have met four times and have split the series so far.
The Rebels are coached by Andy Kennedy. He has been the head coach at Ole Miss since 2006 during which time the Rebels have gone 234-139, with six trips to the NIT and two trips to the NCAAs in eleven seasons. He is 255-152 as a head coach overall, with one season at Cincinnati where he took them to the NIT. This is the last remaining P5 opponent for the Rebels until they reach conference play.
Defensively, the Rebels utilize a ball screen zone defense. Kennedy coaches his teams to be especially aggressive around the perimeter to create turnovers and transition scoring but it has been a challenge implementing it so far this season. His teams are also normally very high in blocked shots, especially the bigs down low. This season though their turnover numbers are rather ordinary 14 per game and blocks coming in at 4.5 per game.
Offensively, they utilize the Dribble Drive Motion Offense, especially against the 2-3 Zone defense that the Hokies run most often. The premise of this offense is to get your guards consistently driving the ball into the lane to create spacing and open shooters if the primary drive doesn't lead to a shot. The Hokies will need to ensure they protect the paint but are able to defend their assigned shooter. One critical area to watch will be the baseline entry by the guards in this offense for layups. So far this season, the Rebels are attempting over 25 shots per game from outside so they have to stay with their man.
What does that mean for the Hokies?
The Hokies will be on the road in a crowded opponent's arena for the first time this season. Maintaining focus is critical to early success. The Hokies need to ensure that they do what they have done all season against subpar defensive efforts, which is get to the rim and find open shooters outside.
Ole Miss is allowing opponents to shoot 37% on 25 atttempts per game outside. This plays right into the Hokies hands who are still shooting 47% from outside.
The Rebels are not a gigantic team this season with only two players above 6'8. Much like the Hokies they rely on their guard's ability to create offense who are Ole Miss top five scorers.
The Rebels are a team that has solid depth consistently playing nine players for 15 or more minutes per game. There is one Ole Miss starter that is averaging at least 30 minutes. The Rebels are shooting the ball at 47% from the floor and 70% from the charity stripe. The Rebels perimeter shooting is managing just 35% on 25 attempts per game.
Rebels Backcourt
Junior Terence Davis, #3, 6'4, 190 lbs is the leading scorer for the Rebels, averaging 18 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.5 SPG. He is shooting 51% from the field and 70% from the stripe. He is attempting over 7 shots per game from outside, hitting 38% so it's critical that the Hokies close out on him. His role on this team is very similar to Chris Clarke in that big bodied wing, who plays to the edge or down low, rather than the top of the key. He is also their high energy defender, so if Allen or Robinson are finding their way down low, they will likely eventually be covered by Davis.
Senior Deandre Burnett, #1, 6'2, 195 lbs, is having another strong season after transferring to Ole Miss from Miami two years ago. So far this season he is averaging 16.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, while shooting 45% from outside. He attempts over 5 three pointers per game. He also has managed to shoot 80% from the line on over 6 attempts per game. He has a balanced ability to shoot from outside or work the ball in.
Freshmen Devontae Shuler, #0, 6'2, 192 lbs has made an immediate impact after arriving from Oak Hill Academy. He is averaging 12.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, and 1.7 SPG so far in his opening campaign. He has hit all of his free throw attempts so far, while also shooting 67% inside and 34% outside.
Senior Markel Crawford, #5, 6'4, 197 lbs is putting up 10.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.3 APG and 1.5 SPG. He is a graduate transfer coming in this season. He played his three other seasons for Memphis. He is shooting 42% from the field and 74% from the line. He is a terrible shooter from the perimeter so far this season though, hitting only 21%.
Sophomore Breein Tyree, #4, 6'2, 190 lbs is averaging 7.8 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 2 APG and 1 SPG.
Rebels Frontcourt
Junior Bruce Stevens, #12, 6'8, 252 Lbs, is averaging 6.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1 APG. He is putting the ball in at almost 60% and hits from the line at 74%. That production is coming with only 25 minutes per contest on the court so far.
Senior Forward Marcanvis Hymon, #2, 6'6, 207 lbs. has managed 6.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.7 BPG while shooting 61% from the field in about 26 MPG. Hymon is a candidate for Hack-a-Shaq if there ever was one, shooting 38% from the line. He is the only Rebel with more than one block per game.
A bit of a disappointment so far is Dominik Olejniczak, #13, 7', 249 lbs Sophomore Center who sat out last season after transferring in from Drake and sitting out a year. So far he has only managed 2.8 PPG and 2 RPG when he was expected to be a much bigger contributor.
What to expect from Ole Miss?
This is a fairly experienced roster that showed the ability to get back in a game even when the doors had been blown off early. They fell behind South Dakota State 55-35 at halftime and managed to get back into the contest to force overtime but eventually fell 99-97. There are four seniors and two juniors in regular rotation here.
This team can score and do so in droves so the Hokies need to hit their shots or face falling behind quickly.
Lackadaisical defense without much intensity is something this Rebels squad has been accused of and found guilty. They are high intensity on the offensive end but have not managed to make it transfer down the court.
The Hokies
The Hokies will have their hands full here, they need to make sure they come ready to play. Any sluggishness and you open the door to a quick Rebel run. The best way to avoid this is attack the rim as normal because Ole Miss has had extreme difficulty defending against driving guards.
The other area that is likely in the Hokies favor is their high assist percentage because most of the previous Rebels opponents did not achieve high assist totals. The Hokies are 4th in the country right now in assists with 148 on 229 made baskets. Rebel opponents only managed 86 assists overall so far.
The Hokies need to continue raining in the outside shot, currently hitting 47% which is 4th in the nation on 22 attempts per game. They also need to continue to get to the free throw line, where they have attempted the 9th most so far at over 30 attempts per contest.
The Hokies are on the brink of having five players scoring in double digits with Justin Robinson sitting at 9.9 per game. Keep up the balanced scoring to make it difficult on any defense to focus on one shooter. The Hokies lead the nation in shooting percentage overall at 56%.
Highlight of the I-O-Who Game
Real recognize real 👊📰 » https://t.co/iHC7kITaQc pic.twitter.com/J15RszRi2i— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 29, 2017
PJ Horne had a coming out party to show everyone how big he plays in that 6'5 frame of his. His 16 points on 6-6 shooting and the dunk in transition were phenomenal.
Put him on skates @5Alive_!! pic.twitter.com/40yiKqVVuH— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) November 30, 2017
Justin Robinson breaking someone's ankles was the play of the night though among many.
In Closing
Every game it comes up but what energy level will the Hokies come out with. When they come out loose and running they are hard to stop. Keeping the game moving tonight shouldn't be a problem considering the Rebels like to run to.
I do not see the Hokies scoring 100 in this contest but it could be close. This game will likely be close but I just think the Hokies play better defense than the Rebels to make the difference. Both teams rely heavily on their guard rotations so it may come down to who shoots better overall.
Justin Robinson, NAW and Clarke are the key here. They have to exploit the lane against the Rebels to create space overall.
Hokies 93 – Rebels 81
Gratitude is NOT just about what we say, but also about the manner in which we live... pic.twitter.com/0TDGQiWfCR— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) December 1, 2017
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