Buzzketball Central: Virginia Tech (14-6, 3-4) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-7, 3-4) 8PM ESPN2

IT'S GAMEDAY!🏀 #BeatND📍 Notre Dame🕗 8 PM EST📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/lYzVnTMvGX— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 27, 2018

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Jan. 27, 2018 / 8PM
Opponent: University of Notre Dame
Site: South Bend, Indiana (Purcell Pavilion)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser and Mike Burnop
TV: ESPN2
Talent: Mike Couzens, Dan Dakich & Gene Wojceihowski
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
SIRI 84 (Internet 84)

Run To The Fight.Hokies vs Irish. Saturday. 8 PM.📰 » https://t.co/3vJPCGnpOd pic.twitter.com/w4QRRDPQF3— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 26, 2018

Glimmer

Buzzketball goes to Notre Dame with a chance to even their conference record and take the next step to a return to the tournament. The Hokies may be on the road but their opponent is missing three major components. Notre Dame comes in with the same ACC record as the Hokies but their seasons seem headed in opposite directions.
The Irish have wins over LSU and #6 Wichita State out of conference. In the ACC, the Irish started with three wins over Georgia Tech, NC State, and Syracuse. At about that time, the injuries started to impact the Irish, who have gone on a four game skid with losses to Georgia Tech, UNC, Louisville, and Clemson. The Irish will be missing Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, and D.J Harvey due to injuries. Those three represent 42.9 points per contest or almost 56% of all scoring for the Irish this season. No matter how deep your bench, that is a tremendous challenge to overcome.

This will be the ninth meeting between the Hokies and Fighting Irish. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 7-1. The one win is historic though, as it was an overtime victory to give Virginia Tech the 1973 NIT championship. The series against Notre Dame started back in 1972. The Hokies lost to the Irish last January 76-71.

The Fighting Irish are coached by Mike Brey, in his eighteenth year at the helm of Notre Dame.. In eighteen years, his team has won 20+ games thirteen times. He has led them to the NCAA Tournament twelve times, with two elite eight appearances. Notre Dame has been to the post season in all but one season under Brey.

Defensively, the Fighting Irish have gone from a steady man to man pressure defense up until a couple seasons ago to being a very situationally based defensive team. This means against Tech we may see man to man and probably some high perimeter zone with defensive players switching off over or under screens to prevent quick penetration by the Hokies guards. The other aspect that we may see a lot of is to double team Blackshear in the post to prevent him easy access and force him to make a good perimeter pass. If this team begins trying to utilize this double team, expect to see Clarke take the interior pass at the free throw line and then force Notre Dame to decide how to approach him.

Offensively, Notre Dame runs a four out, one in motion offense very similar to the Hokies. They don't rely on significant size on the floor to accomplish what they intend to. This makes this contest a pretty even matchup. The Irish shoot almost 22 three point attempts per game, hitting on 8 of them. This means the Irish find almost 24 points a game from behind the perimeter. The Hokies will have to be able to close out on the perimeter to keep the Irish from hitting their usual 38% from outside. That said, they still manage 50 more points per game between the line and inside the arc. 14 of those points come from the line where as a team they are shooting 76% on the season. Expect the Irish to go after the basket with whatever the Hokies give them in terms of openings and available looks.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

#tbt pic.twitter.com/1fXAH4LIyn— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 25, 2018

The Hokies need to force the issue inside. Using Clarke at the high post and forcing Notre Dame to account for Blackshear on the blocks will consolidate the Irish defense, allowing good open looks outside. Driving to the basket or finding Blackshear down low so he can work inside will be critical to this contest.

The Hokies need to cause problems for the Notre Dame starters in terms of spacing and forcing fouls. Notre Dame had relied on four players to play over 30 minutes per contest and had four others that clean up the rest of the minutes. Now they have been forced to dig into a limited bench and rely on those not injured to pick up quite the load. The more minutes forced on the end of the bench, the easier the Hokies will find getting to the basket or hitting open shots.

The Hokies are going to need to hit their perimeter shots as well considering how well the Irish shoot from outside. They should be able to get open looks as the Irish allow 22 attempts per contest and opponents in the
ACC are shooting 36%.

This game will be as high paced as these teams want it to be. By this, expect to see bursts from each side and explosion on transition opportunities. Both teams look to get back to prevent transition though so the Hokies need to limit giving the ball right back if they get a stop.

Fighting Irish Backcourt

Temple Gibbs, (#2), 6'3, 200 Lbs Sophomore Guard is having to give the Irish all he has due to the injuries. He is averaging more than 40 minutes a game in their last five ACC contests but essentially never leaves the floor now. He is averaging 14.9 PPG, 3 RPG, and 3.2 APG but has scored at least 18 in three of the last five games.

Rex Pflueger (#0), 6'6, 202 Lbs Junior Guard is averaging 8.4 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2.9 APG. Pflueger comes in averaging 20 MPG but has struggled to produce with the increased minutes he is seeing due to injuries. He is considered Notre Dames best all-around shooter, but the numbers tell a slightly different story, hitting only 20% from outside and 78% from the line in their last five games.

Nikola Djogo (#13) 6'7, 203 Lbs Sophomore Guard has seen his time dramatically increase from about 11 minutes per contest to almost 25 minutes, and has doubled his production as well, but contributed zero points in their most recent loss to Clemson.

Fighting Irish Frontcourt

Martinas Geben, (#23), 6'9, 255 Lbs Senior Forward is the only other starter not out due to injury so he has been asked to pick up some of the slack. He is averaging 10 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 1.2 APG and 1.2 BPG. Fortunately the Hokies have Blackshear down low to contend with this Irish big.

John Mooney, (#33), 6'9, 245 Lbs Sophomore Forward is now playing a major role for the Irish now that Colson has been injured. He is playing more than 20 minutes a game after averaging around 10 prior to the injuries. His production has grown from 3 PPG to almost 8.2 PPG. He is also grabbing 5-6 rebounds per contest now.

What to expect from Notre Dame?

The Irish will come out playing their new found short bench focused on shooting from outside while occasionally feeding their center the ball to keep the Hokies honest.

They don't really have the size to dominate Tech like most of the other ACC programs and with their bench using fewer players than even Buzz has going out there, expect to see a slower paced game plan from the Irish.

2-3 Zone defense all game. They will attempt to disrupt passing lanes at the top of the key but will collapse into clog the lane with penetration. With this they are hoping to make Tech make mistakes with the ball as they deal with a lot of bodies inside. They are also looking to avoid fouls at all costs.

The starters are not terrible from the free throw line but almost everyone else on the roster is. The depth of their perimeter shooting is also limited to the starters. Beyond those five or six players it is a significant drop off with the rest of their roster.

The Hokies

Tech needs to keep a high paced tempo for as long as they can to start the game. Three Irish guards have played a majority minutes of their last five contests so fatigue has to drift in at some point. Scoring in transition could easily be how Tech separates themselves in this contest.

The Irish zone will only help them slow the game, which allows their players time to recover. Tech needs to be ready to break the zone quickly. Getting the ball down low to Blackshear and letting him work their bigs for fouls could turn this game dramatically in the Hokies favor.

Hopefully Clarke and Blackshear can continue to grab rebounds like they have in recent contests. Notre Dame excels at rebounding even with the recent injuries.

Hitting perimeter shots will be another key factor. Buzz needs Bibbs to reappear from his disappearing act and really help the Hokies put some distance between themselves and the Irish.

One critical area the Hokies must improve as it could as it continues to haunt them game to game. They have to not turn a great defensive play immediately into a poor offensive play. They cant go from getting a stop or creating a turnover to throwing the ball away. Tech did a great job in not turning it over against UNC so they need to tap into that again for this contest.

Highlight of the UNC Game

Our midseason nominee for @accmbb Sixth Man of the Year?? @TeamCoachBuzz 👊 pic.twitter.com/Mply9KSRDv— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 23, 2018

Buzz got a great workout in, just ask his dry cleaner. We finally had the return of the acrobatic coach we know and love. MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE VIDEO on the Tweet.

In Closing

Expect to see a faster paced game than the Irish would like but maybe not as fast as Buzz would prefer this evening. The Irish using a short bench and will be susceptible to foul trouble. Hopefully Tech can inflict more damage here than it takes.

Game could get a little chippy. The Irish are not a program used to struggling and so this string of injuries has their players quite on edge. Clarke will likely have words with someone on the Irish at least a couple times during this contest with how he approaches the basket.

One other major key for the Hokies is that Blackshear avoid foul trouble. We saw how important that is to the success of this team in the UNC game where he didn't get his first foul until there was about 3 minutes remaining in the game.

Tech wins 88-73, by hitting enough from outside and then making critical free throws down the stretch, which is what they didn't do last year against this squad at the end of the game.

pic.twitter.com/51BdA3OEmA— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 26, 2018