Buzzketball Central: Virginia Tech Hokies (15-6, 4-4) at Boston College Eagles (13-8, 3-5) 9PM RSN

IT'S GAMEDAY!🏀 #BeatBC📍 Conte Forum🕘 9 PM EST📺 RSN (https://t.co/fPKzKMijvD) pic.twitter.com/dDLdmiLB1T— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 31, 2018

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Jan. 31, 2018 / 9 p.m.
Opponent: Boston College
Site: Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (Conte Forum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser and Mike Burnop
TV: Regional Sports Netwroks
Talent: Tom Werme & Brian Oliver
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
SIRI 81 (Internet 81)

Look for this game on your local channels. DC Market is usually Fox playing these games this year.

Controlling your Fate

Buzzketball heads on the road again, this time to the dreadful confines of the Conte "Win" Forum. Don't look now but it's the Boston College Eagles playing well enough this late in the season to have a shot at the tournament. 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 beat Duke lost by one to UVA and only by four to Clemson. The got their second conference win over Wake and then took a 30 point loss on the chin from UNC. A third win over FSU followed by a loss to Louisville. The Hokies absolutely have to win this game to keep itself in the current tournament picture as the Eagles are not good enough to strengthen the Hokies schedule much if the Hokies take a loss.

On the road for the midpoint of the ACC schedule , likely to a very large crowd due to the emergence of a competitive team, the Hokies need to be able to draw energy from each other and not let the depressing building lull them to sleep. Boston College will aim to hit them hard early and survive from there. Jerome Robinson will be front and center in most things that BC tries to do. Boston College comes home smarting after an eighteen point beatdown at the hands of Syracuse.

Last time we went to the Conte Forum..@JustinBibbs10 » 1⃣3⃣ points@5Alive_ » 1⃣3⃣ points / 1⃣1⃣ assists@MED_XIII » 1⃣2⃣ points🦃 91 - 75 🦅 pic.twitter.com/OcL6yYBmik— VT Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 30, 2018

This will be the Thirtieth meeting between the Hokies and Eagles. Boston College leads the all-time series 18-11. The Hokies won the last three matchups. All that said, the Hokies are a dreadful 3-11 when entering the halls of Chestnut Hills. This is another road house of horrors for Tech. They did however win the last contest in these horror halls.

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 and his third slightly better at 9-23. This season the Eagles have already surpassed the win total for last season and have a few surprising wins on their resume. That said, their ACC schedule has not gone well, currently sitting in eleventh place in the conference.

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 33% shooting from behind the arc but struggles more inside where opponents are hitting almost 51% 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 24th in shooting the most free throws, at almost 16 free throws per game.

Offensively, Boston College has made significant strides. This season they have increased the pace and have improved by almost 3 points per contest at 75.3 points per game. One Achilles heel still remains and that is turnovers, where they are averaging over 13 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 Nik Popovic at the top of the key controlling the attack against the zone.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

Our 2️⃣nd 'Road Game'📸 (so we had two poses) of the '17-'18 🏀ACC season for our 'Culture Wall'Thank you to all the #Hokies near/far4️⃣their support🧡💜We will turn all blessings back2️⃣praise🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/2njIj78OC1— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 28, 2018

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. Blackshear and Clarke likely will be a big key to the Hokies scoring today. Also expect to see Clarke and Robinson at the line on multiple occasions.

The Hokies have to come out ready on the road today or they will take a really bad loss in terms of Tournament resume. It also is a great 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) 6'7, 181 Lbs Junior Guard is averaging 18.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1 SPG. He is shooting 45% from behind the arc and 48% overall. He makes about 2.2 threes per game. His biggest improvement is from the outside where he has improved almost 12% since last season. Robinson does have a tendency to get in foul trouble, averaging over 2.3 per game so far, so something for the Hokies to keep in mind as they press forward.

Ky Bowman, (#0) 6'1, 182 Lbs Sophomore Guard comes in averaging 16.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.9 APG and 1 SPG. He is shooting 34% from outside. He also struggles at the free throw line, shooting 72%. 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 began the season having disappear games but then the occassional TYRONE kind of night. Since the Hokies played BC last, Bowman has become a steadying force for the Eagles, consistently giving them double digit scoring performances. This still comes with foul trouble, averaging over 2.3 per contest.

Jordan Chatman, (#25) 6'5, 198 lbs Sophomore Guard is averaging 13.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.2 APG. He is almost strictly an outside shooter for the Eagles. His shot outside the arc is going in at about 45%. He is a terrific free throw shooter as well, hitting from the line at an 89% 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. Last year he went 9 for 11 from beyond the arc in his game at Cassell.

Eagles Frontcourt

Nik Popovic, (#21) 6'11, 243 Lbs Sophomore Forward from Bosnia. He is averaging 9.4 PPG, 6 RPG and 1.4 APG. He comes in shooting 52% from the field and a much improved 76% from the free throw line. Last year he hit about 53% of his free throws. He improved dramatically in his ability to pass out to open shooters as well. He still experiences foul trouble at almost 2.6 per game, limiting him to about 24 minutes per game in a starter's role. If he can stay out of foul trouble, expect the Eagles to utilize his size quite often against the Hokies.

Steffon Mitchell, (#41), 6'8, 222 Lbs, Freshman Center is averaging 6.9 PPG and 7.7 RPG across 31 MPG playing time. He shoots about 53% from the inside and only 59% at the free throw line. He is another Eagles big that struggles with fouls, but has been a saving presence after the Eagles lost Senior Deontae Hawkins for the season, who was averaging 12 points and 9 rebounds per game.

JohnCarlos Reyes, (#12), 6'10, 216 Lbs, Sophomore Forward, Vin Baker Jr (#11), 6'7, 177 Lbs Freshman Forward and Lucas Kraljevic (#13), 6'10, 229 Lbs Freshman Forward combine for about 30 MPG and contribute 6.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1 APG. These guys have been called on to play a more defined role due to the injury to Deontae Hawkins than might have been expected otherwise.

What to expect from Boston College?

The Eagles rely on a rotation of eight to ten players. They rely heavily on their guards to do most of the scoring. That's good news for the Hokies, who have struggled against size at every turn. That said, a large portion of Boston College scoring still comes inside the paint, as their guards often dribble penetrate to get layups.

Boston College has five players that average more than 2 fouls per game. If that happens tonight, they will be forced to rely more on their bench players which would be a huge boost for the Hokies. Scoring goes down, pressure goes up.

The Eagles will look to expose weaknesses in the lane. Don't be surprised to see quite a few alley oops or high lobs over the top to a big under the basket for an easy score. This will usually be with Popovic in the game, so getting him in foul trouble could simplify things on both ends of the court.

The Hokies

Tech needs to drive inside to get fouled. Controlled drives right at Nik Popovic. They need to disrupt the BC offense that relies so heavily on having at least two bigs on the court at any point and time. Early foul trouble could give the Hokies a window to work up a lead.

The Hokies defensively need to prevent interior passing and also disrupt dribble penetration from the Boston College guards. They need to be aware of quite a few back door follow up drives by BC shooters. This is one of the games where Chris Clarke's defensive deficiencies may outweigh his ability to create on the other end.

Ahmed Hill and Justin Bibbs need to have a good day at the office tonight. Shooting from the arc needs to probably be around 45% for the Hokies to stretch a decent lead on the road.

Highlight of the Clemson Game

Chris Clarke putting the Irish away single handedly.

In Closing

Boston College is going to look to pound the paint either by pass or by drive. The Hokies have to find a way to keep the ball out of the interior. Expect to see a lot of 1-3-1 zone with defenders blocking their big counterparts from the front. This still may not prevent scoring as these bigs are more than capable of accepting a lob or directed pass for alley oops or lay ups.

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 so using that to their advantage and getting the Boston College bigs in foul trouble could play a key role in a critical Hokies win. They must also be cognizant of the open shooter outside as they penetrate the BC defense.

This place always gives creeps me out to watch a game at because its almost always silent like a tomb and really dark. People claim Cassell is dark but its nothing compared to Conte. Rarely does BC seem to draw huge crowds. This is worrisome because the Hokies always seem to draw energy from a crowd, even a strong away one. It seems to drive their pace and ability to knock down open looks. When things get quiet, they seemingly get slower and off balanced.

Hokies overcome the creepy environment and win a critical road game to extend their record to 5-4 in the ACC. Hokies win 85-77.

Too often, I think we spend too much time ➕ energy on talking about or tweeting about 'what we are against'Over the last 2️⃣ yrs within our program & my family, I've tried to spend that ⏰ on learning/recognizing/thinking 🤓 about ''what are you for?'#gBTimeout #getBETTER pic.twitter.com/JeX260Ux0W— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 23, 2018

Around The ACC
Clemson gave North Carolina their third straight loss 82-78
Duke blew the doors off Notre Dame 88-66 to recover from their loss to UVA
NC State beat UNC and UVA beat Duke to mark the first time those programs have lost at home on the same day in 44 years

Coming up
Louisville at UVA tonight at 7PM on ESPN2
Syracuse at Georgia Tech at 8PM on ACCNE