Friday night, Virginia Tech took the floor in Cassell Coliseum as a ranked team for the first time since November of 2010. The No. 15 Hokies knocked off Gardner-Webb 87-59 to begin the 2018-19 season 1-0. Buzzketball is on the bench until Nov. 15, when they'll participate in the Charleston Classic.
The standout for the Hokies was freshman Isaiah Wilkins. Coming off a 16-point performance 5 days ago against Liberty (exhibition), Wilkins didn't cool off. Wilkins poured in 21 points (7 of 10 shooting, 5 for 7 from beyond the arc), grabbed three rebounds, and committed only one personal foul.
"It was definitely an eye opener," noted Wilkins. "The pace is much much much different then high school. So trying to adjust to it. It's more upbeat and better. I like it."
Buzz Williams explained up until four days ago, it wasn't even in the cards for Wilkins to see the floor this season.
"Our plan was to redshirt him from the first time that I met him," said Williams. "If you redshirt, it's a little bit compliance related, if you're NCAA eligible, you can participate in the scrimmage and participate in the exhibition if you have one. My conversation with his parents were that I thought that would be a good experience for him. I thought he played well in the scrimmage, and then played even better in the exhibition and then played even better tonight."
It's easy to wonder if the decision to play Wilkins, who Williams postulated was the 10th youngest player nationally, was spurred on by Chris Clarke's indefinite suspension or Landers Nolley's initial eligibility issue (more on that later).
"No, I just think it was his rate of growth/improvement was drastically different than I anticipated," explained Williams. "10 individual workouts, I think we had 9 boot camp sessions. [Losing] 22 pounds in 6 weeks is really impressive. I knew he was smart, I didn't think his body would change that quickly. He's just kept going. Thus far, I'm very impressed."
Moving on. To the naked eye, an 87-59 victory seems fine. But for Williams and his coaching style, there was nothing good about tonight's performance, especially on defense.
"I thought it was really bad," said Williams. "61 percent of the time they got to the paint, and they shot 55 percent off of those paint touches. The defensive changes were predicated on not allowing the ball to get to the paint. I thought that we really struggled in that regard. In essence, the entire roster played with some level of foul trouble. I thought that contributed to it. But the foul trouble was a byproduct of allowing the ball to get to the paint."
The Hokies don't have much time to dwell on what was deemed a really bad performance by the head man. The Charleston Classic is up next, with teams like Alabama and Purdue in the field.
"I don't think we're ready," said Williams. "This is the only year in our tenure here that the tournament takes place after only one game. I didn't anticipate we would play the way that we did tonight. I thought we would play much better. We'll have to change drastically, prior to Thursday morning."
Even though the final result was a blowout, with 15:51 remaining in the second half the gap tightened up. Gardner-Webb cut the deficit to 47-43.
With that lead down to just two possessions, the under-16 media timeout happened. Nickeil Alexander-Walker explained what was going through his mind.
"It's just pride," explained Alexander-Walker. "How do you want to go out? Taking it personal. Giving it your all. You never want to lose a game that you know you can win. Cause that eats you alive for however many months and years. Just kind of making sure that we take advantage of our situation. And not letting opportunities slip because you are thinking of what's next or what happened prior to that."
Following up from the Nolley eligibility issue tease a few paragraphs ago. Williams was as diplomatic about it as he could be. However, the disdain in his voice and in his demeanour for the NCAA was noticeable.
"It's an initial eligibility thing," said Williams after a very long pause. "I know there's some FERPA involved with that. We've spent an inordinate amount of time on it. Probably shouldn't say anything to get me in trouble. Some of the bureaucracy that goes on in this industry is just disappointing as a person."
And when asked if he had any idea on the time table for the issue, Williams summed it succinctly.
"That's why it's disappointing."
First Half: Virginia Tech 42–Gardner-Webb 33
15:53, 5-4 VT Virginia Tech is playing sloppy so far. Missed layups, forced passes leading to turnovers, missing open shots. It shouldn't be 5-4 at the under-16 timeout. At least there's an answer to who would be the first couple players off the bench with Clarke suspended. Bede and Horne.
13:50, 10-4 VT Nice lefty floater from Alexander-Walker amongst the trees. If that type of play is consistently in the sophomore's arsenal, he'll be very dangerous this season.
7:59, 19-8 VT Virginia Tech is on a 16-4 run. It could still be better though. The Hokies have created several fast break opportunities with their defense, but aren't cashing in on the break. But, Tech's defense is markedly improved. Helping off the ball, blocking shots, active hands. Hokies fans are happy to see that, I'm sure.
3:36, 34-23 VT Horne commits his third foul. Williams elects to leave him on the floor because Outlaw has three personals as well, and Blackshear Jr. has two. This is the type of issue that the Hokies are going to face all season long.
00.0, 42-33 VT Kabongo came into the game after Horne committed his fourth foul of the first half. That leads me to believe that Nolley is still dealing with eligibility issues.
Second Half: Virginia Tech 87–Gardner-Webb 59
15:51, 47-43 VT Virginia Tech's defense is no longer playing well. Open three-pointers and easy layups have gotten the Bulldogs back into this game. Blackshear Jr. just committed his third personal foul on the offensive end of the floor. Gardner-Webb will have a chance to cut it to a one-possession game out of the timeout.
13:55, 54-43 VT Everyone, breathe. Less than two minutes later, and Virginia Tech has gone on a quick 7-0 run. Not surprisingly, the run has been spurred on by good defensive play. The Hokies have forced three turnovers during the run. Each turnover has led to a Tech basket.
11:24, 59-45 VT Horne has fouled out. Looks like it's time to see what this Virginia Tech team does to combat foul trouble to their "big" men. The Hokies have opened up a cushion though, so they'll have some leeway to figure out the answers to that question.
7:23, 71-46 VT That was a fun sequence. Virginia Tech is on a 24-3 run since the Bulldogs cut the score to 47-43. Wilkins can flat out shoot the ball. He's 4-4 from beyond the arc, and has 18 points for the game. Not too bad of a debut in maroon and orange.
Comments
LOVE using this type of gifs after games like these.
Yep, I've used that one before (it was after the W&M game).
This game played out about how I expected. We got some positives, we got a lot of things to work on, and still won by almost 30. Non-LOLUVA Isaiah Wilkins was the surprise. We may have lucked into a dude with him.
To me, the biggest disappointment of the night was the turnout in Cassell. The students brought the ruckus for sure, but it looked like most non-student seats were empty. This is opening night for a team ranked in the Top 15 for crying out loud! I don't know how that came across on TV, but in person it wasn't pretty.
I was about to upleg this & then the 2nd half of your post. Chill, it's still "college hoops preseason".
Great re-cap. Excited to watch it later this week - if I can find it.
I liked how on defense the team wasn't switching screens without any effort to get through to them. That's a sign that effort has picked up defensively. NAW is a beast. He just knows how to get the ball in the basket. The rebounding was also solid last night.
Those quotes about Nolley don't have me thinking anything good right now. Sounds like the NCAA is dragging their ass and could lead to him missing significant time.
Gonna be fun seeing Nolley racking up double-doubles for University of Florida in a couple of years.
Henry
Did Buzz indicate any thoughts on the officials focus on Offensive fouls? By my count they called 18 of them in the game. I am just curious if it was something that they had prepared for but didnt execute or if it was something else.
Defensively after the first ten minutes they got pretty sloppy. They forced 12 turnovers in the first ten minutes but 17 over the remaining 30 minutes against a team that was regularly throwing the ball away. You could see a renewed focus on getting hands in the lane once Horne fouled out but the team has to be more consistent with the pressure they were applying. Along the same area of allowing the paint touches and lane penetration, you also saw the Hokies struggle with readjusting to the ball going back to the perimeter after initial penetration. This gave the Bulldogs quite a few wide open threes, and we also saw the Hokies foul the jump shooters several times because they were late transitioning. It didnt hurt the Hokies in this game because the Bulldogs struggled to actual hit the open shots, shooting just 28% from outside but against better competition those open looks will lead to quite a few points.
The other area they need to clean up is their free throw shooting. They hit just 68% for the game, missing several key opportunities in the closing minutes to add points, with Bede missing the basket completely, then Robinson and Outlaw following that up with missing two in a row each.
Wilkins was critical to the teams success last night because neither Outlaw or Hill took over from the perimeter, going a combined 2-7 from outside. It will be interesting to see what kind of night Blackshear can manage if he can stay in the game. He scored 14 but only played 18 minutes because of foul trouble.
All in all a good win but with plenty to clean up if we want to stay on the floor against Purdue as we get deeper in the Charleston Classic.
That said, at least we werent the Cousins, who took it on the chin from Buffalo 99-94 last night. Buffalo is no slouch, having been to three straight NCAAs but to allow them to come in to your home court when you are ranked 13th in the country is a pretty poor way to start your season.
This pleases me greatly.
Agreed. Has a VERY positive impact on my emotional, mental & physical health.
Watched the WVU game at a bar here in Huntington last night. We all approved.
I think Outlaw had 3 three-pointers get waived off because of an offensive foul somewhere before he released the shot.
And generally the foul was nowhere near the ball.
Wilkins actually had one as well. He could have been 6-8 from the 3-point line.
The Nolley situation is bullshit. I have a weird feeling that if he was a Dukie there would have been a quicker resolution. Hope this doesn't drag out, but it doesn't sound good.
Wilkins was impressive and has to be the biggest surprise of the class. Says something about Buzz's eye for under the radar talent. He was hustling and has a very nice shot, if he continues to develop he'll put a lot of us at ease over losing Clarke.
I question who Wilkins is going to guard once we get into ACC play a bit but he can certainly shoot the ball. Nice weapon to have in the rotation
He isn't done changing his body. It's great that Wilkins lost 22 lbs, but there's definitely more fat to lose and more muscle to add. He likely won't get to where he needs to be for ACC play in a month and a half, but by next season he should be ready to guard those boys.
I was thinking that whoever is in charge of the basketball team's S&C did a great job because all of our players look so cut that they made Wilkins looks like Charles Barkley out there.
Agreed, the upperclassmen are in fantastic shape. Bede looks more chiseled.
That would be this guy.
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/752352#comment-752352
I'm glad we're capable of turning on the jets and pulling away from an inferior opponent. I was getting Alabama St. flashbacks when they were within 4 a couple minutes into the second half.
West Virginia on the other hand lost to Buffalo. Yes I know Buffalo is the best team in the MAC, but that won't stop me from laughing at at the Neers.
Why do we only have one game before the thanksgiving tournament?
IIRC it's a scheduling quirk, and only happens this year? Past/future years we'll have more than just one
We only have one game before the tournament for two reasons. The tournament is earlier this year than in previous versions. The second reason is Buzz did not schedule a Tuesday game before our contest against Gardner Webb. Most of the country started the season on the 6th of November.
My question is more of why didn't we schedule another game. You probably don't have the details, but why not Tuesday/Friday like UNC did or Tuesday/Saturday so we'd have 2 games before the tournament. There's plenty of time.
What are the expectations for the Charleston tournament based on the field? I see Ball State plays Purdue tonight so that may be a good preview of 2 of the teams in the tournament.
I feel like we never win these events so it would be really nice to see us go 3-0 next weekend.
We see Ball State in the first game which we should win but will definitely be more challenging for the Hokies than Gardner Webb was. They have an experienced core of players returning from a 19-13 team last season. Purdue will likely dismantle the Cardinals early in that contest but dont take that as an indication of what Tech would manage. The Hokies will have to own the perimeter on both ends.
Then its likely to be Alabama in our second contest. The challenge there is going to be Alabama's size. They have 6 guys 6'8 or taller, three of which played significant minutes in their first contest. That could pose a major problem, especially if our bigs get in foul trouble like they did against Gardner Webb. Alabama runs a much more traditional offense this season compared to last, when they had the one and done star of Collin Sexton. This season its a duo of Donta Hall and John Petty in an inside/outside combo that poses a challenge.
If they win this contest, then its on to play against Purdue most likely, and if Alabama posed a problem with their bigs, Purdue takes that to a whole different level because they have legitimate NBA talent at their center position. They dont have the quantity that Alabama has but definitely the quality and their guard tandem of Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline will mean that you cant just focus on the bigs or you will pay along the perimeter.
If this comes to happen, then I anticipate a 2-1 result. Losses in either of the other earlier games likely also lead us to a 2-1 finish. I just dont see the Hokies as they currently are constructed being able to take down Purdue. Hopefully they prove me wrong but thats how I see things right now.
Man. I really hope this situation with Nolley gets resolved otherwise this could be a season of what if. Clarke going down with whatever reason and then ineligibility issues might prevent this from being a great team.
The foul issues are going to be rough. It's why we need depth badly. Sounds silly but good bench players are how you combat being small and foul happy.
The offensive fouls were ridiculous. I think they were more a factor of the refs that game than the players. They were calling them extremely close for both teams and it really disrupted the flow of the game, and got us in bad foul trouble early.
We were definitely rusty, a lot of missed shots, fouls and bad passes. But i was pleasantly surprised by our defense.
Buzz was not happy after the game. Said defense was poor with too many paint touches for GW, offense was selfish and impatient. Just really disappointed in the overall performance. Singled out NAW for too much dribbling.
Buzz wished his older players played at the pace and patience of Wilkins. He says he's way out of shape but loves his game.
Wilkins just let everything come to him. Amazing maturity to his game.
It scares me how high Rothstein is on us. I know he has been this way on Buzz for sometime now.
I can't understand how VT is being ranked so high. I love our roster and I think we have one of the best coaches in the country, and I can even understand how the modern game is played with smaller players who can shoot it, but I still can't fathom how a team with one and a half frontcourt players (sorry PJ) is being ranked this high. Frankly, we were lucky that Blackshear was as healthy as he was last year and I think we're in a heap of trouble if he goes down for more than a game or two.