The Hokies play VMI today at 4PM in Cassell Coliseum. The game will be on the ACCN. VMI is 5-7; but have won their last two games.
VMI is a young team that is not very tall. Hokies should match up well.
Stats for the stat nerds:
I don't see anything significant in the stats. VMI is a good shooting team shooting 44% overall and 37% from 3; but I don't think they have played many teams as good as the Hokies.
Lt. Peterson, are you ever coming back? I miss your analysis.
Go Hokies!
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
LET'S GO
HOKIES!!
Did Christendom only have one player suit up against VMI?
They thought bringing out Jesús would get them the win. But he wasn't able to perform a miracle that day.
This is a rough game.
we look godawful right now, can't land ANYTHING
Nolley needs to stop taking terrible shots. Just because he's the primary scorer doesn't mean the ball should stop with him and the Hokies settle for a long 2 early in the shot clock.
Uhhhh I think I could play better right now, and I suck.
Wilkins with 2 mental errors down the stretch.
Good lord. I'm listening to the game on the radio. Is the music really that LOUD in Cassell? I can barely hear Mike and Jon during timeouts.
Might just be where they're seated/how the mics are aligned...the ACCN broadcast sounds fine.
Pretty ugly game. Starters did not play well. Good thing the bench did. Overall 34% shooting and 27% from 3. There aren't any games left that we can get away with that and still win.
poor shooting night. the biggest key to victory was only 7 turnovers. vmi had 23. also vmi did not attempt a single free throw. zero, zilch, nada, none!
Imagine the angst if we played a game where the opponent shot 20+ free throws and we shot none.
still want to see more minutes for Cone
I never relaxed, never felt comfortable, way too close of a game even if we did decide to have a bricklaying team today. Nolley missed all kinds of shots, and not all of them were bad shots. He just couldn't buy a bucket today of any sort. Good to see Wilkins do some scoring, good to see Radford being the rebound beast that he has shown us, good to see Cone getting a few, and Catoor had some really fine moments as well. Should have handled them handily, but they almost handed us our hats. Bede was uncharacteristically quiet as well. Still, it was a W and I'll take it.
Saw the last two minutes, winning by that margin against VMI when they committed 23 turnovers is a big yikes.
Okay, I've been holding off on saying this , but it's too apparent at this point after numerous games. Nolley is a turnover machine. Dude is deadly from three with his quick release....give him a little space and it's a good shot. However, teams have seen the film and are up in his grill. This may be an exaggeration, but when he puts the ball on the floor to go inside I feel like half the time the ball is knocked out of his hands.....I've honestly never seen someone get the ball knocked out so frequently when they try and penetrate. This caveat with the fact he's a mediocre defender shone brightly today with 18 minutes in a relatively tight game.
Hopefully the meager minutes and getting taken out of the game on defense will spark something in him because this team needs him to step up. The defense is one thing, but the carelessness with the ball can't happen.
The big thing with him is that he's not super explosive so he's not going to blow by anyone off the dribble (0 dunks so far this season). His handle is okay, but he has to really work to get by people. His turnover percentage is fine, especially since we need him to carry such a load, but he needs to figure out a better way to finish inside the arc where he's throwing up bricks right now. It's like if we ran our whole offense through Ty Outlaw last year.
I said this in another thread....if he is planning on being a "one" and done....he is going to be very disappointed in his draft status when he applies. As you said if you get in his grill he is very underwhelming as seen against inferior competition, VMI. With his size he should be able to take someone off the bounce who is strictly playing him to shoot the 3, and he can't. Again, this is against VMI not NBA defenders. He needs to take a page out of NAW's book. Tuck the ball like a running back put your head down and get to the basket. This will then put the defenders on their heels to guess 3 ball or drive.
We've been talking about that a lot here at the fish house. I think he, and maybe we, figured the year on the bench and at practice was enough experience to come in as an upperclassman his first year on the court. Much like NAW, I think he's seeing the result of not being the best guy out there every night. And since he's obviously a serious talent, I believe he'll come around and find the glitches in his game keeping him from tapping consistently into that talent. NAW did it, and I feel like Landers will as well, but the one and done ain't likely. Also, bad games are great motivators for competitors, so I look forward to seeing him come back on line with a vengeance by UVA time. Hey, it's Christmas and a fella can wish, right?
Some of the poor shooting performances in recent games is a bit alarming. Not a good sign as we head into ACC play and much tougher competition.
And in our own gym, too. Seems like the ball should know where to go when you're at home.