BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: #3 VIRGINIA (22-2,10-2) AT #20 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (20-5,9-4) 7PM ESPN

It's baaaack!Free @SmithfieldBrands bacon when Virginia misses two straight free throws in the second half 🥓Get loud tonight, Cassell 🗣And wear maroon!#getBETTER | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/HPwGMGEYgu— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 18, 2019

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GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Feb 18 7pm
Opponent: Virginia
Site: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser and Mike Burnop
TV: ESPN
Talent: Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas & Allison Williams
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
Sirius: 134 XM: 193 Internet: 955

Game day!#CommonwealthClash, presented by @Virginia529Wear maroon! - @vtsga🏀 vs. Virginia📍 Blacksburg, Va.🕚 7 p.m. ETℹ️ https://t.co/V2URWQuqxL📈 https://t.co/x0LoDRFkHL📻 https://t.co/Y5WNSie1Vm📺 ESPN💻 https://t.co/NWLQZhusQu#getBETTER | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/pjMhW9cPRZ— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 18, 2019

Biggest Challenge so far this season

Buzzketball takes on its second game against UVA in the comfy confines of Cassell but without star point guard Justin Robinson. This is a sellout crowd so the environment and energy should be good to help the Hokies stay in the game. The Cavaliers come in The Hokies absolutely have to win this game to keep itself in the current rankings posture as the Wahoos are not good enough to strengthen the Hokies schedule much if the Hokies take a loss.

This will be the One hundred and forty ninth meeting between the Hokies and Wahoos. Virginia leads the all-time series 92-56. The Cavaliers at 22-2 with their only losses coming against Duke, home and away.

The Wahoos are coached by Tony Bennett, who has been at Virginia since 2009. The Wahoos are 241-88 under Bennett, who is now 309-121 as a Head coach with his only other stop at Washington State. The Wahoos have reached the post season seven of his nine seasons so far with six NCAA appearances and another essentially locked in for this season.

This is a team that plays defense first second and third and this season seems to have found an offense to match. You guys have heard the term "Pack Line Defense" thrown about regarding UVA on several occasions. So what does it mean? It is a high pressure, man to man defense that sags to the middle of the court. It is designed to prevent penetration by driving the basketball. The "pack line" is an imaginary line two feet inside the three point line that all defenders not guarding the current ball handler are never supposed to be outside of.

The defender that is on the ball handler is expected to be up close, hand in face to create turnovers on the outside. One other critical aspect of this defense that is different than most is that it's designed to deny the baseline. Defenders are taught to position themselves to not allow any baseline penetration, relying on help defense to close down an adjusted drive to the center of the lane. At the top of the post, expect to see defenders attempt to position themselves somewhat in front of the opposing offensive player to prevent the easy pass to the top of the lane.

The key weakness of this defense is if a team gets a large lead on you, than they are free to pass the ball around the perimeter to run clock. Unfortunately with the skill of the players that UVA has recruited, that doesn't happen very often. Tony Bennett draws this defense from his father, Dick Bennett, who is considered the developer of this style of defense while he coached at Washington State University.

Bennett has his team running what is called a Block Mover Offense on the other end of the court. This is a variation of the Motion Offense, allowing the primary ball handler at the top of the key to attempt to use a screen provided by one of two lane personnel near the top of the key. At the point of the screen, the ball handler decides either to drive the lane, kick out to an open shooter or attempt a down low pass to their second lane player, who usually moves across the basket down at the baseline block to create space for the driving guard.

The defensive rotation is what drives the guard's decision making process as he assesses what is in front of him. The guard essentially has three options coming off the pick or can spin back out to reset for another play. The key for the Hokies will be to limit the times where we allow dribble penetration by Kyle Guy or De'Andre Hunter or allow a clean pass into the lower lane player for an easy layup.

RED PANDA ON DUTY

94 feet with @JayBilas and Red Panda!Check it out tonight on @espn's broadcast of our game against Virginia #getBETTER | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/Ep2lqSPVIQ— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 18, 2019

Wahoos Backcourt

Kyle Guy, #5, 6'2, 165 lbs Junior is leading the Wahoo's in scoring at 15.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG. He is knocking down his perimeter shots at 44% on almost seven attempts per game. He also shoots 84% from the free throw line. Most people may have trouble recognizing him since he removed the man-bun but the Hokies need to keep track of him especially around the perimeter.

Sophomore Deandre Hunter, #12, 6'7, 225 Lbs is averaging 15 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG. He has taken a major step forward in his role for this team, arguably becoming his teams most important contributor. He shoots 46% from outside, 55% inside and 78% from the line. He does struggle containing driving guards from the perimeter and can get caught reaching in to put himself in foul trouble.

Ty Jerome, #11, 6'5, 195 Lbs, Junior, who rotates effectively with Hunter and Guy but is the primary ball handler for the Wahoos. He comes in averaging 13 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.5 SPG. Jerome is shooting 45% from inside and 42% from outside, along with hitting 75% from the free throw line. The Hokies need to limit his passing lanes

Braxton Key, (#2) 6'8, 225 Lbs, Junior Wing transfer from Alabama is averaging 6.6 PPG, 6 RPG, and 1.3 APG. Key is shooting 52% inside, 26% outside, and 77% from the line.

Wahoos Frontcourt

Junior Mamadi Diakite #25, 6'9, 228 Lbs, is the primary big for the Wahoos. He is averaging 6.9 PPG and 3.8 RPG while shooting 57% from inside and 79% from the line.

Jack Salt, #33, 6'10, 250 Lbs Senior Center is averaging 4.5 PPG and 4.6 RPG. He shoots 60% inside and 49% from the line.

Jay Huff, #30, 7'1, 232 Lbs, Sophomore is averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG. He shoots 66% inside and 67% from the line.

What to expect from Virginia?

As a team the Wahoo's are shooting 40% from outside but when you get in close you realize that the top three shooters are hitting 6 of 14 attempts per game while the rest of the team attempts about 6 more perimeter shots.

Shots from the foul line are a key component for the Wahoo's. They are hitting almost 14 free throws per game. Considering they average 72 points a game, the free throw line represents almost 20% of the Cavaliers scoring this season.

The flip side of this coin though is that the Cavaliers allow the 7th fewest free throw attempts in the nation, averaging less than 15 attempts. Considering the Hokies are allowing the 5th fewest free throw attempts at 13.6 attempts per game, it will be something to watch for as this game gets going. Whichever of these teams keeps it closer to their average would have a big advantage in what should be a low scoring affair.

The Wahoo's rely on a rotation of eight to ten players with a renewed focus this year of getting to the basket with their average scoring up almost 14 points per contest over last season. This is a much different offense than most the Hokies have seen from the Wahoo's in the past.

The Wahoo's 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 after initial dribble drive penetration by a guard. This will usually be with Diakite in the game, so getting him in foul trouble could simplify things on both ends of the court.

The Hokies

#GamedayGuide:🏀 vs. @UVAMensHoops 📍 Cassell Coliseum 🕚 7PM ET📺 @ESPN#getBETTER pic.twitter.com/xzCNmWGj8O— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) February 18, 2019

The Hokies should come out trying to speed up the tempo of this game to create open looks. If they are not able to do that then each possession takes on that much more significance against one of the best defenses in the nation. UVA is allowing the fewest points per contest this season at 54.4 points per game and is also holding opponents under 30% from the perimeter.

The Hokies need to wash away the struggles of the last few contests even taking account the wins and realize that these are now the games that count the most. A strong finish possibly gets them the double bye, but a good finish at least keeps them above the middle of the pack. The Hokies currently are in a tie for 4th but Louisville would have the first tie breaker over the Hokies.

The Hokies will not find the size challenge from UVA that most ACC teams pose because the Cavaliers have two bigs but neither is the focal point offensively or defensively. Outside of those two, the Wahoos run a couple of forwards out that are 6'8 and 6'9 so it's still advantage UVA height wise but those same two run 205 lbs and 195 lbs which Tech has guards that weigh in bigger than those two.

The Hokies need to be the utmost in efficiency in this game on the offensive end. UVA only turns the ball over 9 times per contest on average so the Hokies will not be able to count on significant extra possessions this way.

The UVA opponents also do very poorly in the rebounding category so the Hokies will need to be wary as opponents only manage 31 rebounds per contest, and of that only 8 on the offensive end. UVA is in the top 10 nationally in 11 defensive categories including first nationally in fewest shots allowed, fewest baskets scored, and fewest opponent assists.

The Hokies will have to find holes in the zone and they have to be able to penetrate the zone on the dribble to create gaps or they will play directly into the Wahoo's game plan. The Wahoo's do allow opponents to attempt 22 perimeter shots per game, but as previously discussed they only allow 29% to go in. The Hokies will need to be able to hit their shots or force their way to the line.

Clarke, Blackshear, and Horne need to play a much larger role against UVA than they managed in the first game. If they are able to establish position in the lane it will open up shooters when the Wahoo's collapse to the center.

Tech needs to drive inside to get fouled. Controlled drives right at Diakite. They need to disrupt the Wahoo 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 significant early lead.

The Hokies defensively need to prevent interior passing and also disrupt dribble penetration from the Virginia guards. They need to be aware of quite a few back door follow up drives by Virginia shooters. This is one of the games where Horne and his knack for shutting down the baseline could be very important as the Wahoos use the baseline drive quite often.

Ahmed Hill and Ty Outlaw 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 both the floor and keep the Hokies in a lead. Contributions from Wilkins and Kabongo in this area are key as well.

In Closing

Virginia in the past would be looking to pound the paint either by pass or by drive but with Guy and Hunter able to hit from the perimeter they have become a much more well-rounded team offensively. 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 Horne blocking his big counterparts from the front. That said, the Hokies always have to be wary of letting someone get hot from outside the perimeter.

The Hokies face an uphill battle even with this being a home game. They have the talent to win this game, even with Robinson out, but will need to be as close to perfect as they have all season. It doesn't take looking to far back to know what can happen either way in these games. Will the ball hang on a rim or will Tech not show up and get routed. Either is a strong possibility and anywhere in between.

Hokies able to capitalize from the perimeter, using the Blackshear pass and manage to pull off the upset 65-62.

I am too old 👴🏼to believe in "coincidence" ➕ currently too tired 💤 to articulate the impact these 3️⃣ guys had on laying the foundation ⚒that all of us are now standing on.They forced me to #getBETTER as a coach, & as a person. I will never ever forget their 💜. pic.twitter.com/DvfR4Pq7t0— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) February 17, 2019